FIRST DRIVE Evolution is the name of the game in third-gen SUV
Alastair Crooks Alastair_Crooks@autovia.co.uk@AllieCrooks
THE future is electric for the Volkswagen Tiguan. At last year’s Munich Motor Show, CEO Thomas Schäfer said Tiguan (alongside the Golf and GTI nameplates) is a badge that will live on into the EV age. So does that shift in focus mean Volkswagen has taken its foot off the gas for this all-new, combustion-engined, Mk3 model?
Certainly, the latest car doesn’t push the envelope in terms of looks; at first glance you might even mistake it for the outgoing model. But playing it safe with the styling makes more sense when you consider that the Tiguan is Volkswagen’s global best seller.
Jump inside and the first thing that strikes you is that the interior is almost a carbon copy of the new Passat’s. In our test car’s case, that’s mainly thanks to the massive 15-inch infotainment screen in the middle of the dashboard, which is a £1,100 option on Life models and up. As standard, all cars get a 12.9-inch screen and a 10.25-inch ‘Digital Cockpit Pro’ driver’s display.
We know Volkswagen is reverting back to more physical controls in its cabins after heavy criticism of its touch-sensitive sliders. Unfortunately, the new Tiguan has arrived too soon to benefit from this change of heart. But the buttons beneath the screen are at least backlit, and the revised set-up allows you to skip to a certain volume or temperature just by using two fingers on the panel. We approve of the fact there are physical buttons on the steering wheel, too.
Back to that massive screen, and as we found out with the ID.7 recently, the new infotainment system doesn’t have the most intuitive menu layouts. We’d like the shortcut toggles to be more prominent, but the screen is perfectly responsive, with a brilliantly clear resolution. Volkswagen seems to be back on form when it comes to interior quality, as well – and the all-new Tiguan is certainly testament to this.
Our car was the middling Elegance model, sitting below the range-topping R-Line. Beneath these versions you’ll find the entry-level edition, referred to simply as ‘Tiguan’, followed by Life and Match.
While the basic trim level does look a little dull, it should feature the same solid feeling we found in the Elegance. However, it misses out on our car’s lashings of chrome and leather, plus useful technical touches such as three-zone climate control, heated and massaging front seats, adaptive cruise control and a 360-degr
