‘Golf of crossovers’ is reinvented for a third generation with a sharp focus on interior usability and technology
MURRAY SCULLION @mscullion2
TESTED 14.2.24, TOURRETTES, FRANCE ON SALE NOW PRICE £40,880
f we were in a corporate bonding exercise and playing a mandatory game of word association and I were to say ‘Volkswagen’, you might say ‘Golf’. But actually the Tiguan SUV is the German firm’s best-seller. It has been since 2018. This third-generation car has a lot riding on it, then – and they’ve nailed it.
It’s easily as good as the Mk2, with some clever additions and some low-key, hidden-gem style polish that you might not be expecting. Tons of choice too. There are five trim levels: Tiguan, Life, Match, Elegance and R-Line.
As for engine range, it’s like the ark: there’s a pair of 2.0-litre turbo diesels (which produce 148bhp and 190bhp), a pair of 2.0-litre mild-hybrid turbo petrols (128bhp and 148bhp) and two petrol-electric plug-in hybrids (201bhp and 268bhp). The only diesel available in the UK is the lower-powered one, and that’s the version we’re driving here.
I’m not complaining, because the engine doesn’t really need that extra power. Volkswagen really knows what it’s doing with diesels (ahem).
It’s effortless, really: at speed, its seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox doesn’t need to shuffle much and it just serenely gets on with ferrying you and your rock-star colleagues around.
It’s not quite so brilliant at lower speeds, though. The DSG can be slightly hesitant to change down, sometimes leaving you a bit in the lurch when joining a roundabout. It also sounds pretty gruff at high revs.
But this is pretty normal diesel fare. You can get around the hesitancy with a pull of the left-hand paddle and you put up with the diesel racket in exchange for the economy.
Officially, this TDI will do 50mpg. The TSI eHybrid is theoretically more frugal, but as with any PHEV, its economy depends largely on whether you bother charging the battery or not and how you use it, whereas the derv will just implacably deliver you value as it chugs along the motorway.
The Mk3 Tiguan sits on the Volkswagen Group’s latest MQB Evo platform, just like the new Passat. It has nicked the Vehicle Dynamics Manager programme from the Golf GTI. And it has two-valve dampers with 15 increments of stiffness.
It’s controlled via the drive manager, which is no longer a physical button. Instead you have to st
