Volkswagen Tiguan 103 TDI auto 2009 Review

Overall rating: 3.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 2.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 2.5/5.0
Safety: 3.5/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.5/5.0
X-factor: 3.5/5.0

Volkswagen's Tiguan is winning friends and influencing compact SUV buyers around the nation, but if you thought that the different (petrol and diesel) variants would be like two peas in a pod, you'd be mistaken.

With its diesel engine, the Tiguan is more overtly an offroader than the petrol variants launched recently. On flowing dirt-road corners it doesn't deliver the power that the petrol variants can with the same alacrity, and this limits its handling somewhat. Plus there's more NVH at open-road speeds and therefore diesel Tiguan just feels a little more truck-like than the petrol variants. This is very much a tale of two Tiguans.

The engine is not the most agricultural diesel we've ever experienced in a compact SUV by any means, but neither is it quite as refined as we've come to expect from a Volkswagen passenger vehicle, or as ultimately capable as the Renault-sourced diesel powering the Nissan X-TRAIL and Renault Koleos. Volkswagen's powerplant comes close, but there's a substantial power and torque advantage to the Renault engine, which is also just a little more muted in its operation.

Power is 103kW for the Volkswagen, versus 110kW for the Renault/Nissan with auto or 127kW with manual. Peak torque for the Tiguan is 320Nm, matching the figure for the auto opposition, but far exceeded by the 360Nm figure for the manual X-TRAIL and Koleos. Fuel use for the Tiguan TDI during the seven days of open-road, around-town and up-and-down tracks averaged 8.5L/100km.

The Tiguan's engine is effective in the way it delivers its torque, despite the nominal shortfall against the X-TRAIL. There's some turbo lag, but there's also sufficient torque available at lower speeds to propel the Tiguan forward, while waiting for the turbo to spool up.

Once on-boost the Tiguan has more than enough urge to reach the top of ascents that could confound other compact SUVs. Part of the Volkswagen's competence in this regard comes from the combination of its on-demand 4WD system and the surprisingly capable Hankook DynaPro 215/65 R15 tyres.

Even with the left rear wheel almost off the deck, the Volkswagen could push itself over hummocks; and when one wheel began spinning on a steep grade, the drive system redirected torque to the other three wheels and the vehicle continued on its way. The ABS complemented the drive system and the tyres to provide reassuring regulation of the braking on slopes.

Right in the middle of Victoria's fire season there was precious little opportunity to test the Tiguan for wading or low-friction-surface traction, especially when some of our favourite locations for testing four-wheel drives had been burnt out -- so the Hankooks remain unassessed in this regard.

Drive from the diesel was channelled via a six-speed automatic transmission, which for sheer adaptiveness and 'intelligence', leaves a lot of other transmissions for dead. Volkswagen has set it up to provide plenty of engine braking precisely when you need it. This setup is ideal for offroad work, of course, and the sequential-shift facility for manual cog-swapping is also useful.

The transmission, which blurs changes almost imperceptibly, is also very adept at finding the right gear and holding it when necessary, although in the interests of fuel economy, it will often hold a higher-ratio gear with the engine slogging away at around 1400rpm. At that engine speed, there's a little diesel-style labouring and vibration -- more a reflection on the engine than the transmission.

If there were one negative comment to make about the transmission, it can be slow to shift up or down (either manually or with kick-down). That said, it does run down through the gears as the vehicle decelerates, always ensuring the vehicle was in the right gear at any time.

As an offroader, the Tiguan would be mountain-goat nimble, if not for the vehicle's approach angle. With its platform based on the Golf's -- and therefore beginning its design life as a front wheel drive car -- the Tiguan has a long overhang and is also quite low-slung at the front. It's thus the front clip that's most likely to contact the earth first. [Ed: It’s worth noting VW offers a revised version with an aggressively reprofiled front-end in some overseas markets to address this... But not Oz.]

Approaching a grade obliquely can overcome that problem and, as mentioned above, the little Volkswagen has the traction and gradeability to tackle a confronting sort of climb in this way.

The departure angle gave no cause for concern and nor did the rampover angle, but ground clearance is only on a par with other compact SUVs. Wheel ruts around 15cm deep will be just about enough in practice for the Tiguan's underbody protection to touch down.

For ride, the Tiguan despatches minor imperfections in the road with complete nonchalance; and larger bumps are swallowed up by the suspension. As for its petrol cousins, the diesel Tiguan offers steering and handling to match the ride. Turn-in is impressively immediate, but without any nervousness -- and the Tiguan's roadholding limits set a pretty high standard for a compact SUV.

In the launch coverage for the petrol Tiguan, this reviewer suggested that the driving position was perhaps not high and mighty enough for typical SUV buyers, but a week of driving around the suburbs in the diesel model -- with exactly the same driving position -- has forced something of a reassessment. The driving position is not only comfortable, it provides the driver with at the very least an adequate vantage to oversee everything. The Tiguan is an easy car to back using the mirrors, there's a clear view of instruments and easy reach for the controls.

Volkswagen has also put the interior design stars to work on the Tiguan. As an example, the face-level vents are arrayed in stacks of two either side, so you can have hot or cool air from two different directions and two levels -- four different sources altogether. They provide outstanding levels of comfort.

Another piece of kit we liked about the interior of the Tiguan was the touch screen for the audio system. It's intuitively easy to use and looks stylish in a manner complementing the chrome and matt-finish decorative trim spread around the interior.

Luggage capacity is one flaw in the Tiguan's design, but if you need to haul more stuff than the Tiguan will carry, you'll either go the roof rack route or opt for a trailer. And if you need to carry that much on a regular basis, you probably shouldn't consider the Tiguan in the first instance.

As pointed out in the launch review for the petrol models (more here), the Tiguan will accommodate enough groceries for a week's worth of keeping the wolf from the door for a family of four. And as was also pointed out in the earlier review, the Tiguan more than makes up for its luggage-carrying shortcomings by providing plenty of room for passengers in the front and rear.

This review began with the observation that the diesel and petrol variants of the Tiguan are quite different in character. Here at the end of the review, that still holds true.

So, which to buy? If you do plan to take your Tiguan over tracks a little tougher than unsealed farm roads and range is a consideration, go for the diesel. If you enjoy your driving more and can live with the (still reasonable) fuel bills, save on the purchase price and go for the petrol Tiguan.