The updated Volkswagen Tiguan is here. We recently tested the entry-level Tiguan, but it's this one that has us excited. It's the 2021 Volkswagen Tiguan 162TSI R-Line - it's like a hot-hatch in SUV clothing.
Is it any good? Paul Maric hits the road to find out.
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Volkswagen content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/volkswagen
More Volkswagen Tiguan content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/volkswagen/tiguan
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 01:08
Interior 02:57
Infotainment 04:28
Safety Tech 06:21
Practicality 07:38
On the road 12:31
Verdict 17:55
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
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#volkswagen #tiguan #review #vw
Is it any good? Paul Maric hits the road to find out.
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Volkswagen content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/volkswagen
More Volkswagen Tiguan content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/volkswagen/tiguan
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 01:08
Interior 02:57
Infotainment 04:28
Safety Tech 06:21
Practicality 07:38
On the road 12:31
Verdict 17:55
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
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Paul Maric:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#volkswagen #tiguan #review #vw
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. So we recently reviewed the Volkswagen Tiguan in its base form and I liked but didn't really love the car.
00:06 I was really waiting for this one to arrive. This is the 162 TSI.
00:11 So it's a hotted up version of the Tiguan before the full fat, faster Tiguan R version arrives early next year in Australia.
00:19 So this competes with things like the Mazda CX-5, the Toyota RAV4, the Ford Escape.
00:25 There's stacks of competitors in that medium SUV segment, but this one's on the hotter end of things.
00:29 So because it is a turbocharged petrol all-wheel drive, it sits up at that top end and that comes with a price tag associated with it as well.
00:37 The R line is priced at just under $54,000. If that's a little too much though, the entire Tiguan range starts at just under $40,000.
00:46 Now today we're going to do a detailed review of this car. If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of the review,
00:51 you can use the time codes up on the screen or if you're on YouTube, just scroll down and use the chapters below.
00:55 And if you haven't done so already, make sure you subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon so you can find out every single time we drive something new.
01:02 Let's talk exterior. You've got six external colors to pick from. All but white is an additional $800.
01:08 In terms of the design itself, I think this looks way better than the entry-level Tiguan.
01:13 They've done a really good job highlighting all of the sporty elements to it.
01:16 So the R line package brings with it the R line body kit. You get this cool looking R badge that complements the new VW logo nicely.
01:23 You've got all these chrome highlights as well that work really well with this color.
01:27 It's like a, it's a bit hard to see on camera, but it's like a dark green color and I think it really makes this pop very nicely.
01:33 Over here in terms of headlight technology, you have full matrix LED headlights.
01:37 Now, if you want to get a better understanding of what matrix LED is and how it works,
01:41 click up here to watch a video we shot previously where we demonstrate this technology.
01:45 You've also got IQ light along the top there, which signifies that it does have that matrix LED tech.
01:51 Jump around to the side. This is where you'll find the 20-inch alloy wheels.
01:55 Now, 20-inch alloy wheels on a medium-sized SUV has me worried, especially when there's low-profile tyres.
02:03 There is adaptive suspension, so I'll be keen to see how this drives a little later on.
02:07 In terms of the wheel design, you've got that gloss black on the inside of the alloy wheel and then that brushed sort of chrome look on the outside.
02:13 Pretty modest looking wheel arch flares here as well, so it's not too over the top.
02:18 This is all-wheel drive, but I think they haven't tried to, you know, go crazy with this and make everyone think that you are driving an off-road vehicle.
02:25 Another R-line badge along the side there.
02:27 Got body-coloured mirrors with the indicator built in.
02:30 You get these sort of satin chrome looking roof rails.
02:35 A little bit more chrome around the windows there. Privacy glass.
02:38 Around the back here, you'll find full LED taillights and a 4Motion badge, which signifies this is indeed the all-wheel drive version.
02:45 Now, let me know what you reckon in the comments section below.
02:48 Yes, this is a little expensive, but do you think it suits that price tag?
02:51 I think the design kind of lends itself to a higher price and you get that sportiness to it.
02:55 So, let me know what you think down there.
02:57 We're inside the Tiguan and we'll start off with the key.
03:00 Here it is. So, lock, boot, unlock.
03:03 It's got a manual key built inside it as well and then the Volkswagen logo on the back.
03:08 It's a proximity sensing key, so you just leave that in your pocket and then you have the push button start over here.
03:13 Now, design wise, look, this is better than the previous generation of Tiguan, but it's not a huge leap forward.
03:18 It was kind of like a facelift, this, instead of being a brand new Tiguan.
03:22 I think this looks nice. It's probably just not as sharp as some of the competitors in this segment.
03:27 If you think Mazda, Mazda kind of goes that little bit extra in terms of effort on presentation and styling.
03:33 And I think maybe Volkswagen could take a slight leaf out of that book.
03:36 This all just looks a tiny bit bland and boring.
03:38 So, you've got these sort of piano black-esque highlights around the edge there and then around the climate controls.
03:45 And there's just a lot of darkness. I would love to see just a couple of other color options inside the cabin.
03:49 In terms of the materials though, it's all pretty soft touch plastic and then it sort of gets a little harder along the side here.
03:56 But for the most part, it all does feel nice and premium.
03:59 Touch points. This is soft but firm on the center there where your elbow is going to be.
04:04 And same story where your other elbow sits. They're both kind of a little bit firm but soft.
04:10 How firm are they? Well, we've tested the main surfaces in this cabin with our geometer.
04:14 If you want to see how this car compares to other cars that we've tested before, have a look at the link in the description.
04:20 Now, build quality.
04:22 This all feels really, really nice and solid. So, massive tick on build quality.
04:28 Righto, infotainment. So, 9.2-inch display. It has proximity sensing.
04:32 So, as I move my finger towards it, you'll see the extra context menus come up.
04:37 It also has gesture control. So, you can see there as I swipe my hand, it does all sorts of things.
04:42 I reckon gesture control is absolutely pointless.
04:44 But I like the proximity sensor because it means you can get a cleaner screen when you're not using it.
04:49 Everything disappears until you bring your finger in there.
04:51 Now, the curious thing about this is you have an eight-speaker sound system, but unfortunately, you only have AM and FM radio.
04:59 There's no DAB digital radio, which is truly bizarre in a car that is, what, mid-$50,000 top spec, that there's no digital radio to play with.
05:07 So, a little bit disappointing there.
05:08 Thankfully, though, you have both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the good news is it is wireless.
05:14 So, have a look at this. That is incredibly high resolution.
05:17 It's like you're literally watching a retina display there. That is really, really impressive.
05:22 Super fast as well, so you can flick through those menus very easily.
05:26 Really impressed with that. And this is what Android Auto looks like.
05:29 Same story again, wireless connectivity, full-screen integration, and very high resolution.
05:35 Fast and snappy as well, so absolutely love that.
05:38 Now, I'm going to show you the screen ahead of the driver as well.
05:40 This is a 10.25-inch display. It's digital cockpit.
05:44 We first saw something like this in the Audi range, and it's actually a pretty impressive setup.
05:50 So, it's nice and fast and sharp. A lot of cars with these digital displays aren't very sort of quick.
05:54 They don't really have much processing grunt behind them, but this one is an exception to that rule.
05:59 So, you have the ability to run through the rest of your displays to see everything that's going on with the car,
06:04 but I quite like when you go to your navigation screen, you can then go full-screen with that map,
06:10 and then you can run through a whole stack of different menus as well.
06:14 So, really cool setup, and I love the fact that this is standard in the R line.
06:18 You don't need to pay any extra for it, so, yeah, big tick for that one.
06:21 I should also mention at this point there is an innovation package you can option.
06:24 It's $2,500. That brings with it a head-up display, premium sound system, and 360 camera.
06:29 We don't have that on this one.
06:31 Now, let's talk safety. So, you have front and rear autonomous emergency braking.
06:35 Now, the rear AEB is really handy if you're in and around sort of kids, you're at a shopping center, anything like that.
06:43 It will stop the car if you don't in reverse.
06:45 We have a short video before explaining how this tech works, so, click up here if you want to watch that.
06:49 We run through it all.
06:50 Now, the rest of the safety features, you have blind spot monitoring built into the wing mirror just there.
06:54 You have lane departure warning, lane keeping assistant, radar cruise control, and a driver fatigue warning as well.
07:01 In terms of the camera system, you have just a standard reverse view camera with front and rear parking sensors.
07:06 I'll show you what the rear view camera looks like.
07:08 Let's have a look.
07:10 So, quality is pretty good.
07:12 Not amazing, but pretty good.
07:14 You've got your guidelines just there, sonar as well,
07:17 and then you also have the ability to select the different type of parking that you're doing.
07:21 Keep in mind that this comes with self-parking feature, so one push of that and it will then basically guide your vehicle into those spots.
07:28 You've also got a mode here for connecting a trailer as well if you need to, and then I like this.
07:33 It's a super wide angle view if you're reversing out of a tight park where you can't see beyond the cars next to you.
07:38 Moving on to practicality, and we'll start with our connectivity options.
07:42 So, USB-C, you've got two slots up the front here, plus a 12-volt outlet.
07:47 In terms of your phone storage, you can slot it down the front here.
07:50 It is not a wireless phone charger, but there is plenty of room down there for it.
07:54 You've also got storage room in the centre here.
07:56 Now, this is a pretty versatile setup.
07:58 If I get rid of the key there, you've got just a big open space with a lid over it,
08:02 but then what you can do is snap these little cup holders into position,
08:06 so when you've got your coffee, it sits nicely in there,
08:10 and then you can also put your bottle of water in there as well, and then the teeth adjust on the sides.
08:15 You can slot this guy down the side here as well.
08:17 It's nicely carpeted, and I'm pretty sure a big bottle will fit down there too.
08:22 Look at that, bingo.
08:23 There's also storage down the side here near the driver's knee.
08:26 Center console, so that moves forwards and backwards.
08:29 It opens up, you can adjust the height level of it as well, and to give you an idea of how deep it is,
08:33 I'll slot that guy in there.
08:36 We've got a glove box over here, pretty reasonably sized.
08:40 I know, it's kind of not, so you've got to put your bottle in,
08:43 and then, yeah, the top section eats into it a little bit.
08:46 It is air-conditioned, though, which is good.
08:47 You've got storage up the top here for little odds and ends.
08:51 You've got netting down the side to hold things into place,
08:54 and then you have a mammoth amount of storage up the top here.
08:56 Check this out.
08:57 So you've got plenty of storage there, and then a second storage slot down the back as well.
09:01 Now, what about comfort?
09:02 So, dual-zone automatic climate control.
09:04 You also have heated seats up the front here, but I'm not a huge fan of this setup,
09:08 so they've gone away with actual dials, and it's all just this touch-sensitive stuff now.
09:13 So you can see here, as I swipe my fingers, the temperature goes up and down.
09:17 It kind of works okay, but it is a little bit tricky to use while you're driving.
09:21 The thing that I like even less than that are the buttons here on the steering wheel.
09:25 So what they've also done is, instead of just having a normal button,
09:28 it's got like this haptic feedback to it, but it's not really well communicated.
09:33 So when you push in, there's a bit of a delay to the push actually happening,
09:37 and this stuff I find is quite difficult to use while you're driving.
09:40 So, yeah, not a fan of this.
09:42 I prefer to just have a physical knob here that you can use instead of having to rely on your fingers pushing things and moving things around.
09:50 So, I don't know. Can you get your thoughts?
09:51 Do you prefer this sort of stuff, or do you prefer knobs?
09:54 Let me know in the comments section below.
09:56 In terms of the rest of the comfort features, the seats, they're a little bit firm,
10:00 but they hug you in nicely and you've got a stack of adjustments here.
10:03 They're electrically adjustable, both for the driver and front passenger, so you can find yourself a comfy position.
10:08 I love the steering wheel. It sits beautifully in the hands.
10:10 It's nicely chiseled here. This R-line package is just really cool in terms of the steering.
10:16 Paddle shifters, they're easy to reach, and then the steering wheel itself is both tilt and reach adjustable.
10:22 Finally, how easy is everything to reach?
10:24 No dramas at all.
10:26 So, second row of the Tiguan.
10:28 Plenty of room here, so I've got my seat pretty far back, and heaps of knee room.
10:32 Toe room is absolutely mammoth.
10:34 Loads of headroom as well.
10:36 I think we discussed this last time that I didn't really understand what these things did,
10:40 and we never really got to the bottom of it.
10:42 I don't understand why it's stitched in the center there.
10:45 Like, yeah, okay, you can fit a phone in there, but if it wasn't stitched, you could probably fit more in there.
10:49 So, if you have any idea officially what the story is with this, let me know.
10:52 In addition to that, you have mat pockets in the back here, USB-C connectivity, 12-volt outlet,
10:58 third zone of climate control air vents there.
11:01 You've got a center armrest with three cup holders, so I'll show you how they work.
11:06 The center one is little. It's for like a piccolo or something.
11:10 You've got storage room inside the doors there with carpet as well, which I like.
11:15 And then you have ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats with three top tether points.
11:20 The seats are adjustable, so you can see here, they move forwards and backwards.
11:24 You can also tilt them forwards and backwards if you need to as well.
11:28 So, pretty versatile space back here, and just good visibility out of the cabin as well.
11:34 Okay, moving on to cargo space. Let's have a little sticky beak in here.
11:38 So, power tailgate, you have a little over 600 litres of cargo space available here.
11:44 There are a few tricks though. Let me show you.
11:46 Cargo floor, you can lift that. That shows you that you have a space saver spare tyre.
11:50 But it's a dual-tiered floor, which means you can drop it down another level to give yourself just a little bit more space.
11:55 You've then got storage off to the sides. That storage is removable as well, should you so desire.
12:00 You've got hooks off to the side, and I'll show you what it looks like with our bags in there.
12:05 So, one bag in there, and the other bag easily slides into there.
12:09 Move these out of the way.
12:11 You've got a 12-volt outlet plus a light there as well.
12:14 And alongside those, you can actually drop the second row from here.
12:17 So, I'll move this out of the way just so you can see that in action.
12:22 I'm going to shift that over there.
12:24 So, I'll pull the lever, and that drops that seat down.
12:27 It should go down all the way, but it hasn't.
12:28 And that expands the space to just under 1700 litres.
12:32 So, we've hit the road in the Tiguan.
12:35 Let's start off with the engine.
12:36 So, it's a 2-litre turbocharged, 4-cylinder petrol engine.
12:40 It makes 162 kilowatts of power, because 162 TSI, and 350 newton metres of torque.
12:47 Now, this is pretty much the old Volkswagen Golf GTI engine,
12:51 and that means that you are getting a bit more pep behind the wheel.
12:54 It's all mated to a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission and an all-wheel drive system.
12:59 The all-wheel drive system, it's one of those intelligent ones,
13:01 so it's able to pick whether it wants to send more torque to the front or the rear, and it's variable,
13:05 so it will adjust that as required.
13:07 So, the sportier you're driving, the more it can send to the rear axle,
13:10 and it does that pretty much instantaneously.
13:13 It's not like the sort of old-school on-demand systems that are strictly front-wheel drive
13:17 until they sense wheels slip, and then activate the rear axle.
13:21 This is pretty much ready to go all the time.
13:23 So, what does it all feel like behind the wheel?
13:25 Let's give this a little punch now.
13:27 Yeah, that feels really nice.
13:30 So, I remember with the 110 TSI, it just felt a little bit underdone.
13:34 This actually feels right on point.
13:36 It's nice and sharp and responsive.
13:38 It's always good to go, even in drive mode where it's sort of fairly lazy.
13:42 Let's see what the dual-clutch transmission is like from a standing start.
13:47 Just roll off.
13:49 It's okay.
13:55 It's just a little bit clunky there.
13:56 I'm going to give this another shot just on a slight incline here.
14:00 Let's just see what this feels like.
14:02 So, we'll just come to a stop, and we'll just roll onto the throttle.
14:08 It's actually not too bad.
14:13 I think I just caught it in a bad mood before.
14:15 Yeah, this is not too bad.
14:16 I remember the 110, it was okay, but just a little bit fussy.
14:20 This actually feels much better, because I remember the gearbox in the previous-gen Golf GTI
14:25 was pretty much on point.
14:26 They had it dialed in nicely, and this feels just like that.
14:30 So, yeah, good setup here in terms of the gearbox and the engine.
14:33 Now, fuel economy.
14:34 Volkswagen claims a combined fuel economy of 8.5 litres per 100 km.
14:39 We are currently around 10 litres per 100 km, so a little bit higher than that claim,
14:44 but about there.
14:46 Let's talk drive mode.
14:47 So, you access them by pushing this button down here.
14:50 It brings up Eco, Comfort, Normal, Sport, and Individual.
14:53 We're in Comfort now.
14:54 Comfort really is just the all-round setting.
14:57 The gearbox feels a slight bit lazy when it's just in Standard drive mode,
15:01 but it's not too over the top, and it's always ready to go if you do sort of sink the slipper into it.
15:06 The ride is actually pretty good in Comfort, though.
15:08 So, despite the fact this is riding on 20-inch alloy wheels, it is on the firmer side of Comfortable,
15:12 but it is still really nice and compliant.
15:14 Even out here on country roads, it soaks up bumps beautifully,
15:18 and it doesn't really sort of fuss about too much in and around the city.
15:21 You will notice, though, that there is some tyre noise that comes into the cabin
15:24 when you are on coarse-chip surfaces.
15:26 That's the inherent nature of that low-profile tyre, unfortunately.
15:30 But it's not the end of the world. It's not too bad.
15:33 I have heard worse in non-sporty SUVs, so, you know, don't ride it off just yet.
15:39 Now, let's try Sport mode.
15:41 So, press that button, put it into Sport.
15:44 It changes the gearbox into Sport.
15:45 We get some red dials.
15:47 Punch it through here.
15:49 Oh, that is actually really good.
15:53 It has a heap of go.
15:56 Oh, man, that is actually really impressive.
15:58 It sticks to the corners so nicely,
16:01 and there's just a really healthy amount of feel through the steering wheel.
16:05 The adaptive dampers just give it that little bit more edginess,
16:08 but it's not over the top.
16:09 It's not like it's neck-breaking.
16:11 And then the throttle response is excellent.
16:13 This is a proper sporty SUV,
16:15 and I can't even think of any of the competitors in this segment
16:18 that feel as sporty as this.
16:20 Yeah, the CX-5 is sort of quick with its turbocharged engine.
16:23 This, on the other hand, it actually just feels really nice and sharp and very quick.
16:28 Actually, it makes me quite excited for the Tiguan R,
16:32 because if this is anything to go by,
16:34 I think the Tiguan R is actually going to step it up another level altogether.
16:38 Now, Volkswagen doesn't have an official 0-100 time,
16:41 but we thought we'd put it up against our stopwatch to see how it goes.
16:45 (ENGINE REVS)
16:47 OK, let's slot this back into comfort.
16:55 Let's talk about visibility.
16:57 So, it's excellent out the front there.
16:59 I can clearly see down the front of the car.
17:01 You've got front and rear parking sensors, which makes life easy.
17:03 The blind spot monitor is really good as well.
17:05 It's nice and bright, and the wing mirrors are big enough
17:07 to clearly see down the sides of the car.
17:09 Looking out the back, it's not too bad.
17:11 It's a pretty decent-sized envelope, so you can see clearly out the back window there.
17:15 So, if you're planning on doing any towing,
17:17 you have a 2,500-kilogram braked towing capacity.
17:21 While you're not going to be driving off-road, you do have some off-road modes here.
17:25 So, if you look at this switch, it pops it into the off-road setting.
17:28 The off-road setting simply calibrates the stability control
17:31 to give you a little bit more wheel slip when you are on sort of low-friction surfaces.
17:36 You have a ground clearance of just over 200 millimetres,
17:39 so it's kind of enough to clear most sort of basic obstacles
17:43 if you're driving to a campsite or something like that.
17:45 Finally, turning circle, 11.9 metres.
17:48 It is on the bigger side, so just keep in mind that if you are sort of in and around the city,
17:53 you might have to do three-point turns every now and then.
17:55 So, Volkswagen Tiguan, the 162 TSI.
18:01 This is the one I was waiting for.
18:03 This is really impressive.
18:04 It hammers, it's got plenty of room inside,
18:07 and it has pretty much all the technology you need.
18:09 This is on the pricier end, but I do feel that it's justified
18:12 because it really does step above the rest of the competitors
18:15 in terms of the way that it drives,
18:16 and then you're getting all the bells and whistles inside anyway.
18:19 So, pretty much is the complete package if you want that sporty drive,
18:23 but still enough room for the family.
18:24 I am excited for the Tiguan R, though,
18:26 but it does lead me to believe it's probably going to be pretty expensive
18:29 when it finally does arrive.
18:31 So, if you don't want to fork out too much more money,
18:33 but still want a sporty SUV, I think this one is the one to go for.
18:36 There really are very few complaints.
18:37 I think the lack of DAB radio is a little bit disappointing,
18:40 and that, for me, would kind of sway me away from buying one of these
18:43 because you kind of need digital radio.
18:45 Hopefully, it's just a software update that they can fix at some point.
18:48 So, let me know in the comments section below,
18:50 what do you reckon about the Tiguan?
18:51 Would you get the 162, or are you going to wait for the R,
18:53 or are you just going to get the base model?
18:55 Let me know what you reckon.
18:56 If you did enjoy this video, make sure you hit the like button,
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19:04 But until next time, take it easy.