2021 Volkswagen Tiguan review: Updated Tiguan is finally here!

CarExpert

The new Volkswagen Tiguan is finally here. Can you spot the changes? Paul Maric tests out the 2021 Volkswagen Tiguan 110TSI to see if the updates Volkswagen has made to its mid-sized SUV were worth the wait. Let us know what you think in the comments section below!  Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2021-volkswagen-tiguan-review  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior 00:58 Interior 02:44 Infotainment 04:03 Safety Tech 05:26 Practicality 06:04 On the road 10:23 Verdict 14:53  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: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #review #vw #tiguan

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. So the new Volkswagen Tiguan is finally here. It's just had a refresh and today

00:05 we're driving the base model. There are a stack of new models coming, so this for the moment will kick us off in Australia before

00:11 the more powerful petrol and the diesel arrives. This is the 110 TSI. It's priced at just under

00:16 $40,000, so it's had an increase in price, but also spec level as well.

00:20 This competes with things like the Mazda CX-5, the Toyota RAV4, the Hyundai Tucson.

00:25 If you want something a little fancier, this will go all the way up to the $55,000

00:31 147 TDI that is coming soon.

00:33 So there are a stack of options in there even before the seven-seat Allspace arrives as well.

00:39 Today we're going to do a detailed review of this car,

00:41 so if you do want to skip ahead to other parts of the review,

00:43 just use the time codes on the screen or if you're on YouTube,

00:46 scroll down and use the chapters below. And if you haven't done so already,

00:49 it'd be lovely if you could subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon as well.

00:52 That's going to notify you every single time we drive a car that's new to Australia.

00:56 Let's look exterior. You have six colors to pick from and all but white is an additional $800.

01:03 What do you reckon about the design? So it's only a subtle update,

01:06 I reckon, because you can see here with the headlights,

01:08 they kind of stretch around to the side, but for the most part it looks pretty similar.

01:12 And I don't think that's a bad thing.

01:13 I think the Tiguan's always kind of looked nice and classy and stylish and you can see here, even with the base model,

01:19 they've got that body color and then offset with chrome and then this big grille inlay.

01:24 Then there's the new Volkswagen logo just there as well,

01:27 so it's slightly different to the old one, a little more defined around the V and the W.

01:31 Over with the headlights, you can see the LED daytime running light down the bottom there

01:34 and then you have a set of full LED headlights.

01:37 Hey, by the way, I know that a lot of you have watched it,

01:39 but just in case you haven't, we actually have a video comparison that gives you an idea of the difference between halogen,

01:45 LED, matrix LED and laser headlights.

01:47 So if you want to watch that, click up here to check that video out.

01:51 Down here, you'll find a set of 18-inch alloy wheels.

01:53 Again, because this is the base model, they are quite a modest looking alloy wheel.

01:56 So that means you get that brushed chrome look on the outside and the piano black look on the inside.

02:01 They're a fairly chubby 55 profile tire, which should mean that the ride is pretty decent.

02:06 You get these plastic wheel arch protectors as well.

02:09 Around the side here, you have this little chrome strip that points towards the back.

02:13 A indicator built into that wing mirror, more chrome around those door surrounds.

02:17 This car has luxury pack, which is five grand and that adds, amongst other things, a panoramic glass sunroof.

02:23 A set of roof rails.

02:24 And then come around to the back.

02:26 So you can see around here that a great deal hasn't changed.

02:28 It's fairly similar, that light cluster.

02:30 Built into that, you have an LED tail light.

02:33 Again, the new Volkswagen logo just there and then Tiguan lettering across the back.

02:37 What do you reckon about the design? Have they done enough with this facelift?

02:40 Or do you think that they could have done a little bit more?

02:42 Let me know your thoughts down there.

02:44 So we're inside the Tiguan.

02:45 Let's start off with the key.

02:47 Here it is.

02:47 You have lock, boot, unlock and then on the back you have the new Volkswagen logo.

02:52 Strangely, it's a flip out key.

02:54 So yeah, I know we've discussed previously that the flip out key is used for emergency access to the car if the battery goes flat.

03:00 But normally they conceal the key so you can't see it because there is no keyhole.

03:04 It's kind of redundant.

03:05 So yeah, I would have loved to see a new key.

03:08 This kind of just looks like the old Volkswagen key.

03:10 But anyway, proximity sensing case, you just leave that in your pocket, grab the door handle, it unlocks.

03:14 Then once you're inside, you have a push button start.

03:17 Now, what about the design?

03:18 So the design again feels familiar.

03:20 So I understand this is just a facelift, but kind of feels very much like the old one.

03:23 I would have liked to see maybe something a little bit more adventurous.

03:26 But that does mean you get these soft materials along the top of the dashboard,

03:30 the infotainment screen integrated below the air vents and then you have new climate controls beneath that.

03:35 This is interesting too.

03:36 There's like a plastic feature here with like a carbon fibre weave in the background.

03:41 Interesting, interesting setup.

03:42 So what about the touch points?

03:43 So that's nice and soft and so is the door.

03:47 How soft are they?

03:48 Well, we've tested them with our durometer.

03:50 You can see how this car compares to other cars that we've tested using the link in the description below.

03:55 Now, what about build quality?

03:56 Yeah, it feels nice and solid and battle ready like a tank.

04:01 So yeah, pretty impressive.

04:03 Let's talk about infotainment.

04:04 So you get an 8-inch infotainment system.

04:07 It has proximity sensing.

04:08 So as you bring your finger closer, you can see a couple of extra context menus come up.

04:12 And then it also has gesture control.

04:14 So you can swipe across like that and, you know, move to turn the screens.

04:18 I've never actually found a use for that, but it has it anyway.

04:21 In terms of radio, you have AM and FM radio.

04:24 There is no digital radio, which I don't know, is a little bit disappointing in this day and age.

04:28 Pretty much everything has digital radio.

04:30 For some reason, it doesn't exist here.

04:31 So it'd be nice to see that.

04:33 In terms of smartphone mirroring, it comes with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

04:37 And the good news is both of those technologies are wireless.

04:40 Let's have a look at what Apple CarPlay looks like first.

04:42 So full screen integration, looks really nice and high resolution.

04:45 Let's have a look at Android Auto.

04:46 So there you go, same story, full screen integration.

04:49 We'll see how quick that is.

04:51 Yeah, that's nice and sharp and fast as well.

04:53 Now, ahead of the driver as well, you have a full LCD display that gives you tachometer,

04:58 speedometer, and then in the centre, you have trip computer safety systems.

05:03 That kind of thing.

05:03 You also have several different views available, so you can switch between different integrations

05:07 of that.

05:08 The only downside to this setup is that if you have navigation displayed on this screen,

05:14 you can't then have it displayed on that screen and vice versa.

05:16 So if you have nav there, it will just be a compass here, or if you have nav here,

05:20 it'll just be a compass here.

05:21 So it'd be nice to see a screen on both sides instead of just the one.

05:25 Let's talk about safety technology.

05:27 So you have low and high speed autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection.

05:32 In addition to that, you have radar cruise control, you have blind spot monitoring that

05:36 is built into the wing mirror there as an orange light.

05:39 You have rear cross traffic alert.

05:40 AEB also works in reverse.

05:42 You have a lane departure warning and a lane keeping assistant and a driver fatigue monitor.

05:47 In terms of parking, you have front and rear parking sensors and a reverse view camera.

05:52 Show you what that looks like.

05:53 There it is.

05:53 So the quality is actually pretty good.

05:55 The guidelines also move with the steering wheel.

05:57 It is also worth pointing out that there is semi-autonomous parking as well.

06:01 So one push of that and the car will begin the parking process on its own.

06:04 Let's talk practicality and we'll start with connectivity.

06:06 So you have two USB ports down the front here.

06:08 These are both USB-C, so that's the latest standard, a 12 volt outlet.

06:13 Then on the storage front, if you do need to pop your phone somewhere,

06:15 you can slot it down the front here.

06:17 You've also got storage here in the cup holders.

06:19 Now the cup holders are interesting because if we get our coffee cup,

06:23 you can see it sort of moves around everywhere, but you've got these buttons off to the side

06:27 that flip out little edges and they allow you to slide something like a coffee cup in

06:32 and then they expand as you push them in.

06:34 So that's handy technology.

06:35 Then let's try our whopper out.

06:38 We've got our big, big bottle here.

06:40 So even that fits in there, which is pretty cool.

06:44 And then if you slide that out of the way, you can actually slide it all the way in.

06:47 I wonder if that'll fit inside the door.

06:49 Yeah, that fits inside the door as well, which is excellent.

06:52 You've also got storage down here next to the driver's knee.

06:55 We've also then got a centre console here.

06:57 You can see how deep that is.

06:58 It's almost enough to get the bottle in.

07:00 The good thing about the centre console is that the lid is adjustable forwards and backwards,

07:04 but also to a different height.

07:06 You've got a glove box over here and then netting off to the side to store odds and ends.

07:11 Okay, now what about your comfort features?

07:12 So I mentioned earlier, this car has the luxury package.

07:15 So that adds with it, amongst other things, the panoramic sunroof that opens and closes.

07:20 It adds a heated steering wheel, heated seats.

07:22 It's $5,000.

07:23 It is a fair bit of money on what is already an expensive car.

07:26 So whether you need that or not is really up to you.

07:30 But anyway, you get tri-zone automatic climate control.

07:33 So two zones here, one extra zone at the back.

07:35 Electric adjustment for the driver's seat with memory.

07:38 The seats themselves are actually quite comfortable.

07:40 So they've got this solid back to them and then side bolsters.

07:43 There are no perforations.

07:44 I find with these in summer that you can sometimes get stuck to them and you've got to peel yourself

07:48 off, but for the most part, it's a really nice place to be seated.

07:51 Steering wheel sits nicely in the hands.

07:53 You've got paddle shifters on the back there and then all of these controls are easy to reach.

07:57 Okay, so we're in the back seat.

07:58 I just wanted to mention this, this door doesn't really open very wide.

08:02 So if you're loading child seats in and stuff like that, I don't know, it'd be good to get a

08:06 bit more swing on that.

08:07 The Subaru Forester does almost 90 degrees, whereas this sort of feels a little bit compromised.

08:12 Anyway, in terms of legroom and room back here in general, I have a stack of knee room here,

08:17 and that's even with this seat quite far back.

08:20 I have loads of toe room as well, and headroom is pretty decent.

08:23 This is interesting.

08:25 There's pockets here.

08:26 I don't know exactly what they're for.

08:28 I would have thought if that wasn't there, you could hold an iPad or something in here.

08:32 So yeah, let me know in the comments section what exactly is that for.

08:35 You have more mat pockets down the bottom here.

08:37 You have USB-C charging.

08:39 You have a 12 volt outlet, air vents, and this is where you control your third zone of climate

08:44 control.

08:45 In terms of storage here, you have a center armrest with two or three cup holders.

08:50 So that one fits fine.

08:52 Let's try our whopper though.

08:53 That'll be the real judge of how all this works.

08:56 Doesn't quite fit in there, but it does fit inside your door bin.

09:00 The seats themselves are interesting because it's a 60/40 split folding configuration,

09:05 and you can move this forwards and backwards to give yourself more cargo space,

09:09 and then if you do have kids in here, you have ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats,

09:14 and you also have three top tether points along the back of the seats.

09:17 Okay, let's talk cargo space.

09:19 Now, this is the thing I like about the Tiguan in terms of how versatile this space is.

09:23 So in its default form here, you have up to a little over 600 litres of cargo space available,

09:29 and when I say versatile, this is what I mean.

09:30 So you've got storage space off to the side.

09:32 You can clip that into position, so often when you're getting spare tyre and stuff out,

09:36 there's nowhere to put your cargo blind.

09:38 These little clips here help support it just while you're getting your stuff out.

09:42 Then on top of that, you can also drop this cargo floor to a lower tier that expands that

09:47 space, and then beneath the cargo floor, you have a space saver spare tyre.

09:51 Let's have a look at what it's like with our bags in there.

09:54 So laptop bag, and our suitcase.

09:57 It fits in long ways.

09:59 We'll get that out.

10:01 Now, if you do want to expand the space a little bit more,

10:03 get rid of this cargo blind.

10:06 It just clicks out of position, and then off to the side,

10:10 you have these releases for the second row.

10:13 Whip those down, and the space expands to a little under 1700 litres of cargo space.

10:19 Then in addition to that, you have hooks off to the side, and a 12-volt outlet as well.

10:22 Righto, so we're on the road in the Tiguan.

10:26 Let me run you through the engine in this car.

10:28 So the 110 TSI, very funnily enough, produces 110 kilowatts of power and 250 newton metres of torque.

10:36 It's a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine,

10:39 and this particular specification is front-wheel drive only.

10:43 I mentioned earlier that there are other engine options coming,

10:46 and they're going to be more powerful versions of the four-cylinder petrol,

10:49 and also a four-cylinder diesel as well.

10:52 So I'm excited for those, because I remember the last time we drove, I think it was the Allspace,

10:57 it was kind of like a Golf GTI with seven seats.

10:59 It was really quite exciting to drive.

11:01 So I really hope they can invigorate the Tiguan and give it that sporty feel that it deserves.

11:05 Now, this engine's mated to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission.

11:09 Let's have a feel of that at lower speeds here.

11:11 I did notice before when I was reversing up a hill, it was a tiny bit clunky.

11:14 It's actually not too bad.

11:17 It feels okay behind the wheel here.

11:19 It's pretty well sorted.

11:20 I think now that Volkswagen's been doing dual-clutch gearboxes for such a long time,

11:24 they're kind of on top of it, and everything feels normal and pretty straightforward.

11:28 What if we give it a punch?

11:29 I'll give it a little kick here.

11:30 Yeah, it's good.

11:32 It's responsive enough, it goes back through the gears quickly enough,

11:36 and then it delivers you that sort of push in the back that you need.

11:40 250Nm of torque isn't a huge amount, but in saying that, this isn't an overly heavy car either.

11:45 So it's more than enough for what this car is, especially once you've got passengers and stuff

11:50 in it. It's not going to feel like a rocket ship, but it's still going to be confidence

11:54 inspiring for things like overtaking.

11:55 There is also another drive mode you can pick from here.

11:59 Basically, you pull the lever down, it goes into sport mode, and that just sharpens everything up.

12:03 There are no sort of drive modes per se outside of that, and I think that's fine.

12:08 It just gives you the urgency that you need with one tap of that gear lever.

12:11 Volkswagen claims a fuel economy of 7.7 litres per 100km.

12:15 Let's have a look at what we're sitting on here.

12:17 8.1 litres per 100km, so close enough to that figure with a mix of city and highway driving.

12:24 Now, we don't have an official 0-100km/h time from Volkswagen for the T1,

12:28 but we've put it up against our stopwatch.

12:30 So,

12:42 now what about handling?

12:43 So, if we pop that into sport mode and we pop it through this corner, look, it's fine.

12:50 There isn't really that much body roll and the engine's responsive enough to give you

12:54 a bit of excitement behind the wheel, and if the sport mode isn't doing it for you,

12:57 you can just go through the gears with the paddle shifters, but it's pretty impressive

13:00 for just the base model.

13:01 Brands like Kia and Hyundai pride themselves on doing right and handling tuning for the

13:05 Australian market.

13:07 Volkswagen doesn't, but we find with these guys, they're generally pretty well tuned,

13:11 and this is no exception to that rule.

13:13 I mean, it's nice and soft in and around the city.

13:16 It deals well with cobblestones and speed humps and things like that,

13:19 but it also deals well out in the country with gravel roads and corrugations.

13:24 So, it really is an all-rounder that they've achieved just a good suspension tune on,

13:29 and I think that if you are loading this up with kids and the family,

13:32 you're not going to find that it's uncomfortable for long-distance drives.

13:35 If you are going to do any towing, this car comes with an 1800 kilogram braked towing

13:41 capacity, so you may be thinking to yourself, I've got to get an all-wheel drive version

13:44 of the Tiguan just in case I want to go off-road and stuff like that.

13:47 Well, don't stress too much about it because ground clearance of 191 millimetres isn't

13:52 really enough to do any sort of decent off-road driving.

13:55 It is more than some other SUVs in the segment, but it's still really not enough to justify

14:00 going to an all-wheel drive if you have the intent of doing any off-roading.

14:04 Now, let's talk about road noise.

14:05 So, the chubbier profile tyres give you better sound insulation,

14:08 especially on coarse chip surfaces, and for the most part, this feels pretty good.

14:12 It can get a little bit droney when you are on a country road with the coarse chip surface

14:17 driving at about that 100 kilometre an hour mark, but for the most part, it's pretty good.

14:20 There is a little bit of wind noise that comes in over those wing mirrors though.

14:23 Let's talk about visibility.

14:25 So, down the front there, it's good.

14:26 You have front parking sensors as well, so if you're driving in and around the city,

14:30 it's going to be easy to park up against things.

14:32 The wing mirrors are a decent size and they have the blind spot monitor built into the

14:36 wing mirror as well.

14:37 Visibility out the rear is good as well.

14:40 Those headrests don't get in the way of things.

14:41 Turning circle is 11.9 metres, which is pretty big for a front-wheel drive SUV.

14:48 So, it's going to mean that occasionally you're going to be doing three-point turns

14:51 in and around the city.

14:52 So, Volkswagen Tiguan.

14:55 Look, it's nothing revolutionary, but it is a progression from the last model.

15:01 The last model was good and it just did the job.

15:03 This takes it that one step further and brings all the latest technology,

15:06 but I don't think the base model is the one to buy.

15:09 I'd be going for the 132 TSI, which is the one above.

15:11 It's only about $3,000 extra.

15:13 It brings with it more power, it gives you all-wheel drive, and I think it's just a better

15:17 all-rounder in terms of value for money.

15:19 So, let me know in the comments section below, would you be buying a RAV4 Cruiser

15:24 Hybrid instead when you step up to that 132 TSI?

15:27 I think that could potentially be a better value proposition.

15:30 So, can't you get your feedback on that?

15:32 Would you go Tiguan or something like a RAV4?

15:35 Now, if you did enjoy this video, make sure you hit the like button, share it with your

15:38 mates, and if you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell

15:42 icon.

15:42 But, until next time, take it easy.

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