New Volkswagen Tiguan SUV preview

The Honda CR-V has been ruling the roost in the Rs 20 lakh SUV segment for the last five years. Although there are other SUVs and soft-roaders from various manufacturers, so far none have been able to give the CR-V a run for its money.

I had the opportunity to test the Volkswagen Tiguan in Europe. It looks like a scaled down version of the Touareg. At first glance, it appears more compact than it really is. The Tiguan’s cabin is typical Volkswagen with very high levels of quality courtesy the liberal use of soft touch plastics on the facia and the classy ice blue instrumentation. The leather upholstery gives the car a rich feel.

The Tiguan comes well equipped. For one, both the front seats are fully adjustable including the steering which can be adjusted for rake and reach giving you a comfortable driving position. The seats offer excellent comfort and good side support during cornering as well. Those seated at the back have no reason to complain either as there is tons of head and leg room. The rear seat bench splits 60:40. It also slides forward or to the rear by upto 16cm.

The TSI engine in the Tiguan is a revelation. Last month, I tested the same engine in the Jetta which left me stunned by its performance. Using both methods of forced induction of turbo charging and supercharging, it not only achieves incredible/maximum power and torque outputs but also has no lag – something that is usually synonymous with turbo charged engines. For a relatively small !.4-litre engine, Volkswagen has managed to eke out 150PS at 5800rpm and 240Nm of torque from 1750rpm to 4000rpm.

The 1.4 TSI engine is coupled with a six­ speed manual transmission. Power goes to all four wheels via Volkswagen’s 4Motion permanent all-wheel drive system. Normally 90 percent of torque is delivered to the front wheels, but nearly 100 percent of torque can be sent to the rear wheels if necessary. The 4Motion system makes use of an electro-hydraulic Haldex clutch integrated into the rear axle. As soon as the system detects a speed difference between the front and rear axles, two annular piston pumps are activated. They build up pressure between the multi plate clutch and join the two axles together. The front suspension rides on MacPherson strut front suspension mounted on a one piece aluminum sub frame at the rear. It is a multilink setup similar to the one used on the Passat 4Motion. This particular car was fitted with 215/65-16 inch tyres.

Driving the Tiguan gave me a true insight to Volkswagen’s modern technology. Taking this car out for a drive in Portugal really enlightened me about its performance and handling characteristics. I drove the car around the same mountain section where we had driven the Scirocco on the previous day. On the motorway, on my way to the mountain, the speedo was easily reading anything between 165km/h and 170km/h with a lot in hand. The TSi engine delivers oodles of power and torque right from I200rpm to 1400rpm to all the way upto its red line at 6500rpm. The engine is mated to a manual six-speed gearbox which in turn puts the power on the ground via Volkswagen’s 4Motion permanent all-wheel drive system. The six­ speed ‘box is a gem with a very smooth and positive short through/throw shift making gearshifts a real delight.

The handling of the Tiguan is something of a revelation. It can easily make most saloons feel inadequate especially on the mountain section where she has hardly any body roll and tons of grip from the all-wheel drive system. I did not have the opportunity to go off-roading but it will be capable of doing better than what most soft roaders can.

The refinement of this SUV is of the highest order giving it a feel of a car. When VW launch the Tiguan in India later this year, it will sport a 2-litre turbo TDI engineThe Tiguan will definitely take the fight to Honda’s CR-V.