I usually faff about quite a bit before I get into the details of reviewing a car. I tell a personal story or an incident that happened in the car I was reviewing. This time though, I’m jumping straight into it. In fact, I’m going to go so far as saying that, in the category, the Volkswagen Tiguan is the best car you can get. Both in terms of value for money and the features available. Without a shadow of doubt.
I drove the 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan Sport 2.0 R-Line for almost a week and, while it’s not a car that I would consider (neither am I its target market), I found myself most pleased with it. Like a model student during exam week, it just worked. Under the hood is a 2.0L turbocharged engine putting out a respectable 220bhp. The regular drive mode felt a bit soft and lazy, but put it into sport mode and instantly there’s a significant increase in throttle response and gearing.
On the outside, this car looks better than a) its previous iterations and b) its competitors. It’s no longer a subjective opinion – it’s a good looking car and even someone like me, a sucker for performance cars and design, would look back and say “yep, that’s a good looking car.”
On the inside, you’re greeted with a familiar Volkswagen design and feel. Again, everything just works – the media and Bluetooth connectivity were flawless and both the touchscreen control panel’s layout and the steering wheel controls were intuitive enough for me to not fumble around for more than 30 minutes in the beginning.
The car’s peppered with technology that makes your experience better. Things like Area View when you park, or the foot-under-the-boot opening & timed/automatic closing of the boot make it an easy car to live with. As a man who refuses to do two trips from the car to the house when grabbing the groceries, the fact that I can time the boot to close automatically once my hands are full and I’m walking away, is glorious.
One minor complaint I had was with the seats in the R-Line trim – they felt narrow. It felt like the seats cut out at my shoulders and offered little lumbar support, so on a turn (and if you’re above average height) you might feel like you’re sliding out of our seat. Another thing I thought was decidedly average was the HUD – it worked flawlessly but I feel like Volkswagen could have made both the actual glass look better and increase the functionality in the HUD.
But all of that is ignorable. What’s funny is, I really tried to be critical of the 2017 Tiguan that I was given, I really did. Hence the previous paragraph about how the seats were bothering me and how the HUD was not the best one I’ve ever seen. But even that was me just trying REALLY hard. It just continuously kept disappointing me by being GREAT at whatever it was trying to do.
My first near-perfect review and it’s for a crossover SUV. Who’d’ve thunked?
