2022 Volkswagen Tiguan Long Term Reports

Driving appeal and practicality are the Tiguan’s strong points. In fact, I’ve for the longest time believed that the Tiguan-segment sized SUVs are the perfect choice for Indian nuclear families. They offer enough space for five adults, enough boot space to accommodate a week-long holiday’s luggage and offer enough power to cruise at three-digit speeds for hours without any strain on the car or the driver. And while the Tiguan does all three of those things very well, it is it’s driving appeal which really makes the car shine. The responsive turbocharged engine, paired with the quick-shifting dual-clutch gearbox and direct steering mean that you really enjoy your time driving the car whether in urban traffic or the highway. If you own a Tiguan, and like driving it, one of best hacks to get the most out of the Tiguan is to put the gearbox into Sport mode, as that makes the gearbox hang on to gears longer, which means you get better throttle response. However, the result of the enthusiastic driving is that you end with higher running costs compared to some of its competition, as the fuel efficiency dips to single digits, and the petrol cost is also higher than diesel. Small compromise for the excellent driving appeal, is how I see it. If there was one improvement that I really want in the Tiguan it would have to be the sound quality of the audio system. For its price and segment, it simply doesn’t sound good enough and better sound quality would be absolute bliss.

The Tiguan has been around with me for a long time, and till now, I’ve not faced a single issue with it. In fact, from day one it has been running flawlessly and I’ve really enjoyed my time spent with it. I know I keep on yelping about it, the Tiguan is simply a fantastic vehicle to drive, and really engages the driver. Sure, the suspension is on the stiffer side, but not overtly so, and the quick dual-clutch gearbox and powerful engine really make short work of both city commutes and the highway. So, naturally, when I faced an issue with the Tiguan, it had to be triggered by an external force and that external force was a big screw lying on the road that went clean through the rubber of the tyre and caused a big enough hole that I couldn’t use my trusted air pump to fill air in the tyre and get back on my way. As someone who suffers from a slipped disc, the resultant need to change to the space saver spare tyre was enough to leave me feeling quite cross.

And, I had forgotten how difficult it is on European cars to lift the spare wheel and put in the wheel bolts into the slots built into the hubs. So, double whammy for me, and one more chore to be taken care of. Which as you might have figured out by now, I’m not very good at. However, I must comment that on social media you always hear about how VW cars have gremlins and face issues, but in the year-and-a-half that I’ve had the Tiguan, I’ve had to face zero issues with the car. No matter what the weather or driving circumstances have been, the Tiguan has been flawless and I’ve truly enjoyed the ownership experience till now.

I think there are a lot of colours that suit a car’s interior. My particular favourite is deep red, which looks great with a white or black exterior, or even a deep brown, which goes well with most colours. Now, most cars that we see on Indian roads have a beige interior. For some reason, people in India love a beige interior, with lots of chrome outside, and that’s one colour I abhor. So, the most logical choice for me is to have a car with a black interior. It’s an easy colour to maintain and keep clean – if you don’t have young children, that is. However, in summer, a car with a black interior will make you understand why many people prefer a light-coloured interior.

The cabin of the Tiguan gets considerably hot, even though I always keep the sunroof blind closed and try to park it in the shade. In fact, you can feel the heat through the seats and the general cabin temperature when you enter the cabin. Thankfully, the air-conditioning of the Tiguan works fantastically, which helps cool the cabin quickly and keeping it like that. However, I wish that the Tiguan came with ventilated seats, for it would have significantly enhanced the overall comfort level. So, the next time the Tiguan is up for an update, I hope that VW includes this feature in the car.

Having sampled a few SUVs competing directly with the Tiguan, I still believe that based on a pure driving appeal, it still remains the gold standard in its segment. Right from the butter-smooth engine, to the very impressive DSG gearbox, to the well-tuned suspension, the Tiguan remains an absolute weapon. This is even more apparent when you drive it long distance, where its poised stance and uber-bright headlights really add to the driving experience. And, on long-distance journeys, the Tiguan’s fuel efficiency also goes up, which is a boon.

Another factor that makes the Tiguan fun is that with the turbocharged engines, a power upgrade is only a new ECU map away. While my car runs absolutely stock, if you are looking for a bit more power from your Tiguan, there are a couple of good tuners around. I had the pleasure of recently driving a Tiguan with a Stage 1 map, and yes, you can immediately feel the difference. And with an increase, even under my regular driving style, the fuel efficiency number also gets a bump. And of course, I love the all-black interiors of the Tiguan, sure they’ll get hot when the summer comes around, but they are so easy to clean quickly, and that only attracts me to them even more.

Having not driven the Tiguan for the past two months – another colleague needed a bigger car – and driving it for the past two weeks has made me realise why I rate it so highly. As one would expect from a VW product, the attention to detail in the Tiguan is staggering. Right from the heft of the door, to how the switches feel, to the various soft touch surfaces, the cabin is a delight. Sure, the all-black interiors might be too sombre for some customers, but they work for me, primarily because they’re so easy to keep clean. What I do genuinely miss though, are a set of ventilated seats, as in the coming summer, that black leather is going to get very hot, very fast.

But, even more than the cabin, it’s the driving experience which really shines with the Tiguan. The 2.0-litre engine is sublime, and the DSG gearbox functions flawlessly. Pair that with a well-set suspension, and the Tiguan is brilliant to drive. However, if there is something lacking on my part with the Tiguan, is that the paint has a lot of swirl marks now, and I think this month, my goal is to get those fixed and get the Tiguan gleaming again.

If there is one aspect of the Tiguan that really makes me want to drive it every day, it’s just how the whole combination of the engine, gearbox, platform and suspension work as one entity. Now, most cars we drive, even today, have one or two aspects of their aforementioned component set that dominates the whole experience to a certain degree. For instance, in certain cars, the engine will dominate the whole experience with its power and torque, while in others, it’s the ride quality and suspension tuning that would be dominant. And in yet other cases, the engine will simply be overshadowed by other aspects of the car because of the former’s lack of power.

But after my extended experience with the Tiguan, I can firmly say that the flagship SUV from the VW range simply doesn’t have a single component that dominates the whole driving experience. In fact, it is the fluidity with which the Tiguan drives and tackles our roads that makes it so impressive. The engine’s power, throttle response, the DSG gearbox – the shifts in Sport mode are much faster and better suited to my driving style – the steering, and the way the suspension deals with broken roads, everything comes together to make it an absolute delight to drive, as was proven on a recent highway drive that I did.

Of course, my enthusiastic driving style does have its shortfalls. With the Tiguan having clocked just over 10,000kms, it seems that the front brake pads are in need of replacement. So, that’s task number one for this month, and I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Having driven a motley crew of cars for the past few months, I’m actually rather glad to be back driving the Tiguan once again. For someone like me who relies on a single car to do my daily commute and highway trips, the Tiguan offers the best of both worlds. One, it has more than enough space for my luggage even if I’m travelling for a week or longer, and two, while inside cities, it is compact enough to park anywhere. What also helps here is the standard 4Motion all-wheel drive and driving modes, which have proved quite useful in adverse weather and light bits of off-roading that I’ve indulged in. Pair this with the all-black interiors – which I absolutely love – and the super-bright LED headlamps, and the Tiguan really does serve all my purposes.

As I’d mentioned before, I’m happy that the ride quality of the new Tiguan is an upgrade over the AllSpace and tackles bad roads admirably. But it is the solid dynamics of the Tiguan that impress me even further, particularly on long highway runs, where the Tiguan sits at three-digit speeds without a fuss, and here the refinement of the Tiguan also shines through. I do think though that the sound quality of the Tiguan’s audio system could be better, and it lacks a bit of bottom end that cars with standard-fit subwoofers provide. The other thing that pinches is related to the price of petrol being around the 100-rupee (or more!) mark, which means journeys in the Tiguan are hardly ever pocket friendly. Part of the blame here (a large part, actually) has to go to my heavy right foot, which makes me easily the most inefficient driver in the whole of the autoX team. This means that my monthly petrol bill currently is at record levels.

On the other hand, the petrol engine loves to rev, and I prefer to leave the gearbox in Sport mode as the standard mode is a bit slow to kickdown, and the Tiguan is a delight to drive, whether in the city or on the highway. The steering is direct, the visibility with the large glasshouse and the seats comfortable enough for long journeys. I guess then, the running cost is a small price to pay for a class-leading driving experience.

To say that I’m quite familiar with the Tiguan would be quite an understatement. In the past three years, I’ve spent considerable time with three different variations of the Tiguan, so much so that I’ve been able to identify particular differences between the three variants of the car.

The first was the Indian launch edition of the Tiguan, which featured a 2.0-litre diesel engine – it had an excellent torque output and made the Tiguan very affordable as a daily driver. The next variant was a mild facelift, with upgrades to the interior and the exterior, but it drove similarly to the earlier version. The first major change was the AllSpace, as VW Group decided to sell only petrol-powered cars in India. The new 2.0-litre turbo petrol was more refined, but it made the running costs of the car shoot up, for the price of petrol had begun to rise dramatically. Of course, I also found the suspension of the AllSpace a tad too stiff for our roads, which remained a concern.

Now, the latest variant of the Tiguan – which we drove earlier this year – comes with a lot more updates compared to the AllSpace. For one, the shorter wheelbase makes a comeback, and the third row of seating is gone – the Tiguan has once again become a five-seater. The engine is the same 2.0-litre turbo petrol unit but the reduced weight of its smaller body means that it performs much better here and offers better fuel efficiency too. In fact, I’ve been doing some long-distance driving in the Tiguan, and I must say that it’s brilliantly set up for munching miles. The suspension is stiff but not enough to break your back, and the high-speed stability is simply exemplary.

One of my favourite things in the new Tiguan, however, are the new LED matrix headlights, which VW refers to as IQ.LIGHT. Now, you may have heard a lot about LED headlights, but the ones on the Tiguan are some of the best that I’ve sampled in recent times – they really do light up the road, making night-time driving a breeze. However, while I love its all-black interior, I do miss the ventilated seats of its smaller sibling – the Taigun.

My first impressions of the Tiguan are indeed very positive. But how will it fare in the long term? Well, you will find out, as I will continue to detail my experience of driving the latest Tiguan for the next few months.

Read more:

2022 Volkswagen Tiguan Review: First Drive

Volkswagen Tiguan facelift: All you need to know