Volkswagen Tiguan Review

Volkswagen Tiguan

The Escape retains the under-seat drawers, the touch-screen, audio system, folding front sea and tables, front fogs and tyre monitor but, as befits its extra abilities, also has the off-road button, functionality and a compass. Prices for the Escape are either £22,050 or £23,300.

The test vehicle was the higher priced version and had quite a few of the many optional extras on board; such as the DVD-based Satellite-Navigation that comes bundled with a Dynaudio sound system and rear-view camera, via the touch-screen for £2,175. The leather-clad, multifunctional steering wheel adds £210, the leather upholstery with heated front seats and washer jets for the headlights a further £1,450, the electric, panoramic sunroof is well worth the extra £795 and the Park Assist at £450 all serve to illustrate that it is easy to go overboard with the non-essentials.

Park Assist is one of those clever, but hopefully, unnecessary gizmos that does the job of parallel parking for you and is similar to the Toyota version. The driver simply uses the indicator to dictate which side of the road they wish to park and at speeds of up to 18mph; the system will let you know when a space of 1.5metres more than the length of the car is available. It then tells you when to stop before beginning the manoeuvre and plots the best path, when reverse is selected. All the driver has to do is cover the brake while the car steers itself into the gap. It is a scary, unnatural sensation, putting your trust in technology and letting go of the steering wheel but it does work.

The interior of the test car was quite sombre save for a few metallic highlights, the seats dashboard and carpets are all black, while above the window line is a light grey. Other colours are available: black and latte for the seats in the SE and Escape or black and cornsilk beige to go with the leather upholstery of the same colour.

The rear outer seats are well contoured as are the front seats, in the Escape. They have a 60:40 split and fold almost flat. Individually, they can be reclined and moved fore and aft to increase the luggage space from a minimum of 395-litres, which rises to a maximum of 1,510-litres with them folded. When the centre seat is not in use it doubles as an armrest with cup-holders and hides a ski-flap.

When the Tiguan was launched, there were only two engine choices: a 1.4TSI petrol engine producing 150PS or a 2.0TDI diesel producing 140PS. The list will increase shortly with the introduction of a higher output 2.0TDI 170PS and a 2.0-litre TSI with two outputs of 170- and 200PS.

Volkswagen Tiguan