While the original Volkswagen Tiguan seemingly appeared out of nowhere back in 2007, it fast became a favourite Euro option for those looking for a medium SUV with some style. In fact, it’s Volkswagen New Zealand’s biggest selling model.
We headed to Auckland to check the refreshed model out, and to see if VW will continue its trend on sales of the popular Tiguan.
TIGUAN – Background
With 7.6 million units sold, it’s fair to say the Tiguan is a huge model for Volkswagen. Its name comes from a competition where one of the entries suggested the company use a mix of the German words Tiger (“tiger”) and Leguan (“iguana”). And so the Tiguan was born. In fact, the latest generation Tiguan has a small graphic of a tiger on one of the rear doors, and an iguana on the other. It’s a nice touch to history.
With the medium SUV segment still sitting on 40% of all passenger car sales in the New Zealand market, VW expects that the new Tiguan will account for 1 in 3 VWs sold new here next year – this figure is much higher than any other country. European Motor Distributors, the company that sells the model here, say that the Tiguan is the biggest selling model across all the brands they sell.
This means that VW needs to get the new Tiguan right to make sure it doesn’t alienate any buyers or those wanting to upgrade.
2024 VW Tiguan – Pricing Specifications
- Tiguan Life $54,490
- Tiguan R-Line $61,490
- Tiguan R-Line AWD $79,490
These prices are around $3k more than the outgoing Tiguan.
While the Life and R-Line models are available now, the R-Line AWD will not arrive until around November, while the Tiguan R will come at a later date.
The Life and R-Line are mechanically identical, so only separated by features. Both the Life and R-Line are front-wheel drive, and the floorpan for the car is the same as the previous generation.
VW are keen to point out that the Life model is far from a base version, and has a long standard equipment list, as well as nearly every safety feature being standard across the range.
That new emphasis on safety brings some things new to the Tiguan, while others are upgrades of the current safety feature. For example, Forward Collision Assist now detects pedestrians and cyclists while the Rear Cross Traffic Alert has been upgraded.
New is a centre airbag, Front Cross Traffic Alert, Oncoming Vehicle Braking (at junctions), and traffic sign recognition. All the safety improvements in the new car means it achieves a 5-star ANCAP safety rating.
Also standard in the new Tiguan is Parking Assistant Plus; that means the new model can not only do the steering, but will also control the accelerator, brake and gears. Just sit back and let the car park itself.
2024 VW Tiguan – Features
The new model now has a voice assistant called Ida. You can use her to do many tasks such as changing air conditioning settings or changing stations on the radio. We’ll cover Ida in full when we get a model to review.
The centre screen is now 12.9” in both the Life and R-Line models, while the R-Line AWD gets a 15” screen. The operation and user interface of the two screens is exactly the same, only the screen size changes.
There’s also ambient lighting, a Driving Experience Controller, two Qi wireless charging pads, wired or wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
The Life mode is fitted with cloth seats and comes with 17” alloy wheels. Moving up to the R-Line, it adds a massaging driver’s seat, ‘ArtVelours’ upholstery, an illuminated grille strip, front fog lights, cornering lights, R-Line exterior trim features, and 18” alloy wheels, among other changes.
The R-Line AWD gets adaptive LED headlights, 19” alloy wheels, a heads-up display leather seats, front seats that are electrically adjusted as well as cooled and heated, and also have a massaging function.
One other major change for all new Tiguan models is a move back to a steering wheel with real buttons (i.e. not haptic). We applaud VW for listening to buyers and fixing this issue, and hope it continues across all models.
Both base models use a 1.4-litre, 4-cylinder turbo-petrol carried over from the previous generation of Tiguan. It outputs 11kW of power and 250Nm of torque, and needs 95-octane fuel as does the 2.0-litre engine in the R-Line AWD. Fuel economy for these two models is listed at 8.5L/100km, while the AWD model is not stated as yet.
Both the Life and R-Line are fitted with a 7-speed DSG automatic transmission, while the AWD model has an 8-speed automatic tranmission. A big change for the new model is move to a column stalk to change goes, so the centre-console mounted lever is no longer.
The Tiguan R-Line AWD has a 2.0-litre, turbocharged engine that outputs 198kW of power and 400Nm of torque – in fact, that’s the same amount of torque that the outgoing Tiguan R manages. The engine powering the new Tiguan R-Line AWD is basically lifted from the Golf GTi. This model is fitted with a torque splitter, has sports suspension, and reprogrammed steering compared to two base models.
There is no hybrid assist in the new Tiguan, but VW NZ are working towards bringing in a plug-in hybrid or a mild hybrid at some stage.
Tow ratings are listed at 1,800kg for the Life and R-Line, and 2,300kg for the AWD model.
2024 VW Tiguan – Packages
If you purchase an R-Line, you get the option to buy the $6,000 Touring Package. This adds the same leather electric seats as the AWD model, a heated steering wheel, a panoramic sunroof, and a 700-watt Harman Kardon sound system.
The only other package is a ‘Black Package’ for the R-Line AWD; this changes the wheels to 20” black alloys, and there is gloss black trim fitted to the exterior of the car.
2024 VW Tiguan – Drive impressions
On seeing the new Tiguan, it looks reasonably larger than the last generation, but is apparently only slightly longer and taller.
I jumped into the back seat of an R-Line with the Touring Package, to see what it’s like for passengers. There is a good amount of legroom back there, and headroom is quite generous too.
The leather seats are particularly nice, although I’m unsure about the $6,000 value of the Touring package. But that huge panoramic sunroof does let in a lot of light, and the two sitting in the front are making use of the massaging seats.
As always, I appreciate that the door pockets are lined in felt, meaning any drink bottles don’t rattle about in there. It’s such a simple thing, and yet so effective.
Ride quality is good and not much different to the previous Tiguan, but since they are on the same floorpan that’s not a surprise. I don’t remember the transmission hump being quite so high, it really sucks up a lot of space for your middle-seat passenger.
Moving to the front seat, that new infotainment system is excellent; the resolution is very good, and you can customise the home page options as well as the quick access buttons at the top of the screen.
The Driving Experience Controller is a little gimmicky but seems to have some value. It’s right where a drive selector would be, and allows you to adjust audio volume or to change your “Drive Modes”. These aren’t actual drive modes as we’d think them to be, but instead change things like the volume profile, cluster design, and ambient lighting to match the Drive Mode you have selected. You get to pick from Lounge, Joy, Minimal, Me, Energetic – or turn it off altogether.
On driving the R-Line, not surprisingly, it feels very similar to the outgoing model. There is some engine noise, but it sounds pretty nice, with that ‘tuned Euro motor’ vibe to it. Driving the car is a civilised affair, and undramatic.
To go back to the airport, we jumped into the Life model, the cheapest in the Tiguan range. As described by Volkswagen, it certainly does not feel like a base model, with many of the features of the R-Line evident. The only real indicator is the cloth seats, which is fine by me. I know most New Zealand buyers don’t want a ‘base’ model, but I wonder if the Tiguan Life will end up being the sweet spot in the range. You really need to think hard if you want to spend an extra $7,000 to go to the R-Line.
With the day over, the Tiguan impresses. It drives beautifully, is refined and quiet, and yet not so far from the previous generation that it will scare off buyers. I expect Volkswagen New Zealand is going to be selling a lot of this model.
We will be reviewing the new Tiguan soon, and you can read DriveLife’s review of the previous generation of Tiguan R on this link.
For more information on the new VW Tiguan, check out VW New Zealand’s website.
