Volkswagen Tiguan

Our verdict

The Volkswagen Tiguan is a nicely finished and versatile family car pointlessly dressed up as an off-roader.

Comfort

The interior is roomy and quiet, and the high eyepoint gives a good view out. But sacrifices have been made in order to give the Tiguan its good handling: the suspension and ride are a bit firm. Still out-rides the BMW X3 though.

Performance

There's easily enough performance for family tooling about, or towing. The 1.4 twincharger petrol musters lots of torque, and the 2.0 diesel is adequate in 140bhp strength, more than adequate as a 170. Finally you can have the Golf GTI engine, though don't expect GTI poke because the Tiguan is heavy.

Cool

VW isn't a proper 4x4 maker, so the Tiguan will be seen as a bit of a sham. And shams aren't cool. Not even Sham 69 were cool.

Quality

After getting a kicking about the perceived quality of some of its recent models, the Tiguan shows VW making more of an effort. The cabin and dash have a precise but robust feel and are made of decent materials.

Handling

You never forget the height and weight of a Tiguan, but you can chuck it about a bit if the mood takes you. It steers accurately and controls body movements well, and there's traction to push you through corners whatever the weather.

Practicality

Though the Tiguan isn't a hardcore off-roader it isn't entirely soft and will get you to most places if you've the right tyres. The cabin is versatile, too, with a range of seat-fold arrangements.

Running costs

The CO2 levels are better than class-competitive if you stick with manual transmission, and servicing is on a variable schedule. But there are lots of new competitors launching, so three years away they might be in glut, which will harm residuals.