Re: Volkswagen Tiguan : Official Review Hello Everyone,
After going through many forums and threads I felt there is a paucity of information on VW Tiguan. It is understandable though as the car in itself sells very less in India even though it is the sixth most selling car globally.
To set the stage, I am one of the few Indians who took the plunge and bought the Tiguan. To say the least, I am extremely impressed by the car and what it has to offer. I did check the car out when it was launched in India during mid 2017. It didn't impress me then as the information that was floating around at that moment was that it was pricey (which it is) and it has a ground clearance of 149 mm. I had a Skoda Rapid back then and that had a ground clearance of 167 mm. I was just amazed at the fact that how can an SUV have such low ground clearance and still survive on Indian roads. Unfortunately the Sales Adviser in the dealership I visited in Bangalore did not have any clue and he was adamant that it was 149 mm and the Vento which was parked next to it had 165 mm.
In the meantime I was impressed by Jeep Compass for it's looks and heard good things about the car from the people who bought it plus had some good reviews in the forums. Somehow, I was not convinced with almost white interiors it had and was 100% sure that maintaining it would be a herculean task. Moreover, the Jeep was not as spacious nor as luxurious as the Tiguan. It was priced almost right though. I am not fascinated by the idea of driving the butch SUVs like the Fortuner or the Endeavor or any other seven seater as most of them had the seven seats for the sake of having it and it felt too big to take around in Bangalore city with non existent parking and the famous traffic. I did check the Kodiaq too. Felt it was more towards the luxury side than being sportier.
Tiguan, Tuscon and to some extent Compass fit the bill in terms of size and then I had the option of the badge cars (Q3, X1 and GLA). Of the badge ones, I liked the X1. During Oct-Nov of 2018 I decided to narrow down my choices and decided that Tuscon, Compass, Q3 and GLA had to drop out from my list. Tuscon did not feel much different in the inside from a Creta and felt that it didn't justify the price, Compass did not have the automatic in Diesel and the white interiors was a turn off, Q3 and GLA did not offer anything more than X1 would do. So the shortlist was Tiguan and X1.
In the meantime I had figured out Tiguan had close to 190 mm Ground Clearance and it is unlikely to scrape the underbelly anywhere unless you take it to the rocks. Took the test drive of X1, was impressed with the drive and luxury. Somehow didn't feel that I was sitting in a SUV as it was more car like to sit. Test drove the Tiguan and felt it was close to X1 in terms of the driving pleasure, maybe around 90% and was more spacious, more frugal, more SUV like and easier on the pocket with all the year end offers and the exchange offer for my Rapid included, it just turned out to be a very sweet deal.
The car on the whole is excellent. I have taken it to almost everywhere including some mild off roading. It drives like a car on the high ways and ghats. Due to the enhanced ground clearance I have no issues on bad roads or non existent roads. I honestly didn't feel that I need more power. Yes, there is an inherent DSG lag which, if you can ignore, then there is no reason to complain about the 141 BHP power figure. I have tried 0-100 tests and the fastest I could do is around 8.7 secs and the slowest was around 10.7 seconds. The fastest being on a mild incline downwards and the slowest being on a mild incline upwards. On a flat surface, I could do 0-100 at around 9.8 seconds. The highest fuel efficiency I got was 20 KMPL with my speed not crossing 110 KMPH anytime. In Bangalore city with peak hour driving I get around 11 KMPL consistently.
I have crossed 16 K KMs in about 10 months. Had my first paid service last month. The bill was around 18.5 K INR. Nothing too expensive if we consider that the service is done at 15 K KMs and Volkswagen changed all the filters including the fuel filter. One issue though was that my rear brake pads were almost worn out. I would say it had another 2 K KMs left. I decided to change it during service which cost another 5.8 K including service charge. I would say that it is a bit expensive. Thinking of sourcing and fixing the brake pads myself next time.
Here are some pictures: |