Volkswagen Tiguan (2016 - 2024) 2.0 TDi BMT (150bhp) 4Motion SE Nav 5d Owner Review

Having received my new Tiguan only 2 weeks ago, this is a report of my first impressions. The car drives well, though at high speed my old Passat feels more stable: I presume this is an unavoidable consequence of the Tiguan being a higher 4-wheel-drive car, which comes with its own advantages. The car is quite roomy even in the back as the back seats can be adjusted to increase legroom at the expense of a smaller boot. I just love some of theTiguan safety features such as adaptive cruise control, LED headlights with dynamic Light Assist , and the side scan that alerts me about cars about to overtake or on my side. I was very keen on the lane assist as well, and it can be useful, though I noticed today the car swerved slightly of its own volition without good reason (?misread lane lines). Lane assist is actually teaching me good driving manners: if you overtake in a 4 lane road, the car may offer some resistance to my attempt to move back to the left-hand lane unless I have signalled my intention. My choice of models was limited: I would have wanted the SEL or R-line, but both always have a panoramic sunroof. I hate sunroofs because they reduce the internal height for the passengers, make the car less safe and are prone to leaks (based on my past experience and car users reports). Thus I had to settle for the SE Nav and had to pay significantly more for optionals which would have been available as standards in the higher models. My greatest disappointment has been the front ergoComfort seats for which I paid an additional £ 550. They are meant to have “electric 14-way adjustments”, but actually the only electric adjustment is for the lumbar support, all the other adjustments are manual. The brochure is somewhat misleading on this. The seats are not terribly comfortable either: they are very firm and the driver’s seat has a hard plastic edge at the front, whenever I pull my legs back I hit and then rest my legs against a hard plastic edge. The standard seats of my old VW Passat are much more comfortable and have a soft cushioned front edge.