• Good claimed fuel economy across the range
• Petrol engines need working hard though
• Diesels are the economy heroes of the line-up

How much is it going to cost to run?

The Volkswagen Tiguan has been developed over the years to minimise running costs. Turbocharging across the board aims to improve power and efficiency from its range of petrol and diesel engines, delivering low running costs.

MPG and CO2

The best blend of performance and fuel economy comes from the 150hp 2.0-litre diesel with front-wheel drive with official economy getting near 60mpg. DSG (automatic) models, with their longer top gear ratios, will be better cruisers, but there’s very little difference in overall economy between automatic and manual models.

In our testing of a 150hp 2.0TDI with four-wheel drive we averaged an impressive 49mpg on two sets of long motorway journeys. Even so, you’ll find plenty of SUVs out there with lower CO2 emissions and the promise of even better economy.

Opting for four-wheel drive models will see fuel economy reduce somewhat, though the Tiguan disconnects the rear wheels from the drivetrain under light loads so the impact isn’t as hefty as it would be on vehicles with a full-time 4WD system. Although this system is impressive, our test journeys would have yielded close to 60mpg without the four-wheel drive gubbins. Makes you wonder whether you really need four-wheel drive.

Those looking for good economy need not discount the petrol versions of the VW Tiguan, though. Our preferred 1.5 TSI Evo model with 150hp returns an impressive figure considering it’s powering a heavy SUV. We averaged a reasonable 38.9mpg during our time of testing in a pre-facelift Tiguan Match.

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The likely fuel economy champion will be the eHybrid, which claims sub-50g/km CO2 emissions and mpg ratings in the hundreds. However, you’ll need to charge up regularly and mainly run on electricity alone to get near the official figures

During our time with the Tiguan R, we saw mpg figures in the low-to-mid twenties on spirited drives, when we made full use of the performance. This did improve when settling down to motorway cruising speeds towards 30mpg, while switching to Comfort mode allows the R to coast for short periods of time and help conserve a little more fuel as well. That’s not much worse than the regular 2.0-litre petrol.

You can find out what owners have found the VW Tiguan to be like to live with in the Parkers owners reviews.

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