• The Tiguan is roomy for four adults and features adjustable rear seats
• Large boot is bigger than the old one and boosts practicality
• Some very clever parking features, should you want them

How much space is there?

The VW Tiguan has plenty of space up front for passengers, with a modern but not overwhelmingly obtuse dashboard and cabin design that feels purposeful and protective. In the back the sliding rear bench seat means you can juggle boot space and passenger knee room as required. There is lots of headroom throughout.

Four adults should fit quite comfortably, though five will be a squeeze and the middle rear seat isn’t as accommodating as the outer pair. Not least because there’s a transmission tunnel in the floor to contend with. Nothing unusual about that. The rear bench does slide and recline to balance boot space against passenger comfort, though.

We were able to install some quite large forward-facing child seats without too much swearing. But if you’re still at the rear-facing stage, try and take the travel system with you on the test drive and check everyone who needs to fit can while you’re at the dealership.

Boot space and storage

When powered by a conventional petrol or diesel engine, the Mk3 Tiguan has 652 litres of seats-up boot space when the rear seats in the most forward position, which is highly competitive in this class of vehicle. It’s also 37 litres larger than the Mk2 Tiguan, though that reflects the newer model’s slightly larger exterior dimensions as well.

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With the rear seats fully folded (the seat back splits 40:20:40 for versatility) carrying capacity expands to 1,650 litres. Storage in the cabin is well thought through, with lots of central cubby space and large door bins. The Tiguan eHybrid models – which use a plug-in hybrid powertrain with a large drive battery – have their boot space limited to 490 / 1,486 litres.

Is it easy to park?

Parking sensors and cameras should make the Tiguan easy to park in most situations – the reversing camera even moves with the steering wheel to show you more of where you’re pointing, which is a trick only a few other cars (such as the BMW X1) offer at the moment.

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New for this generation of Tiguan is the optional Park Assist Plus. This can not only get you in and out of regular spaces controlling the acceleration, braking and steering, it also has a memory function. When activated, this records up to 50 metres of manoeuvring which can be stored and automatically accessed the next time you arrive at the same tricky spot. Up to five different parking recordings can be made.

Add Park Assist Pro and you can even move the Tiguan in and out of tighter spaces from outside the car using an app on your phone. All fairly high-end features for a family SUV.

Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP crash safety rating
• Strongest score was for child protection
• Lots of active safety kit as standard

This generation of Tiguan has the full five-star Euro NCAP rating, having been crash-tested in 2024. Its scored strongly across the board, though its highest rating being 88% for child safety – great to see for this type of car.

While it misses out on a knee airbag, all Tiguans come fitted with a host of active safety equipment including autonomous emergency braking (AEB) that detects cars, motorcycles, cyclists and pedestrians – the latter including in reverse – speed limit assistance, lane assistance and a tiredness monitor.

It also has a system that warns you if you’re inside and about to open the door into the path of a cyclist (or a passing car). In our testing we’ve found all the kit works reasonably unobtrusively, though as with most lane-keeping systems you will feel this through the steering wheel on occasion and it does sometimes want to turn into a corner earlier than you do.

In addition, some owners have reported issues with the AEB activating too keenly, and problems with the sensors that make all this kit work appear to be disappointingly common.