2018 Volkswagen Tiguan AWD Review

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan AWD Review - Driving new automobiles before they formally take place sale commonly calls for asterisks. Choice bundles and pricing typically aren't completed, EPA fuel-economy numbers might not have been launched. The please notes for our very first encounter with the 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan, on the other hand, review like those for fact court TELEVISION, where everything's real, other than the names, locations, and occasions have actually been transformed. To that point, the model European-spec Tiguan we drove on icy roads and also lakes in northern Sweden is essentially the like the American-spec version coming stateside in summertime 2018, just the wheelbase, engine, transmission, and also suspension will certainly be different.


Americans will be supplied their Tiguans with only the longer of two wheelbases, although our drive was restricted to the shorter European variation with 4MOTION all-wheel drive. Its seven-speed dual-clutch transmission as well as turbocharged four-cylinder engine (and flexible digital dampers) likewise will certainly remain on the Continent; our Tiguan will use a more recent variation of Volkswagen's EA888 turbo 4 overcoming an eight-speed torque-converter automatic transmission. (Our specification panel for this story reflects the version we anticipate to see in the States.) To paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi, this is not the Tiguan you're seeking. Still, our drive offered a helpful sneak peek.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan AWD Review

A Larger, Much more Budget-friendly, Taller Golf
Before transforming a wheel when driving of Arvidsjaur, it's apparent Volkswagen strove to address the worn out Tiguan's characteristics, namely cramped indoor measurements and also a segment-topping price tag. Those bad marks set you back Tiguan sales to ever-improving sector stalwarts such as the Honda CR-V, Ford Breaking away, and also Toyota RAV4. The new one is larger in every means, and also we anticipate it to be competitive price-wise, beginning around $23,000.



2018 Volkswagen Tiguan AWD - Helping to cut costs is VW's modular MQB car architecture, which likewise sits underneath the Golf and also Audi's A3. Enhanced product packaging manages charitable indoor room front and also back also in the short-wheelbase version, which, compared to the outgoing Tiguan, has three additional inches between the wheels and a body 1.2 inches wider and 2.4 inches longer. (The United States version will have an extra 4.3 inches or so of wheelbase and also, normally, will certainly be much longer.) The returns are satisfying; Volkswagen claims rear-seat travelers have an additional 1.1 inches of knee space, but that's underselling points massively. A nicely positioned lower pillow, congeries of headroom and legroom, a USB port and a 12-volt power electrical outlet, as well as generously sized back home windows make the back seat a ventilated, pleasurable location. A third-row seat option will likewise be readily available for Americans.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan AWD Review

Useful touches in the enlarged cargo hold consist of easy-to-reach launch levers for folding down the back seats, a multi-position cargo flooring, and 12-volt and house power outlets. The driver as well as front guest, too, have accessibility to a USB port, a 12-volt plug, as well as much more usefully designed containers and stowage cubbies than before. The dash adheres to Volkswagen's downplayed, angular design values, and every little thing is set up from top quality rubbers as well as plastics. It isn't yet understood whether the European Tiguan's 12.3-inch TFT gauge-cluster display will be offered to Americans, however we absolutely won't be offered that variation's head-up screen. It's feasible we will obtain a big, 9.2-inch center-stack infomercial screen with motion control, although it likely will be limited to one of the most expensive trims.


What We Will certainly See
From behind the wheel, the Tiguan's reasonably low cowl and also generous glass location supply regulating visibility in any instructions. The MQB bones present a stiff-feeling structure, and there's little sound breach from the suspension and also tires, even over firm packed-snow roadways. VW asserts the brand-new Tiguan has to do with 110 pounds lighter, and also it drives this way. But our carrying out impressions are stunted by the non-finalized (yet light as well as exact) variable-ratio electric power steering, the comfortable adaptive suspension we won't obtain, and having actually driven not one mile on paved roads.


Most our drive was rather spent discovering the subtleties of the Tiguan's 4MOTION all-wheel drive, which will certainly pertain to America. (Front-wheel drive will be basic.) The Haldex system resembles the one in the 292-hp Golf R, with a clutch pack interacting the rear axle when essential. The torque split front-to-rear isn't really repaired, as well as much as One Hundred Percent of engine torque can be sent to the front or rear axles as needed. New is a 4MOTION Active Control knob on the center console that patterns with four drive modes (snow, paved roads, off-road forays, and driver-programmed individualized off-road setups), altering the habits of not only the 4MOTION drivetrain, yet additionally the transmission, steering, throttle mapping, stability-control system, and a cornucopia of acronym-intensive driver-assist functions.

Frozen Time
A groomed frozen lake offered the perfect chance to contrast the distinctions among drive modes, otherwise the full envelope of their abilities. Snow mode held greater gears while additionally braking specific wheels to stabilize the automobile or disperse engine torque fore-and-aft or side-to-side to maintain the limo driver's designated course on unsafe contours. It dutifully maintained the Tiguan on course also at higher-than-recommended speeds, although genuinely ham-fisted driving triggered stability control to scrub speed with vitality.

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