A Ride On The Wild Side | Men's Health - The World's Largest Men's Magazine

A Ride On The Wild Side

You’ll be spoilt for choice when it comes to compact SUVs (Sports Utility Vehicles) these days. In the past, it was a simple toss-up between the Toyota RAV4 and the Honda CR-V. Now, the variety is overwhelming, and it doesn’t help that the Volkswagen Tiguan has just hit the market.

The Tiguan is Volkswagen’s first compact SUV model and baby brother to the larger and more luxurious Touareg. In terms of its exterior, the Tiguan displays a mix of styling cues from the Touareg and the Volkswagen Golf. It’s an SUV that offers a nice blend of style and ruggedness.

Inside, the build quality is top-notch. The cabin offers many practical utility touches, such as the aircraft-style foldaway tabletops for rear passengers as well as a wide array of storage space. A thoughtful feature is that the rear seats can slide forwards and backwards to vary load space and rear legroom.

Under the Tiguan’s hood is a 2-litre turbocharged motor that churns out a healthy
200bhp. The direct injection four-cylinder unit is shared with the Golf GTI and a host of other Volkswagen and Audi models. As you’d expect from such a motor, performance is smooth and linear at all engine speeds. Due to its heavier weight, the Tiguan isn’t as quick as a GTI off the line, but it is still good enough for a 0-100km/h time of 8.5 seconds, making it extremely competitive compared to the likes of the BMW X3 and L.

With its basic suspension design based on the Golf, the Tiguan is extremely competent when it comes to road holding. (This, despite the fact that it is heavier and much taller than the Golf.) The steering feels accurate and has a nice weight to it, while body control when cornering is highly commendable – the suspension does a great job of containing body roll.

For off-road duties, the Tiguan features Volkswagen’s 4Motion all-wheel drive system. Another cool feature is the Tiguan’s optional Park Assist system. Using a myriad of sensors, the Tiguan can search for a parking lot and parallel park on its own with the mere push of a button.

From Nov 2008 issue of Men's Health Singapore