2013 VW Tiguan: the Wedding Road Trip Review

"Jagvar" (Jagvar) 10/25/2013 at 11:13 • Filed to: Reviews

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When my friends asked me to be a groomsman in their wedding, I was delighted. The venue—a bespoke country club in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania—was three hours from Virginia, but what to drive? The old Galant doesn’t really behave on road trips anymore. And the Phaeton guzzles premium unleaded so heartily that you can watch the needle move. So when I was offered a 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan for the weekend, I naturally took it.

Disclaimer: Yes, I work for Volkswagen. Yes, I may be a tad biased. Yes, my words are entirely my own, and no, I am in no way speaking for VW. Also, no, I can't get you a Scirocco, so quit asking.

My noble steed for this journey was a fully-loaded Tiguan SEL 4Motion—top-of-the-line for 2013. A range-topping Tiguan R-Line arrives for 2014, and adds 19-inch wheels and a body kit to the SEL.

The SEL has plenty of goodies of its own. A power tilting/sliding panoramic sunroof allows open-air driving for all passengers. Eighteen-inch alloy wheels are available in both 5-spoke and 9-spoke designs, though the 5-spokes on mine lent a much sportier appearance to the little crossover. The leather seats were surprisingly supple and supportive, though drivers with larger builds may find them somewhat narrow. The front seats also heat up fast when you want them to; I was quite toasty in under two minutes.

Sliding sunroofs and heated seats are all well and good, but how does it perform? "It drives like a GTI!" said one of my slightly-overzealous coworkers as I took the keys. Well, fly like a GTI it does not, but it does drive very much like a Jetta. It corners tightly, and brakes are responsive to the point of being sensitive. The slightest pressure from my big toe was all I needed to coast to a smooth stop.

If you're planning to drag-race an ML63 or an SQ5 in a Tiguan, prepare to be disappointed. But the 2.0T, 200 hp TSI engine propels the 3,400-pound Tiguan quite swiftly (and smoothly, thanks to the 6-speed automatic transmission). Unexpected, intermittent rain in Delaware provided a great opportunity to test the 4Motion all-wheel-drive on slick pavement, and the wheels stayed planted and grippy.

My fully-loaded Tiguan came with touchscreen navigation and an 8-speaker Dynaudio sound system. I may have jammed to De La Soul at max volume to test it out—and it may have come in clean and clear as a bell. The touchscreen nav was intuitive and easy to follow...when it worked properly. It was easily confounded by street names that included directions (for example, accepting "Broad Street," but not "West Broad Street" or "W. Broad Street." The auto-fill function was also dubious. When I wanted to get to the Holiday Inn, it wanted to take me to a liquor store 150 miles away (go home Tiguan, you're drunk). It's a good thing I don't just blindly follow directions, or I could have ended up in New Jersey.

For the purposes of my weekend excursion, the Tiguan provided more than enough space for my suitcase, tux, and camera bag. But cargo room is admittedly the Tiguan's Achilles heel. With the rear seats in place, the Tiguan offers 16.1 cubic feet of cargo room—well short of the space offered by major competitors. Singles and couples will likely find capacity to be more than adequate, but families set on a Volkswagen would be wise to look at the Jetta SportWagen. Not only does the wagon offer 32.8 cubic feet of cargo room, but it's available with a diesel (and what's more Jalop than a diesel wagon?).

The Tiguan is firmly middle-of-the-road for fuel economy in its class—not the best, but by no means worst. The EPA estimates 21/26 MPG, and I found I averaged around 23 MPG during the weekend; I filled up once during my 330-mile round-trip journey. It's certainly better than the mileage I'm used to getting in the Phaeton, though I had expected better from a vehicle that's small for its class. One feature I found both reassuring and mildly entertaining was the miles-to-empty display in the instrument cluster. It was nice to see an actual number, rather than rely on the vague notches of the gas gauge.

Some people may find the $34,625 sticker price of my test car tough to swallow, but keep in mind that this high price gets you the range-topper (with leather, navigation, premium audio, panoramic sunroof, backup camera, heated seats, and alloy wheels...a Q5 on the cheap!). The lowest trim level, the Tiguan S, starts at $22,995, and is also the only model available with a manual transmission.

All in all, I enjoyed my weekend with the Tiguan. While not quite the comfort cruiser that the Phaeton is, it's nearly 10 years newer, and packs in most of the features you kids with your modern cars take for granted. If I were in the market for a crossover, I'd take a hard look at it. Until then, maybe I can ask to borrow it for a few more weekend trips.

For Sweden > Jagvar 10/25/2013 at 11:15

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I'm not worried about your bias; I'm just worried about you making a detour through Warsaw :/

Deputy Kovacs > Jagvar 10/25/2013 at 11:16

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Who needs shoes?

Jagvar > For Sweden 10/25/2013 at 11:17

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Oh my, you went there.

Jagvar > Deputy Kovacs 10/25/2013 at 11:18

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Communists.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > For Sweden 10/25/2013 at 11:19

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Not sure he could make it there in one tank from the U.S.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Jagvar 10/25/2013 at 11:19

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Nothing against you, but I read it as John Davis. Which made it hilarious.

Deputy Kovacs > Jagvar 10/25/2013 at 11:23

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Do you work for VW corporate? Do they allow you to photograph without shoes? Will you be shot at dawn in front of your family for doing this?

Jagvar > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire 10/25/2013 at 11:26

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Welcome to MotorWeek!

Oh nooooo...

Hooker > Jagvar 10/25/2013 at 11:28

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Obligatory.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Jagvar 10/25/2013 at 11:29

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I wish there was a text to speech that read things in his enthusiastic voice.

Hooker > Hooker 10/25/2013 at 11:29

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Apparently annotations are a bit off.

The bare feet are obligatory. Nice write-up.

rabbitman > Jagvar 10/25/2013 at 11:29

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Did they get bigger?

That thing looks huge.

But thanks for the Review. Now how about you do one on the Executive CC with the Vr6 with video, I want to hear if it sounds good.

rabbitman > Jagvar 10/25/2013 at 11:31

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That is totally what I think when I see info system mentioned in the morning shift.

Not the screen above. That is a radio, I think people confuse that a lot.

keenanj > Jagvar 10/25/2013 at 11:31

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recently got a second hand tiguan 4motion SEL for 13k.

I have to say the headlight are pretty impressive steering bi xenon with H4 cornering lights as bright as some main headlights.

the rain sensor runs the wipers and auto closes the windows and sunroof if it rains!

and it is much faster than expected and handles like a sports car with a high CG.

I wish they offered a manual in the 4wd it would be nice with the 2.0l chipped to 300hp.

Jagvar > Hooker 10/25/2013 at 11:39

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Thanks, man!

Sparf > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much 10/25/2013 at 12:05

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"Warsaw"

"one tank"

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Sparf 10/25/2013 at 12:17

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Shamelessly stolen from TG a few years ago.

Sparf > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much 10/25/2013 at 12:23

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I know, I think everyone's seen it by now.

I was referring to tank as in Panzerkampfwagen .

@rbalch1 > Jagvar 11/03/2013 at 07:01

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But there is almost no room for humans in the back

The seats may look big but the side is a hard plastic that squeezes you in towards the middle seat.. basically your seat is from the inner edge of the seatbelt to just the other side of the headrest,
There is almost more room in the golf