New Addition to the fleet

"adamftw" (adamftw)
09/17/2018 at 08:20 • Filed to: None

Albiet, it is a small fleet of only two, well, three if you count the boat.

2018 Tiguan SE 4Motion, new DD for the wife. Doggo is sad he can’t hang out in the golden oak leather interior, which was a big selling (erm, leasing) point. I tried really hard to convince my wife on the orange exterior, but she wasn’t having it. The grey seems bland, but it has some serious flake in it and looks green, blue, grey, or brown depending on the light.

(picture from the internet).

Not as nice as the Marrakesh brown in in the Alltrac, but still a great color. 2nd row is HUGE, like fullsize pickup crew cab big and the rear doors swing out as much as or more than the front doors. Plenty of rear cargo area too, as we didn’t need the third row. It even has an off road mode (!!) which I plan on testing out next month on the beach. All in all, its soft and compliant but its still a VW so it looks the part, making it nicer to be in and look at than the CRVs, Hy undais, and Rav4s that are all over the place . Bigly upgrade over her 2010 Versa, should make a nice baby hauler if all goes as planned in the future.

DISCUSSION (22)

philsphan09 > adamftw
09/17/2018 at 08:47

Congrats! Curious of you cross-shopped this vs an Atlas? I have a Q5 & my wife as an A3, but we’re having a baby (Literally any day now), and wanted to either upgrade hers what you just got (love the spec) or i’ll upgrade my Q5 to something like an Atlas.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > adamftw
09/17/2018 at 08:51

For some reason my wife has become infatuated with the old Toureg. I think this would be a good compromise

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > adamftw
09/17/2018 at 09:04

I want to believe my Tiguan review had an effect on this purchase.

Ash78, voting early and often > philsphan09
09/17/2018 at 09:54

I can vouch for the Q5 being too cramped. My folks have one and have been complaining since day 1 about kids in the back seat. Plus the open-pore wood and light tan interior in their is totally not kid friendly.

adamftw > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
09/17/2018 at 09:55

I did rear your review a while back and it’s funny I ended up with the same color combo

Ash78, voting early and often > adamftw
09/17/2018 at 09:56

This is on my shortlist. I’ll need something wagony (the Alltrack was too small) but not fully generic crossover, either. I don’t need 4motion, but I want it...never breaking traction on wet hills is always a nice feeling. Plus I need something that the wife and I can swap for a day or two without completely inconveniencing her (coming from an Odyssey, you bring half your house with you everywhere)

adamftw > philsphan09
09/17/2018 at 09:59

Thanks! And n ope, didn’t need the size of that just yet.. that thing is pretty much a Tahoe or bigger. REALLY nice looking truck though and the salesman said he can’t keep any on the lot they move so fast. This Tiguan much bigger than the current Q3 inside, IIRC the ‘19 Q3 willet bigger and be on the MGB platform. I’ve been in the backseat of an early Q5 and this definitely has more rear legroom, not sure if it is any different with the redesign.

adamftw > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
09/17/2018 at 10:01

My wife has been noticing those a lot recently too , they really did age well... aesthetically at least.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > adamftw
09/17/2018 at 10:05

Did you get the 3rd row?

adamftw > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
09/17/2018 at 10:14

Nope

adamftw > Ash78, voting early and often
09/17/2018 at 10:16

We planned on getting a S FWD but the price difference wasn’t a dealbreaker and the SE is definitely nicer. The SE 4Motion setup is 110% wife-rated, don’t have to worry about her if we get a freak snow storm or if she hits some ice or something.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > adamftw
09/17/2018 at 10:39

Haha perfect. I want to send this to VW and show them “See! Someone bought one based on my recommendation !!! ” The only thing you didn’t follow to a T was getting the SE over the SEL but knowing the difference in price, I don’t blame you.

Spanfeller is a twat > adamftw
09/17/2018 at 11:11

I think NA gets the LWB model meant for China. Western companies all over the globe think that chinese customers find spacious rear seating as some sort of status move? So every-so often carmakers make LWB models for them.

It looks like a good car, I always had a soft spot for Tiguans, though I have a firmly held belief that they should make a Tiguan R!

Spanfeller is a twat > philsphan09
09/17/2018 at 11:12

Get the Tiguan...

adamftw > Spanfeller is a twat
09/17/2018 at 11:13

The LWB is global, SWB Europe only. I saw a couple SWBs when I was in Amsterdam... you can’t really tell the difference unless you see them side by side. They make an R-Design, but unfortunately with the same economy tuned turbo 4.

adamftw > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
09/17/2018 at 11:14

The jump from S to SE was small , but going to SEL wasn’t worth the increase for the features. Power liftgate, adaptive cruise, upgraded leather, and the digital dash, auto start, maybe some other stuff. Meh.

Textured Soy Protein > adamftw
09/17/2018 at 11:16

I briefly looked at the Tiguan for my wife but it didn’t make the shortlist because of options.

The SE 4Motion had at least her minimums of Android Auto & active safety gizmos for $29,045 base MSRP, or $30,245 with the sunroof that honestly I like more than my wife does . But you have to go up to the SEL 4Motion for $33,385 to get active cruise which her Impreza we were trading in had, and I wanted to keep.

Oh, and the auto-dim mirror which is a big plus for my wife is only on the Tiguan SEL Premium. It’s not listed as an accessory in the configurator or the brochure but maybe a dealer would be able to add it.

The CX-5 Touring AWD has active cruise, and starts at $28,51 0, or is $29,710 with the preferred package that has the sunroof, navigation, Bose stereo, auto-dim mirror, and power tailgate.

The lease terms available on both were pretty similar, and we don’t need active cruise, but to get the Tiguan for a similar price as the CX-5 we’d have no active cruise, and maybe no mirror.

Spanfeller is a twat > adamftw
09/17/2018 at 11:23

TIL!

A few years ago I lusted over the 2.0 4motion, it had 200hp! which is a good amount of power, but nothing like 300!

I think a friend of mine bought the new model; I’m not sold on the front end yet, but the rear end looks very classy. A smart buy I say...

adamftw > Textured Soy Protein
09/17/2018 at 13:44

I’ve never driven the CX5, but it was my number 1. Styling wise, it didn’t do it for my wife. Mazda also doesn’t have CarPlay, which was a definite need. The lack of auto dim mirror I didn’t even notice until we drove off the lot and it would definitely bother me but my wife doesn’t even touch the manual one anyway.

I’d trade everything on the higher end CX5 jus for CarPlay in anything else. Thats a total game changer.

adamftw > Spanfeller is a twat
09/17/2018 at 14:00

The front end is pretty conservative, but t he LED tails are fucking great. It has a good booty for a crossover.

Textured Soy Protein > adamftw
09/17/2018 at 14:15

We really wanted Android Auto for her but compromised on it with the CX-5 because it’ll be available as a retrofit eventually. We would’ve liked to have it right away but thankfully the dash is shaped such that there’s a perfect spot to put a phone vent mount between the HVAC controls and the infotainment screen.

Auto-dim mirror is important because my wife is sensitive to glare when driving at night. Her Impreza was the first car she had with auto-dim mirror and she loved it. Granted, the tinted windows on CUVs make it less of a requirement, but still something that she values. Maybe VW would be able to add it as an accessory but I dunno, never got that far with it as a choice.

We really like the power hatch on our CX-5. That was something that wasn’t specifically on our requirements list but now that we have it, I gotta say it’s pretty nice. That’s also on the Tiguan SEL and above.

These things aren’t dealbreakers, but definitely stuff we appreciate. Tiguan SE 4Motion w/ sunroof would’ve been the fanciest Tiguan in our price range.

Which, maybe we’d consider i t, but it’s bigger than the CR-V which my wife already thought was too big compared to the CX-5.

philsphan09 > Spanfeller is a twat
09/17/2018 at 15:23

I also LOVE the XC90 Volvo, but it’s damn pricey!