VW is making some major changes to its lineup for 2024. Last week we got our eyes on the Euro-market Passat, which goes wagon-only in its latest incarnation, and this week we’ve got all the details on the new Tiguan. And the Tiguan story goes beyond the third-generation SUV’s curvy new clothes. Because, like the Passat, the Tiguan you see here in these pictures is only for the European market where it directly replaces Europe’s outgoing standard-wheelbase, two-row Tiguan. It won’t be going to the U.S., which only took the longer Tiguan that had the option of three-row seating and was also sold in Europe as the seven-seat Tiguan Allspace. Instead, North America will get a slightly larger and entirely different SUV based on the next generation of the Chinese-market VW Tayron, and European buyers who can’t live without that third row will also be offered the same thing.
Now that’s cleared up, let’s take a look
at the new Tiguan. We’ve already touched on the newfound curves, which give the
car a warmer, more organic look, not to mention a more muscular stance that
brings it closer to the bigger Touareg thanks to flared rear fenders and a
pinched waistline. It doesn’t move much closer to its big brother in terms of
size, though. The new Tiguan switches to VW’s modern MQB Evo platform, as used
by the Golf, Passat and Audi A3, but the 2,681 mm wheelbase is
virtually identical. VW does at least promise a little (10 mm)
extra rear legroom and says the 648-liter trunk is up by 33 litres.
There’s a new light bar stretching across
the rear of the car and another one at the front, where it forms a grille that
is narrowed to the point that the VW roundel spills over it, top and bottom,
just like on the Mk8 Golf. The lower grille features three horizontal chrome
bars on regular Tiguans (see pics of the green car at bottom of the article),
but sporty R-Line models (red car) get a diamond-pattern mesh, an even angrier
mouth and black arch trims.
The interior has had an equally major
rethink. The current model’s mid-2010s dashboard layout with its in-console
infotainment system was logical and intuitive, but it was also looking ancient,
so VW has junked the lot for a new dash with a huge tablet touchscreen that
features configurable menu bars at the top and bottom of the screen to make up
for the fact that there are no hard keys. It’s the same kit we’ve already seen
on both the new Passat and its electric ID.7 cousin, and like those cars the
Tiguan also gets physical (rather than touch-sensitive) steering wheel buttons,
backlit temperature sliders and a gear shifter on the right hand stalk that
frees up console space for phones, wallets and the handsome new rotary
controller (with in-built screen) for the media system. If the big interior
news is the new touchscreen, the headline act under the hood is the available
PHEV hardware that can deliver a solid 100 km of electric range
thanks to a battery that’s almost doubled in size to 19.7 kWh. Fortunately, the
charging speed has also grown, from 26 to 11 kW for AC top-ups, while DC
charging is possible for the first time, though the sluggish 50 kW max means it
takes 25 mins to fill from 10-80 percent – the same as some real EVs with five
times the range.
There are in fact two PHEVs, both driving
the front wheels through an eight-speed DCT and powered by a combination of 1.5-liter
turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engines and 114 hp electric
motors. But thanks to different ICE tunes, one gives an overall system output
of 201 hp, while the other serves up a more substantial 268 hp. A 2.0-liter diesel and another pair of petrol 1.5s, this time mild
hybrids, are available for drivers who don’t need to drive meaningful distances
on electric power, but still care about economy. The eTSi engines feature
variable geometry turbos, cylinder deactivation and 15 kW (20 hp) of
48-volt assistance, giving total outputs of 129 hp and 148 hp, and like the PHEVs drive the front wheels, though this time through
seven-speed dual-clutch transmissions.
Buyers determined to equip their Tiguans
with all-wheel drive, meanwhile, miss out on the efficient little 1.5-liter
engines and instead get the tried and tested EA888 2.0-liter petrol motors seen
in VW’s such as the Golf GTI. Again, there are two tunes: one with 201 hp and another with 262 hp. VW says the AWD cars’ 4Motion hardware
has been modified to reduce vibrations, and both the FWD and AWD Tiguans can be
optioned with a version of the new DCC Pro adaptive dampers setup already seen
in the Passat. The system features two-valve shocks for more comfort and
control, and drivers can adjust their operating range using the in-dash Vehicle
Dynamics Manager drive mode selector you’ll have seen before in the Golf.
The Tiguan goes on sale early next year in
Europe, and we’d expect a base price of around £ 32,000 / € 35,000 (US$ 37,000).
But we may have to wait until close to that delivery time to find out what
North America’s replacement for the current Tiguan looks like.
