I had me a ‘blond–moment‘ recently. “This is the 2.0L right?” to which I received an incredulous stare along the lines of ‘what planet are you from?’ from the amused VPCM comms manager…
In my defense, this new VW Tiguan felt so quick, I would have bet a months’ wages there was no way it could be powered by a puny 1.4-litre engine, who’s annual road-tax is a paltry RM70 a year. Here’s my in-car impression video, and please do ignore the part where I called it a two-litre…. duh:
The thing about the Tig (my pet name for it) though is that it only has 150Ps and 250Nm of torque from its 1,395cc turbocharged, direct injection, 4-cylinder engine; however, all 250 of that torques is available from as low as 1,500rpm.
Mated to a 6-speed DSG, to say that acceleration is quick would be a major understatement on my part, because this SUV is very, very fast off the line, and given enough road, it’ll top out well beyond 200kmh, and again, all this performance from a 1.4-litre 4-pot. I still can’t get my head around that to be honest, because my own car has exactly twice the capacity and is exactly twice as slow…
One thing though, unless you really, really need one, it’s best to not tick the box for the roof-rack option as seen on this test-unit, because early on I decided to rename it as the ‘roof-racket’ instead. Anything above 100kmh results in a terrific amount of wind-noise, and not to mention poorer fuel-efficiency due to drag. So yeah, the roof-racket is quite a drag… literally.
Now apart from that easily-solvable problem, the Tig is a remarkable mid-size SUV to drive. It’s a VW so you can be assured of excellent build quality and superb driving ergonomics, not to mention amazing levels of NVH suppression.
And there’s even more good news! Following the 0% GST which is to be implemented from 1st June 2018, the new Tiguan, available in two trim levels, is even cheaper now:
| Tiguan | Comfortline | Was RM148,990 | Now RM139,888 |
| Highline | Was RM168,990 | Now RM158,888 |
All in all, it’s really hard to fault the VW Tiguan 1.4 TSi. It’s great on gas, it’s cheap to run (still can’t get over that RM70 annual road tax!) and offers the kind of ride and handling that puts it at par with much bigger and more expensive SUVs in the market. Size wise, it makes for the perfect daily-runner and those who prefer a small-ish run-about insofar as SUVs are concerned, really need to give this one a gander. It really will surprise you. – Chris Wee.
Before we go, here’s another video on the new Tiguan during its launch a while back, from our friend Bobby Ang at #EVO Aurizn:
VW Tiguan 1.4 TSi Photo Gallery (Spec sheet / Brochure can be downloaded after the gallery)
For the VW Tiguan 1.4 TSi Specs, click to download this: vw-modelspecsheet-tiguan1-4-wm
