Coming to Grips With the BMW X3 and Honda CR-V in VW's All-Wheel-Drive Sport-Utility-. volkswagon tiguan

Coming to Grips With the BMW X3 and Honda CR-V in VW's All-Wheel-Drive Sport-Utility.


18 months after first signaling its intent to enter the growing market for compact SUVs with its fanciful Concept A showcar, Volkswagen has pulled the wraps off the definitive production version of the new four-wheel-drive 2008 Volkswagen Tiguan.

Little brother to the Touareg, the new five-seater is aiming to lock horns with popular compact sport-utilities like the Acura RDX and Honda CR-V, while providing buyers with an affordable alternative to more prestigious entries such as the BMW X3 and the upcoming Mercedes-Benz GLK.

Set to make its public debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show before going on sale across Europe in November, the Tiguan should appear in North American showrooms next June. It will be positioned slightly above the Japanese competition but well below its more luxuriously equipped German rivals, and our sources at VW's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, tell us it'll be priced at about $27,000.

Let's Get Practical
Styled under the leadership of Murat Gunak, Volkswagen's former design boss, the Tiguan boasts a number of cues first established on the Concept A, including its bold chrome grille and swoopy headlamp treatment. But while the Concept A received a rather sporting, coupelike silhouette with a roof line that plunged to the rear, the production version of Volkswagen's new SUV is far more upright toward the rear in a move clearly aimed at providing it with greater practicality.





The overall look with its muscular body surfacing has been previewed by the preproduction Tiguan showcar wheeled out at last year's Los Angeles auto show. But while the showcar wore towering 19-inch wheels to give it a particularly sporty stance, the production version is far more conservatively equipped with 17-inch wheels likely to be made standard in North America. Those seeking to inject some added snap to the Tiguan's appearance can specify optional 18-inch wheels along with a panoramic glass roof that stretches the length of the new Volkswagen's cabin.

Two versions are planned, each with its own distinct front end. The more road-friendly iteration to be sold in North America gets a deep front bumper that limits approach angles to 18 degrees. In other markets, including Europe, there will be an off-road version with a front bumper shaped to handle more severe approach angles of up to 28 degrees.

At 174.3 inches in length, 71.2 inches in width and 66.3 inches in height, the Tiguan is 3.7 inches shorter, 0.4 inch narrower and 5.0 inches lower than the CR-V. Nominal ground clearance is put at 7.4 inches for the American edition of the Tiguan.

Euro Architecture for the Interior
If the interior of the new Volkswagen looks familiar, it's no coincidence. In a bid to keep development costs down, Volkswagen has provided its new SUV with the same basic cabin architecture as the European-market Golf Plus, a high-roof version of its perennial best-seller that first came to market in 2003.

The Tiguan and the Golf Plus share the same basic dashboard, switchgear and trims, but Volkswagen is using the Tiguan to launch a new entertainment system developed in cooperation with Siemens that features a 6.5-inch color touchscreen. Meanwhile, a 30-gigabyte hard disk delivers data to a comprehensive navigation system that includes an off-road mode to allow up to 500 route points to be recorded during a journey across the trackless waste. (VW has become known for its participation in the Dakar rally raid through North Africa, after all.)

Seating is for five, although the middle rear seat is compromised somewhat by a raised cushion. To extend rear legroom, the split rear seats can be manually adjusted fore and aft through a range of 6.3 inches. Trunk space, meanwhile, is put at a competitive but far from class-leading 16.6 cubic feet, some 1.9 cubic feet less than that offered by the CR-V.

Power From the Golf GTI
Volkswagen will offer the Tiguan from the outset of sales with three different gasoline engines. For European markets, there will be updated 150-bhp and 170-bhp (DIN) versions of its award-winning 1.4-liter four-cylinder Twincharger engine, with its combination of supercharging and turbocharging. North America will get the 200-hp (SAE) turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine from the VW GTI.

Also planned to make its way into the Tiguan is the German carmaker's yet-to-be-revealed 2.0-liter four-cylinder common-rail diesel. It will feature low-emissions Bluetec technology when it comes to the U.S.

The standard gearbox is a six-speed manual, although North American buyers will also be able to option the Tiguan initially with a six-speed automatic and, later on, a VW dual-shift gearbox (DSG) offering both manual and automatic modes. Two versions of the DSG are planned: a new seven-speed in combination with the Twincharger engines and an updated version of today's six-speed with the turbo 2.0-liter four.

Which Way to Dakar?
Channeling drive to all four wheels is a multiplate Haldex center differential, essentially the same VW 4Motion hardware found in the new VW R32. The European-market version of the Tiguan will also be equipped with an electronically controlled differential, plus altered throttle mapping, hill-descent control and an automatic hill holder. In addition, the ABS antilock braking system will change its threshold of intervention to accommodate off-road driving.

Although the Tiguan relies on the same basic mechanical setup as the Golf, with a transversely mounted engine, it has a unique 102.5-inch wheelbase and slightly wider 61.8-inch track front and rear. Other significant changes concern the steering, which features a new speed-sensitive electrohydraulic setup that is claimed to provide greater feel than the Golf's ZF system while filtering out steering kickback from off-road impacts.

In its lightest European-spec form, the Tiguan weighs 3,411 pounds, so America can expect at least another 100 pounds of metal.

Tested in the Land of Sand Dunes and Elephants
We recently drove prototypes of the VW Tiguan on some of the world's most rugged roads in the former German colony of Namibia in Africa, and it seemed remarkably similar in character to a Golf on the bitumen — no coincidence, given their similar underpinnings.

Despite its taller build, this new Volkswagen four-wheel-drive quasi-truck displayed progressive handling with confidence-building response when pushed hard in corners. At high speed, it had excellent stability. The ride was nicely compliant on pockmarked roads and the steering seemed as linear as that of the Golf and unmolested by off-road priorities. It's an easy vehicle to settle into, requiring little effort from the driver.

Even more impressive is its off-road ability. For something conceived primarily for the road, the Tiguan makes a good fist of the rough stuff. We managed to traverse steep grades and rocky trails without too much trouble in the Euro-spec off-road version, compromised only by a lack of real ground clearance. All of which makes Volkswagen's decision not to sell the more rugged version of its new entry-level SUV in North America rather puzzling.

Built in Wolfsburg
The Tiguan will be assembled at Volkswagen's traditional Wolfsburg-based factory in Germany alongside the European-market Touran. VW plans to build a lot of them, some 120,000 per year with about 40,000 headed to North America. It's a big number, but comparable to sales of the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4.

Volkswagen figures that fuel-economy concerns in the U.S. won't be enough to squash the interest of Americans in the sport-utility package and instead will shift attention to compact sport-utilities. The 2008 Volkswagen Tiguan will try to ride the same wave of enthusiasm that's making the BMW X3 and Honda CR-V more familiar sights on American highways.'s All-Wheel-Drive Sport-Utility.