My Tiguan has arrived and this is my experience so far

[ingy]

Picked up my 132 comfort with DAP on Monday. Extremely happy so far. A pretty massive upgrade from my 03 Magna! Quite impressed with the fuel efficiency so far. Half a tank down and around 250km travelled (mainly city driving too). Have managed to have a good play with OBD11 and make a few changes (TMC, Road Sign Recognition, ALG, plus a few visual tweaks).

Loving the ACC and all the other smarts that it comes with. Very happy

[anonymousmoose]

I think it's completely unfair to compare it with Audi and luxury cars. I think you should think of the Tiguan as better than the Japanese budget options. In terms of issues, some things are subjective and some people are unlucky. I've had no issues at all with mine. Yes wind noise driver side. That's the only thing. Everything else is high quality and I'm a happy customer.

Agree. And to clarify my post. I was just noting my experiences regarding customer service between the two. I did mention the Q5 and Q3 but not in comparison of luxury build quality, just why I didnt buy them instead. I did compare the participially of the Q3 vs the Tiguan, where the Tiguan wins in my books, and the engine power between my last car and this one.

A VW is not a luxury badge and I'm well aware that the cars cant be compared in that sense. Power, practically, space etc can be compared of course, I can compare my cars power to a Holden Astra, but when it comes to build obviously not.

[FastMitch]

I have two warranty claims in already, 3 week old car;

• Tiguan Overhead Camera Goes Black
• Tiguan needs a new (under warranty) steering control arm

... I'd have liked a Q5 but with all the options the Tigaun has, $70k-$80k, cant justify that kind of money now that baby moose is here

The Audi Q5 is made in Mexico

I find it hard to believe a made in Mexico (Q5) has less factory defects than a made in Germany model (162 Highline)

[FastMitch]

I am afraid this is just begging discovering issue wit your new Tiguan and quality difference comparing to your previous Audi...
However this car is full of quality issue and cheap made materials, even not find on competition lower cheaper car models

Can you provide more details of what specifically are the VW Highline quality issues that you are referring to ?

[anonymousmoose]

The Audi Q5 is made in Mexico

I find it hard to believe a made in Mexico (Q5) has less factory defects than a made in Germany model (162 Highline)

Why is that?

[FastMitch]

Why is that?

If you have ever purchased a product from Mexico, you would know the poor quality from their manufacturing.

But don't take my word for it, just do a google search to compare VW quality issues for the same car made in Mexico compared to the VW made in Germany.

Or do a google search to compare BMW X3 / X5 quality issues for the same car made in USA compared to the X3 / X5 made in Germany.

[PB29]

Hi Guys,
Just got my 140 TDI Tiguan Highline Fully Loaded. I love everything of it, just noticed one thing, front passenger seat does not lie all the way down(only about 130 degrees angle)? drivers seat lie all the way down almost touching the backseat (almost 180 degrees angle). Is this normal or is it just mine?

[jrgti]

Unless you opted to purchase the Highline with all the bells and whistles, honestly the Tiguan is really only a mid 30K to mid 40K car brand new. Yes, overall the quality is not as refined compared to my Golf GTI MK6 interior wise, but the odd few rattles is just inevitable. Besides, the SUV is meant to be driven outdoors, off-road and over long distances on some pretty poor undulating aussie roads. Let's not forget what the Oz heat does to the car when parked outdoors regularly. Just use it for the purposes it was designed for such as not taking it on extreme off-road expeditions or constantly trashing it around on beaches.
Wash/wax your car regularly/consistently, wipe down the interior and if you have leather seats apply some leather care.
However, I only ever purchase VW cars made in Germany. I am disappointed with the HVAC system though as it starts to blow out the foul smell similar to a pair of smelly socks after about 1 year. Can't believe they haven't fixed this since the same problem happened with previous my Golf GTI.

[prise]

Took delivery of a 110TSi Comfortline DSG with Driver Assist Package 10 days ago and these are my observations.

First the positives:

After four fills and over 127 L of fuel, and a mixture of 3/4 highway and 1/4 city driving it has been averaging a real 7.23 l/1100km. The trip computer is underestimating the fuel usage by 6%. Some of this could be explained by estimation of fuel use by the ECU not accounting for purge valve operation.

Road noise on the standard wheels and Continental 215/65R17 tyres is low. There is minor wind noise coming from the area of the A pillar and side mirror when driving at 100km/h and above, but it is not obtrusive. Something I picked up when test driving the 110TSi vs 2.0TDi was how noticeably more refined and quieter the 110TSi was when accelerating. This came as a surprise given how well diesel noise in the Golf is suppressed.

It feels more responsive than the 110kW spec would suggest because the DSG keeps the revs in the peak torque region between 1500 and 3500 RPM during 'normal' driving. I'm still observing the 'break-in' restrictions on engine speed so haven't yet tested the 'kickdown' function.

The throttle and gearbox tip-in characteristics when launching from a standing start are smoother than other DSG setups I have driven. It must be using wet plate clutch packs. Can anyone confirm that it is the MQ250 gearbox model? Personally I prefer the softer tip-in that VW use. If I want a faster start I can always use more pedal.

Damper rates are relatively high, so the ride is a bit stiff at low speeds but it smooths out and works well on the highway or with some load in the vehicle. Handling is excellent for a vehicle of this class. It has mild understeer becoming neutral on throttle lift.

With only FWD it handled the You Yangs Great Circuit Drive track OK in dry conditions with only minor wheel spin on the steeper sections where there was diagonal weight transfer. The traction control worked well in that situation, limiting wheelspin and transferring some of the torque. I probably wouldn't try if the track was wet.

The adaptive lane guidance works better than in other vehicles I have driven (Mazda, Honda, Toyota) with the ability to operate below 60 km/h, 'learn' the drivers preferred lane position, hold it without bouncing between lane edges and be tolerant of a wider range of lane markings. Combined with the full speed range ACC it makes driving in heavy freeway traffic a much more pleasant experience. When I picked the vehicle up, adaptive lane guidance was turned off and had to be enabled via the touchscreen interface. It was also off on the demonstrators I drove and the sales staff were confused about the feature.

The back seat gives business class levels of legroom and the front passenger seat folds forward in a flat position. That means when stopped at a work site I can sit in the back and work on the laptop and spread my gear out - very nice.

Thumbs up to VW for supporting Android Auto. The natural voice command support blows away all the proprietary systems i have used in the past. As someone that uses the vehicle for work, this is a major plus.

The digital dash is excellent.

Now the negatives:

The stop-start feature can be very annoying at times. Cutting the engine when I momentarily stop before entering an intersection is a bad idea. With other cars i have driven, if you press the brake lightly or have the steering turned, it doesn't activate. i am yet to work out how to selectively activate it other than using the deactivation button (which is on the passenger side of the shifter).

No DAB radio.

There are a couple of minor paint blemishes - hard to spot and not something I would bother asking VW to fix. However the paint finish is not up to the same standard as my wifes Mazda 3 Astina.

The windscreen wipers had bad shuddering after the vehicle was washed and rinsed. I clay barred the windscreen and it went away. BTW this also happened with a Golf I owned previously, but has not happened with other makes of vehicle.

Intermittent rattle from the rear seat assembly that is related to the incline setting the seat backs. It never happens when there are rear passengers and rarely when the seat back is in the most recline position.

The owners manual is generic and contains information for multiple variants and markets which makes it hard to read. Why VW (and other car companies) cannot provide a vehicle specific manual that can be read on the Multi media screen is beyond me. With modern version control systems, this should be possible.

The adaptive cruise control does not allow overtaking to the left of a vehicle on a multi lane road (which is legal in Australia) , showing the outline of a car to the right in the driver assistance display. The accelerator has to be depressed each time to clear the vehicle in the display before it will speed up to the set speed. This has resulted in being flashed from behind by drivers that were annoyed by the unexpected slowdown. I contacted VW and asked if they would change the coding to disable the feature and was told 'no'.

[spacemannz]

Good review prise - thanks!

[cameleon72]

Great review Thx
Good pick, that 1.4 engine on Tiguan is great trouble free and whisper quite little machine and paired with 6 speed DSG is butter smooth ! I wish i could say same for Tiguan with 132 ,162 and rattle 7 speed but is not .I have same engine and transmission in Audi q3 and I couldn't be happier with brilliant setup! Audi Q3 Is even bit more fine tuned and is much more responsive than Tiguan , maybe because car is also lighter 100-120kg . If just this 1.4 engine was offered with little bit more power to match Tiguan size and weight, I would also purchased it instead of 132kw.
Fuel Economy is also great, I could do on highway 5.6L/100km on q3 which Is almost on range with best Diesels eco engines but with smoothness / quietness and performance of petrol
Servicing also will be happy and cheap for you. That engine use Timing Belt , which is user friendly and easy and inexpensive to change when is due. I couldn't say unfortunately the same for 132kw /162kw Tiguan which use complicated timing chain and expensive servicing ;(

[ArdiL]

110TSi Comfortline DSG with Driver Assist Package,
Only disappointment so far, Using a key in the DARK. WHY is there NO light around the steering wheel keyhole. derrrr?
(Would have loved keyless start)
Otherwise, no regrets.

[Janus77]

My Tiguan has arrived and this is my experience so far

When I picked mine up the adaptive lane guidance was turned off too. Dealer didn’t mention it nor go into detail on how these systems worked when I collected the car. I’d done my own research luckily, however I can imagine a lot of people potentially not utilizing this excellent feature because it’s not active automatically.

Mine still does a little bit of side to side when I first turn it on, after a 10 seconds or so it stabilizes, it often does a little after a corner too, it doesn’t anticipate corners like a human. Not sure if it’s learning my preferred position in the lane or not, it often depends on what vehicles are doing around you how you’d drive though the system probably doesn’t do this. All in all though the system is excellent and was one of the main reasons I purchased the car doing a lot of highway driving.

Does anyone know how the system learns, over what time period etc, does it continue to improve or are there only set parameters it tests and then is quickly “trained”?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapachat

[spacemannz]

Does anyone know how the system learns, over what time period etc, does it continue to improve or are there only set parameters it tests and then is quickly “trained”?

It’s quick... only a matter of a few hundred metres. My lane position preference changes with traffic and road conditions and it picks it up within half a minute.

[pac52]

Collected my new 140TDI R-line from the dealer in Bunbury (WA) today. Great drive home (about 80klms). Having had an earlier Tiguan and a GTI it feels familiar, which is nice. To early to post anything really meaningful ... but so far, so good.