My Tiguan has arrived and this is my experience so far

[Jimi]

confession.
have the world's most narrow carport. Had to measure car prior to purchase. Snuggle in with mirrors folded in, if I literally miss the passenger edge by 10cm I am ok to open the door, not fully, but enough to shimmy out ........ But, opened door, now have tiny scrapes on driver door where the edge hit the bricks.. softly.... but paint is gone, I notice it, not happy. also need tiny touchup kit...

Sounds like you need to stick some old carpet or similar on the wall. I have a similar issue - i hug a wall on one side to steer clear of a resident on the other who doesn’t always park well

[Cossor]

So yesterday I was the unfortunate victim of a nail in the right rear tyre, took it to tyreright and the bloke (and I for that matter) didn't realise the tyre was a "conti-seal" tyre. I've never owned a car that had this type of tyre before. But after he opened it up, it was full of Sticky tar like matter inside, so he had to put the rim back on and all he had to do was pump the tyre up again and pull the nail out, within 2 seconds the hole was filled up and I was off driving again. Like I said, ive never had this type of tyre before, but good to know that I don't have to take it to the tyre shop to have it patched up. Thought I'd let everyone know. FYI this is on the 20inch Suzuka rims.

At motel in morning found had a flat tyre. Small town, but tyre place three blocks away.
Took car there thinking of assistance to change (Full size spare)
Dealer offered to repair tyre. Took off, opened, then asked if someone had been experimenting ?
This due to to thick band of sticky rubber! However after massive fencing staple was pulled out; rubber belt massaged;
tyre lasted for another 8k before new set of tyres. No need to pump up. Continental!!

[htran]

Picked up my Allspace 162 R Line a couple of days ago.


My observations so far
- Surprisingly the ride is not as firmed as I had expected with 20" wheels
- When I was driving in heavy rain, as the rain stopped ACC turned off. The warning on my dash was the front assist was not available. A few minutes afterwards the warning went away and ACC was available again. This happened in two different occasions.
- Driving on the freeway with ACC on the middle lane, there was a car about 4 seconds on front of me in my lane. Another car in the left lane overtook me and sat at my 10 o'clock position, the car suddenly braked and displayed a red "Brake" warning for no reason.
- Driving on the freeway with ACC set to close, car in front was about 3 seconds in front of me, it slow down gently but my car suddenly braked and displayed a red "Brake" warning.
- Annoying how the Allspace doesn't have speed/red light camera & speed limit warning, given that the car I replace a 2015 Mazda CX5 Akera has that feature. Surprising given that the Allspace is 3 years newer and has so many tech features.
- In normal more as the car goes into 3rd gear, the acceleration seems to drop and I need to give it some throttle.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Confession
* Drove car out of the dealer, smashed the redline straight away, TPS = 100%
* One day later, after the 100km break-in used the launch control feature lol
* Used it again today (quiet industrial area)
* Have done 260km only and 2/3 of the tank is gone

Observations
* Never have had a car with radar cruise control and all the driver aids, the whole stop/start/assist steering is mind blowing
* Used the traffic assist/radar cruise thing in traffic on the Hume Highway - man it's freaking cool! lol
* Love the instant usable torque, it's just so fast - makes my 400kW+ R33 feel slow around town
* Audio system decent, good clarity - just lacks any form of base, audio in our Mazda 3's Bose system had more bass but lacked SQ
* DSG lag nearly non existent compared to the older MK5/6 Golfs (never driven the 7 or 7.5)

[spacemannz]

I’m hearing a rattle in the (empty) sunglasses box in the headliner (no sunroof). Anyone else noticed this?

Otherwise, 1700km and lovin’ it!

Update, only 5500km and first 12month service came around. Service experience was good at North Shore VW in Sydney.
Fixed an annoying rattle in the fuel line under warranty, and I fixed the headliner issue... the retaining clips were not fully engaged and popped in with a tap. The car is smooth and rattle free.
Still loving it, wish I had done a few more KM in the last year. Fully sold on the DSG, and I tend to drive in S most of the time.
I bought an OBDEleven dongle and tweaked. Namely auto start/stop, TMC and road sign recognition.

Best car I’ve owned, I probably would’ve grabbed an All Space if they were available at the time, but only for a bit of extra boot space... But also happier to have a Wolfsburg built car than Mexican.

[ClassicAU]

Very much considering trading my Passat in for one of these, had one while mine was in for service and fell in love! I would be looking at a 162, however would like to know if all the 162 equipped have the "dsg fart" in sports mode? I would prefer a Highline for the smaller wheels and better ride comfort. I drove a Passat 206TSi and was not a fan of the noise, found it a little annoying to be honest.

[Grugly]

if all the 162 equipped have the "dsg fart" in sports mode?

Any car with a DSG will have the sound of under heavy throttle.. but in the 162 it is very subtle and hardly noticeable in the cabin.

Personally, I love it and wish it was louder.

[ClassicAU]

Interesting, I was not aware, thanks! Mine doesn't, but I assume because it is TDi? Glad to know it is not as noticeable, will need to take one for a spin.

Also, is the Dynaudio system only available in the Allspace variants, or can it be optioned in a smaller Tiguan?

[portas1971]

Interesting, I was not aware, thanks! Mine doesn't, but I assume because it is TDi? Glad to know it is not as noticeable, will need to take one for a spin.

Also, is the Dynaudio system only available in the Allspace variants, or can it be optioned in a smaller Tiguan?

Apparently will be an option on the MY19 Tiguans called ‘Sound and Vision’ pack which includes the Active Info Display and Dynaudio.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Interesting, I was not aware, thanks! Mine doesn't, but I assume because it is TDi? Glad to know it is not as noticeable, will need to take one for a spin.

Also, is the Dynaudio system only available in the Allspace variants, or can it be optioned in a smaller Tiguan?

Generally that "brap" noise is from ignition retard and/or momentary ignition cut due to torque management. The by-product is a "brap" noise.

This was intentionally done to reduce gearbox wear, relieve strain on the box and lastly stop it from violently going into the next year - pretty much you don't get that flat shifting feeling. Modified cars with sequential gearboxes use strain gauges on the shifter to detect the next shift and retard timing to limit torque or some strategies (depending on tuner) will do a 100~150ms momentary ignition cut.

[ClassicAU]

Apparently will be an option on the MY19 Tiguans called ‘Sound and Vision’ pack which includes the Active Info Display and Dynaudio.

Excellent! Will need to speak to my local dealer soon then!

[TheTig]

Picked up our Allspace tonight, haven't driven it yet as it's the wife's car. However noticed a few things on the way home from the dealership.

- Seems quieter in the cabin than my Tig with less wind noise, mine seems to come from the mirrors.
- Noticed on the way home the Infotainment screen has a line down it, only saw it on a menu with lots of grey background once we'd left the dealership
- Ride is very nice, the extra length and 19" rims softens the ride quite noticeably, but then again I'm in Sports mode 100% of the time in my IS38 modded Tig.
- Like the Dynaudio, really appreciates high bit rate music via Spotify Premium, sound is nice and crisp with good base from the sub. Comparing to my regular Tig with the Pioneer WS-610 I couldn't really pick a big difference. If anything the Pioneer sub gives better base at this point. I do expect the sound in the Allspace to improve once the speakers wear in/loosen up a bit, but not sure if it's massively better than the regular sound system.
- Like the Blue silk color, looks very smart.
- Dealership could have done a better job on cleaning the car, found a reasonable amount of sticky residue in various places from the coverings on it from ship transporting.
- Could be my imagination but the headlights seem brighter, it does have dynamic light assist, the function was turned on. But don't believe it was in action due to the city lights.
- Will get some photos organised, was late in the day to get any good ones due to the poor light
- I thought the newer infotainment screens had gesture control, couldn't for the life of me get it to work once. Had to physically touch the screen to go left/right etc.
- The seat warmer temperatures are different compared to my Tig, mine is much warmer (find i can only leave mine on maximum for a few minutes at most to warm it up and then turn back to 1). On the Allspace I had it on one and was struggling to feel it
- Leather on the seats is much more taunt on the Allspace, always thought on my Tig the leather was quite relaxed and looked almost loose.

Will get a drive in the coming days and try out TJA and DLA

Have some work ahead tomorrow giving it a full detail, clay, paint cleanse, wax and then paint sealant....

Dashcams and tint coming as well in the near future, perhaps a towbar as well.

[TheTig]

- Like the Dynaudio, really appreciates high bit rate music via Spotify Premium, sound is nice and crisp with good base from the sub. Comparing to my regular Tig with the Pioneer WS-610 I couldn't really pick a big difference. If anything the Pioneer sub gives better base at this point. I do expect the sound in the Allspace to improve once the speakers wear in/loosen up a bit, but not sure if it's massively better than the regular sound system.

Wanted to qualify this further, have sat in both our Tigs and listened to both sound systems back to back as I wasn't happy with the first observation.

WOW, the Dynadio system gives great depth to the content, there is a big difference between the standard audio system and Dynaudio. The bass appears to come from everywhere in the car. Content is very clear and is less likely to distort as volume is increased. Really impressed with it overall!

[htran]

Agree completely.

Genuine washer fluid. Absolute nonsense.

Fill your washer reservoir with Bars Bugs or any other commercial equivalent from Supercheap/supermarket/servo and mix IAW the directions in the bottle with tap water. If the wiper/washer system fails, for any reason, it is still covered by warranty.

This garbage peddled by dealers is nothing short of fraud. The ACCC takes a very dim view of this nonsense.

Same with servicing your vehicle. You can service your vehicle at any registered mechanic and he can sign your book that servicing has been completed in accordance with the service schedule, using lubricants and filters that are non-genuine, generic equivalents and it will absolutely NOT void your warranty. The ACCC is very clear on this matter.

The only thing you will miss out on, at present, is any software updates that are an online operation through the head office servers in Germany. However, there is a battle currently being waged by the independent service providers in Australia to make this online data available to them so they can provide everything the dealer has access to through their independent service outlets. This is already the case in the Europe (and possibly the US, although I’m not certain) where it is illegal for the manufacturers to withhold this information from the independent service operators. Let’s hope the independents are successful in their claim. They will be able to then provide an identical service to the dealer for a fraction of the cost. It will also stop the dealers price gouging the ignorant who still believe that you have to have your car serviced through the dealer or void your warranty.

Wake up people. Support your local independent service providers. Save money.

Now off to book in my Audi A6 with my local mechanic for its 75,000 km service. Just remembered it’s nearly due.

On my last service of my CX5 just as I was picking up my Allspace, the Mazda dealer told me that they were replacing some tailgate part as part of a recall. After I collected the car, I was the advised that they would also be replacing the sub frame assembly under warranty. In both cases I wasn’t aware that there was a recall and secondly that the sub frame assembly was damaged.

TBH I think dealers are upping their service due to competition from the independent service centres. However it does show that If I didn’t have my car serviced by the dealer both parts would not have been fixed so there are advantages of having your car serviced by the dealer.


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[IsDon]

On my last service of my CX5 just as I was picking up my Allspace, the Mazda dealer told me that they were replacing some tailgate part as part of a recall. After I collected the car, I was the advised that they would also be replacing the sub frame assembly under warranty. In both cases I wasn’t aware that there was a recall and secondly that the sub frame assembly was damaged.

TBH I think dealers are upping their service due to competition from the independent service centres. However it does show that If I didn’t have my car serviced by the dealer both parts would not have been fixed so there are advantages of having your car serviced by the dealer.


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I agree. There are advantages to factory servicing. Is that worth the extra expense? It’s up to your own cost benefit analysis.

Your good news story is from Mazda though. Mazda/Hyundai/Kia/Subaru could certainly teach the Germans a thing or two about customer service and after sales support. VW/Audi/Skoda would never volunteer a firmware update or do one iota more than they have to during a service and that includes programs to address hardware issues.

Case in point, my MY13 A6 Allroad had issues with clunking from the rear hatch. I took it back to several different dealers on four or five different occasions. All wanted to start fault finding from scratch as no central record existed of what had been done to diagnose the problem. Finally I took it to Zetland and they finally mentioned that there had been a bulletin out for that very fault for 3 years. They then had the hide to attempt to extort money out of me to fix it as it was out of warranty. When I showed them the paper trail of attempted fixes they agreed to fix it under good will. There was no way they weren’t.

The reason for this lack of motivation to volunteer to fix known problems, or to do firmware updates is that they are being paid by the factory to do the work, not by the customer. You can bet the factory aren’t paying the same scandalous prices they’re charging the customer. There is no incentive for them to do this type of work for $40/hr when they charge a customer $140/hr. can’t blame the dealers for that, it’s just good business for their franchise. Does nothing for the brand though.

As for firmware, I know for a fact they are only completed if the customer complains something is malfunctioning. Like Bluetooth won’t connect etc. They will then apply a firmware update to fix that specific problem. If you think that just by taking your car in for regular service will mean the car will always come out of the service with up to date firmware you’re mistaken.

I was talking to the owner of an A6 recently who lived in a country area. His closest Audi dealer was 90 mins away. He contacted them about getting a map update and was told that the maps in his car can’t be updated. He even showed them the part number for the new maps but the just flatly refused to help. He was obviously going to pay for it but the lazy pr1cks just wouldn’t budge.