NOBODY knows if Top Gear’s tamed racing driver, the Stig, is married, or if indeed he has any children.
If he did, when he’s not thrashing Supercars around a test track a much more sensible, practical car for him and his family would be the Volkswagen Tiguan.
Racy number ... we drive the VW Tiguan R-Line
But no ordinary Tiguan, it would have to be VW’s racy R-Line version in white of course to match the Sitg’s white racing suit.
I am not the Stig but my surname is Liggett so I guess you could call me the Ligg plus I’m a family man with two Top Gear-mad sons and as we couldn’t get hold of the real Stig, I’ve donned my white race suit to test drive it myself.
I found the Tiguan the perfect balance between practicality and performance and as my test car was the four-wheel-drive, 4motion version the off-road ability is another feather in the Tiguan’s bow.
Practicality and performance ... VW Tiguan
I even got to do some mountain climbing, from the comfort of the Tiguan’s climate controlled cabin of course, well you wouldn’t expect me to walk up a mountain would you?
The majority of the time 90 per cent of power is transmitted to the front wheels which aids fuel economy but when the going gets tough an electrohydraulic all-wheel drive clutch will sends power to the rear.
The Tiguan has been with us since February 2008 and was VW’s first entry in the compact SUV market and had become their fifth best-selling vehicle and now it’s returned with a fresh face and new front and rear lights bringing the looks in-line with the rest of the VW range.
The Tiguan now bears a striking resemblance to its bigger brother the Toureg. There are six engines available, three petrol and three diesels, with four trim levels: S, SE, R-Line and Escape.
Under the bonnet of my sporty R-line test car was a 2.0-litre TDI diesel engine with 175bhp and 380Nms of torque.
The Ligg ... our man Darren
The power and performance plus the extra ride-height offers a brilliant B-road blast along some bouncy mountain roads.
The R-Line Tiguan comes with sports suspension fitted as standard which stiffens the springs and damper to give a more sporty ride.
But unlike most sports set-ups, the application of sports suspension does not involve lowering the ride, in order to maintain the car’s off-road capability. Handling wise the R-Line earns its racing stripes as it offers tremendous amounts of grip through the bends and agility on par with a sporty saloon or estate car and the suspension is subtle enough to suppress the worst roads and bad surfaces.
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For serious off-roading the Escape Tiguan models have an 28 degrees angle of approach, compared to the 18 degree on my R-Line model, and the rear departure angle is 25 degrees.
Escape models all feature a special off-road mode switch that activates hill descent that also increases sensitivity of the cross-axle braking system that provides the same effect as a differential lock.
If you are in the market for a Tiguan you must try one with VWs fabulous, seven-speed DSG gearbox.
I have driven various VW, Audi and Skoda cars with a DSG gearbox but in an compact SUV like the Tiguan it’s the perfect combination.
The DSG set-up is in fact a pair of dry clutches; one controls the ‘odd’ gears plus reverse while the other operates the ‘even’ gears. So whatever gear you are in the next-higher gear is in standby until the ideal point is reached which makes for lightning fast shifts.
The system is intuitive and knows when you are taking it easy or when you take a head stagger and drive like the Stig the DSG box will react holding the revs and not changing until you hit the 4,500rpm redline.
You can also manual shift but the DSG box provides the same 0-62mph time of 8.5 seconds as the manual six-speed with a top speed of 124mph. Fuel economy is reasonable, VW quote 50.5mpg on a combined cycle but I was averaging around 40mpg but that’s what I get for driving like the Stig, while sticking to the speed limits of course.
Sporty styling ... sleek Tiguan
The brakes are sharp and provide ample stopping power when driving normally but could be a bit beefier to cope with sustained abuse when you adopt a Stig like approach and dish out a serious dose of pedal pushing.
Inside the seats are figure-hugging, not leather, but nice and soft, part suede with R-Line logos on the headrest. They are also heated, very handy, even though we are in June and technically summer but still easy to get caught out in a Norn Iron summer shower so a quick blast from the heated seats will have your T-shirt dry in no time.
The Tiguan’s dash features interesting heater vents, there’s eight circle vents that just seem out of place and ruin the well laid out and functional interior.
There’s plenty of kit too but one little option that’s missing was cruise control. It’s a £235 option and doesn’t include lane assist. Oh and the stop-start system is a bit intrusive, especially in stop start traffic and then when it kicks back in makes an annoying clicking sound.
And on that bombshell... good night!
Comfy ... suede seats
Key Facts
- Cost: £21,700-£31,770
- Engine: 2.0 litre TDI four-cylinder, direct injection turbo diesel
- Transmission: Seven-speed DSG semi-auto gearbox, 4-wheel drive
- Power: 175bhp
- Torque: 330 NMs
- 0-62mph: 8.5seconds
- Top speed: 124mph
- Economy: 50.4mpg
- Insurance group: 23E
- Warranty: 3-year, 60,000 miles
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