New Volkswagen Tiguan 1.4 TSI 2WD media drive – an entry level SUV

It seems that my life is Volkswagen-fied recently. The Beetle was sometime back (you can read about it HERE) and the CKD Passat was just 3 weeks ago.

I have to be thankful that I somewhat got myself familiarize with the VW family after driving the Passat.
At least when I was behind the wheel for the Tiguan, I had better confidence as some of the functions are similar.
And by some stroke of luck I was partnered with Greg Yang, an old friend and he was understandably patient.

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I had done media drives before but it was bloggers’ skewed. I happened to be the only blogger for this very auto-journalists/petrol heads session and while I’m hardly ever intimidated, the moment we were flagged off I realized I’m out of my element.

The Tiguans ahead disappeared in a poof. Thankfully Greg was cool and we took the assigned route on our own time.

tiguan media drive - KL - Pahang - Review

Settling into the seat, I immediately looked for the controls to adjust the seat.
To my surprise, the adjustments “controls” are pretty manual. The surprise came about after being used to the Passat (and a few other cars from different brands) where there are buttons at the side to press to adjust the height, back and even the memory buttons to save the settings.

Okkk… I thought to myself.
The Passat had certainly spoiled me. However, I reminded myself that although both are similarly priced, they are not the same class of vehicles.

1 Tiguan - front seats

Once I got my seat right, I sat back, put my hands on the wheel and allowed the “first impression/first feel” of being behind the Tiguan sink in.
Let just say I didn’t feel particularly special.

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I realized then the seats are suede.
It was explained that these are “Milan” Alcantara seats (Alcantara being the fancy/car-jargon name for plain suede), and they provide better comfort as these are better suited for our hot weather.
Suede also offers a middle ground alternative to using mere fabric I suppose. After all the interior of a RM178,888 vehicle should be a little luxurious, even if not entirely.

Why do I say not entirely?
Well for someone who’s not quite a car enthusiast, I should have been easily impressed upon sliding my form into the Tiguan.
But other than the elevated seating position (since it’s a SUV), the finishing of the Tiguan came across almost bare, ordinary or if I could be blunt; cheap.
Knocking tentatively on the inside of the doors, it sounded hollow and felt plastic-ky.
This is beginning to remind me of a Samsung product….. 😀

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Shifting from driver to being a back passenger was the next test.
The legroom for the back is spacious enough but bear in mind this is coming from someone who is 153cm (barely 5 feet).
In an attempt to put the backseat “tray” into good use, I put it down and surfed on my Asus 11″ Zenbook and found it comfortable enough.
No doubt a smaller tablet would have been more ideal.
A vision of someone sitting back and watching a movie during a long drive with a cuppa came to mind.

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Considering the suspension and smoothness of the Tiguan, a meal consumed while the vehicle is being driven is entirely possible.
To sum things up, let’s just say there’s certainly more legroom (with the table down) than on an Air Asia plane. 😀

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Shifting back to the front, I was again in control of the wheel as we navigate ourselves through the winding roads up to Fraser Hill.
While the drive around town was ordinary, the Tiguan showed a bit more character as we whizzed (or rather I crawled) the bends, uphills and downhills of the journey.

Easy handling.
That’s undoubtedly one of the reasons I enjoyed the drive.
Though I was worried as some of the bends seems sharp and the Tiguan did seem “light” as I navigate the turns, it was an easy machine to handle.
A light turn of the steering keeps the vehicle in any direction you command.
The steering of the Passat seem “heavier” in comparison. Yes, you will hear occasional reference to the Passat & Beetle because that’s about all the VW vehicles I have driven so far!

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AUTO HOLD.
This is another fabulous feature that I personally love. While everyone is worried about how fast a car can go from 0 – 100km/hr, I’m concerned about how useful it is, other than it being a mode of transportation from Point A – Point B.
Activating this button below allows the driver to take his/her foot off the brakes while being on an incline or decline of road and it maintains the vehicle’s position safely on the incline/decline (no sliding down).
The Tiguan would resume to move smoothly once the driver stepped on the accelerator. There isn’t a need to deactivate the button to do so either.
Frankly, fancy features doesn’t do much for me, but useful ones and SAFETY features are important.

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But of course, if you’re already paying for it, enjoy it then.
There’s plenty of buttons and controls on the dashboard and the wheel to make those hours stuck in Klang Valley jams more presumably, comfortable.

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There’s a host of other lights (LED, bi-xenon, anti-fog etc) which doesn’t make any sense to me but I can assure you that the 3 most important lights – front lights to be on when it is dark so you won’t get a police summon (and for safety of course), brake lights and the signal lights are all where they should be.

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The boot space is well, adequate I believe. 🙂

rebecca saw - volkswagen review

A good media drive is fun; besides providing the opportunity for us to be behind the wheel and be familiarized with a newly launched vehicle. The VW Tiguan media drive delivers on both grounds.
Oh, dozens of pungent, creamy durians are appreciated too. 🙂

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The motoring media industry is very male-skewed. As VW had realized.

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Thank you VW Malaysia for having me! 🙂

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Price: RM178,888
Tech Pack : RM188, 888 (additional features of dynamic headlight range adjustment & dynamic bending lights, etc)

OTR – 179, 608 excluding insurance
Colours: Pure White, Reflex Silver, Titanium Beige, Pepper Grey, Toffee Brown.

Further info: www.volkswagen.com.my

As for technical details, here,I’ve thoughtfully scanned the brochure for you below. 😀

Tiguan - brochure

Why should you pay additional RM10,000 for the Tech Pack?
You can check out what comes in the Tech Pack as listed below:

Tiguan - brochure1

Tiguan - brochure2

Related post: How can I improve My Car Sales Performance?

This Post Has 12 Comments

  1. i’m quite blur about cars and am not a very good driver, but being a passenger in a cool volks would suit me! hehe 😀

    1. Rebecca Saw

      Same here! I’m just learning as I go along too 😛

  2. Veron

    I LOL-ed a few times while reading. Thanks for an informative yet not boring “review” of a SUV!

  3. Gab Pang

    Great article. It’s always entertaining reading car reviews by you.
    It’s a pretty good car to me since I have always like VW.

  4. Ann Sue

    Becks, now I know where to put you when the car is full 😉 You see to fit well in the boot hehe!

  5. Keegan George

    Thanks for sharing as it does help me to decide which to get. I was considering the Passat but now wifey is interested in the Tiguan. Tough choice to make. Glad you had great experience with both cars.

  6. daniel

    Short sweet and succinct.
    Do add in some pointers like the fuel consumption and a bit on the acceleration (just barely technical, which I’m sure you can manage) and the article would be more complete. Just my 2 cents 🙂

  7. Amber

    There isn’t many (or is there at all?) woman auto-writers.. I think you can be one Becky!
    You have a way with words, even when you write about so many different topics for Malay Mail – your articles are all very well written.
    Oh yes, all that ramblng.. what I meant to say is, you should review more cars! And do videos too!

  8. Irene

    A few friends of mine kept saying the VW cars has gearbox issues. Wonder what’s all that about. Your BEETLE review is really nice!
    And this one, seems that you’re not really liking it much? A SUV is nice , I love my CRV.

  9. Jo

    You look so cute in the boot! 😉
    Not particularly fussy about cars in general but you did make the Tiguan sound like an easy to handle machine! 🙂
    It looks like it was a pleasurable ride for you!

  10. YeeNi

    Hahaha quite an easy read ! Usually u find car reviews boring but not yours! I read the Beetle one – that’s so detailed compared to this – guess that’s because u had the car longer.
    Lookin forward to the Passat one .. Not a car person but I doent

  11. Florence

    Googling around and found your review. Interesting.. it seems to be a very simple SUV . Low maintenance too. Just like a bigger car..

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