Volkswagen Tiguan 2025 review: Australian first drive

The confidence Volkswagen Australia has in the new third-generation Tiguan is perhaps best demonstrated in the breadth of the line-up at launch: it wants to take on everyone, from China at the bottom end of its revamped mid-size SUV range, to premium-badge German contemporaries at the top.

New Tiguan lobs with just five variants – Hyundai’s Tucson numbers 17 at last count – and all with turbo-petrol power.

Pictured: the 195 R-Line

There’s no hybrid or PHEV slated – though the importer is building a business case for the latter – and no inevitable red-hot Tiguan R version…just yet. But the launch quintet does ambitiously cover a lot of bases.

At the ground floor is the 110 Life at $44,990 list. A stripped-out price-buster? Not really. Digital Cockpit Pro, 12.9-inch sat-nav equipped media, three-zone climate control, 19-inch alloys…in a German-manufactured SUV with a full safety suite and nine airbags.

Capping pricing in low-grade Toyota RAV4 or Hyundai Tucson territory, or against mid-to-upper-grade Chinese landscape, makes for a compelling Euro-sourced proposition.

Pictured: 110 Life

And one made as affordable as possible, VW Australia says, by adopting the older 110kW/250Nm 1.4-litre turbo four rather than the marque’s newer 1.5L, albeit with a seven-speed dual-clutch against an SUV segment still largely wedded to CVTs.

The 110 Elegance keeps the modest powertrain but lays on added luxury features: Black Varenna leather ErgoActive 12-way electric seats with heating and cooling, adaptive LED Plus headlights, et al. And at a still compelling $50,690 list.

But it’s really the 150 Elegance, at the top of the mid-size mainstream segment at $60,690 list and the effective replacement for the outgoing and big-selling 162 Elegance, where the new Tiguan gets interesting.

Pictured: 150 Elegance

With 150kW/320Nm outputs, 4Motion all-wheel drive, 15-way adaptive dampers, 15-inch Discover Pro media, HD Matrix LED, 700-watt Harman Kardon sound and a basketful of features fruit, its luxury checklist outpunches the likes of the similarly powered Mercedes-Benz GLC200 4Matic (from $89,000)…at two-thirds the price.

The heap-topper is the 195 R-Line, with most of the Elegance grade luxuries minted with a sporty twist that adds 20-inch wheels, a specific suspension tune, and the Golf GTI’s 195kW engine…if with more (400Nm) torque, plied through all four wheels.

Here, Tiguan’s ceiling hits $70,490 list – before options – for what’s ostensibly a full-loaded plus-sized hot hatch.

Volkswagen Australia had all five variants to taste test at its local launch.

And when the line-up is so varied that it offers three different seat designs and three different headlight formats – in what would prove distinctly different vibes and driving experiences from one variant to the next – there’s too much breadth and detail in the wider Tiguan line-up to bundle up here.

Instead, we’ll focus on the fifth variant, the 150 R-Line, that quickly proved itself to be the Goldilox pick of the new third-generation bunch when driven back to back against its siblings.

The 150 R-Line fits the same 150kW/320Nm powertrain as its 150 Elegance twin, with the same Golf GTI- and R-sourced wet-type seven-speed DSG and 15-way adaptive suspension.

But the R-Line version specifically adds ‘Progressive’ variable steering (Elegance gets static-ratio) as well as wider (8.5-inch) 19-inch ‘Coventry’ rims shod with 255/45mm rubber (Elegance gets 7.5-inch-wide ‘Catania’ rims with 235/50s).

The R-Line also fits sportier exterior styling, including a larger intake front bar and extended body coloured side sill, and diffuser-style rear bar, and yet the sportier of the ‘150’ twins clocks in at $55,990 list, or $4700 less. So, what’s the catch?

Pictured: the 195 R-Line

Inside, the R-Line – at least in 150 grade – is slightly less lavish than the Elegance in the details, if mostly only one key ‘downgrade’ in the mechanical sport seats trimmed in microfleece and leatherette that lose massaging and heating/ventilation trickery.

The thing is, when tested back to back with other Tiguans, these sport pews – with integrated one-piece headrest and race belt cut-outs – proved the comfiest seat of the entire SUV line-up.

It’s not all low-grade – the seats retain massage functionality – and the combination of R-Line specific dash trim and black rooflining does make for a brooding if eminently sporty vibe compared with the lighter ambience we found in Elegance variants.

The R-Line specific wheel design – thankfully with physical buttons rather than haptic-touch sliders – and alloy pedals are nice sporty additions.

Volkswagen has persisted with silly slider controls for HVAC temperature and the base 12.9-inch ‘satellite navigation’ system is well featured if workmanlike, with a decent UI and solid wireless connectivity with Apple CarPlay (and presumably Android Auto).

The latest MIB4 operating system and software is quite intuitive and easy to get your head around.

Similarly, the 10.25-inch Digital Cockpit Pro is a straightforward affair, with good clarity and a limited array customisation options. Some of the high-grade features of the 195 R-Line flagship – 15-inch Discover Max Pro media, head-up display, Harman Kardon sound – can be optioned in a $2700 Sound and Vision package.

Volkswagen’s self-coined “mini Touareg”, which is 30mm longer and 20mm wider than gen two, certainly feels more substantial at the helm. You sit low, and the window line is quite high, which exacerbates the sense of the SUV’s size.

While some Touareg elements are obvious – exterior proportions, for example – the Tiguan interior design is simpler and leaner, with floating media rather than the large SUV’s fascia integrated digital screen arrangement.

The centre stack, too, is clean and minimal, with an inspired multi-functional OLED ‘Driving Experience Control’ dial to access various vehicle settings like audio volume and settings access to the so-called interior “atmospheres”.

As seems to be the trend trick of the day, the Tiguan follows the trend of offering illuminated decor elements on the door trims and passenger side dash fascia to make your 30-colour customisable mood light that much more impactful and gauche.

Far more useful, however, is the dual-cooled inductive charging pads, with handy fliptop cover for added storage.

Pictured: the 150 Elegance

A nice touch, too, is the flocked door bins, to stop oddments from rattling around on the move. Skoda inspired, perhaps?

Other nifty additions crop up in row two, with phone holder pocket in the front seat backs and dedicated third zone climate controls. Tiguan’s larger form pays dividends in rear occupant space, too, with decent knee and headroom affording impressive long-haul comfort for adults.

On that, Volkswagen is claiming a whopping, class-leading 652 litres of boot storage, where most rivals’ volumes start with a five, though this is measured to the ceiling rather than the luggage cover. It expands to a claimed 1650L.

Volkswagen spruiks the Tiguan’s dynamic talents from the rooftops and it’s clear from the moment you hit the road that there’s some engineering investment in handling. It sits on the well-worn MQB Evo platform, making for solid fundamentals to build upon.

The low-speed ride in all variants is pretty average – at its worst on the passive 110 versions – but the adaptive ‘DCC Pro’ suspension (on higher grades) really starts to shine once you carry speed or push on in the corners.

The two-valve dampers separate control of rebound and compression, says Volkswagen, and there’s a decent spread of tangible change across its 15 settings.

Along the backroads of the Adelaide Hills, some of Australia’s more challenging pieces of hot-mix, a middling ‘seven’ setting proves ideal for the sportier R-Line guise once the red mist descends.

Pictured: 150 R-line

Thus set, the 150 R-Line strikes a nice, natural balance between compliant bump absorption and solid body control, one you can dial softer to firmer to taste if unnecessarily so. DCC Pro is vastly superior and well rounded than the passive 110 Elegance in ride/handling balance pretty much everywhere.

Powertrain wise, life really begins at 150kW – by comparison, the little 110 powertrain is not only absent in shove, it lacks anything like decent throttle response.

Volkswagen claims this new 150kW/320Nm tune is only one-tenth slower than the old 162kW/350Nm gen-two mid-ranger for 0-100km/h – 7.1sec versus 7.0sec – and it certainly feels swift enough on a backroad.

The real upgrade? It’s the wet-type DSG. On the move it’s super slick with very intuitive shift calibrations in all modes and undoubtedly one of the best transmissions in a mainstream mid-size SUV.

For its part in the narrative, yes, the top dog 195 R-Line is measurably quicker (5.9sec 0-100km/h claimed) and punchier, its 195kW/400Nm really highlighting the depth of the talent in the Tiguan chassis. But its jumbo GTI mojo deserves its own deep dive in another review…

Back to back, the 150 R-Line’s variable steering and wider rubber do pay dividends. Against the 150 Elegance’s passive system, the Progressive steering is more fluid and co-operative – quite the opposite to Audis, where so often the linear rack option offers a more natural feel.

And the 255mm 19s – 195 R-Line gets 20s – arguably offers the highest lateral grip in the entire line-up, suiting the 150 R-Line to a tee.

What greatly impresses about the sporty mid-grade variant is that, on balance, it remains a pleasant and subdued family hauler and true all-rounder. It’s comfy and leisurely by default, but when you do dig in there’s enough athleticism and pace that it can be considered genuinely fun.

But perhaps the real highlight to the 150 R-Line is that there’s real quality to this German SUV that’s tough to match at its circa-$56K ask. It’ll easily have the measure of premium badged medium-sized family haulers asking tens of thousands more.

In fact, value-wise, the Tiguan makes compelling options up and down the range. We hope to roll many of the variants through the Chasing Cars garage in due course.

The only base the ‘mini Tourareg’ doesn’t really cover right now is an electrified powertrain option to cater for the growing popularity of hybrids with Aussie buyers…