Road TestCar reviews - Volkswagen - Tiguan - 103TDI 5-dr wagonVolkswagen modelsOverviewVolkswagen finally joins the compact SUV craze with its bland but effective Tiguan28 Nov 2008 VOLKSWAGEN’S all-new Tiguan is so late to the compact SUV party kicked off by the 1994 Toyota RAV4 that the segment has since gone out of fashion and is now hip again – so there’s something to be said about its timing. And, indeed, on the strength of the sub-$40,000 103TDI version, we think that the boxy little VW is totally in tune with today’s family buyers’ needs, offering an appealing blend of driveability, economy, practicality and brand appeal. The styling might be a little bland and the name nonsensical (a cross between Tiger and Leguan, which is German for iguana, it's the final result from about 350,000 registered names including 'Namib’, ‘Rockton’, ‘Samun’ and ‘Nanuk’...), but the Tiguan is the tastiest in its class by far. Model release date: 1 May 2008 to 1 September 2011 All car reviewsAlfa Romeo Abarth Alpine Alpina Audi Aston Martin BMW Bentley Chevrolet Chery Citroen Chrysler Dodge Cupra Ferrari DS Ford Fiat FPV Foton GWM Great Wall Holden Haval HSV Honda Hyundai Hummer Isuzu Infiniti Jeep Jaguar Lamborghini Kia LDV Land Rover Lotus Lexus Maserati Mahindra McLaren Mazda Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-AMG Mini MG Nissan Mitsubishi Peugeot Opel Proton Porsche Renault Ram Rover Rolls-Royce Skoda Saab SsangYong Smart Suzuki Subaru Toyota Tesla Volvo Volkswagen Previous modelGiven its very late arrival to the compact SUV segment, who would have thought that Volkswagen would have built such a vehicle well before anyone had even thought of the term? While VW was not the only manufacturer to experiment with a light-duty, high-clearance all-wheel drives - Toyota did with the Tercel and Subaru made its name with such vehicles from the 1970s on - the VW experiment was the 1989 Golf Country, built on the then-current A2 Golf platform. Using a viscous-coupled on-demand AWD system, the Country also features underbody protection plates, a suspension lift (to 180mm), bullbar, rear swing-away spare wheel carrier and a 77kW 1.8-litre eight-valve petrol engine (with a 1.6-litre turbo-diesel option). Only around 6500 Countrys were built - all in left-hand drive - with the majority sold in Europe and a handful making to Japan. |
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