This post was originally published on Autocar
Wolfsburg’s global sales champion moves further into premium territory
Before we dive into and learn about the Volkswagen Tiguan, some context.After all, it feels like the uncertainty that, since the early days of large-scale electrification, has been shrouding the decision-making of those who design and build, but also buy and consume, new cars ought to be lifting by now – yet it isn’t. Time only seems to unearth bigger obstacles for the industry to overcome and ever-greater problems to solve before the car can be made fully sustainable.And so when someone with the influence of Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer seeks to ease that uncertainty, his sentiments strike an instant chord. Schäfer recently did so by guaranteeing that, however the cars of tomorrow are powered, his brand would commit always – or, at least, for the foreseeable future – to make a Golf; always to keep the GTI sub-brand alive and kicking; and, finally, to keep at least one other current model in production.That car wasn’t the long-lived Volkswagen Passat or the affordable Volkswagen Polo but this road test subject: the Tiguan. This car has become VW’s biggest-selling model worldwide bar none. And now entering a third model generation, it’s adopting VW’s very latest platform, suspension and electrified hybrid powertrain technology in a bid to protect its exalted status.It’s perhaps a reflection of the current climate that VW isn’t turning to full electrification for the Tiguan. Instead, it has introduced quite an extensive derivative line-up including plug-in hybrids that are “of sufficient range that they can almost be used like fully electric cars”, as well as more affordable mild-hybrid petrols, more powerful four-wheel-drive petrols and even a diesel.For as long as it can, Wolfsburg clearly wants to give us the power to choose for ourselves which kind of Tiguan suits us best. And for the moment, we have tested the car both as a 1.5-litre eTSI petrol and a range-topping 1.5-litre e-Hybrid 272 PHEV.The range at a glanceModelsPowerFrom1.5 eTSI 130129bhp£34,0751.5 eTSI 150 Life148bhp£36,7202.0 TDI 150 Life148bhp£37,9201.5 eHybrid Life201bhp£42,5251.5 eHybrid R-Line268bhp£48,220There are no four-wheel-drive Tiguans in the line-up yet. It’s revealing that VW has kept one diesel engine on for the third-generation car, but the addition of a second PHEV model shows where it expects the balance of interest to be.Trim levels start with a base model that has 129bhp 1.5-litre mild-hybrid power only and rise through Life, Match, Elegance and R-Line tiers. The upper-level PHEV is sold exclusively as an R-Line model.