[Ihtrak]

My impressions after 2 test drives:

Road presence:
The first thing you’ll love about the Tiguan R line is the amazing road presence it has. It’s absolutely phenomenal. And upon taking closer look, you’ll just fall in love with its humongous outer shell. Agree to some comments that the design doesn’t look as sharp and mature as the previous model. But, the modernity and the curves in this new gen do not look bad though. In fact, it is eye pleasing. If you want to put it into comparison, I would say that the road presence of Tiguan R line is a little more than what you’d experience with a Tata Harrier. For a person who hates SUVs absolutely, I was stunned by the design, after your eyes have gazed through end less compact SUVs on the road. Check it out in person to get a true experience!

Exteriors:
Apart from the design, the Tiguan R line has the IQ lights at the back (which sort of give a 3D dancing look to the rear lights which is good). But I don’t think the headlamps are top of the line. In the UK, you can spec the front lights with the IQ lights. But the variant in India doesn’t have this option is what I think. Yes, it is LED, but I’m not really sure if it is the IQ lights for the simple reason being that it didn’t have the IQ badge on the headlights. Added on, the IQ light adjustment options weren’t present in the infotainment as well. Haven’t had a chance to test the brightness and throw of headlamps since the TD was during the daytimes.


Interiors:
Now this is going to be a very subjective topic. So putting out my views here:

1. The sports seats (mix of Alcantara, leatherette and fabric) is very good. They provide enough support and I felt the seats had just the right amount of cushioning. Also, the fabric not the seats is grey colored, high sheen finish. So I guess cleaning them will not be a problem.
2. The adjustable thigh support (only for the driver’s seat) is a welcome in disguise for someone who is 6ft+ like me. Honestly, if it never had this option, I would have disregarded this car itself because my thighs get sore without proper support during long drives due to my height.
3. Coming to the seat controls, yes all seat adjustments are manual except for the lumbar support. But you have proper manual adjustments for seat recline, height, thigh support (up and down), and forward/backward. This is a bummer for me. Honestly speaking, I would expect electric adjustments at this price point. For the simple reason being that my car would get driven by a mix of hands whenever I’m on trips with my friends. And mind you, you really have to shell out some effort to get the right seat position every time, since there are a bunch of manual adjustment options that you have to get through.
4. Sitting into the driver’s seat, the first thing you’ll notice is the enormously sized infotainment screen (literally onto your face). On my first TD, I felt it to be too much for my liking. But on my 2nd TD, it didn’t distract much and felt that is something that I could live with. ALL vehicle controls get into this infotainment and there are no physical buttons except for:
1. Engine start stop button (I wonder why VW left this out of the screen; maybe you could have put this into the infotainment as well so that the driver gets a little more headache)
2. Centre rotary dial - This houses 2 options. 1 for the volume controls (which I think is pretty useless since you already have the controls in the steering wheel and the bottom portion of the infotainment screen). And another one, if you press the dial once, will take you into the drive modes, which is pretty useful though.
3. Electric parking brake switch.
4. Although all other controls are into the infotainment, navigating through the options is not that difficult. What I feel is if you get used to it, you can navigate with ease considering the fact that the screen is big enough for easy navigation.
5. The wireless charging pads (2 nos) charged my iPhone 13 Pro from 16% to 45% in an hour, which I think is pretty good for a wireless charger. Also, it didn’t heat up my phone during charging and charging happened continuously without overheating warnings on my iPhone.
6. Another subjective topic is the interior ambient lights. The car has a party decoration in the cabin and whether you like it or not is entirely upto you. Personally, I felt the interior lights were a bit overdone and could have been simpler without the gloss back strip running throughout the cabin. You have a plethora of adjustment options for these right from brightness to colors.
7. The back seats were pretty comfortable and people sitting at the back will have a very comfortable legroom even if the person sitting on the front is 6 feet tall.
8. Sunroof ofcourse is present with the controls through a touch slider. Didn’t find it pretty difficult to operate though.
9. The boot again is large sized (~600 liters). But the boot close is manual. No electric close button. (Which is a miss again)


Drive:
Keep in mind that the engine option VW offers for Tiguan R line isn’t the top of the line. In the UK, you have one higher trim petrol engine which spits out 265ps and 400nm. But the one offered in India is 204ps and 320nm.

The drive is where this car surprised me. Although the engine is the 2nd best in its offering, the output is more than enough to keep your spirited driving up and take quick overturns with a blast of torque. And I feel this is more than enough for our Indian roads. The gear shifts are blazing fast to the extent that you wouldn’t be able to notice the feel of gear shifts unless you keep a very keen eye on it. When you put your heavy foot down, it downshifts and takes the challenge with lot of ease. One thing to keep in mind again here is that there is a slight (maybe half a second) lag in the bottom range before it blasts that torque. It will take a little bit of getting used to, in order to learn how to handle that slight initial lag. And the mid and top ranges just pull you through and through so that there is no shortage of horsepower.

And Yo man, the DCC is an amazing thing that has happened to this car. The suspension naturally is a little bit on the stiffer side. But that is what you want if you’re looking for performance. Put it into comfort mode, and it just swallows up all the light to medium undulations on the roads with great confidence. Also it took on mighty speed breakers in comfort mode with a lot of ease with decent speed. But if you’re literally riding on a rocky trail where there are ups and down right and left, even in comfort mode, the suspension is pretty stiff. But for the normal road conditions of India (including rough patches), it gets through most of them with ease and confidence in comfort mode unless you’re driving on a trail.
You can really utilize the Sport mode only in an Expressway or a highway (if you’re confident on the road quality), since taking any rough patches in sport mode gives you a hit. You don’t feel any loss of control in the steering though. But if you encounter rough patches in Sport mode, the cabin gets jarring and you can feel strong thuds due to the suspension being in its tightest state in Sport mode. And not only that, of course in the Sport mode the engine is even more evil enough so as not to let 99.9% of fellow drivers to overtake you.

High speed stability & cornering:
The high speed stability is excellent in a straight line over a little stretch and it was confidence inspiring. No cabin noise, and I did not feel much of wind noise as well. You can do lane changes as well at high speeds with ease. But that is where it all ends. If you’re doing 100+ and taking a corner, it isn’t that confidence inspiring. It makes you slow down to take on corners. It has got to do with the higher stance and due to the fact of it being a SUV in all logical sense.

Verdict:
If you’re looking for a well built German without the big 3 names, if you’re looking for a kick of performance to be available on tap for you every time you need it, if you’re looking for comfortable and spacious cabin in true German quality, if you’re looking to make a statement, GO FOR IT maybe when VW offers the year end discounts. Keep in mind that there are a few critical misses that I pointed out though, including the electric seat controls, the IQ headlights etc.

But if your’e a person who doesn’t mind the lower stance of sedans/hatches, would like to take on corners with great confidence, willing to loose a bit of practicality, wait for the Golf GTI or the Octavia VRS or the Superb!

Both are different in their own world. The final decision comes up-to what sacrifices you’re willing to make…

[GeeTee TSI]

I concur that the trim and the feature mix has been most puzzling. However, certain features do make the Tiguan R line a unique package (in a compact footprint)

• 4 Motion (All-wheel drive)
• DCC pro (with a wide range of customisation)
• ADAS level 2
• ErgoActive seats (massage function)

In my view the above features carry more value (and cost) than the ones omitted like power seat adjustment, ventilation and 360 camera (much as we want them all).

I really wish VW would let prospective customers use the UK car configurator.

[TheHelix0202]

Quite funny to see the way they’re pitching the Tiguan (or any other VW in general) these days

[itwasntme]

Personally, VW India has got themselves into a spot with these 50 (?) CBU Tiguan R-Lines. While it does have DCC (and the Kodiaq doesn't' albeit temporarily though is my gut feeling), the R-Line simply does not have the pull of other CBUs like the RS230/245 or the Polo GTI. Those were still snapped up by enthusiasts slowly but surely especially as discounts increased.

This R-Line is similar to the Superb predicament. Nothing unique or 'special' about the engine/tranny/trim, misses out on key features now common in 20L vehicles, overpriced, to be superseded by the next-gen launch, and lacklustre pushing by both OEM and dealers.

I am expecting solid discounts on it soon. VW India top brass must be waking at night up screaming at the X-Trail / BBT fiasco, although that is at a real nightmarish level altogether!

Interesting to see how the Golf GTI pans out.

[ramlibalu2]

Does it make sense to wait for an year and buy it from Big Boy Toyz at a 40% discount, like the X-Trail? 🤪

[omar]

Drove the car briefly. One thing that stood out was the steering. It was almost inch perfect and made the car handle like a go cart, and made the car quite fun to handle.

This is something I have seen in older cars, with the Hydraulic steerings. Though the R line's steering was not as good (not as weighted), it was the best I have driven recently, even better than performance cars such as the m340i LCI 2 and the s5 where the steering felt vague.

[attrip2008]

While visiting the VW service centre recently for some insurance work on my Virtus GT, something caught my eye — quite literally. As I was being driven into a service bay, there it was: the new Tiguan R-Line, sitting like it knew it didn’t need to try too hard.

And wow — what a looker.

Volkswagen has clearly taken a bold leap forward in the design department with this one. You’d expect a “premium” attempt, perhaps aimed at matching Audi’s design language. But this? This is flirting with Porsche levels of presence. There’s a maturity and aggression in its stance that wasn’t there before.
• Sharp creases, taut surfaces and those flared rear fenders giving it a bodacious profile
• The updated front fascia is all business
• Those R-Line wheels and subtle detailing give it just enough drama without being shouty

In my opinion, this is easily among the best-designed cars you can buy under ₹50L today — and not just in the SUV segment. Clean, modern, and confident — just what VW needed.

Would love to spot more of these on the roads- which we know won’t happen