[Maky]

Originally Posted by Amarjeetphukan

Let me start this post by thanking Maky.
Your review of the Tiguan helped me make my mind and book the car.

You are most welcome.

Originally Posted by Amarjeetphukan

I read your review and test drove the Tiguan again. It left me with the same happy feeling. I got a good friend of mine to test drive the car and we exchanged notes. He felt the same way

I am glad to have helped sell a few Tiguan's for VW going by posts in thread here and some PM's : )

Originally Posted by EzeeBreezy

Hello Maky, Hello Srini,
Congratulations on the new car and hope its going great. Can you please enlighten fellow BHP-ians with your latest update on ownership review.
Thanks.

Hey EzeeBreezy!
Sorry I just came across your post. I think It's probably too early to provide any meaningful ownership updates just yet. Perhaps around the 6 month mark.

[Fiero]

Originally Posted by Maky

It has been quite the journey, from a humble Maruti Swift bought on loan over a decade ago to an outright German CKD. I am very pleased to share our special day with you all : )

Thanks for reading : )

Many (belated) congratulations Maky! Wish you a niggle free car so you don't have to visit the service center - I've had my share of niggles and issues with VW Downtown in the past year. Hopefully no more to come.

Mine is the same colour. Just got back from a nice 2000 km Mumbai-Hyderabad-Hampi-Mumbai road trip. What a nice highway cruiser she is! Surprisingly agile in the twisties even!

Many happy miles to you!

[Maky]

Thank you Fiero : )

Originally Posted by Fiero

Many (belated) congratulations Maky! Wish you a niggle free car so you don't have to visit the service center - I've had my share of niggles and issues with VW Downtown in the past year. Hopefully no more to come.

I am curious to know what issues you came across with your vehicle and the action, or inaction by VW Downtown.

Originally Posted by Fiero

Just got back from a nice 2000 km Mumbai-Hyderabad-Hampi-Mumbai road trip. What a nice highway cruiser she is! Surprisingly agile in the twisties even!

Indeed on my recent trip to Sula Vineyard/Nashik throwing the car around the twisties was incredible. You expect an imported german to be extraordinary on the highways, but I couldn't believe how the car could be pushed around tight corners at speed. Everytime I'd come across the twists I'd just easily blow past all kinds of cars, you could tell the other drivers weren't comfortable doing anything besides crawling speeds and I'd just create gaps without meaning to. Such superb grip and stability.

My understanding is that the 4Motion AWD system is 'full time' in D1 and D2 but also kicks in at all the higher gears If it feels you need traction and/or under safety related conditions. Fantastic vehicle!

[Amarjeetphukan]

Other than that, the worksmanship itself was fantastic and I would gladly refer this person to anyone in Bombay who requires such a service.

Attachment 2508252

Could you share the contact details of the workshop you got this done from?

[Fiero]

Originally Posted by Maky

Thank you Fiero : )


I am curious to know what issues you came across with your vehicle and the action, or inaction by VW Downtown.


Indeed on my recent trip to Sula Vineyard/Nashik throwing the car around the twisties was incredible. You expect an imported german to be extraordinary on the highways, but I couldn't believe how the car could be pushed around tight corners at speed. Everytime I'd come across the twists I'd just easily blow past all kinds of cars, you could tell the other drivers weren't comfortable doing anything besides crawling speeds and I'd just create gaps without meaning to. Such superb grip and stability.

My understanding is that the 4Motion AWD system is 'full time' in D1 and D2 but also kicks in at all the higher gears If it feels you need traction and/or under safety related conditions. Fantastic vehicle!

Issues with the car:

1. Suspension noise - A clunk/thud sound over speed-breakers at normal speeds, and some sudden dips/fall in the road. As far as I can tell, the sound is on compression (as if something is hitting the bump-stops. This was once vaguely verbally alluded to by VW service personnel as well. VW has changed the entire front suspension under warranty (supposedly just for my satisfaction) but the sound is still there. I am aware that other complaints have also been made to VW Downtown/VW - but they are least interested in even giving a proper explanation for this noise. 'Operational noise' is what they call it. This is not a Bajaj Auto to have such operational noise to begin with. I definitely deserve a better explanation too. The car went to the service center for this issue 3 times. I plan to continue pursuing this. This does not plague 'all' Tiguans as far as I am aware. Good to hear what you faced on this.

2. Wind noise/window vibration - Excessive wind noise from the driver's side, and driver's side window rattling with bass kick at moderate volume. This has now largely been resolved after 3 visits to the service center.

3. Boot release failure - Randomly, the boot lid would either not release or stop halfway after being released, and randomly the problem fixed itself. Since it could not be 'replicated' (how typical) not much heed was paid to investigate this.

4. Steering noise - In the twisties, I have on a couple of occasions noticed a hissing noise. This has been discussed by others on the forum as well. Not noticed it during my last trip. Again, no replication, no answer.

5. TPMS - Was once off by 3-4 PSI. Apparently this has been re-calibrated; not tested this yet.

6. Few other minor issues - Rear wiper had to be replaced after only few uses in the rain.

All in all, I kept repeatedly taking the car to the service center again and again (easily 7-8 times in 12 months) because they repeatedly failed and fumbled on these issues again and again. Underwhelming experience. VW India itself has been in the loop in all this (and their customer relations head). Still, I have more than a dozen emails which are un-responded to over the past 12 months. Each time they took action only after being called out on social media for a few days repeatedly.

[Maky]

Thanks for sharing your problems.
You've had more issues than is normal. Fingers crossed I've had really none.

I quoted the ones that I could relate with or know of.

Originally Posted by Fiero

Issues with the car:

1. Suspension noise - A clunk/thud sound over speed-breakers at normal speeds, and some sudden dips/fall in the road. As far as I can tell, the sound is on compression (as if something is hitting the bump-stops. This was once vaguely verbally alluded to by VW service personnel as well. VW has changed the entire front suspension under warranty (supposedly just for my satisfaction) but the sound is still there. I am aware that other complaints have also been made to VW Downtown/VW - but they are least interested in even giving a proper explanation for this noise. 'Operational noise' is what they call it. This is not a Bajaj Auto to have such operational noise to begin with. I definitely deserve a better explanation too. The car went to the service center for this issue 3 times. I plan to continue pursuing this. This does not plague 'all' Tiguans as far as I am aware. Good to hear what you faced on this.

Difficult to say unless I heard it but indeed german suspensions make a thud noise. You mostly hear it rather than feel it has been my experience. The Tiguan is stiffly sprung as well, to correct my initial observation. Try some Michelins on your tyre change and it should help. Otherwise changing dampers post warranty is another route to make it softer.

Originally Posted by Fiero

4. Steering noise - In the twisties, I have on a couple of occasions noticed a hissing noise. This has been discussed by others on the forum as well. Not noticed it during my last trip. Again, no replication, no answer.

There is a software update for this exact thing. Came out about two weeks ago. Not all service centers are yet aware but do contact the Sewri Service Center and make sure they check and double check for said update.

Originally Posted by Fiero

6. Few other minor issues - Rear wiper had to be replaced after only few uses in the rain.

My rear wiper has been making those awful dragging noises since day one. I will change this under warranty. I imagine our vehicles sititng out in the sun when in stockyard, the rubber probably went hard.

Request: Strictly no discussion of WhatsApp groups please. Takes away from the purpose of this forum. And do remember, content posted here is viewed by thousands of enthusiasts (if not lakhs), easily searchable (including on Google searches) and archived for life. Unlike WhatsApp chats.*

Thanks for the support & understanding

[Maky]

Republic's Day went a bit like this..

As before Volkswagen Downtown, Prabhadevi organised the event but this time Volkswagen India joined in


Gathered around 6:30 AM at VW Downtown's Prabhadevi showroom


Flag Hoisting ceremony at around 7 AM with the little kiddo's doing the honours : )


And off we all went..














Nimble on the roads, Beast on the highways


Arriving at Saltt, Karjat. The new Atal Setu bridge sure makes short work of long distances!


Breakfast is just an excuse for us enthusiast's, isn't it : P



Us


A few hours well spent with like minded passionate people.

Some coffee to go and left for home


Many many thanks to Volkswagen Downtown for organising this run. Looking forward to more events in the future.

[Dreamlifter.07]

Originally Posted by Maky

Republic's Day went a bit like this..

Wow! that’s some wonderful drive! I’m a bit jealous looking at the pictures

A lot of GT Virtus’s, every time I see a GT Virtus my heart skips a beat. It reminds me that I should have gone for the GT

[Amarjeetphukan]

Mod Note : Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Maky

Republic's Day went a bit like this..
Many many thanks to Volkswagen Downtown for organising this run. Looking forward to more events in the future.

I was accidentally part of this. I was driving my Silver Tiguan on the Atal Setu when I noticed all the Volkswagen cars. I remember seeing your car too....

[Maky]

It has now been six months since I purchased the Tiguan. Six glorious months.

Every single day I've stepped into the car, every single drive has put a smile on my face. Whether a slow daily commute or those wonderful out of city blasts.

Since I brought her home half a year ago I've put in about ~3,500kms kilometers. Not as much as I thought I'd have run by now but life, routine and travels.
I've written down the experience thusfar in a manner that I hope will be informative and helpful to most.


Daily commute:
Excellent sound insulation from the hustle and bustle of Bombay peak hours. I had originally mentioned in my post that T-BHP/others had perhaps gotten it wrong when opining on the stiff suspension of the vehicle, I'll very much take that back. The vehicle definitely rides stiffer than ideal, but not to the point of great discomfort. A last-gen Octavia like suspension tuning balance though would have been perfect.
Factory tints, excellent seating position and cushioning paired with Auto Hold makes for effortless bumper to bumper days. I would like to mention that the AC has largely been sufficient but during the hottest days I do find myself moving the fan blower speed to the 3rd position out of 7, otherwise it sits in a very silent 1st position.


Highway runs:
For a raised ride height 'SUV' vehicle the Tiguan sure has felt car like on the highways. One switches lanes seamlessly, accelerates ferociously and brakes with immediacy. I now realise why those big german cars would just blast past me on the highways so confidently, they just don't realise the numbers they're doing. The earlier mention slightly stiffer suspension is a non-issue on the highways. Absolutely flat ride, again being an SUV I was surprised by the next to nil amount of body roll in this vehicles highway manners.


Ghat climbs:
Most of what I've written earlier was to be expected, though what was not expected is what I experienced on the ghats, so I've dedicated a paragraph.
One cannot do high speeds on the twisties yet I found myself just effortlessly going past all cars big and small, cheap and expensive even at sedate speeds. On my first ghat run in the Tiguan I thought perhaps they had been full of people and luggage but on following climbs I decided to have a look at the cars I was just cruising past, a lot of those vehicles had either two persons or less and presumably similar luggage load as mine. I realised it's the car, the sheer grip with the 4motion system which offers full time AWD in D1 and D2, following which drive to all 4 wheels in offered in any gear if it feels a wheel(s) is loosing traction. The 2.0L TSI engine, DQ381 DSG gearbox and VW's 4Motion AWD system is a touring combination made in heaven.


Moving on, in the original post I had mentioned that later I'd put a thorough review of the excellent IQ Matrix headlights that came with this car. But now I don't think a review is needed as such so I'll just share some of the pictures. These were taken in certain stretches of Aamby Valley in Lonavala where there were no street lights.

Headlights off, only the DRLs are on:




Healights in Auto mode, only the low beam is on, notice the narrowed more focused brighter beams:




Headlights still in Auto mode, I flash the highbeam here. The highbeams are extremely powerful and go much much much farther than what you see here but in this picture the nearby trees got in the way:



The above pictures might not do justice given limited patch of road where I took them but believe me the I.Q. matrix LEDs on the Tiguan are fantastic. They spread when they see the road widen, narrow and sharpen accordingly on smaller lanes and the throw is great. There are times when the ambient light sensor(?) doesn't calculate the environmental lighting correctly and the low beam throws a much faded beam than is ideal thinking the road is adequately lit but that's rare. I am considering getting the front camera module retrofit as some Tiguan owners have gotten, after which the lights will automatically dip as an individual/car comes in front of you so as to not to blind them.


So now that the main ownership experience has been largely covered, I would like to mention a small incident I had on the road.
Slow moving traffic ahead of me, nearly none behind me. An imbecile biker, of the kind who like to swerve sharply left and right when changing lane to lane was behind me. The vehicle in front of me braked so did I, at this point I imagine the said moron tried to swerve to my adjacent lane expecting me to keep moving even though the car in front had braked and rammed my rear bumper while trying to overtake into a narrow gap on the other lane. The noise I heard was a loud thud. I got out and this was the 'damage'

What you see in the first image is the chrome lining in perfect alignment, this is the left side where the biker did not hit my car




And what you see in the second image is the same chrome lining now slightly misaligned where this individual hit.



I was very surprised by the negligible damage. Given the loud thud I heard I figured both holding clips would be gone on either sides of the bumper with a nice bend in the middle and I'd have a claim merely 3 months into ownership. While you expect the exterior metal work and interior plastics to be top notch for such vehicles, Volkswagen's CKD import products seem to compromise nowhere.

And now finally to some just criticism. The service experience:

After the 1st service(VW Downtown, Sewri workshop) which wasn't actually a service I believe but a check-up of sorts post the first month of delivery. No issues with the service/check-up but then they delivered my car unwashed and tobacco spat on. Interiors also appeared not properly vaccum cleaned.




After the 2nd checkup/service the past week, they returned my car this time well washed and cleaned although I had mentioned to him in advance my previous experience on that point.
However, post drop off no mention verbally over the phone on what checks were done on the car by the service advisor. And unlike the first time when the service advisor(different person) asked me if I wanted to fill air in one the tyres which was showing low pressure which I declined to as they did not have Nitrogen and only Air. This time around the service person just went ahead and filled my Nitrogen filled tyres with air. I had to completely deflate and reflate with Nitrogen at a pump, safety aside the TMPS readings went wonky showing all kinds of strange numbers because of this mix.

Also, after the person dropped the car back home I saw that two sunblinds were just kept in the dickie instead of being placed back on the window and one of the sunblinds, the rear right quarter one was bent. This was a paid for accessory.





I called the service advisor immediately and said he'd get back to me. The next day he got back to me with no desire to replace the bent one with a new one giving laughable reasons. Great buying experience, ownership experience thusfar. But VW really needs to have a look at their post-sale service quality and training.
Mr. Ashish no amount of marketing or Ad spend will ever be as good as word of mouth.

6 kpl in Bombay and a respectable 14 kpl on highways are the honest figures. I think I've covered most things of my Tiguan Ownership. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask : )

[Rohitthebest]

Originally Posted by Maky

It has now been six months since I purchased the Tiguan. Six glorious months.

Congratulations and best wishes for many more miles to come in near future.
Your feelings is exactly what my best buddy who bought a Skoda Kodiaq last year feels. He has upgraded from a VW Jetta to Kodiaq and no complaints so far. We have done a few runs between Bangalore to Pune in the car and it is indeed a breeze to drive and feels safe like a tank.
Only thing missing is ADAS in Indian version abroad they had launched it long ago but not in our part of the world.
I drive a VW Polo GT TSi (1L 3 Cylinder) and whenever I get to lay my hands on his car, my smile goes from ear to ear to have double the power and weight to pull on the highways.
It is indeed a superb choice way better than its counterparts from other brands which sell like a hot cake in India.

[amitverma]

Originally Posted by Maky

6 kpl in Bombay and a respectable 14 kpl on highways are the honest figures. I think I've covered most things of my Tiguan Ownership. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask : )

Forgive me for saying, but 6 kpl in the city seems awfully expensive. Is that the case for most Tiguan/Kodiaq owners? Or is it specific to bombay traffic conditions? Or are you always going pedal to the metal? I'd be very annoyed by such high fuel consumption.

[Maky]

Originally Posted by amitverma

Forgive me for saying, but 6 kpl in the city seems awfully expensive. Is that the case for most Tiguan/Kodiaq owners? Or is it specific to bombay traffic conditions? Or are you always going pedal to the metal? I'd be very annoyed by such high fuel consumption.

It is specific to Bombay conditions and no I do not drive with a heavy foot, but to be clear it will vary in Bombay as well depending on the route you take to work and at what hours. For example, on a specific route during morning and evening going/returning to/from work hours in Lower Parel I will get above 6 kpl. The same exact route returning from a late night movie from a nearby mall I will get legit 10 kpl.

I gave the above mileage as not the worst or best case scenario but what is accurately typical as would apply to most peoples usage. Also, I cannot speak for Kodiaq owners but it should be equal if on the same given route and traffic conditions as mine, if not worst given it's a bigger heavier vehicle.

[nerd1200]

Originally Posted by Maky

It has now been six months since I purchased the Tiguan. Six glorious months.

Congratulations!! Wishing you many more happy miles with the amazing crossover. It's a proper pocket rocket.

I've heard a lot about the brilliant IQ lights, Thanks for providing a detailed review of the same.

Originally Posted by Maky

...but then they delivered my car unwashed and tobacco spat on. Interiors also appeared not properly vaccum cleaned.

Also, after the person dropped the car back home I saw that two sunblinds were just kept in the dickie instead of being placed back on the window and one of the sunblinds, the rear right quarter one was bent...

...with no desire to replace the bent one with a new one giving laughable reasons. Great buying experience, ownership experience thusfar. But VW really needs to have a look at their post-sale service quality and training.

I've had very similar experiences with PPS VW workshop in Bangalore too. At this point I feel a local roadside mechanic will do a better job than them. I am not exaggerating one bit. Having seen how they handle the cars (including the top tier ones), I make it a point standing next to the car during service.

This is definitely not a PPS problem as I service my other cars at PPS Skoda and PPS Mahindra respectively. They have much better service experience. Other VW service centers have the same complaint. It is extremely disappointing keeping in mind the brilliant products from VW.

[Exhuberance]

Thanks @Maky for sharing.
Having brought home a Tiguan 3.5 months back, agree with all your observations.

Had only 1 decent highway trip with it so far but it’s an excellent highway cruiser on account of NVH, planted road manners, enough grunt and so on. Also noticed on hilly sections I was effortlessly able to pull much ahead of my travelling pack.

Unfortunately, my office commute road, while quite good, is littered with rumble strips. The Tiguan is not happy taking those between 30 to 50 km/h, which is the avg traffic speed. Above those speeds the rumble strips disappear completely.

Barring the above minor caution, I just love every drive in the car even if it is in congested traffic areas as it sufficiently insulates you from outside chaos while being sharp and easy to manoeuvre around. At the end of the office day, I look forward to get in the vehicle and drive back.

Also I don’t know why, but quite enjoy using the automated tailgate. Just feels slick. Had a chance to buy a discounted Q3 base version without the electric tailgate at a good price but am now happy that I didn’t go for that.

My service centre experience in Gurgaon for 1st checkup had been Ok, they provided home pick up and delivery and washed it satisfactorily. Also gave a car shampoo kit. Let’s see how it turns out if future.