The Volkswagen Tiguan is a compact crossover SUV that resides between the Volkswagen T-Roc and Volkswagen Touareg. With the launch of the Tiguan in the American market back in 2007, it has been a fairly successful iteration from the German automobile manufacturer, and the first generation has been praised well for its spacious cabin and decent driving dynamics. With the launch of the second generation of the Tiguan back in 2016, Volkswagen managed to modernize the ride inside out as well.
Launched at a base selling price of $26,490, the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan comes with quite a lot of upgrades and changes from the outgoing 2021 model. The styling has been refreshed, and the exterior gets many more features included. The interior sees an updated steering wheel, a digital gauge cluster, and heated seats for all the trims. There are many more driver-assistance techs for all the trims except the base S trim as well. Competing with the Mazda CX-50, Kia Sportage, and Honda CR-V, here are 10 things you need to know before buying the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan.
10 Quite Spacious
One thing that the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan does better than most of its rivals is when it comes to cabin comfort as it offers the best in class overall space for both the front and second-row passengers. Being a 5-seater compact SUV as standard, it carries forward the roomy cabin with no major changes from the outgoing 2021 model.
There is enough headroom and legroom for all five passengers. The seats are well-bolstered as well. If you have to carry seven passengers, there is also an optional third row on offer. However, the third row is best suited for kids as the seats feel quite firm, and the space is mediocre. With the optional third row, you are looking at a cargo capacity of 12 cubic feet. However, the third row can be folded down to make way for 33 cubic feet of cargo space.
9 Performance Is Just About Adequate
The 2.0-liter turbocharged TSI inline-4 engine under the hood of the 2022 Tiguan comes with an intercooler, direct injection, and VVT on the intake and exhaust sides. This engine pumps out a mediocre 184 hp and 221 lb-ft of torque and the power is put down with the help of an 8-speed torque converter automatic and FWD or 4MOTION AWD drivetrains.
The performance is nothing to be excited about as the Tiguan takes a leisurely time of 9.1 seconds for the 0-60 mph run and 16.9 seconds for hitting a quarter-mile. This makes it the slowest offering of the segment, as the Honda CR-V and Mazda CX-5 could do both in a lower time. The rivals had a much lower curb weight than the 2022 Tiguan as well.
8 Interior Looks A Bit Bland
Being in continuous production for close to 6 years in this second-generation avatar, the cabin design and the materials inside are going to be slightly underwhelming, especially for those who expect it to feel like some of the more modern offerings from this German manufacturer. There were quite a bit of hard plastics on the inside and the build quality doesn't feel very premium.
There is nothing much to write home about when it comes to the cabin design as the straightforward dashboard doesn't stand out in any particular way. However, the leather upholstery of the higher trims and the three interior color combination (noisette brown, storm gray, and titan black) does add to the elegance. The optional ambient lighting and panoramic sunroof also make the cabin look reasonably classy.
7 Tiguan Isn't A Head Turner
Like the interior design of the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan, the exterior also doesn't stand out from the more modern crowd in any way. Even though we admire the classy front end with the LED headlights, elegant grille and air dam, and perfect proportions, it does blend with the other regular cars on the road.
In comparison, the Kia Sportage feels very futuristic with its quirky shape and creases on the front and side profiles. Nevertheless, we do appreciate the clean character lines, optional 20" alloy wheel design, and the best in class length and wheelbase. The rear-end sees the same LED taillights, powered liftgate, and an integrated rear spoiler.
6 Infotainment Offers All The Features One Needs
The 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan comes with an 8" touchscreen infotainment system for all four trim configurations. The interface is pretty clean like any other Volkswagens and the users are going to appreciate the long list of features including Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, voice recognition, SiriusXM radio, and touch-sensitive steering buttons.
All the trims also come with either an 8" or a 10.3" digital gauge cluster display as well. If you want an audiophile-grade audio experience, the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan comes with an optional Fender audio system for not a lot of money.
5 Reliability Isn't As Good As The Mazda CX-5
The previous model years of the Volkswagen Tiguan were quite famous for their class-leading warranty coverage. However, with the arrival of this 2022 model, it has been shortened considerably. It has a limited warranty and powertrain warranty of 4 years or 50,000 miles. Previously, it used to be 6 years or 72,000 miles.
One good thing that this Volkswagen still comes with is the complimentary maintenance of 2 years or 20,000 miles. The biggest concern for us with the 2022 Tiguan has to be the four recalls and 16 customer complaints it managed to receive in this short duration. Some of the recalls are very serious safety concerns too. The quality & reliability score of 76 out of 100 in the JD Power test was lower than the segment average as well.
4 Some Of The Safety Features Are Optional
The disappointing safety features list of the 2021 model has been rectified to an extent in this 2022 model, and it comes with more driver-assistance techs as standard. The standard features include automated emergency braking, forward collision monitoring, and a blind-spot monitoring system.
However, you would still need to shell out more money to get important features such as lane departure warning, lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, and a semi-autonomous driving system. In comparison, the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 come loaded with all the driver-assistance techs as standard.
3 No Changes In Braking Hardware
With a heavy curb weight of 3,765 lbs and coming with reasonably smaller front and rear brake rotors when compared to the rivals, we expected the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan to be a tad disappointing in terms of the braking performance. However, the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan could do the 70-0 MPH braking in183 feet, making it better than some of the other offerings in the segment.
This compact SUV comes with 13.4" front rotors and 11.8" rear rotors. The other braking features include ABS with EBD, ventilated front rotors, brake assist, hill hold control, hill descent control, and electric parking brakes.
2 A Frugal Daily Driver
Due to the turbocharged inline-4 engine coupled with an 8-speed torque converter automatic transmission on offer, the 2022 Tiguan presented one of the highest fuel efficiency figures in the segment. The FWD trims could do 23 MPG in the city and 30 MPG on the highways.
However, get the 4MOTION AWD drivetrain models, and you are looking at a gas mileage of 21 MPG in the city and 28 MPG on the highway. The combined gas mileage of 24 MPG along with the fuel tank capacity of 15.9 gallons helps the ride to give out about 445 miles of tank range on the highways.
1 Sensible Pricing
The base selling price of $26,490 is in the same ballpark as the rivals such as the Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5, and Toyota RAV4. What makes the Tiguan a slightly superior offering to the rivals is when it comes to the solid feeling offered by it along with the clean and uncluttered design language which many would appreciate.
We also admire the feature-packed infotainment system and cabin, even for the base S trim. The exterior is packed with all the relevant techs as well. However, the only gripe we have is due to the lower driver-assistance techs than the rivals. If Volkswagen could have provided these features, it could have been unbeatable in terms of value.