New Car: 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan 162TSI Highline review

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New Car: 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan 162TSI Highline review

The Volkswagen Tiguan 162TSI Highline performance leader has arrived, giving you Golf GTI straight-line performance with a practical bent.

The hotted-up derivative arrives a few months after the rest of the new Tiguan range, priced at $48,490 plus on-road costs, $1500 cheaper than the 140TDI Highline, and $4650 pricier than an auto GTI.

The premise is simple: Just because you’ve grown up a little and need a practical crossover, why can’t you have something fast and fun? Despite the boom in sales in this segment of the market, it’s still quite a rarefied atmosphere.

The 162kW Tiguan’s mass-market rivals are the edgier 177kW Subaru Forester XT Premium and new 178kW Ford Escape Titanium, though Volkswagen ambitiously considers the BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC competitors too, stating they’re up to $20,000 pricier spec-for-spec. The price we pay for badge cred?

VW’s extensive pre-order bank and bold sales projections for its hottest crossover suggest the company is on to a winner. The GTI comprises about 20 per cent of Golf sales, and this Tiguan spin-off should do similarly well.

In typical Volkswagen platform-sharing fashion, the Tiguan uses the same MQB architecture as the Golf (and Skoda Octavia), and the 162TSI version seen here borrows its engine from the Mk7 Golf GTI and Octavia RS.

It’s a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine with 162kW of power at 6200rpm and 350Nm of torque between 1500 and 4400rpm, up from the old version’s 155kW/280Nm. It’s matched standard to a seven-speed DSG auto with paddle-shifters, contrasting the GTI’s six-speed unit, giving the Tiguan a shorter first. There’s no manual option.

Outputs are sent to the road through a 4Motion on-demand all-wheel-drive system with a front-wheel bias that can send torque rearward when slip is detected, or the appropriate terrain mode selected, via an electronically activated multi-plate clutch. It also gets VW’s XDL system which brakes the inside front wheel to sharpen turn-in.

This sensor-based set-up is relatively common these days, and the Tiguan has a number of off-road modes that adjust torque delivery and ESC parameters to suit various surfaces for the few who want such features. Only the more raucous Forester rival has permanent ‘proactive’ AWD that’s always ‘on’.

We’re well familiar with this engine, and it remains a vaguely sonorous ripper, with near-instantaneous response and muscularity through the mid-range reminiscent of a larger-capacity unit. With the sportiest drive mode selected, the re-mapped throttle and gearbox give the Tiguan impressive punch.

New Car: 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan 162TSI Highline review
New Car