Poetry in 4Motion
By David Morgan
VOLKSWAGEN'S baby five-door off-roader is a premium buy that trades space for compactness and power for economy.
The latest facelift brings the Tiguan into line with the rest of the Volkswagen family with a wide twin-barred grille with integrated lighting units giving it a style update along with some other relatively minor improvements.
My time with a two-litre TDI SE manual coincided with a three-day break in Skye – and what turned out to be a walk down memory lane in West Highland transport terms.
It says a lot for this mini-Touareg that warnings of gales, torrential rain and a threat of drifting snow didn't dissuade me from pressing ahead with a mid-January visit to the Misty Isle. This small SUV with its annoying "stop/start" BlueMotion Technology pack and excellent 4MOTION 4x4 system made a perfect companion for visiting some lesser known parts of Skye and Lochalsh and tackling transport links from the past.
My first encounter with yesterday's transport was in remote Glen Brittle when I stumbled on the former site of Skye's first airport – yes, no kidding, an airport.
Right at the end of this glorious six-mile long glen with its snaking Alpine-like single track road lies Bualintur where, between 1935 and late 1937, the Macrae family, who still farm the glen, looked after Glen Brittle Aerodrome first for Northern and Scottish Airways and later Scottish Airways.
Six types of early airliner used this grass strip with barely 1,500 feet of flat surface to fly passengers to and from Renfrew near Glasgow for around £6 return. For a brief time the service was daily and also linked Skye to Stornoway. Even the crash on the airfield of a three-engined Spartan eight-seater did not lessen enthusiasm – a time of brave pilots and even braver passengers!
I had none of that drama with the Tiguan as I drove along the former airfield and later ventured into the Cuillin foothills from some gentle off-roading.
Tiguan is not a true off-roader – it's a compact SUV with an "intelligent" 4MOTION all-wheel-drive system that copes well with mud, snow and saturated grass. Point this able Volkswagen at rocks and seriously deep ruts and, like rivals like Toyota's RAV4, Subaru's Forester, Kia's Sportage and even the new Audi Q3, it'll struggle.
But Tiguan is part of that popular mid-range 4x4 sector that is a good all-rounder. Surefooted in winter conditions with an elevated driving position that's easy to pilot and offering comfort and good equipment levels.
With the 138bhp two-litre TDI it's a competent performer, though not fast. Getting off the mark to 62mph takes a leisurely 10.2 seconds while overtaking calls for some planning and the correct gear linked to the torque-rich 1,750 to 2,500rpm band. The more I drove in and around Skye and Lochalsh, the more I realised this is not a car to be rushed. The suspension feels uneasy, as if the body is perched too high, and any sharp steering input generates some wobbling.
But if the Tiguan has a good practical point, it's its luggage compartment. Clever with cargo dividers, the back of the car can carry 470 litres – more than the RAV4 and the Forester. Drop the rear seats and you're left with a cargo friendly flat floor that will swallow 1,510 litres through a big tailgate that is good for awkwardly shaped loads.
There's a friendly feel to this 4.4m long 4MOTION SUV. It's easy to drive with a well-designed dash, supportive seats and, in SE trim, comes with a generous level of standard features. But one irritation was the electronic parking brake – awkward and hesitant.
The only extras on my SE were an unflattering Java brown metallic paint at £495; pointless automatic headlamp dipping system for £125; questionable and irritating camera controlled lane departure warning at £650 and an excellent RNS 3125 touchscreen navigation and radio system for a good value £540.
All-in-all, the basic trim was good, with superb safety and electronic stability systems and build quality was what you should expect from a manufacturer with Volkswagen's reputation.
On the road, the £25,670 two-litre BlueMotion SE was like a well-mannered old dog – willing but not quick. It was just as well the six-speed manual gearbox was light to use, as progress was best when you were in the right gear at the right revs. Get lazy and performance suffered badly.
Volkswagen's own fuel consumption figures suggested I would get a combined average of 47mpg. But after 350 miles of mixed driving with two up and some luggage I got no better than 42mpg – and I tend to drive with a fairly light throttle foot. This was disappointing – I genuinely expected to get into the higher 40mpg figures, but suspect the dips and dives of Skye and Lochalsh and the TDI's demands to be in the right gear kept my consumption higher than I'd hoped.
But the Tiguan is a relaxed and able SUV with a quality badge on its nose and a 25-model range that starts from £20,340 for a brisk 158bhp 1.4 TSI turbocharged petrol S to £28,045 for a turbocharged 208bhp 2.0 TSI petrol Sport with paddle-shift DSG transmission.
The SE 2.0 TDI was a good drive, but I'd have preferred it with a seven-speed DSG paddle-shift transmission at £27,195 – DSG is just the best compromise between full automatic and manual intervention and outclasses the torque dependant six-speed manual every time.
All of which brings me to my second nostalgia trip of the drive – returning to the Strome Ferry 41 years after I crossed on one of the last regular ferries at the wheel of my dad's light blue 1962 Ford Anglia – ESE 570.
On January 18, I passed Strome Ferry's famous "no ferry" sign (now hurriedly altered to indicate a ferry!) and wobbled aboard the Glenahulish with the Tiguan's fidgety suspension reacting to the choppy crossing in a rising wind like a nervous dog. It was a glorious nostalgia trip that recalled the often frustrating hold-ups caused by the fleet of small ferries that bridged sea lochs before the Tarmac-carrying concrete bridge monstrosities of today.
For the second time since October 2008, a car ferry returned to North and South Strome to bridge the half-mile Loch Carron narrows thanks to yet another rockfall on the A890. Just why the Government bothered to build that cheapskate route without properly examining the rotten mountain sides that overhang its twists and turns, I can't fathom.
It's a disgrace and the people of Lochalsh deserve better – though I cannot fault the six-car Glenelg Glenahulish and its two-man crew who were cheerful personifications of the traditional ferrymen, despite being taken out of winter hibernation to provide a vital vehicle crossing with their manually swung turntable craft. It was brilliant. I smiled all the way across and didn't even mind having to loiter for 10 minutes halfway across while divers carried out a vital task on the North Strome slipway.
Let's hope Highland Council gets the funds it needs to make this car-carrying marine rarity even rarer by upgrading the A890 to the standards our cousins in Switzerland, Austria and northern Italy manage when they run roads along unstable mountainsides in much more difficult conditions and use tunnels and bridges to overcome problems.
Rating: 7.5/10
FINAL THOUGHT: Top quality five-door family SUV with a lethargic but willing turbodiesel heart. Fidgety suspension spoils the Tiguan on twisty roads, but it is comfortable and exceptionally well built. Best buy? The £24,800 2.0 TDI turbodiesel in S trim with DSG transmission.
Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TDI SE BlueMotion 4MOTION
- Price: £25,670
- Capacity: 1968cc
- Power: 138bhp
- 0-62mph: 10.2 seconds
- Maximum speed: 116mph
- Economy: Combined 48.7mpg, Urban 40.9mpg
- CO2 emissions: 150g/km (VED F)
- ESP: Standard
- Insurance Guide: Group 18 (new 1-50 Grouping System)