Search: More on the Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TDI SE 4MOTION
Price: £22,695On sale: Now
0-62mph: 8.9 seconds; top speed 125mph
Average fuel: 40.4mpg
Standard equipment: ABS with brake assist, electronic brake-pressure distribution, electronic differential lock, ASR traction control, auto hazard activation, twin front, side and curtain airbags, 17-inch "Sahara" alloy wheels, electronic parking brake, semi-auto air con, darkened side windows, speed-sensitive PAS, power windows, computer, under-seat drawers, seat-back fold-away tables, chrome-plated roof rails, chromed radiator grille.
Life less dull
Sometimes, one suspect the only reason for buying a 4x4 (or an 'SUV' as they are often now presented) is because it might make life less dull. A typical example of such high-end retail therapy is VW's new Tiguan. It has beefy dimensions, four-wheel drive all-road ability and looks set to go plunder some mountain range, but the main reason you'd probably want one is not because you want to drive to Snowdonia in a straight line but because can see into other people's lives more effectively, and they can see you, looking down on them.
Affordable cool?
Sports cars like Mazda's MX5 represent affordable cool, but you're eye-level with the exhaust of the moped in front for most of the time. And worthy estate versions of the Astra, Golf and Focus promise little more visual flattery. Low life, really, the lot of them.
High and mighty
Paying for elevation alone, however, would be a silly reason for Tiguan ownership. After all, given the premium-ishness of the brand and the rather dandy build quality and design (more of which later), much of your money here is being diverted away from the sacred goal of being high and mighty. A Ssangyong Kyron 2.0S would equally get you up there, all for about £6,000 less, though my colleagues at What Diesel magazine say it "struggles to pull almost two tonnes of metal". That's great, if you simply seek more time to just stare down at other attractive women (or men) in convertibles, while not actually going anywhere.
A good all-round family bus
So the Tiguan has a higher purpose; it also seeks to transport your soul, as well as your shopping. Its method? Simply that of being a good all-round family bus. And this new 170PS, (or 168 in old-fashioned horse-power) is more than likely to tick the box. Clearly this is the option for performance edge: it's 1.6 seconds more urgent to reach 62mph than the 138bhp output found in standard 2.0TDI Tiguan's. That sounds like not much but is the difference between a car that feels competent and one that feels mildly electrified. And given the loftiness, the extra performance is all the more dramatic. Like riding an excited wardrobe, but with better handling.
No Pain at the pumps
For all that dynamic urge, the pain you suffer at the pumps is curiously non-existent: 138bhp Tiguans average 40.9mpg, while this hot-ish version averages... 40.4mpg. And the CO2, at 185g/km limbos neatly into band E, so there's no premium there.
To sum up:
So what's not to like, you might ask. And given these credit-crunched times, the prospect of splashing out on what is effectively a boiled-down version of the big and comparatively brazen VW Touareg is the kind of clever thinking, one presumes, that might just pull us out of this Godawful mess.
Beyond that, it's a thoroughly uneventful story: rides well, corners nicely for its proportions, is built with indestructible pretensions, has oodles of space and looks and in true VW style, sports the kind of styling understatement that suggests it won't look like yesterday's fashion item come the summer.
