Brendan Seery

MORE women have won my heart than have car makers. Of those four women, only two really reciprocated (sadly) and the last one of those two was The One. And has been so (officially) for 31 years.

When it comes to cars, only two brands have really won my heart, much as I respect many others. They are, in order of appearance, Volkswagen and Subaru.

VW won my heart when it gave me a car which would be faithful to me when Opel was tormenting me with appalling quality. That Jetta was part of my life for 26 years. We owned another Jetta – but that was “liberated” by car thieves.

When that second Jetta was stolen, I was already looking around for a car with all-wheeldrive capabilities. That was after my first Jetta, with its front-wheeldrive, got caught out badly and scrabbled for grip on an uphill piece of dirt road miles from anywhere.

We didn’t want to get stranded again if the terrain suddenly surprised us.

But, at that time, in 2004, VW did not have an AWD vehicle in its arsenal. So I made my acquaintance with Subaru, with its engineering excellence, boxer engines and symmetrical all-wheel drive.

It was love at first sight. And, if anything, as in a good marriage, that love has grown deeper over the years. I (sorry, we) now own two.

One of the most fascinating “what ifs” for me is what I would have done had VW had their allwheel-drive Tiguan in the range back in 2004. I might never have even thought about a Subaru…

I have had a couple of Tiguans on test over the years and, although I liked them, there was never enough chemistry to make me regret my Subaru decision.

However, the latest Tiguan version has, for the first time, made me think of motoring infidelity...

Unlike the previous Tiguan, the new one is bigger, wider and much more butch. It’s a really goodlooking car, from whatever angle you approach it. From the rear three-quarter view, it looks just like a BMW X5 – although if you say that to the VW people they will say the Beemer looks like the Tiguan.