VW Tiguan Allspace Highline

Seven seats make the new Tiguan something special, says Damien O’carroll

While it may look the same as the five-seater Tiguan, the new seven-seat Allspace is actually rather different. Casual observers might disagree, because the difference is mainly appreciable from the back and really mostly from the inside. Where you really notice the difference is in the second row and the boot. Well, in the third row too, because that wasn’t even there before. With a 110mm longer wheelbase, the Tiguan Allspace is 215mm longer overall than the five-seater, meaning 105mm extra hangs out behind the rear axle and that means the Allspace has a thoroughly massive boot – 1,775 litres with the two rear rows of seats down, and 700 litres with the second row up. This doesn’t actually translate into a particularly roomy third row, however, which is still very much “occasional” (apparently VW’S research found that most customers valued the extra space over the third row anyway), but the second row benefits with an extra 54mm of knee room, which is noticeable and welcome. Inside, the Tiguan Allspace is high quality and well laid out, with lots of clever little touches (like the spring-loaded cup holders), some brilliantly comfortable seats and, of course, loads of new tech. High quality, very well equipped and efficient and economical, the Tiguan Allspace Highline is a thoroughly convincing package that does pretty much everything right and nothing particularly wrong. While it isn’t the most exciting thing on the road, and faces some pretty stiff inhouse competition in the form of the Skoda Kodiaq, it is certainly a vehicle that offers impressive space and versatility on top of the convincing package.