REFINED HYBRID
THE continuing surge in the number of family-sized SUVs on the market is quite amazing and car makers realise too that looking to the future, hybrid-powered models are the route to go down so the choice is ever widening all the time.
VW have followed suit across all their car range and one of the recent models to be offered with a hybrid is the Tiguan, an SUV that’s been around since 2007 and been the German marque’s biggest worldwide seller and now in its latest guise offers the usual petrol and diesel engines alongside a plug-in hybrid.
With a few styling tweaks here and there, such as the new chrome grille that fits nicely into the more angular headlights at the front, this Tiguan actually looks, and as a driver, feels larger than it is so it’s easy to see why it remains so popular.
The introduction of a Tiguan hybrid is interesting as it will appeal to both company car drivers for tax purposes and for family motorists looking for eco driving with all the benefits of what a Tiguan is all about, like a spacious and comfortable cabin with good quality furniture and fittings that’s also practical and actually really good to drive.
VW has combined their well proven 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine with a 13kWh lithium-ion battery that jointly provide 241bhp through a delightful to use six-speed DSG automatic gearbox that turns out to give an outstanding performance for an SUV of this size.
Impressive
It’s certainly no slouch out on the road either with an acceleration of 0 to 62mph in 7.5 seconds and using such an impressive quick and smooth automatic makes mid range overtaking a doddle while VW claims a combined consumption of 153,2mpg and only emissions of 43g/ km.
This car will drive around 30 miles solely on electricity and as for fully recharging the plug-in battery at a proper home wallbox charging point will take three hours and 40 minutes and even using a domestic threepoint house socket it should take just five hours.
This petrol/hybrid combination on the Tiguan definitely works well because it makes it an even more refined SUV than last time out with just a petrol engine I drove - this one is so quiet and for the driver easy and relaxing to drive and with that confidence of knowing there’s a petrol engine on board as a kind of back up.
From a standing start the electric motor comes in and works up initial acceleration, such as for town street speeds, and a further push down of the accelerator pedal the petrol engine comes and does so extremely seamlessly and also noticeably quiet too - more so that many other hybrid rivals in my book.
Also, unlike other most three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engines that are rather thrashy sounding on acceleration this four-cylinder unit on the Tiguan is far much quieter and refined and on test proved to be an ideal fit for a hybrid application.
Even with the ride comfort more on the firm side, a usual but okay trait in most VWs today, it easily soaks up the increasing number of potholes and divets we have on our roads and whilst this Tiguan hybrid is moves around so efficiently in busy town/ urban streets the real benefits are out on the main A roads and motorways.
This front-wheel drive SUV is for the driver a real pleasure to take on a long run where it’s not only exceptionally comfortable but simply relaxing and with such a smooth operating automatic gearbox makes overtaking effortless - not something one can say about most of its rivals in this class.
For all occupants the seats as usual in a VW offer good all round lumbar support while for the driver there’s plenty of seat and steering wheel adjustment plus well positioned pedals and with an automatic gearbox a sensible rest place for what would have been the clutch foot. There’s also excellent head and leg room in both the front and rear seats and easily accommodates five full sized adults without any trouble.
The cabin itself has good, high quality materials with on the dearer Elegance trim model tested here having ‘lounge’ cloth upholstery, heated front seats, a sliding rear bench seat and much more plus again so typical of VW with loads of on-board safety features.
For the driver the dashboard is now much clearer with fewer buttons and quite digital with a 10.25 inch infotainment screen with all the now usual connectivity of Apple Car/Play and Android Auto and on this hybrid there are some selective buttons by the switchgear for controlling the driving modes and battery use - again everything easy to hand and so useful. There is even a dedicated battery related menus in the actual infotainment system.
Also better now are the heating and ventilating controls that are operated by a simple digitised control panel with easy sliders handily finished in a high-gloss black colour to adjust temperatures.
The hybrid also has a really useful night time driver aid with its adaptive headlights where the driver can stay on main beam yet not blind oncoming drivers - all very clever stuff!
The Elegance also has a useful under drawer under the front seats to hide small items and this version also comes with a panoramic sunroof which is useful giving rear seat passengers more natural life.
The still sizeable boot on this hybrid is 476 litres which is some 139 litres than the petrol/diesel powered versions simply because of the space taken up by the battery stored there but most owners will find it still scoops up enough luggage for a family off on holiday.
As for on-the-road pricing the Tiguan starts at £28,415 through to £46,220 for the range topping R Line with full 4Motion whilst the test car with the hybrid in Elegance trim slots in at a competitive £38,585.
There are a smattering of options available right across the range and the hybrid test car had the extremely useful front, rear and side cameras to provide 360-degree vision at £760 which is well worth the extra outlay.
Having a hybrid in the Tiguan is a good fit and keeps in with all the attributes of the petrol/diesel powered models and of courses offers electric power for local journeys which is more economical and with low emissions too and in the same breath there’s the great little 1.4-litre petrol coming in to do the job for those longer, motorway journeys.