Fast not furious

VW’S TIGUAN R IS QUICK FOR A TALL, HEAVY SUV

How different the car world would be without a man called Ferdinand Piech. He was part of the Porsche family and in later years was chairman of the Volkswagen Group and then later sat on the board. He died in August 2019 at the age of 82.

It was Piech who had the genius idea of platform sharing. In other words, creating a basic template or building block and then using it for many different cars.

It meant that the same basic platform could be used for the Golf, Audi TT and A3, Skoda Octavia, Seat Leon and so on. It also meant the engines, gearboxes and suspension could be used multiple times.

It’s a strategy that has provided Volkswagen and its brands enormous flexibility while allowing it to hugely expand its family – and Piech had 13 children so he knew a thing or two about expanding the gene pool.

It is Piech’s philosophy that we can thank for the Tiguan R that we’re testing this week. It’s a very straightforward car for Volkswagen to make because all it has to do is raid the storeroom for the bits. The engine is the 2.0-litre TSI turbocharged unit that’s used in many different performance VWS, Audis, Seats and Skodas. In the Tiguan R it produces 320PS and 420Nm of torque.

There are some pretty impressive performance figures too: 0-62mph is dusted off in 4.9sec and the top speed is 155mph.

The acceleration time is particularly impressive since the Tiguan R weighs a lardy 1,746kg. Its fourwheel-drive system is a big help.

You can’t miss the R version of the Tiguan. The body has been lowered by 10mm, it sits on massive ‘Estoril’ 21-inch alloy wheels through which you can see sexy blue brake calipers which at the front have an ‘R’ logo, and the front and rear bumpers are unique to this model.

Our test car is painted in Lapiz blue which looks great and is the only option fitted to our car, adding £755 to the £45,915 price.

Worth it? Not if you’re expecting a sports car in the body of an SUV.

You sit very upright in the Tiguan R, albeit in very impressive looking Alcantara-trimmed sports seats.

In front of you is a steering wheel, behind which are prominent paddles that will allow you to buzz up and down the 7-speed DSG gearbox. On the steering wheel there’s a blue ‘R’ button that will fast-track you into the various driving modes that will be shown on the infotainment screen. You can choose between Eco, Normal, Sport and Race.

The latter two open flaps in the exhaust to give you a suitably rorty soundtrack.

Adaptive dampers are standard on the car, and while you’re sitting too high and the car is too heavy to make you feel like you’re driving a sports car, the Tiguan R certainly goes like one. It is seriously quick and handles much better than you’d expect thanks to those dampers.

The ride is fairly harsh especially in those sporty two modes, but even in Eco there’s a fair bit of crashing over bumps and those 21-inch wheels represent a lot of unsprung weight.

Thanks to Mr Piech’s strategy there are lots of ways to sample the Tiguan R’s powerful engine and four-wheeldrive system.

Personally, I’d go for a Golf R estate, or a Cupra Formentor if I was told I had to have an SUV.