Thread Starter
#1
After going through many forums and threads I felt there is a paucity of information on VW Tiguan. It is understandable though as the car in itself sells very less in India even though it is the sixth most selling car globally. To set the stage, I am one of the very few Indians who took the plunge and bought the Tiguan. To say the least I am extremely impressed by the car and what it has to offer. I did check the car out when it was launched in India during mid 2017. It didn't impress me then as the information that was floating around at that moment was that it was pricey (which it is) and it has a ground clearance of 149 mm. I had a Skoda Rapid back then and that had a ground clearance of 167 mm. I was just amazed at the fact that how can an SUV have such low ground clearance and still survive on Indian roads. Unfortunately the Sales Adviser in the dealership I visited in Bangalore did not have any clue and he was adamant that it was 149 mm and the Vento which was parked next to it had 165 mm. So, my dream of buying and driving an urban luxury SUV continued to stay as a dream.
In the meantime I was impressed by Jeep Compass for it's looks and heard good things about the car from the people who bought it plus had some good reviews in the forums. Somehow, I was not convinced with almost white interiors it had and was 100% sure that maintaining it would be a herculean task. Moreover, the Jeep was not as spacious nor as luxurious as the Tiguan. It was priced almost right though. I am not fascinated by the idea of driving the butch SUVs like the Fortuner or the Endeavor or any other seven seater as most of them had the seven seats for the sake of having it and it felt too big to take around in Bangalore city with non existent parking and the famous traffic. Tiguan, Tuscon and to some extent Compass fit the bill in terms of size and then I had the option of the badge cars (Q3, X1 and GLA). Of the badge ones, I liked the X1. During Oct-Nov of 2018 I decided to narrow down my choices and decided that Tuscon, Compass, Q3 and GLA had to drop out from my list. Tuscon did not feel much different in the inside from a Creta and felt that it didn't justify the price, Compass did not have the automatic in Diesel and the white interiors was a turn off, Q3 and GLA did not offer anything more than X1 would do. So the shortlist was Tiguan and X1.
In the meantime I had figured out Tiguan had close to 190 mm Ground Clearance and it is unlikely to scrape the underbelly anywhere unless you take it to the rocks. Took the test drive of X1, was impressed with the drive and luxury. Somehow didn't feel that I was sitting in a SUV as it was more car like to sit. Test drove the Tiguan and felt it was close to X1 in terms of the driving pleasure, maybe around 90% and was more spacious, more frugal, more SUV like and easier on the pocket with all the year end offers and exchange offer for my Rapid included it just turned out to be a very sweet deal.
The offer the dealership in Bangalore provided made the Comfortline Variant of the Tiguan cheaper than Tuscon and with added close to 30% more value for my Rapid w,r,t market value if I traded in Rapid for Tiguan made me take the plunge and buy the Tiguan Comfortline in Nov, 2018. I have driven around 5000 KMs since then in Bangalore city, highways, ghats, express ways etc,., and am thoroughly enjoying my drive.It is a superb car and I would like to keep this thread active with any information I have both good and bad on the Tiguan and would encourage other fellow owners and enthusiasts to contribute to the thread which will help all of us.
In the meantime I was impressed by Jeep Compass for it's looks and heard good things about the car from the people who bought it plus had some good reviews in the forums. Somehow, I was not convinced with almost white interiors it had and was 100% sure that maintaining it would be a herculean task. Moreover, the Jeep was not as spacious nor as luxurious as the Tiguan. It was priced almost right though. I am not fascinated by the idea of driving the butch SUVs like the Fortuner or the Endeavor or any other seven seater as most of them had the seven seats for the sake of having it and it felt too big to take around in Bangalore city with non existent parking and the famous traffic. Tiguan, Tuscon and to some extent Compass fit the bill in terms of size and then I had the option of the badge cars (Q3, X1 and GLA). Of the badge ones, I liked the X1. During Oct-Nov of 2018 I decided to narrow down my choices and decided that Tuscon, Compass, Q3 and GLA had to drop out from my list. Tuscon did not feel much different in the inside from a Creta and felt that it didn't justify the price, Compass did not have the automatic in Diesel and the white interiors was a turn off, Q3 and GLA did not offer anything more than X1 would do. So the shortlist was Tiguan and X1.
In the meantime I had figured out Tiguan had close to 190 mm Ground Clearance and it is unlikely to scrape the underbelly anywhere unless you take it to the rocks. Took the test drive of X1, was impressed with the drive and luxury. Somehow didn't feel that I was sitting in a SUV as it was more car like to sit. Test drove the Tiguan and felt it was close to X1 in terms of the driving pleasure, maybe around 90% and was more spacious, more frugal, more SUV like and easier on the pocket with all the year end offers and exchange offer for my Rapid included it just turned out to be a very sweet deal.
The offer the dealership in Bangalore provided made the Comfortline Variant of the Tiguan cheaper than Tuscon and with added close to 30% more value for my Rapid w,r,t market value if I traded in Rapid for Tiguan made me take the plunge and buy the Tiguan Comfortline in Nov, 2018. I have driven around 5000 KMs since then in Bangalore city, highways, ghats, express ways etc,., and am thoroughly enjoying my drive.It is a superb car and I would like to keep this thread active with any information I have both good and bad on the Tiguan and would encourage other fellow owners and enthusiasts to contribute to the thread which will help all of us.
Last edited:
