Take a high end VW Tiguan, add pretty much everything that’s optionally available, fit a set of big 20-inch wheels and some additional bright work and black exterior components and you end up with the Tiguan Wolfsburg Edition. It’s the “tick all the boxes” model.
Wolfsburg is home to Volkswagen in Germany so there’s plenty for this vehicle to live up to.
No need to worry, for the $61,557 drive away price you get a car that rivals anything from Europe in this size segment regardless of price.
Not only that but the Wolfsburg really looks the business in its subtle blacked out livery and sporty overtones.
Better yet is the Wolfsburg’s performance which lives up to the visual statement.
It’s a good size too capably filling the roles as a family wagon with attitude, a weekend escape machine and an SUV that you can actually drive with spirit and be rewarded with sporty reflexes and performance.
There’s plenty from the Golf inventory in the Wolfsburg including the engine and 4Motion all-wheel drive system (Golf R) while the interior is right up to VW’s impeccable standard in terms of function and design.
The money gives you plenty of alternatives but when you drive the Wolfsburg, you realise that many good things come in smaller packages.
Exterior
Love the frontal styling of the current Tiguan, the LED lights and segmented grille that on Wolfsburg are accentuated with small detail changes.
Apart from the bull nose bonnet, the car has clean, angular lines and is different to a rash of over styled, curving, arcing competitor vehicles.
The Wolfsburg exudes class attracting plenty of admiring glances when parked.
Practical too as the boxy body is functional allowing easy use of its dimensions which are about the same as a Toyota RAV4.
The wheels really “make” the Wolfsburg creating an imposing visual statement.
For a five seater family wagon, it has an athletic stance and looks especially good in the pearl white duco.
Interior
No argument, VW is a master of the mass market motor vehicle interior. Their interiors are never overdone and always subtle and functional. Tiguan Wolfsburg follows this well refined recipe to the letter displaying a striking interior space capped by the sleek dash complete with a large info screen in the middle and a set of funky instruments in front of the driver’s flat bottom wheel.
All controls are easily accessible except the aircon’ off button which is found once you go into the features menu on screen. What happened to a simple off switch?
Never mind, all other aspects of the Wolfsburg’s interior make up for that glitch – the gorgeous Vienna leather upholstery, the superb Dynaudio sound system, the large touch screen controller, the excellent satnav system, a full array of advanced driver assist features.
The tones are subtle greys with minimal use of chrome bright work. Looks a treat, comfy too.
Features
As mentioned earlier, the Wolfsburg is a tick all the boxes model so there ain’t much missing.
Among the list of goodies are;
- The sound and vision package
- Dark tint windows
- Head up display
- 7-speed DSG auto
- 4Motion all-wheel drive
- Sports seats
- 20-inch Blade alloys
- Paddle shift
- Multi-function wheel
- 360 degree camera
- Gesture control and voice control
- Auto LED headlights
Drive and Engine
This was an unexpected bonus on my drive because the Wolfsburg runs the 162kW turbo petrol 2.0-litre out of a previous iteration of Golf GTi.
It is good for 350Nm and gets on the gas real hard when you want it to. There are five drive modes including sport which ramps many functions up a notch or two such as the gearbox, suspension and engine revs. The “adaptive” chassis automatically recalibrates according to input from sensors on the vehicle.
It is relatively quick for a family SUV clocking a 0-100kmh sprint in 6.5 seconds. But the real strength is roll on acceleration where Wolfsburg is really strong and the levels of grip all-wheel drive provides.
The handing package is good for an SUV with sharp steering responses, powerful brakes and accurate gear selection, capped by manual mode using the paddle shift when you feel the urge.
There’s even a stirring burble from the gruff sounding twin exhaust outlets.
It sits flat through fast turns and has a neutral attitude eventually moving to understeer if you go a bit nuts.
Then, flick a switch and you get a supple luxury ride with minimal noise or harshness.
The best of both worlds.
The 20-inch tyres offer impressive grip and though a low profile, don’t become too harsh even in Sport mode.
I used the car to carry stuff in the back, took five peeps on a short trip and generally drove the Wolfsburg as it would be by an owner.
It was bloody good on most counts, even fuel economy averaged about 8.0-litres/100km and it will tow 2500kg.
Safety
Five stars all the way plus a big helping of advanced driver assist features including autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, driver fatigue monitoring, lane assist, adaptive cruise control, park assist and a reverse camera to name a few.
Wolfsburg sporty dynamics would help avoid a collision given a half decent driver but the car itself is safe as houses in terms of primary and secondary safety.
Good Bits
- Impressive performance and dynamics
- Looks classy
- Sounds good
- Right size
- Slick interior
- Generous driver assist technology
- Drive away pricing
Not So Good Bits
- Aircon’ off switch buried in features menu
- Fuel use can be heavy
- Don’t know how far off road I’d like to take it.
Summary
I really like this vehicle. It looks great and goes well.
Doesn’t miss out on much in terms of features and is easy to live with because it’s so practical and comfortable. Yep, tick the box for me.
Facts and Figures: 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan Wolfsburg Edition
- Engine: 2.0L four-cylinder turbo petrol producing 162kW/350Nm
- Transmission: Seven-speed sports automatic
- Warranty: 5 years/ unlimited km
- Safety: Five stars
- Origin: Germany
- Price: from $61,557 MLP*
*MLP – Manufacturers List Price includes GST and LCT but excluding statutory charges, dealer costs and dealer delivery. See your dealer for RDAP. Does not include price of any options.
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