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By
EWAN KENNEDY
24 September 2007
Just when it seems there are no more major new ideas out there,
Volkswagen has come up with a fascinating new concept for its Tiguan
all-wheel drive.
It’s no longer a secret that most who buy AWDs
don’t want to go off-road, not even in the gentlest of ways.
What they want is the practicality and convenience of a station
wagon and, yes, the image that goes with an outdoors vehicle.
Others do plan to go off-road so need a capable vehicle that can
tackle reasonably hard conditions.
Tiguan comes both ways. The suburban runner will
have a front end that’s almost coupe like in its appearance.
But, and here’s the really clever bit, Tiguan will also be sold
with a 4WD style front end that not only looks tougher, but
provides considerably better ground clearance. (Tech stuff for the
4WD purists: the suburban model has an approach angle of 18
degrees, whereas the off-road’s has a much better 28 degrees)
The suburban Tiguan will be sold in either Trend
& Fun, or Sport & Style format. While the tougher model
gets the tag of Track & Field.
Volkswagen is quick to point out that even the
suburban models are more than capable of running on forest trails
and the like and, as with the Track & Field, are capable of
towing up to 2500 kg.
Tiguan has only just been launched, at the
Frankfurt Motor Show, and details of Australian models are yet to
be finalised. Both versions were on display and the overwhelming
feeling amongst Australians present was that both body types
should be brought to this country.
VW also feels that a vehicle intended for use on
unsealed roads should have a competent 4WD system. So has come up
with a further development of its existing 4Motion system. This
fulltime-4WD setup drives through either a six-speed manual or
six-speed automatic transmission. There's no two-speed transfer
case, but a very low-ratio first gear is fitted to the manual
(Tech stuff: 6.7 km/h at 1000 rpm), it’s not quite a crawler
gear but should be useful in tight conditions. The added torque
multiplication of the auto should be able to provide a similar
function in first.
At 4.4 metres long the Tiguan is similar to
vehicles like Toyota RAV4, Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sportage, Honda
CR-V and quite a few others. It is aimed at carrying five adults,
with the usual proviso that three across the back could be
stretching things. The back seat can slide longitudinally by up to
160 mm to let you juggle the passenger/cargo compromise. Its
backrest also tilts to several angles, again to improve comfort
and/or increase luggage space. Additionally, the front passenger
seat folds flat to let you carry extra long items
Interestingly, power for the Tiguan will come only
from ‘charged’ engines; either turbo-diesels, turbo-petrols or
a version of the clever Twincharger engine that uses both
supercharging and turbocharging. The latter isn’t coming to
Australia at this stage. But we will get two 2.0-litre petrol
units, one producing 125 kW, the other a sportier version with 147
kW (200 horsepower). As well as a 2.0-litre TDI 103 kW
turbo-diesel.
We had been invited to attend the international
launch of the new Volkswagen Tiguan in Budapest immediately after
the Frankfurt reveal, but circumstances prevented us from doing
so. We will carry out a full report when it reaches Australia in
the fourth quarter of 2008.
Prices of the new Tiguan are yet to be announced
but the Volkswagen marque is being promoted with a lot of
intelligent aggression in Australia at present and hopefully the
Tiguan isn’t likely to cost a lot more than similarly sized 4WDs
from South Korea and Japan.
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Marque Publishing Company
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