Getting your player ready...
With a turbocharged 2.0-liter, 4-cylinder engine, 6-speed automatic transmission and 4Motion all-wheel-drive, the 2014 Volkswagen Tiguan SE in my possession recently was a fairly decent buy at $29,815.
Of the 20 or more compact SUV/crossover models I’ve driven over the past couple of years, only three besides the Tiguan carried a sticker price below $30,000. A Subaru XV Crosstrek was bargain-priced at $22,290, a Jeep Patriot at $26,450 and a Mitsubishi Outlander Sport at $28,570. All the others were stickered at $30,000 to $38,000. The Tiguan in sales is far down the list of compact SUVs and crossovers. It has sold only 10,758 through the first five months of this year. The top 10 in sales are the Honda CR-V with 128,563, Ford Escape 127,780, Chevrolet Equinox 99,083, Toyota RAV4 95,363, Nissan Rogue 84,236, Jeep Cherokee 67,095, Subaru Forester 61,083, Mazda CX-5 42,332, GMC Terrain 41,944 and Jeep Patriot 37,055. The Tiguan has had some appeal for me, ever since I drove one to Estes Park and Fort Collins after it was introduced at a national automotive press gathering at the St. Julien Hotel in Boulder in May 2008. The current version displayed some definite turbo lag on low-speed acceleration and at midrange around 45 to 50 miles per hour, though that is easily and quickly overcome with use of the manual-mode shifter and 3rd and 4th gears. Once the turbo force kicks in, the VW performs superbly. The Tiguan, built in Wolfsburg, Germany, is 4 inches shorter in overall length than the CR-V. Still, the VW has lots of legroom and headroom in both front and rear seats, and eight dash-mounted air vents give it more than sufficient air/heat flow through the cabin. Its cargo space is limited, only 23.8 cubic feet. Of questionable design is a red alarm button on the edge of the Tiguan’s keypod, which when turning the key in the ignition is easily touched, triggering the alarm.
