MY17/MQB Platform Tiguan Discussion Thread

[Brizzypom]

btw, talk on whirlpool forum is that THE 162 Highlines have been further delayed and wont be here until well into Q2....

Wonder if Mazda's new CX-5 is here before the 162's?

Next-Gen Mazda CX-5 to premiere at Los Angeles Auto Show

[Gladbach]

btw, talk on whirlpool forum is that THE 162 Highlines have been further delayed and wont be here until well into Q2....

Yeah, I'm not convinced though. I spoke to a dealer today and he said they're expecting them late Feb. That's the third dealer I've spoken to who have said the same ETA. There had been some rumours of delays of the R-Lines in the UK, but that's a different market, and the fact that we have R-Lines in Australian now (I drove one today) debunks that (for us anyway).

I ordered a highline in September and have been in contact with the dealer and they have assured me that they will let me know if there are any delays, but also said that they're not aware of any reason for there to be delays.

[Ozsko]

So my prediction of April is starting to look good, we ought to start a "pick the date" contest.

[Gladbach]

So my prediction is late Feb for vehicles arriving in the country and early March for delivery to customers (1-2 weeks after the ship hits the dock).

I was thinking today, some sales people might try and persuade you to buy a 140TDI on the spot if they have an inkling that you're quite keen, rather than taking an order for a vehicle to be delivered 4 months later during which time you could decide to pull out (even though you leave a deposit, you can cancel the order because you haven't test driven the vehicle and you won't lose your deposit). So, the idea of making it sound like the 162TSI is a long way off and likely to be delayed could work in their favour to make a quick sale. Just saying...

[NZ_GolfR]

btw, talk on whirlpool forum is that THE 162 Highlines have been further delayed and wont be here until well into Q2....

If it was the same post that I saw on there that was someone who went into a dealer yesterday to enquire about one, not someone that already has an order in the system. I have also read the UK forums and the reports of the delays however they don't get the 162TSI over there and they also seem to have a different suspension setup as they can't get the DCC on the R-Line yet we get it as standard on ours.

[Gladbach]

I took a 140TDI Highline with R-Line pack for a drive today. Here are my thoughts:

-Even in black (where there's minimum contrast between the R-Line details) it's a sharp looking car. A real cut above the comfortline (I haven't seen a highline without R-Line pack in the flesh).
-The wheels look really really nice.
-The ambient lighting in the interior is nice, the door strip is lit up and footwell, all LED makes it look very modern.
-I really don't like the dark interior that the R-Line comes with (black roof lining and pillars). Perhaps it will take time to get used to, but it made the inside of the car feel really dark and dull, even on a lively spring Sydney day. The car I drove didn't have a sunroof, so I'm hoping that the sunroof, with the perforated sun blind will make all the difference.
-The progressive steering and adaptive chassis control takes the car into another class IMO. I noticed a big difference between the comfort line that I drove a few weeks back and this one. I really liked the feel of the steering, and it made for effortless, sharp 3 point turns.
-The ride comfort is lovely. I went down an old patchy road and it absorbed a lot of the bumps and cracks. Again, noticeably more than the comfortline (assuming the ADC was helping with this).
-It's quiet. Really quiet. There was very little road noise or wind noise. The only thing I could really hear was the diesel engine, which doesn't sound that great TBO but it's still very muted compared to a lot of other cars.
-I don't like the TDI. It's seems really tentative, sluggish at times, and other times keen. To me, it doesn't seem like a DSG thing, I found the 132TSI to be quite responsive and a lot more sure of itself. I'm hoping the 162TSI behaves more like the 132TSI, but with more power.
-Switching between driving profiles nice, but it's a bit hard to quickly switch between sport and comfort for example. Pressing the button toggles through the options, and while you could tap the headunit, it's a bit of a stretch from the driving position. I didn't check if switching to sport on the DSG changed to the sport driving profile, if it does then that would be perfect.
-Probably an underrated feature is the brake assist. It's nice to be able to take your foot of the brake without having to put the handbrake on or put it in park. Really nice when you're at the lights.
-The bluemotion stop/start would be handy when you're stopped for a while, but I found it a little too keen and it sometimes turned off the engine when I was just about to turn into traffic. I would want to be able to turn it off.
-The sound quality of the sound system not that great. It really lacks clarity. I tried adjusting the 3-band equalizer but it didn't make much difference. Disappointed with this - my 2012 Jetta has much better sound.
-The radio shows the song and artist of the current track being broadcast. I didn't notice this before, and thought it was a DAB feature (apparently we don't get DAB), so I was happy to see that).

Overall, I'm looking forward to getting my 162TSI with R-Line. Not really keen on the black interior, but that's probably the only real downside when consider everything. Hopefully the sunroof will take care of that. I'm also glad that I didn't go with the 140TDI. I can only hope the 162TSI will be smoother and more like the 132TSI.

[Ozsko]

I had a thought about the performance of the TDI tonight and wonder if it is all wrapped up around the fact that they have had to move to Adblue and what power figures were being quoted against the reality when they were not using it. By that I mean if they were under quoting the power produced pre adblue to make the cars seem so good but now they are under such close scrutiny they have to state the truth. I did not have my car there but I would love to have lined it up and see which was quicker if I could have because I am sure the Skoda is quicker. Way off topic but another thought I had was that MAN trucks is part of the VW group and they are the only European truch AFAIK that do not use Adblue, I wonder if they are next for scrutiny.

[kacak]

-The bluemotion stop/start would be handy when you're stopped for a while, but I found it a little too keen and it sometimes turned off the engine when I was just about to turn into traffic. I would want to be able to turn it off.
-The sound quality of the sound system not that great. It really lacks clarity. I tried adjusting the 3-band equalizer but it didn't make much difference. Disappointed with this - my 2012 Jetta has much better sound.
-The radio shows the song and artist of the current track being broadcast. I didn't notice this before, and thought it was a DAB feature (apparently we don't get DAB), so I was happy to see that).

Great write-up.

A few points based on the week or so I've had my 132 Comfortline with both options:
- I found the stop/start quite keen too. Typically though, it would cutoff when there was a car in front, but usually not when there was none. Initially I would keep switching it off at start of each journey (via top-left button on transmission panel) but after a while, just adjusted my driving style and leave it on most of the time now.
- I found the radio underwhelming initially too, but turning up the treble to almost full and the bass slightly helped. However, I did find a big improvement when listening to my own collection of music via SD Card (high-bitrate mp3's)
- Radio shows current song/artist, plus next one as well and also name of the current radio program! It's not DAB but radio text or something like that. But sometimes it wasn't quite as accurate as what was currently playing.

[VWVY]

I will venture that the DSG lag is not related to the gearbox at all but is turbo lag, some motors being worse than others. Audi have recently introduced electric drive for the turbo and BMW have in recent weeks said they are going to do the same. The turbo is low mass so it can be wound up quickly and then a supercharger or another turbo takes over to provide the boost. 2016 Audi SQ7 electric turbo to cure lag - Car News | CarsGuide

.. especially perfect for larger turbos without having to put up with massive lag .. where was this tech 10-15yrs ago when we were playing with turbo jap imports?
by the time this tech becomes mainstream in turbo engines in say 5yr it could be pretty useless as electric cars with no lag will have become common already? .. imho

[Gladbach]

Yeah, I suspect that this will be the last car i purchase with a combustible engine. Makes spending close to $60k on it hard because I predict that resale values for cars with fuel based engines will slump in 5-10 years when the demand for electric vehicles really increases.