Thinking of ditching the Tiguan....

[NZ_GolfR]

I have been thinking about changing from the Tiguan into something else for a little while now and am seriously considering it now.

While I really love the look of the Tiguan and kept telling everyone how much I love driving it I think I have been doing that more to convince myself then everyone else. Coming from the Mk6 Golf R I know this wasn’t going to be as sporty but to be honest I did think it was going to be a bit more sporty than it is. As of late I am really starting to realise just how big this car is and how not a hot hatch it really is even with the GTI engine in it. I have also started to feel that the ride either isn’t as smooth as I originally thought it was or maybe having done 44,000km on the 20” wheels, mainly in Sport mode, has just shaken too many things loose. I am now driving it in Normal mode and still find some of the minor bumps in the road (which we have stacks of over here) pretty harsh. Almost need to go into Comfort Mode but there is no way as then I am feeling like I am rolling around in a boat!!

I went and had a look at the new CUPRA Ateca yesterday and have to say I was surprisingly impressed. I know it doesn’t have the brand recognition the VW has and I know the badge is a bit odd but the specifications of this thing are pretty impressive:

221kw Engine basically straight from the Golf R
400Nm Torque
0-100 in 5.2 Seconds
Same 7 Speed DSG as in the Tiguan
Same Active Info Display as in the new Tiguan, T Roc etc but with proper sports mode like the Audi S models
Slightly smaller than the Tiguan but still bigger than a Golf which is what I need.

I personally don’t mind the look of the Ateca, the LED front and rear lights look great on par with the Tiguan and thinks the CUPRA version looks even better (minus the odd badges which I might have to black out) especially with the quad pipe exhaust:













The one I am looking at has the upgraded bucket seats which are much more supportive than the standard ones and miles better than what’s in the Tiguan which I find way to wide for me to hold me in place when cornering:



The car is a bit smaller than the Tiguan but only by about 13cm in length. I found the ride to be much better, not sure if it is just because it only has 19” wheels or if the suspension setup is that much better but it seemed to soak up the bumps better. I drove it in Comfort mode as well as Sport and CUPRA mode and even in the firmest CUPRA setting it still took the bumps in its stride. The setting position is also much lower than in the Tiguan making it feel lower and more sportier. They have also used a shorter gear lever to make that feel sportier especially when you have it in manual mode and use that for shifting.

The exhaust system in this is pretty good (better than the factory Tiguan, which to be fair isn’t hard) but not to Golf R standards. Driving normally in Comfort mode you hardly hear it but switch over to Sport or CUPRA mode and put your foot down and you hear it with a bit of pop and crackle. I have done the Golf 7.5R exhaust install with resonator delete on my Tiguan and while it sounds awesome when you drive it hard I do find it drones a bit when accelerating normally to 50kmh which isn’t ideal since it is my daily driver.

Then there is the power, 300BHP (221KW) with 400Nm which is what the Tiguan should have. When you put your foot down it really goes and you can feel the kick in the back. Judging by this vide you would give quite a few Golf R owners a run for their money when taking off at the lights:

YouTube

Have done as much reading up on the reviews of the CUPRA and they have all been pretty positive (minus the badge design). What do you guys think? I know it isn’t a VW so not the right forum for this but interest to see what other Tiguan owners think.


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[iDiesel]

It’s a VW by another name...
if it puts a smile on your dial then that’s a big plus

my only hesitation is resale value

[tigger73]

Do you guys have the T-Roc R over there? This is what I'd be looking at also.

I agree compared to the Gen1 Tig, the Gen2 feels a bit like a boat. The gen1 was properly chuckable whereas the wheelbase on the gen2 is more like a Grand Tourer in comparison.

I think the Cupra is a great car but I'd also be worried about it depreciating like a brick. If you could get it on a guaranteed buy-back finance deal it might be OK so you can get out of it without dropping too much cash.

[ope126]

How long has SEAT been available in New Zealand for (new vehicles that is)? SEAT - Explore our Cars, SUVs & more

Cupra is it's own brand, so that must be relatively new there too? The new CUPRA Ateca | CUPRA

[Ozsko]

For many of the same reasons I would ditch the Tiguan if I could find something like what you are looking at in Oz. I have always considered it a boat around corners and the front end takes a message when turning in. If I could get in and out of our Golf GTIP easily I would have an R and I have been patiently waiting to see if we get the T-roc R but I suspect we won't so the Tiguan lives on so far with the axe falling when I find something else.

[NZ_GolfR]

SEAT have been here in NZ for about 18 months now and the CUPRA brand is new so that has only just appeared here now, quite surprised at how quickly the CUPRA was available here. In some ways I like the fact it is new and unique as you won’t see many on the road. When I first got the Tiguan it was in the first shipment of R Lines and then there was a big delay until the next lot came in but now I see them everywhere. Talking to the CUPRA dealer, apparently VW NZ made a bit of a balls up and bought in 800 Allspaces in one shipment so just dumped them on the market cheap to move the stock which would explain why I see so many Allspace models driving around now.

We have the T Roc here but at this stage only as the R Line model and since that is only a 140kw engine I see that as a step backwards from the Tiguan. Don’t know when the R version of the T Roc will be here but assume it will be a while since they only just debuted it. I haven’t driven a T Roc but think it would be a bit too small, reason I went from the Golf to Tiguan was I needed more space to carry gear around for work when I needed to. The Alteca would sit between the T Roc and Tiguan is still give time the space I need.

We don’t get the wagon version of the Golf R here, only had a small quantity of the old original Mk7 ones and none of the facelift models so far. But then there is the price, a standard Golf R new would be somewhere between $10-$15k more than the CUPRA and if we got the wagon it would be more again.

Resale value is a bit of a hard one. Personally I think the Golf R takes a bit of a hit over here with resale as they a quite expensive new. I also can’t decide that if since there is so many Tiguan’s over here now is that going to drive down the price of them second hand since there will be more options? With the CUPRA being very limited numbers that could either help or hurt with resale depending on how the car goes long term. I do find it funny that with nearly all the UK reviews I read they were comparing it to the Macan which is easily $20k+ more for the base model which has no where near the options this has and I would imagine be a lot more to service and maintain.



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[iDiesel]

If it's got a significantly lower entry price than it's counterparts in NZ, then maybe overall any depreciation maybe large as a percentage, may be similar to the Allspace from a total $ perspective?

[Dan_3MPS]

I don't mind that at all. Like the seats in it (no pun intended!).

[Lucas_R]

That's cool - i dig it. Looks way cooler and sportier than the Tiguan / Karioq.

[NZ_GolfR]

So the Tiguan is now gone and the CUPRA Ateca is at home in my carport.

Surprisingly I wasn’t that sad to see it go. Don’t get me wrong, the Tiguan is a great car just not the car I was hoping for and it took me a while to realise/accept this. The R Line looks great, aggressive and sporty it just doesn’t drive like it. I spent the past couple of days removing the minor upgrades I did and undoing the coding changes and I realised without all the tweaks it was kind of boring, definitely needed the HBA, TSR and Golf R AID display.

I do loose out on a couple of the features with the Ateca, no lane assist as it doesn’t have the camera for this so also no Traffic Sign Recognition, which is a shame, or Highbeam Assist but didn’t really use that much as I only drive within town. Also loose the HUD but spent the last few days in the Tiguan with it turned off and didn’t really miss it at all like I thought I would. The sound system in it doesn’t sound quite as good as the DYNAUDIO which was surprising since it does have the Beats system which is 340W with 10 Speakers, hopefully it just needs a bit of running it and tuning. The head unit doesn’t look as nice as the newer type in the current Tiguan, more similar to the original MIB2 that was in my Tiguan, but is much quicker to start up especially to load CarPlay which I found painfully slow on mine.

On the plus side I do gain the much better engine/turbo setup, the power is great! The ride is also so much better, the car is much stiffer so you don’t roll around in the corners even in Comfort mode yet it soaks up bumps in the roads so I’m not going ouch and cringing all the time like I was with the 20” rims.

The exhaust looks great but doesn’t sound quite as good as a Golf R. You do get some pops and crackles when in CUPRA mode but not all the time which I think is due to the Particulate Filter on these which I guess is why you don’t get them over there. After doing the 7.5R exhaust on the Tig I realised it was too loud for what I wanted so I’m happy with this.

The seats are fantastic! They are the perfect size for me and hold me comfortably in place even when taking corners hard and they look great. They also go down much lower than the ones in the Tig so you can get a much lower seating position. They aren’t quite as easy to get in and out of with the high bolsters but I’m not that old that this is an issue.

I personally like the styling of the Ateca, the DRLs front and rear look great and think the blue looks awesome. One of the best things would be that I have yet to see another one on the road, I love the uniqueness of it.

Now I can start playing around with what tweaks I can do with the Ateca


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