VW Tiguan Inadequate market targeting

[mrx]

I'm with Sharkie on this one. My wife wants something with a bit of grunt, but it has to have enough head room in the back for our two labradors. We don't want automatic because, frankly, driving an automatic sux! If the Tigga came with DSG it would be considered (although manual preferred), but an old school auto, forget it!

We don't want it for the "town tractor" aspect, but it needs to have a deep cargo area. It doesn't have to be 4wd or a soft roader. We currently have a gutless Honda CRV because at the time of purchase was the only thing with enough dog head room. Most of the wagons with grunt & a little bit of style (current forester, liberty, outback, secondhand audi s4, passat, the list goes on) all have too shallow of a cargo area.

The only cars that would appear to fit the bill, and keep around the $40000 price bracket would be a Skoda Octavia RS, a manual 147kW Tiguan, or the new forester. If the 125kW Tiguan can be beefed up to 180kW then the search is over!

Having said all this, I don't really think a petition of 3 signatures is going to do much!

[tinto]

I'd assume the 125kw is probably the 1.4?
and the 147kw the 2.0?
Not much mention of capacity in their press release.

My GT sport TSi is 1.4/125kw - I can't imagine they'd detune a 2.0 to get those figures. In fact I think I've read someone say the 1.4 isn't enough for the tiguan (UK mag).

Even 147kw seems like a very mild/safe tune for a twincharged 2 litre
i.e. roughly the same as the current 2.0T

Good news that APR are looking into the TSi engines though!
I've been wanting to see *something* come out chip-wise for a while now...

[tinto]

If the 125kW Tiguan can be beefed up to 180kW then the search is over!

if it is the 1.4, I believe the initial oettinger chip alone was about 150kw..then VW changed the ECU on the TSi

ref - http://www.oettinger.com.au/oau_vwgolf5_et.html

[Sharkie]

The 125kw is actually a detuned 2.0TSI.......

I have spoken to Guy and they will be working hard to determine what has changed to drop output to 125kw. Torque stays at 280NM.

It means that the 2.0 now is available globally in:
125kw (Tiguan, Jetta - USA & UK & Passat UK)
147kw (GTI, Jetta, Passat, A3, A4, Tiguan, Skoda, Seat, etc)
169kw (GTI Pirelli edition - UK & Europe)
177kw (Seat)
188-195kw (S3)
205kw TTR

For 169kw+ it runs the K04 turbo as std as well as other little bits for each iteration.

So long as there are no major changes (read good bits removed) for the 125kw, Guy reckoned it should be able to provide similar outputs to the 147kw when tuned.

We can but live in hope....

[tinto]

oh... I think we're talking about totally different engines then.
Is the Tiguan using TSi (turbo+supercharger), or just a single turbo?

[Sharkie]

VW now refer to the 2.0Turbo (in its various outputs) as TSI in all its material. It has only a single turbocharger.

[mrx]

Looking at the German VW website it is definately a 2.0 in the 147 & 125kW variants. The manual 125kW & Auto 147kW both have pretty sluggish 0-100 times of 8.5 seconds - makes the Forester look even more appealing!

[Sharkie]

But..... if the 125kw can be modified (cheaply) to produce around 200kw & 420NM, it will likely break below 6s 0-100km/h....

A 160kw Polo GTI & 190kw Golf GTI will both do about 6s and they both have severe traction issues.

A 4motion Tiguan (6-speed manual), weighing about 1500kg should beat them both.....

[mrx]

I know what a chipped Golf GTI can do, as that's what I drive. That's the kind of acceleration I would like to emulate (hold on mutts!). Hmm, wonder what a chipped Forester could do?!

[Sharkie]

After finding out that there would be a problem getting a manual 147kw Tiguan, I researched modifications to the 2.5T (169kw) in the Subarus.

Essentially there are many mods available, slightly more expensive to do as to get it to 220kw will cost about $5000. A chip on its own ($1500) only take it to 180kw. The VW's are easier to do and can take more without making too many changes.

The Forrester will have mechanical permanent AWD, which is far superior to 4motion and after spending $5K on both would probably be the quickest.

I'll wait to see what Guy's verdict is after his research trip to the UK as the XT Forrester will likely be $42K whereas the 125kw Tiguan will start at $34k. Suitably optioned I'd expect it to be $40K.