Amit Saraswat 
Volkswagen has started accepting orders for the 3rd-gen Tiguan across the European market. The German carmaker claims that the new Tiguan has been designed and built from scratch while retaining the Volkswagen genes intact.
All-new but identical design
Volkswagen claims that the new Tiguan development started on a clean sheet of paper. While its design is all new, it carries the signature design cues of the Tiguan and the brand Volkswagen in general. The front profile of the new Tiguan is a lot sleeker than before, courtesy of slim LED headlights and an enclosed radiator grille. The R Line model further enhances its appeal thanks to blacked-out trim pieces and sporty bumpers. The new Tiguan joins the line of new Volkswagen models featuring a connected LED tail light design.
Fresh interior with new-age tech
Like the exterior, the interior design of the new Tiguan brings a new design and features. The centre of attraction is the freestanding 15-inch touchscreen infotainment system, which is further tilted towards the sight of the driver. Volkswagen has done away with physical controls for air-con and incorporated capacitive sliders below the infotainment system to adjust the temperature.
To adjust the general settings like the driver’s profile and volume, Volkswagen has added a rotary dial in the centre console, which features its own OLED display. Other interior highlights of the Tiguan include a new digital cockpit with anti-reflective coating, a head-up display, a column-mounted gear selector stalk and a 3-spoke steering wheel with physical controls. To make your long highway journeys comfortable, the Tiguan also packs ergoActive Plus seats with 4-way lumbar adjustment and a 10-chamber pneumatic massage function.
New plug-in-hybrid powertrain
Since the new Tiguan is underpinned by the MQB EVO platform, it complies with a range of powertrain options. The standard variants of the Tiguan come with a choice of turbocharged petrol and diesel engine options. Volkswagen also offers an eTSI range of petrol engines, which come with a 48V mild-hybrid system, in 130PS and 150PS power tunes. A couple of months down the line, Volkswagen will also offer a new plug-in-hybrid powertrain, capable of delivering 100km electric-only range and DC fast charging.
Grades and prices
The prices of the 3rd-gen Tiguan start from EUR 36,600 in Germany. Speaking of the available grades, Volkswagen will offer the Tiguan in four grades — Standard, Life, Elegance and R Line. The standard Tiguan comes packed with features like a virtual cockpit, a 12.9-inch infotainment system, LED headlights and 17-inch alloy wheels. The R Line grade adds front and rear LED lighting strips, ergoActive seats, park assist plus and 19-inch alloy wheels.
