2008 Volkswagen Tiguan 103TDI Automatic Review
8 Sep, 2008
32 Comments 
2008 Volkswagen Tiguan 103TDI Automatic Review & Road Test
Tiguan demonstrates just how good a modern SUV can be
Model Tested:
- 2008 Volkswagen Tiguan 103TDI 4MOTION wagon 2.0-litre turbo diesel six-speed automatic - $38,290 (RRP)
Options Fitted:
- Metallic Paint $790; Audio System Upgrade (DynAudio) with Satellite Navigation & Reversing Camera $4780; Xenon Headlamps $1990; Leather Trim $3990; Front Fog Lamps $390; 17” Alloy Wheels $1490
Willing Engine, Smooth Auto, Quality Feel & Finish, Good Looks
Waiting List, Smaller Cargo Capacity, Steering Wheel Adjustment
CarAdvice Rating: 
- by Matt Brogan
It’s been a few months since we first had the exciting new Tiguan visit the CarAdvice office and although we were highly impressed last time, we couldn’t help but wonder if driving the more sought after automatic model would change our opinion of VWs marvelous mid-sized SUV.
In the blue corner, weighing in at 1676kg we have the 103TDI (103 kilowatt, turbo-diesel injection, automatic gearbox) variant which has had just about every box ticked on the feature list, thus giving us an idea of how sweet owning a diesel soft-roader can be. While in the red corner we have the entry-level manual model as tested previously (click here for manual review).
Catalina Blue / Wild Cherry Red
Fortunately the days where owning a smaller SUV meant a basic, bone jolting ride with rattling, smoky engine and little or no creature comforts are long gone and with Tiguan demonstrating just how good a modern compact SUV can be, it’s little wonder we’re back for more.
In addition to the standard kit of MP3 compatible CD tuner, power windows, heated power mirrors, semi-automatic air-conditioning, power steering, remote central-locking, cruise control, leather steering wheel with remote audio and cruise controls, trip computer, cloth trim, 16-inch San Francisco alloy wheels, black roof rails, and a cargo area cover Tiguan can also be rather highly optioned – just like our test car.
Featuring satellite navigation with 16:9 (800 x 480 pixel) 6.5″ colour screen and 30GB hard drive, DynAudio 300W premium six-CD tuner, self parking system, reversing sensors and camera with park assist guidance, leather electrically adjustable heated seats, bi-xenon self leveling and cornering headlamps, low tyre pressure warning indicator, climate control air-conditioning, automatic wipers, dusk sensing headlamps, 17-inch Boston alloy wheels (18-inch New York alloys also available), auto dimming mirror, fog lamps and anti-theft alarm, the only omission from our little blue beast is the glass electric tilt and slide sunroof.
The touch screen RNS510 audio and navigation system features 3D mapping and is by far the most user-friendly system on the market. Not only is it simple to set up and use but is also easy to understand visually, a great tool for those who often find themselves geographically embarrassed.
The self parking system takes but a few tries to master and can complete both angle and parrellel parks with a few touches of the screen and a light prod of the throttle, the rest (steering and braking) is managed automatically. Having recently sampled a similar system in the Lexus LS460 I must say this system is far easier to use and far better at getting the park right first time.
Location: Home / 4x4, Volkswagen, Behind the Wheel, Diesel / ...
Rate Post: 
(5 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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September 8th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I love the Tiguan. I think its very handsome and although I think Id prefer an Audi Q5, I would gladly spend the money to get one if I wanted a compact SUV.
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September 8th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
that blue Tiguan (as shown in the review) has NO sunroof (like mentioned), and it has the 18″ New York alloy wheels, not the 17’s… what’s the go there? lol
atleast it still has the Xenons…
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September 8th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Heaps of equipment, great mechanicals but too small compared to its competitors. This size might have cut it 5 years ago but today doesnt come close to what any of the Japanese or Korean competitors offer. Call me when there is a bigger one.
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September 8th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Iam not liking this car and most of VW as have that droopy curve under front headlights that make it look like an angry Transformer (robots in disguise). Is still a nice looker but does not gel at front as too square as flatish bonnet and weirdo angry bad lights! Still passes on good looking….just!
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September 8th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Dlr1
There is a bigger one. It’s called the Touareg. Tiguan’s competitors are RAV4/CR-V/X-Trail/Tuscon, all of which are similar to Tiguan in size. Call me when you’ve got this in your head.
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September 8th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Actually. this car.. size and all seems more like a Dualis/Tuscon competitor. All the other compact SUVs have a much bigger boot RAV4/CR-V/X-Trail.
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September 8th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Front headlights are a rip-off from the new Subaru Forester !
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September 8th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
OK, I accept the bit about the boot.
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September 8th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Don’t like the look at all, BORING.
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September 8th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Gawd, all this moaning and groaning about the size of the boot! How would you make it bigger? Make the car longer, that’s how! Just like what Toyota has done with their not-at-all-compact RAV4.
If you accept that the load area is hatch sized and not wagon sized, you won’t be disappointed.
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September 8th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
I don’t know if everyone wants a massively-oversized “compact” SUV….how much larger has the Rav-4 gotten?
Sure the boot is a little on the lighter side, but hey, when it looks this classy and drives this well, then im sure a few minor compromises are alright
Fantastic drivetrain and a few in-class first’s (including the Park Assist)
Bit of a cut-price Q5 (and much better looking than the bricky X-Trail and overly fussy CR-V)
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September 8th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
The other thing what wrecks it as to flatly horizontal across front from headlights and grille makes it look more boring (especially when combined with flat slab look from windscreen forward).
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September 8th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
To Dazza76 - for a start, your wrong, but your entitled to your opinion. However, the official tiguan pictures were released long before the foresters so it’s the other way round if you think that.
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September 8th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Test drove one a few months ago, liked it, thought it was very cool, wanted one (in white) and thought it was plenty big enough to put my sporting/camping equipment in the back. I drove my friend’s new RAV4 a few months before i test drove the Tiguan and thought the Toyota felt a bit rattly and the manual gear shift had a sloppy disappointing feel, lucky Toyota has reliability on its side then because overall i was quite disappointed in the drive, and i was critiquing it objectively not subjectively! Yes the Toyota had a nice amount of room in the boot, maybe the Tiguan should have just a little bit more to make it a little bit more practical a live up to the people’s car brand.
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September 9th, 2008 at 8:30 am
With those options the tested price would be $51,720 plus ORC’s. I am waiting for the Petrol version to come before serious consideration. Test drove the diesel and was ok, but I think the petrol turbo may be the way to go.
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September 9th, 2008 at 10:52 am
If you listen realy carefully you can almost hear the deprecation. Unless you really like the badge then check out whats on offer from the Hyundai - Kia show rooms. You wont need more than $40,000.00. Unless you really dont like your money and are happy to give it away.
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September 9th, 2008 at 11:36 am
As an owner of a manual Tiguan 103TDI, here are my impressions:
+ while the boot is small, rear legroom is very large and rear seat move forward when you need the boot to be bigger.
+ handling is awazing: covers twisty country roads much faster than a typical V6 sedan.
+ Korean Hankoon Dyno Pro HP 4wd-biased tyres are actually excellent, never let go (comeswith off-road pack).
- on a minus side, usually very silent engine at 1.5K revs becomes louder at moderately high 2.2K revs when cruising at 120km/h. So cruising at 120mk/h is a bit noisier than say at 100mk/h.
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September 9th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I did test drive Tiguan and then Santafe diesel a few weeks ago…Santafe is miles better..Much quieter or more refined.. much bigger…Warranty is much longer…Most importantly much cheaper…go for Santafe….
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September 9th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
The resale value should recover some of the price difference between Tiguan and the Korean competitors…as long as one doesn’t go nuts on ticking the options list. It seems that VW can’t put a foot wrong lately… If I was buying, I’d probably wait till the turbo petrol comes out… then the waiting lists should be shorter… and I own a Golf GTI… that 2L direct injection turbo is a real firecracker, not sure how much slower 4motion and 300kg will blunt the performance though…
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September 9th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
I own a VW Bora V64 Motion which I have had since new (2001) and think it is an excellent vehicle - German build quality etc. Therefore I naturally thought of purchasing a Tiguan but guess what - I purchased the new Xtrail Tl diesel manual. It is a far better value for money proposition than the Tiguan. I can list several reasons why but will not bore you with all. The engine/gearbox combination is superb, full size spare (I have done 5,000 mostly country k’s in a month and the security of a full size spare is not to be underestimated)and finally space. The Renault diesel spins to 5000 without effort.
And the inside console treatment is nicer than the VW’s. Never thought I would say that about a Japanese vehicle.
John
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September 10th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
If you are not after most metal/space per dollar, but want best brakes, high speed handing, steering feel and refinement in the class, then Tiguan it is. It is marketed in the US as the SUV version of Golf GTi and does feel it. Faster thru around-abouts than many cars as the 4motion system is very quick to throw torque to the rear wheels.
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September 10th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
How can somebody write such a lot about an automatic car, having previously reported on the manual version, and say so little about the gearbox? Having read the report, all I learned is that there are six speeds and a Sportmode.
Is it a DSG box?
If not, does it have a lock-up torque converter?
How does its fuel consumption compare with the manual version?
How quickly/smoothly/intelligently does it change gears?
I expect some information in a report, not just a promotional blurb!
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September 12th, 2008 at 9:45 am
I wrote this on the other tigjuan comparo.
beware the total on-road.
A manual tiguan with just a few of the more important options comes to an incredible $57,889 total all-in on-road cost. And a jan 2009 wait time. Incldes a dealer delivery charge of $2722.
These reviews need to publish the “as tested” ON ROAD cost of the car they are testing.
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September 13th, 2008 at 9:43 am
The dealer saw you coming Justin! your whats known in the industry as a “wood duck” another tip. When next you buy ensure there is a sunset clause on delivery. Also January 09 means you’re probably getting a 08 build car that should mean at least 15% off!
Correct me if im wrong Car Advice but does the Tiggy have a variable final drive ratio? that effectively means 1st & 2nd are low ratio gears?
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September 14th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I love many things about VW, I currently have a Jetta and use a Transporter for my business. Unfortunately in my (limited) experience parts have proven to be extortionately expensive and sometimes slow to source from overseas.
Sadly I’ve also experienced some pretty shoddy service from the VW parts people, probably as a result of them having to continually answer to customers comments about the price/delivery times.
Add this to the cost of ownership and can’t justify going with a VW in future.
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September 15th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
my comments are never being saved!
im not gonna bother re-telling what i typed, as it was pretty long, but it was something along the lines of the fact that blue car didnt have a sunroof OR the 17″ wheels as stated.
it has the 18″ New York wheels (i checked on the VW website) and the sunroof which apparently was on the tested model, is absent in all the photos.
atleast it still has the xenon lights.
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September 16th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Totally agree with “Lloyd Seaton”. What was the point of this review?.
Is it commom practice to test the same vehicle with different gearboxes, or are you giving VW another plug?
Can we expect another glorified blurb when the petrol variants arrive next year. Given that there are two petrol models 125TSI (Auto/Man) and 147TSI (Auto only) should we prepare ourselves for another 3 test drives?
I clicked on VW under Car Reviews and noticed that there is an extrodinary number of test drives, and funny enough the same thing under Audi but what really blew me away was the number of Skodas driven. (Such a small unrecognised brand on the Australian market) Maybe C/A is trying to help Skoda with their poor sales and market penetration.
OOh I just noticed that all these brands are part of the Volkswagen Audi Group. Any way I’m sure there is another regergitated test drive not too far away.
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October 3rd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
I am currently on business here in Europe and in the limited spare time I have, I have called in at a couple of VW dealerships in Germany. Principaly I wanted to look at a couple of the cars we don’t get back home such as the Pasatt CC and Sciroco, both great cars. I looked at the Tiguan back home when it was released but didn’t get one as it’s a bit too small for the family and dogs. I have read with interest some of the comments from VW Australia and on this blog about the waiting list for the Tiguan. My feeling is it is all a load of spin to make people think this car is a total market dominating winner. One comment on this blog (can’t remember his/her name) repeats the often quote VW spin of a “60′000 customer waiting list”. Well on Tuesday I visited VW Seville (Spain) Wednesday VW Frankfurt and today VW Innsbruck. ALL HAD PLENTY OF STOCK OF MOST MODELS! In all cases the sales people said that sales were ok but they would all do deals to move floor stock. The bloke in Frankfurt said that VW were preasuring dealers and offering incentives to move more. He also said that the Ford kuga was hurting sales as it is a bit cheaper and the options were “a lot cheaper”.
Just thought I would add my 2 cents worth. Cheers to you all and can’t wait to get back to Oz.
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October 7th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
To Eh179 driver:
How refreshing it is to read something factual and not fanciful. The elongated waiting list you mentioned was posted by “Vegas” 21st July 08 on the 3 way comparison between the CR-V, Forester & Tiguan.
He claimed the waiting list was 80,000 and would grow to 120,000.
Yeah right….!!!!!!!
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October 12th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
A comparison of the Tiguan TDI vs TSI would be good
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November 1st, 2008 at 9:43 pm
How about comparing the same Tiguan model but with different colour paint?
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November 13th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Well I love my Tiguan it drives well, plenty of power and pushes out 1000km to a tank (diesel)not to mention it looks sexy..Rav 4s and Korean cars dont get a look in for me you pay for a what you get and I think its well worth the money.
I think most of the people on this site who have commented havent even driven the vehicle and probably will never be able to afford one anyway.
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