RD Drives The Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace R-Line: Stealthy Rocket That’s Fit for Families

Also, the last time I reviewed a Volkswagen, it was the Volkswagen Golf Mk7 2.0 GTi in 2013 and before that, the Volkswagen Beetle 2012. All that to say, I'm somewhat familiar with the Volkswagen drive, but it has been awhile. With that, let's review the Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace R-Line.

Tiguan Allspace Interior

While not exactly cavernous, the Tiguan won't be mistaken for a small car. On paper, it's not smaller than its contemporaries but it didn't feel as roomy as compared to the X70. I think it's because the X70s interior looks sparse compared to the Tiguan that it gives the illusion of space.

	Proton X70	Volkswagen Tiguan	Honda CR-V
Width	1,831	1,839	1,855
Length	4,519	4,486	4,596

It's also the shortest in length when compared to the default urban family transporter, the CR-V and the default car for people who have some money but not a lot, but want a lot of features and avoid taxes, the Proton X70. More on this shortness in a bit.

We reviewed the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid recently that also fits neatly into this segment. It's great, but I only have room for one Japanese car in this segment and the CR-V is still the most popular.

The R-Line comes with leather seats and all the bells and whistles that come with a RM200k car so expect peak comfort inside. Leather seats are only in the Elegance range and they're plush, smell good, and I wouldn't recommend anyone go with fabric. I was also impressed with the USB-C charging points in the car instead of the USB-A port that still in most.

I think it's ahead of its time, but with the EU law that forces the iPhone to adopt USB-C already in place, I'm glad that they're there. I also hope other car manufacturers catch up to this.

Unlike the USB-C ports, I think the capacitive touch controls need to go. Instead of clicky buttons, all the buttons on the steering wheel and even the air conditioning are capacitive touch buttons.

They're difficult to use while driving and a simple task like turning up the volume or turning down the A/C is an inaccurate and frustrating experience. Yes, you kind of get used to it after awhile but no one would fault VW for being backwards if the buttons were tactile.

Car manufacturers are not phone manufacturers so touch technology needs to stay out of cars. The 11.7-inch LCD instrument cluster, while bright and beautiful, is also difficult to adjust and unintuitive. Little things like a lack of a back button and an unnatural UI that doesn't leave cookie crumbs for you to follow makes changing settings a chore.

We're all extremely used to top of the line user friendly UIs for our phones that have been meticulously sculpted to simply work in any hand but I doubt any car manufacturers are too fussed about UI in the grand scheme of providing a good drive and a safe car, which results in across the board poor UI. It's understandable because they make cars not UI, but someone needs to solve the UI issue in cars and give us interfaces we want and can interact with every day.

So, VW doesn't bear too much of the blame for the bad UI of its touch screen, but it can stand to do better.

I also couldn't connect my iPhone via carplay during the review as doing so muted the audio system in the car and it didn't unmute until I turned off the car for awhile and turned it back on later. While troubleshooting, a spokesperson for VW told me it could be because my iPhone 14 Pro was running the latest software and the VW software just needs to be updated.

Finally, the Tiguan is 7-seater SUV but this is where Allspace is actually more all-outta-space because there's no way anyone is going to sit in those back seats comfortably. There's no leg room, there's some headroom, but overall, it's not a good time there. You may be able to get your kids to sit comfortably there, but you're supposed to have car seats for kids under 12.

Like I said, car manufacturers prioritise one thing, the performance of their cars, and the stately Tiguan doesn't disappoint in this arena.

I didn't manage to try the vanilla 1.4 TSI engine, so this may not be the experience everyone enjoys, but the range-topping R-Line with its 2.0 TSI all-wheel drive is an all-out fun drive. The turbocharged engine outputs 220PS with 350Nm of torque which puts in the range of range-topping premium European vehicles like the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes C300 AMG.

The mode selector is familiar to me having driven the Golf Mk7 but this time, 10 years later, there's a noticeable change moving from Sport to Eco modes and the others. Power delivery is immediate and shocking in Sport but you can get away with leaving it in Comfort for most of your drive to enjoy the best of both worlds.

It's a confident drive around corners and at slower speeds for parking and manouvering, the car behaves well so that you won't find yourself over revving. It's the kind of car you don't mind driving slow, but you'll want to push it every chance you get. And it's very important for families that it's still great to drive slow.

For a family man such as myself, I don't get to speed much. But it's invaluable when I need to. The quick steering and easy drive makes it a dream to commute to the babysitters and to work and back again for the week. The size makes loading the kids in easy too which is always a plus.

The height of the Tiguan makes its presence known at times when you're driving at speed with some body roll. For seasoned drivers who enjoy the feeling of the road, there's some disconnect between you and the road. It's a smooth ride, but if you're used to something like the Honda Civic or a Mini Cooper, the Tiguan does make you feel like you're floating a little.

Surprisingly, I noticed a bit of noise from the tyres under certain road conditions (there's a particular strip on KESAS heading to KL from Seremban that's particularly noisy). The tyres are huge enough to actually go over smaller potholes so you don't feel them but you'll feel a bit of bump if going through larger and deeper holes.

A practical SUV for the families and for singles The appeal of an SUV is pretty obvious, the size means you can carry more items when you have a family and the height means you have a more commanding view of the road and you'll feel more confident driving. I'd mention fuel economy but at 2.0 litres for a car this size and at this price, it's a bit of an oxymoron. If you're shopping in this category and splitting hairs about fuel you need to reconsider your spending choices.

If you have 2 children, fitting two car seats in the back is easy with the safety harness, but you'll want to adjust the front passenger seats a little to manouver. The boot offers cubby spaces on the sides for small items and the central boot space is large and tall enough for you to lug a lot of things from IKEA.

For singles, the car is nimble, easy to drive, and will adapt to your changing lifestyle (should you choose the heteronormative life of a partner and children). It's still the best European SUV on the market and Volkswagen's reputation is still solid (even though it has taken some hits).

I'd say it's the default European SUV of choice and the amount of Tiguans on the road can attest to that.