Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line special feature: Power and precision

If you’re clued into the automotive space in general, you will notice that SUVs have undergone multiple changes over the course of time. From simply being hardcore go-anywhere machines, SUVs have now transformed into cushy and luxurious vehicles that rarely find themselves off the tarmac and on the beaten track. In recent years, the definition of an SUV has metamorphosed once again, now in the form of the micro and compact SUVs which seem to be all the rage today. And while you will find several of these on sale today, there’s still one segment where an enthusiast continues to not really have much choice – the sporty SUV. Or at least that was the case, until the Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line came along.

It might sound silly at first, given that SUV literally translates to Sports Utility Vehicle, but the fact is that if you want an SUV that handles sharp and delivers on driving thrills, you will be limited to choices that are present in the ultra-luxury segment. If you are a mainstream SUV buyer who wishes to buy a practical runabout for the daily grind and wants something fun for the weekend, you don’t really have anything on sale that will cater to those needs in the Indian market, apart from the Tiguan R-Line.

The Volkswagen Tiguan is an SUV that we at evo India have always loved for its wide breadth of ability and usability. We have run the previous generations of the SUV in our long-term test fleet and after taking the SUV on adventures across the country, we continue to remain impressed by the comfort and practicality of the Volkswagen. A large part of our admiration for the Tiguan is also due to its dynamics and the performance that it offers. With the Tiguan R-Line however, Volkswagen has taken these strengths up by a notch.

A few months ago, we took the Tiguan R-Line on a unique adventure where we drove from the sands of the Thar desert to the coastline in Gujarat in a single day. Covering this distance of 700km would have been a tall order in any other SUV, but the Tiguan R-Line had multiple tricks up its sleeve to make sure that our road trip was a cinch. One of these was the suspension system with the Dynamic Chassis Control Pro or DCC Pro. To give you some perspective, this generation of the Tiguan gets a heavily updated platform and the DCC Pro system allows you to toggle between 15 levels of damping. If you had to spend your time driving about in Mumbai with its pothole-stricken roads for instance, you could simply stick the Tiguan R-Line in Comfort mode and waft about in, erm, comfort, and relish the ride.

It even gets sporty seats which are actually really comfortable and get a massage function as well! During our Sand to Sea road trip however, the comfort mode also allowed us to carry serious speeds over the rutted tracks in the desert. And when we did get to the butter-smooth tarmac of the Bharatmala road, we switched to the more aggressive Sport mode, put our foot down and revelled in the handling and high-speed stability of the Tiguan R-Line. The presence of the DCC Pro in the Tiguan R-Line really allows you to enjoy the best of all worlds – which other ₹48.99 lakh SUV allows you to do that?

The Volkswagen Tiguan also packs in considerable off-road capability. You can quickly dive into the drive mode menu and the off-road mode sets up the suspension, engine and traction control to be able to handle the rough stuff. We went dune bashing in the Tiguan R-Line and even on the soft desert sand which might have flummoxed other modern off-roaders, the Tiguan R-Line managed to hold its own. Volkswagen’s 4MOTION all-wheel-drive system made the task of dune bashing easier, keeping the Tiguan moving in the right direction.

In addition to the updates to the platform and the suspension, this generation of the Tiguan is a sportier performer than its predecessors. It continues to be powered by the familiar 2-litre TSI petrol engine, but the outputs have now been boosted to 201bhp and 320Nm, and the performance on tap meant that the SUV actually made short work of our road trip from Rajasthan to Gujarat. This engine is mated to the DSG twin-clutch automatic transmission and it made long-distance cruising a breeze with its smoothness, while delivering impressive performance. The convenience offered by the automatic transmission is also unmatched, be it in a traffic jam in the city or out on the open road. The combination of the TSI petrol engine and the DSG transmission ensured that our drive was an effortless one, and when you’re in an SUV that packs the kind of performance that the Tiguan R-Line offers, this is something that you really appreciate.

It looks the part of a sporty SUV too. Let’s consider the styling of the earlier generations of the Tiguan for a better perspective. The design of the first Tiguan offered on sale in India was something that my dad liked to describe as sober, with a styling approach that appealed to all and offended none. With the second generation of the SUV, the Tiguan looked and felt a lot more contemporary, especially in the flashier colour schemes. This current-generation Tiguan R-Line is a lot more up my street, and I love the fact that it looks loud, youthful and of course, sporty. This is the first time that the Tiguan is coming to India in the sportier R-Line trim and I am glad that Volkswagen has not just paid lip service when it comes to differentiating the R-Line from the standard Tiguan that is currently on sale in global markets.

Of course styling is subjective and also a matter of personal taste but what is clear is that the Tiguan R-Line is an SUV that manages to wear multiple hats really well, with performance and sportiness remaining front and centre. The proven TSI engine offers excellent performance and is perfectly complemented by the DSG transmission. And thanks to the presence of 4MOTION all-wheel-drive, Volkswagen has ensured that you don’t get into a messy situation be it on the road or off it. What is probably the biggest feather in Volkswagen’s cap with the Tiguan R-Line is the presence of DCC Pro. It adds massively to the capability and usability of the SUV by allowing you to toggle between the levels of damping, and this makes the Tiguan R-Line better suited to our conditions. More importantly however, the introduction of the Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line will whet the appetites of those in the market looking for an SUV that is genuinely sporty, at a price that isn’t astronomical. And while the term ‘SUV’ continues to go through a game of evolution, the Tiguan R-Line is the most well-rounded of them all for the Indian enthusiast.