Volkswagen Tiguan - Boot space, comfort & practicality

The Volkswagen Tiguan continues as a spacious five-seat mid-size SUV, but if you're looking for the stretched seven-seat version, you’ll have to wait for the arrival of the Volkswagen Tayron – the replacement for the previous Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace.

The Tiguan is one of the most spacious cars in its class, both for passengers and their belongings. A pair of adults should find plenty of space up front in the Tiguan, while visibility is better than the class average thanks to a relatively straight bonnet, which gives a decent clue about where the front end stops, and large side windows mean respectable over-the-shoulder visibility. A blind spot monitoring system is standard to warn you of vehicles lurking where you can’t see them. 

All versions come with front and rear parking sensors, plus a reversing camera, while Elegance trim (and cars equipped with the optional Driver assistance package from Life trim and above) have a 360-degree camera system. All Tiguans have LED headlights, but you can specify the optional IQ.Light Matrix LED headlights to improve night driving because it’ll accurately shoot beams of light between cars ahead of you to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic, and the system will also do tricks such as light up your lane on dark motorways, or project warnings onto the road surface ahead of the car, just like the Mercedes Digital Light system. It costs an eye-watering £2,400, and you have to have the £950 Driver assistance pack with it, though.

A full-size spare wheel is available for £350. 

Dimensions and size 

The Tiguan comes in at 4,539mm long, 1,660mm tall (1,658mm for the eHybrid), and 1,842mm wide (1,859mm for the R Line), which puts it between the Hyundai Tucson and Ford Kuga in terms of size.

Seats, leg room, head room & passenger space

Rear kneeroom is above average for the class, but it’s made even stronger by the fact that there’s a huge amount of foot space beneath the front seats. Headroom is another area where the Tiguan excels, with even the tallest of occupants able to sit without troubling the headlining. The centre seat is wide and comfortable enough for an adult to sit, and from Life trim and above, there are climate temperature controls for those in the back.

The Tiguan comes with ISOFIX child seat mounting points on the outer positions of the rear bench, plus another on the front passenger seat, making it a little more flexible in terms of where you can fit car seats.

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Boot space

The Volkswagen Tiguan’s sizeable 652-litre boot isn’t far off of the brand’s practical Volkswagen Passat estate car, and is a little bit larger than what you’ll find in a Ford Kuga, Renault Austral, and Toyota RAV4. Use the handy release levers just inside the boot to drop all the seats, and the capacity increases to 1,650 litres, which is still more than the Kuga.

Like the Kuga, the Tiguan comes with a sliding and reclining rear seat, and unlike its sibling, the Passat, the Tiguan has a more versatile 40/20/40 split folding rear seat, making it a little more flexible when carrying people and longer items. There’s a selection of side cubbies to hold smaller items in place, and non-plug-in models have plenty of under-floor storage space.

If you opt for the plug-in hybrid, you’ll need to be aware that the boot volume drops because components for the plug-in hybrid system are under the boot floor. The seats-up volume is 490 litres, while the seats-down figure falls to 1,486 litres.

Towing

It’s possible with the Volkswagen Tiguan to lug around a braked trailer or caravan of up to 2,200kg with the 2.0 TSI petrol, with both the 2.0 TDI and 272 eHybrid having the next highest towing capacity of 2,000kg. The 1.5 eTSI 150 and 204 eHybrid can manage to pull a braked trailer or caravan of up to 1,800kg. The 1.5 eTSI 130 is the least capable at 1,600kg, but that’s still enough for a decent-sized caravan.

Unfortunately, the revised Ford Kuga can manage up to 2,100kg when equipped with the 2.5 PHEV plug-in hybrid, or four-wheel drive version of 2.5 FHEV.

Fitting a tow bar to your Tiguan costs over £1,000.