Volkswagen Tiguan TSI Highline 2018

Name: Volkswagen Tiguan TSI Highline 2018
Item: Volkswagen Tiguan TSI Highline 4M
Rating: 4
Author: Owner Review: Community Contributor

Owner Review: Community Contributor

01 Jun 2023

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Kilometres travelled

10,000 - 25,000 km

Did you buy this car new or used?

New

How much did you pay? (including all on-road costs)

59780

What were your needs when you bought this car? Has it fulfilled those needs?

I bought this car for my wife, although I also drive it reasonably regularly. I'm the car enthusiast in the family (I drive a BMW M340i) but she wanted something where she was sitting higher up as well as being easy to carry the grand-kids around in. Because I also drive it, electric memory seats were a prerequisite.

What were your initial thoughts about the car? Tell us why it appealed to you.

Spacious and well thought-out interior, well built with good quality materials. Had also considered Skoda equivalent, but interior materials were cheaper. Attractive exterior design. Good performance and easy to handle.

What have you discovered since owning the car?

Takes a bit of work to get to grips with the infotainment system and car settings. We've pushed the wrong button a couple of times, and then had to read the manual (hundreds or pages) to sort out what had changed. Compared to my 3-series, the VW is a big car to hand-wash, and you need a step stool to reach the roof.

What do you like/dislike about the car?

Overall, wife is very happy with the car. She likes it because the boot is a flat floor level with the bottom of the hatch (easy to load the groceries) and has a high driver seating position. Cameras make reversing easy. Reasonably economical. I'm not an SUV fan, but this one is OK. Has a bit of turbo lag when you put your foot down, so can sometimes take off a bit faster than you intended (not all that progressive). Electric power steering can be a bit over-enthusiastic trying to keep you in-lane.

Any other comments on the car?

First service outside the 3-year free service period cost $621 (at dealer). Not cheap, but this included oil & filter, plus brake fluid replacement.

Reliability

Features/technology

Performance/economy

Value for money

Overall rating

Lastly, would you buy this vehicle again?

Yes

Owner Reviews

Volkswagen Tiguan R line 2017

Kilometres travelled 50,000 - 75,000 km Did you buy this car new or used? Used If used, what year did you buy it used? 2020 How much did you pay? (including all on-road costs) $46,000 What were your needs when you bought this car? Has it fulfilled those needs? 5 seater, Mid sized SUV, Economical, 4x4, reliable, sporty. Mostly has fulfilled our needs though hasn’t proven to be very reliable and we found out after buying it you can’t put snow chains on it 🙁 What were your initial thoughts about the car? Tell us why it appealed to you. Very nice looking vehicle, nice ride, great safety features & well finished and had good reviews. The previous owner was meticulous and the vehicle was in as new condition with only 33000km. What were the chances of serious problems. Fulfils all our needs. What have you discovered since owning the car? VW parts are ridiculously expensive, close to $500 to replace a sun visor that broke without misuse, plastic elbow. $1500 to replace one front shock absorber that failed at 50000 km, no obvious reason, outside warranty. Two of the main circuit boards failed for no reason resulting in the car being dead in the garage and had to be lifted out, off the road for 5 weeks while they tried to work out what was wrong with it. (VW said “we’ve never had that happen before”) Thermostat housing failed at 56000 km & ended costing over $1500. All stuff that you wouldn’t expect on a modern vehicle that from the numerous reviews online was supposed to be reliable.. What do you like/dislike about the car? Love the style, the performance, the ride quality & finish but absolutely hate the endless repair bills. 20 inch rims look cool but the low profile tyres are too harsh and seriously expensive. Reliability 2 Features/technology 5 Performance/economy 4 Value for money 3 Overall rating 4 Lastly, would you buy this vehicle again? No Why would/wouldn't you buy it again? I wouldn’t buy it again due to the Reliability issues, high servicing and parts costs. Its proven again that everything they say about European cars is true, super nice car, but you have to live with the inevitable $$$
Volkswagen Tiguan 1.4TSL 2017

Kilometres travelled 50,000 - 75,000 km Did you buy this car new or used? Used If used, what year did you buy it used? 2022 How much did you pay? (including all on-road costs) 31000 What were your needs when you bought this car? Has it fulfilled those needs? Mid sized SUV, 4WD, capable to tow and seat a large GSD at times. Good on fuel, safety equipment and upto date electronics. Capable of driving 600km with comfort for driver at the end. Good looking with a coloured paint not silver or white. The model purchased exceeded my needs but slightly more expensive than wanted to spend. Different to drive than sante fe but more safety features and more comfortable. Not 4WD great fuel economy. What were your initial thoughts about the car? Tell us why it appealed to you. Good looking bit on the small size. More roomy inside the vehicle with plenty storage space. Very quiet with stop start control. European vehicle What have you discovered since owning the car? Good mid sized SUV, love driving it, economy, sports or paddle shift on curved roads. Great cruise control with auto brakes cornering headlights amazing What do you like/dislike about the car? Like every single thing except the ignition start button which sometimes takes it time to turn over the car. At times nothing happens despite repeated pressing the start button and applying the foot brake. Also now and again fails to stop the ignition when pushed No spare wheel Any other comments on the car? None Reliability 4 Features/technology 5 Performance/economy 5 Value for money 4 Overall rating 5 Lastly, would you buy this vehicle again? Yes Why would/wouldn't you buy it again? Most impressive SUV purchased, drives well and looks the part, great features and great comfort. No issues with FWD version to date
Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0tdi Highline 2017

Kilometres travelled 50,000 - 75,000 km Did you buy this car new or used? Used If used, what year did you buy it used? 2020 How much did you pay? (including all on-road costs) 40000 What were your needs when you bought this car? Has it fulfilled those needs? We had a 2012 VW Tiguan 2.0tdi. Bought it with 60000km and sold it with just over 100000km. We both liked X Class and we decided to trade up as the idea of a ute was appealing and the X Class was at a good price. The X class was incredible but after 5 times to the dealer in 25000km we lost trust in it decided that an SUV is actually better suited when it comes to versatility. So it was back to VW. Was lucky enough to get our hands on a 2017 2.0tdi Highline in black with 25000km on the clock. We tow a Haines Signature 550C boat and the Tiguan does an outstanding job with it. What were your initial thoughts about the car? Tell us why it appealed to you. It is spacious and has all the bells and whistles you want. Full leather, heated seats, dual zone climate control, park distance control, a great 360 camera, parallel parking assist (not that we use it). All the necessary safety features like lane assist, rear cross traffic and pedestrian alert, front collision alert and break assist. Oh and wired Android auto and wired apple carplay. It is just good value for money as second hand option. What have you discovered since owning the car? It is surpsingly fuel efficient... Long distance travel it dips under 6l/100km. With the boat it sits around 12l/100km but I don't mess around when it comes to hills so she works hard to keep momentum. Coming back to Auckland going up the long climb to the top of the Branderwyn she can easily maintain 100km/h with the boat tagging along. What do you like/dislike about the car? We love it. Great car and great value for money. Yes it is expensive but in the end I do feel the Tiguan is a more premium product in in Highline spec than the competitors. Maintenance is expensive as we do it all with VW. The payback is incredible customer service. Had a mishap of water in the diesel tank after the recent weather events and ended up with a $18000 bill to replace the high pressure fuel pump and 4 injectors. VW recommended we lodge an insurance claim and thank goodness it was approved and fully repaired under insurance. I did a lot of research and it appears that water in diesel is not good for any modern day high pressure diesel engine... So we were just unlucky... Only downside of the 2017 model, it has the older infotainment system. The 2018 onwards model with the newer one which is just crisper and better. Any other comments on the car? We love it and hope to drive many more kilometers. The VW Tiguan family is good vehicles. Ultimately the dream is the Touareg but our little baby need to keep on doing the good stuff especially after we almost lost him. Interesting the insurance company was considering writing it off... Got onto Trademe doing research of what we could buy for circa $35000 but we realised you will struggle to replace like for like. So we are incredibly happy that he got fixed up. Reliability 5 Features/technology 4 Performance/economy 5 Value for money 5 Overall rating 4 Lastly, would you buy this vehicle again? Yes Why would/wouldn't you buy it again? Great vehicle and great value for money. Fully stacked with features. Fuel efficient and more than enough oomph. Nothing else.