Two of Volkswagen’s current models are sold in greater numbers to the UK car-buying public than the Tiguan compact SUV: the Golf and the Polo.
VW currently sells 11 different cars in this country (more if you count estates and cabriolets as separate lines), so for the Tiguan to outsell so many of them – considering that it’s only now entering a second model generation – tells you that it has become quite popular in a short space of time.
The other thing that’s interesting about the Tiguan’s brisk success story is that it is just a compact SUV: not really a premium SUV, nor a trendy crossover-bodied one, nor a notably quirky or sporty-looking one.
Like so many Volkswagens, the Tiguan does it by the book, which is how a good chunk of British buyers like it.
Eight years ago, the first-generation version arrived in the UK just as the original Nissan Qashqai’s sales were taking off.
Compared with the Nissan equivalents, the Tiguan’s soft suspension rates and resolutely unsporting handling made for a readily intelligible SUV driving experience.
