New Car Review: 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan

By Bob Plunkett

Volkswagen of Germany ships to the United States a new compact-size crossover utility vehicle for the class of 2009 wearing a peculiar name: Tiguan. The moniker, chosen by German consumers in a public vote, is a mixing of animal names for tiger and iguana. The badge is difficult to pronounce and perhaps unusual to a fault. But we love the sporty crossover that bears this odd badge.

We get to steer a 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan over Colorado canyon courses like U.S. 36 climbing into the Rocky Mountains to Estes Park, and we find the driving experience is way too much fun due to this vehicle's tight structure and precise mechanical components derived from German engineering.

A Tiguan outfitted with the turbo in-line-four leaps immediately off the line for a run up the gear ladder. All of the turbo muscle is manipulated through a manual six-speed transmission or the optional six-speed Tiptronic automatic with shift-it-yourself manual controls. Stomp the go pedal and the Tiguan whips your neck back into the headrest and sprints to the fast lane. Drop the short stick down a gear on the manual transmission version and engine torque surges from the shift to higher rpms. Fact is, Tiguan has attitude.

Continue reading about the VW Tiguan here.

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