2011 Volkswagen Tiguan 4motion 2.0 turbo diesel from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Good all round

Faults:

Nothing - yet.

It has a cam belt so very sure I will be changing that on time to prevent tears.

In New Zealand you have to pay a charge per KM for diesels, so when the speedo is out by 10% every 1000km you are not getting 100km, but bigger tyres solved this.

I like the parking sensors but do not want to add another screen for a camera view as well and would have to install a new stereo system in order to do this, plus the steering wheel controls may not work if I did this.

With a lot of town driving and EGR valves system meant I had to clean out the throttle control valve, - this is to be expected with town driving with a modern diesel.

General Comments:

Great car for a family of 4, comfortable leather seats, front 2 heated which makes a difference when really cold, was surprised how able the 4wd system is as I took it for a small play on a river banks with deep ruts and rough terrain, and it handled it better than I expected

Good performance, around town and on the open road, for people who know how to take care of diesels.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 26th July, 2024

13th Aug 2024, 14:56

100% correct - diesels are OK on short journeys, if you remember to clean the EGR valve.

I'd still recommend to anyone a long firm drive now and then to keep the DPF clear / regenerated.

2010 Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 turbo from North America

Summary:

Great car, horrible engineering mistakes in some places

Faults:

Injectors replaced.

Moonroof replaced.

Headliner replaced.

Seat replaced, moonroof leaking damage.

Timing chain gasket.

General Comments:

Less than 80,000 miles and that thing leaks from all 4 corners. The drain pipes are not attached to drain of the moonroof and they detached or got melted from the sun. Engineers should have attached the drain pipes directly to the moonroof with a clamp; no, they put a dumb adapter in between. The sun deformed the drain pipes a little and it leaks all in the car. I had to carry a tarp with me all the time with 4 bricks and put that over my car every time it rained; you know how annoying it is to ask your boss to go cover your car from the rain. Garbage luxury, put metal on the roof. I hate the sunroof, it's too hot in California and I almost never use it. The car is good, but a middle schooler designed the roof.

Also the moonroof shade I only used it a couple of times and it completely fell apart; I was trying to cover the big glass hole in my roof (moonroof) from the sun and two springs popped out of the roof and that shade fell to the floor, I was only pushing a button for that thing to close, I didn't pull it or obstruct it with anything. You will hate yourself for that roof.

Also the engine has oil leak from the timing cover and 2 injectors quit working. And it is very hard to replace them; lazy engineers made it hard to work on this engine.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 26th February, 2019

3rd Mar 2019, 03:50

Serviceability is often an afterthought to European manufacturers, which can often be an issue given the reliability of their products.

26th Mar 2020, 18:17

I'm also not a big fan of sunroofs/panoramic roofs. For one, they don't benefit the front passenger/driver as the moonroof opening usually sits mostly behind them. So you see very little through it. It's more for the rear passengers. One benefit is to crack it open when parking the car at a mall on hot summer days, so the cabin doesn't overheat from the Sun. Is that enough to justify the cost?

28th Mar 2020, 00:43

Modern sunroofs in general - I had two Audis in the past, '80s cars - which were how I expect sunroofs to be. Metal for starters, when you open it, you can actually see the opening from the driving position. With modern cars that have swept-back windscreens, the front-most edge of the open sunroof is often so far back that there is no benefit in having it for the driver. And I prefer metal sunroofs, after watching the British video of an offset frontal crash between a '90s Volvo wagon and a more modern Renault Modus. During the impact, although the Renault fared much better than the Volvo, I noticed the glass sunroof broke. I feel that in a real accident, should the car roll over and the sunroof glass breaks, if you happen to have an arm thrown up towards the (now open) sunroof, you could get very badly injured, whereas a metal sunroof, if closed, would keep any body part from going through the aperture.