2022 Volkswagen Tiguan First Drive Review: Refinement is the Name of the Game

As an automotive writer who gets to drive the latest high-powered sports cars, opulent luxury sedans, and rock-crawling off-road vehicles, there’s very little to get excited about when it comes to compact SUVs.

For the average car buyer, though, sales numbers show that this continues to be one of the hottest vehicle segments. This trend has led automakers to take different approaches on the introduction of new vehicles; while Ford and General Motors have all but killed off family cars, others, like Volkswagen, are packing their lineups with a plethora of SUVs.

At the beginning of the last decade, VW’s top sellers were the Golf and Jetta, and now the Tiguan holds that distinction for both U.S. and global sales thanks to the larger and longer second-generation design. The current Tiguan was introduced four years ago making it the oldest SUV in VW’s lineup and the second-oldest vehicle overall after the soon-to-be-extinct Passat. Not wanting its top seller to lose any ground in the red-hot SUV market, the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan has been updated and refined, and I was invited to Michigan for an afternoon behind the wheel of the new Tiguan to experience these changes for myself.

The 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan has undergone a typical mid-cycle enhancement that adds a fresher style and the latest cabin technology. From the outside, the most noticeable changes are the new wheel options and sportier face inspired by the new Golf hatchback, and buyers now have a wider selection of body colors including new hues such as Oryx White and Kings Red Metallic. While there are more options for exterior colors, Tiguan’s trim level lineup has whittled from five models down to four (S, SE, SE R-Line Black, SEL R). To go along with this new trim level lineup, the interior has been redesigned with each trim level getting offering up plenty of standard content and equipment.

It’s clear that VW’s main focus of the 2022 Tiguan was to give passengers a more premium experience. Even in base form, the Tiguan S now comes with features such as heated front seats and VW’s eight-inch Digital Cockpit gauge cluster, while the top SEL R-Line trim level offers up even more luxury. Aside from the obvious such as leather seating, perforated leather steering wheel, and aluminum foot pedals, the new Tiguan’s cabin is more appealing thanks to the 10-inch Digital Cockpit, hands-free liftgate, and capacitive touch controls on the steering wheel and HVAC system; like a smartphone, all you have to do is slide your finger on these touch controls to adjust volume, radio stations, HVAC temp, and fan speed.

Speaking of the audio system, the top trim level has the nine-speaker Fender audio system, and with the exception of the Tiguan S, all other trim levels have a wireless smartphone charger and four USB-C ports. For added style, both R-Line models come standard with ambient lighting that can be changed to 15 different colors. VW’s IQ.Drive suite of driver-assist safety features is an $895 option on the base model and standard on all other trims, and it adds forward collision warning with autonomous braking and pedestrian monitoring, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping system, blind-spot monitor, and rear traffic alert.

Lots of additions were made inside the new Tiguan, but one thing that was taken away is the third-row seat on AWD models due to low consumer demand for this option. This class-exclusive feature is still standard on FWD models. When equipped, the third row is basically suited for kids, but thanks to one of the longest wheelbases in the segment, there’s an impressive amount of rear-seat legroom as well as plenty of headroom for tall adults even with the SEL’s standard panoramic sunroof. When it comes to cargo, the two-row Tiguan can accommodate 37.6 cubic feet of gear behind the second row and 73.4 cubic feet with the rear seats folded down; FWD models can hold 12 cubic feet of cargo behind the third row.

Volkswagen isn’t known for taking risks when it comes to exterior designs, but the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan does reveal a fresh, handsome look. For 2022, the Tiguan’s front end has a lot more personality with a wider grille, sportier bumper design, and narrower headlights that taper off at the trailing edges similar to the Mk8 VW Golf. All Tiguan trim levels are now equipped with standard LED headlights, taillights, and daytime running lights, and the SEL R-Line has a distinctive LED light bar integrated into the middle horizontal bar of the grille.

Moving past the front end, changes are more subtle but extremely effective in refining Tiguan’s style. Viewing the Tiguan from the rear, the most obvious change is the larger “Tiguan” lettering now positioned in the center of the liftgate just below the VW logo, and the Tiguan SEL R-Line adds fake exhaust finishers and a full-width bumper reflector that mimics the look of the LED grille up front. As previously mentioned, the 2022 Tiguan received two new colors along with new wheel designs, and this SEL R-Line shown here looked great in the carryover Atlantic Blue Metallic hue with the two-tone 20-inch aluminum alloy wheels.

The 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan might be wearing a spiffy new outfit to the dance, but it still sports the same moves. That’s because just about everything under the skin has been carried over from the previous model year. Under the hood, the Tiguan still uses the EA888 2.0-liter turbocharged and direct-injected inline-four rated at the same 184 horsepower and 221 lb-ft of torque, and this engine is backed by an eight-speed automatic transmission. 4Motion all-wheel drive is standard on the SEL R-Line, and it is optional on all other trim levels for an extra $1,500.

VW did fine-tune the fuel economy estimates squeezing an extra mpg in highway driving for both FWD and AWD models. The 2022 Tiguan FWD has EPA fuel economy estimates of 23 mpg city and 30 mpg highway, while the Tiguan AWD returns 21 mpg city and 28 mpg highway. During a handful of short (around 40 miles) driving loops, the Tiguan SEL R-Line I was driving showed an average of 23.9 mpg in mostly rural driving.

If you’ve ever driven the current Tiguan, there are no surprises for the 2022 model year, but this compact SUV is still enjoyable to drive. Throttle response from the little turbo four-cylinder is peppy and the steering feel has a surprisingly tight response resulting in a decent amount of fun when driven on the handful of twisty roads near Chelsea, Michigan. AWD models come with Active Control that allows drivers to use a rotary dial to select different drive modes including Snow, On-road, Off-road, and Custom off-road; pressing the Mode button on this dial can change between Normal, Sport, Eco, and Individual when the selector is in the On-road mode. The only downside of the Tiguan continues to be the fact that there’s just a single powertrain configuration in contrast to many compact SUV rivals that offer a variety of powertrain configurations including hybrid and plug-in hybrid options. Even worse, the new Tiguan has a plug-in hybrid model in China and a diesel engine option in Europe.

With the standard third row on the front-drive models, the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan is in a class of its own being the only compact to offer such a feature, but in general, the Tiguan goes up against hot sellers like the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Nissan Rogue, and Ford Escape.

Pricing for the 2022 Tiguan is competitive with other compact SUVs, and the starting MSRP of $27,190 (including destination) is an increase of just $750 compared to the 2021 model year. That being said, pricing changes for the other trim levels vary significantly; the 2022 Tiguan SE now costs $2,100 more, the SE R-Line Black is up $1,700, and the most confusing is the top-of-the-line SEL R-Line, which is priced $4,050 higher than the previous SEL trim and $2,500 less than the 2021 SEL Platinum R-Line. For this review, I sampled a Tiguan SEL R-Line that had no options and an as-tested price of $37,790.

Since the LWB Tiguan was introduced for the 2018 model year, VW has consistently sold more than 100,000 of these compact SUVs annually – more than double the original Tiguan’s highest sales years. Factor in the new looks and added refinement, and the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan should have no problem keeping up with this sales growth even with the crowded compact SUV segment.

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