Volkswagen Tiguan

With the Tiguan, Volkswagen is aiming to punch above its weight. Question is, does it have what it takes to win an unfair fight? Here are our first impressions of VW’s all-new SUV.

- Aninda Sardar

LET ME START WITH a confession. I am an addict. Not some narco-nut but a dyed-in-the-wool coffee addict. I love waking up to the wafting aroma of a freshly brewed mug. For me, a bag of beans is worth its weight in silver if not gold. So undertaking a 250-plus kilometre journey for a cup of coffee isn’t daunting. It is positively inspiring. More so if the coffee destination in question happens to be Chikmagalur and the mode of travel is Volkswagen’s latest stab at the burgeoning SUV market – the all new Volkswagen Tiguan.

I will of course tell you all about the Tiguan, but before I get into that it is important to understand what’s special about Chikmagalur. Although the coffee addict in me is itching to tell you that Chikmagalur is the birthplace of Indian coffee with Baba Budan – a local saint having introduced the crop to the region in 1670 AD, the car nut in me will tell you that the roads connecting India’s IT capital Bangalore to this Kannada hill town are absolutely fabulous. You get a good mix of four-lane highways, narrow two-lane highways and even some twists and turns as you make the shallow climb to India’s coffee capital. And they’re very well surfaced too. In short, perfect testing grounds for a large five-seater SUV that is going to lock horns with SUVs from a price segment above it.