Our Blog - Our new Tiguan

I mentioned in my last blog entry that I would be doing a blog on our new car. Well, it is now here and so I'll give you a little info about it.

We looked at quite a few cars before finally ending up with a new Tiguan. I'll start by answering the first question: "Why did we buy a new car". Well, when we got our first car, the Renault Clio station wagon, we wanted to buy a French brand (so Renault, Peugeot, or Citroen), wanted a used car (so we didn't worry about dings), and wanted enough space for the golf clubs. The Clio ticked those boxes and it has been a great car .... no problems at all, very reliable, etc. But we have found that it would be good to have a car that we can put the golf clubs left-to-right in the trunk without dropping the back seat, since Lucy rides in the back seat. So we decided to buy a car, and this time, we figured a new one would be okay.

We first went to the Renault dealer, but due to COVID restrictions, we were not able to open the car and try putting one of the golf bags in the back. Well, if we can't guarantee the clubs will fit ... that was a non-starter for us. We then went to a variety of dealerships, golf bag in hand, to try the various cars ... Peugeot, Citroen, DS (which used to be part of Citroen), Volvo, and Volkswagen. We got a few interesting looks when our first question was "can we try our clubs in the back?" since that was actually the #1 requirement. If the clubs didn't fit without dropping the back seat ... we could just keep our Renault. We then test-drove a Volvo, a Volkswagen, and a Peugeot, but the VW Tiguan was the one where the clubs fit best and so we decided on the it.

Next came what level ... there are various levels for the Tiguan and, interestingly enough, they are different than the ones in the US. Here, there is the base model, then Life and Elegance, and then the R-line (I think only cosmetic changes) on top of the Life and Elegance lines. We aren't too worried about cosmetic things so we then looked between the Life and the Elegance. For the most part, we could add almost everything we wanted (all of the various driving and parking aids) to the Life, but they were already included in the Elegance and the difference was only a couple hundred Euros, so the Elegance level it was and then we added a couple minor options. One thing that we talked about was the color. In the US, you get to choose one of 7 colors with no additional cost. In France, there is only 1 no-additional-cost color, and that is a matte grey color. I initially was going to upgrade to a nice blue color, but decided that I could use the extra cost (about 800 euros) on a LOT of other things and grey was the color of our Clio, and it wasn't like we were unhappy with the color of the Clio. There were a few things that we didn't care about that came with the Elegance, like a sunroof, the roof bars, and the chrome side strips, but we went ahead with that level. So ... a grey 2021 Tiguan Elegance .... and here it is!

By the way, it seems like the "facelift" that was done to the 2021 Tiguan in Europe will be updated in the North American market in 2022.

So we took deliver of the car this week and have been trying to learn how to use all the new features. It definitely is more advanced than our 5-year-old Renault was. We wanted to get all of the driver-assist features, which includes things like sensors everywhere to alert you if you are too close to something in front, behind, and on both sides. It also can automatically stop the car if it determines you are going to hit something in front, and monitors the lane markings and will automatically correct the steering if you are starting to drift into another lane without a turn signal. We also have Park Assist, which will determine if you will fit into a parking space (parallel parking and backing into a space) and will actually steer the vehicle into the space while the driver still controls the speed and braking. I'm not sure I am ready to trust the car to park! It also has a "smart" cruise control which will keep a minimum preset distance between you and the car in front of you. So if you are on cruise control and the car in front of you slows down, your car will slow down to keep that minimum distance. If the car speeds up, your car speeds up as well, keeping that minimum distance up until you get back to your set cruise control speed. In addition to all of the sensors, it also has the backup camera and an area view, which uses multiple cameras to somewhat give a 360 degree view around the car. Now ... here is the problem with all of those sensors ... we have a parking space in an underground parking area ... and everything seems to be too close to the car for its' liking ... the sensors beep on one side or the other when I drive into the garage, and then when I'm backing into my space (nope ... I don't trust the car to park itself), the side sensors beep and then the rear sensor beeps. I basically spend 5 minutes parking the car with the car telling me I'm too close to everything!

One of the other things we have to learn about is the Digital Cockpit and InfoTainment system. The digital cockpit allows you to customize what your dash looks like, choosing out of a list of about 30 different things that can be shown in various places in the dashboard. You can also configure multiple views and toggle between them. One view places the map into the middle of the dash instead of making you look to the right. Then the InfoTainment system also has all kinds of bells-and-whistles. I can use the VW navigation system or view one of the various navigation apps from my iPhone, like Google Maps or Waze. It also has wireless phone charging although our current phones are too old and don't support it. Looks like we'll be buying new phones soon! There are a few things we haven't yet tried, like the sensor that should open the trunk automatically by waving your foot underneath it and, of course, the dreaded car-can-kinda-park-itself feature.

One thing that our American friends may find interesting ... we have a new license plate. Unlike the US, where the license plate can remain with the person and transfer to a new car, the plate here remains with the car. So our old plate stayed with the old car (that we traded in at the VW dealer) and we got a new plate. Just when I had memorized our old license plate ... I now have to memorize a new one.