Gadgetory

do you really need a full-size SUV or crossover this compact SUV seats five people it's lot more maneuverable and gets better fuel mileage let's get inside the 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan and check the tech there's Tiguan is actually built on the VW Golf platforms but this is a compact SUV 14 and a half feet long which is about the size the most compact and midsize cars it's pretty easy to maneuver in the city given that size and it all seats five people pretty comfortably because of this high roofline there's not a lot of cargo area in back just a little over 23 cubic feet but you put the rear seats down you can probably carry your your weekend IKEA run back there now this is the SEL trim levels that's the highest trim level and something the Volkswagen has been doing a lot recently is these big panoramic sunroof this thing stretches all the way back over the rear compartment it's a huge amount of space and it also has this nice cover inside so you can open up the top but still filter out the sunlight with this cover and still get your fresh air now you may have seen Ryan Cooley complain about this head unit in the Volkswagen he's not a fan of this interface but I happen to like it Volkswagen does this sort of semi circular menu structure of these icons here so you just got to twirl this knob around select all the different menu options this is showing the navigation so I can choose address intersection different ways of entering addresses I can also use this touchscreen and pop any of these icons and bring up the different menus now this navigation system comes standard in this SEL trim Tiguan so you don't need to pay any extra for it but this is kind of why it would drop down to a lower trim level because I don't really like this navigation system so much the map screen is pretty small it doesn't have traffic so that it's pretty low tech as far as navigation systems go and when you're under route guidance the graphics aren't very explicit they don't give you a lot of guidance on which way you need to go fortunately and this is something Volkswagens really good at is they about the center LCD in the instrument cluster they'll show good route guidance directions that will actually show arrows and the street you need to turn on so I'm usually referring to that when I want to follow a route instead of looking over here now of course there's also the digital audio sources on here and we've got satellite radio strangely no HD radio we've got our digital media sources this is one thing that most finding does that they really got to get over this they've got this crazy proprietary port down here in the console they with this cable hanging off of it this one has a 30 pin iPod connector so if you have a modern iOS device you have to plug in this little adapter then you can plug in your iOS device and boom there you go you can have music I mean they should really just have a USB port in the consult maybe two even because a lot of cars are going that way now as far as the stereo system goes though this is another problem I have with this car I think this audio system sounds terrible the base of the mids are okay they're way you expect in an economy car a compact car but the highs are just terrible I couldn't even listen to music on there the highs are so bad I actually turned down the treble to make it sound better now fortunately in the 2014 version of the Tiguan volkswagen is going to start offering its Fender audio system and that's actually one of the best audio systems we've heard in a compact economy car now of course we also have a Bluetooth hands-free phone system and this is pretty decent you can get all your your phonebook and recent calls and stuff like that from the same kind of circular menu the same kind of format as navigation and as the audio system and of course you also have a voice command here now a voice command here only works for the phone system it doesn't work for navigation it doesn't work for the audio system so again it's kind of a limited phone system most of the cabin tech in the Tiguan most of Volkswagens cabin tech it's pretty basic they're not pushing any boundaries here they cover some good bases but it's not the best stuff now of course we also have the one choice only automatic transmission here this is a six-speed automatic transmission this is Volkswagens Tiptronic system it has the ability to like manual shift and it's got a sport mode but it's not there DSG automated manual which is kind of a nicer nicer transmission it's a decent transmission for what this car is and frankly I prefer driving around in sport mode most of the time because it gave us thing a little more oomph psi that means turbo stratified injection and Volkswagen terms that's basically direct injection with a turbocharger that four speeds air to the thing also gives it more boost so we end up with 200 horsepower 207 pound-feet of torque now this engine gets this car an EPA rated 20 miles per gallon city 26 miles per gallon highway in real world driving I've been seeing low to mid 20s so that's probably where you gonna get with this car behind the wheel there are a couple things that I like about the Tiguan and a lot of things I don't first of all I do like the size of this car if you feel like you've got good maneuverability it it's easy to kind of jog between lanes or parking spaces or you know turn around in city streets pretty easily it's not bad also this steering this is electric power steering boost and at low speeds it feels kind of over boosted so it's really easy to turn the wheel at high speeds it actually firms up a bit so you get a little more heft to the wheel and doesn't move around as easily but now the things that I don't like about this car the engine I don't know it should be enough to endorse power tuning sometime feet of torque but it just doesn't seem to have the kind of oomph you want especially if you accelerate you got to wait a little bit then it tries to charge forward does a pretty convincing job once it gets moving but it takes a little while to go the final thing that I'm just not crazy about the Tiguan is the ride quality it's fine on smooth roads but once you get on slightly rough roads it just kind of goes all the hell you can feel a lot of jarring a lot of harshness it really should be better I'm surprised it isn't because this cabin has sort of a premium feel and I don't know going over rougher roads it just just uncomfortable the base model of the 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan thanks for about twenty three thousand dollars this SEL model goes for thirty-seven thousand one hundred and thirty dollars that's pushing forty thousand dollars although you do get all the equipment you get the navigation system all the electronics leather seating and that big panoramic sunroof I wouldn't buy this car I would wait for the 2014 Volkswagen Tiguan which is going to be cheaper and Volkswagens going to offer with the fender audio system in the upper trim levels