2022 Volkswagen Tiguan Review: How to Lose Friends Through Touch Controls

The verdict: The good-looking, refreshed 2022 Tiguan drives just as nicely as the last one, but the interior update brings finicky touch controls where they’re not wanted.

Versus the competition: The Tiguan feels more spacious and drives better than most other new compact SUVs, and new pricing and trim options boost the Tiguan’s value, but it’s taken a step in the wrong direction on user-friendliness.

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of the Volkswagen Tiguan here at Cars.com. The VW has won our past two Compact SUV Challenges (in 2017 and 2019, respectively), but success in our competitions hasn’t necessarily translated into showroom success; Honda sells three times as many CR-Vs, while Toyota moves four times as many RAV4s. Well, VW’s had just about enough of that and has decided to refine the Tiguan’s offerings for the 2022 model year by giving it a mild refresh inside and out with some new technology and — perhaps most important — to rejigger its trims, equipment and price in order to try and take a bigger piece of the compact SUV pie from the likes of Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Ford and just about everyone else.

I recently had a very brief spin in the latest Tiguan in the farm country around Chelsea, Mich., to see if the changes VW made are likely to help boost sales against some stiff competition.

Related: Up Close With the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan: Can It Make a Bigger Splash?

Subtle Styling Tweaks

Don’t look too hard at the outside of the Tiguan expecting to be able to tell what’s different — you’d have to place a ’22 next to a ’21, and even then, only the most die-hard VW fans would be able to spot which is the new one. The ’22 Tiguan receives some new bumpers and lights front and rear, with the biggest change being that LEDs are now standard all around, even on the cheapest trim. There’s some new VW-style block script on the liftgate, a styling affectation that’s going to appear on all new VW SUVs soon. Wheels range from 17 inches up to 20 inches, trim level depending.

And speaking of the trim levels, there are now only four: S, SE, SE R-Line Black and SEL R-Line. Styling differs a bit between them: The S and SE are the more basic trims, while the SE R-Line Black takes the old R-Line Package and makes it standard on that trim, bringing the more racy-looking R-Line body kit to the party along with the standard Black Package that blacks out the window trim, mirror caps, grilles, bumper bits and wheels. The range-topping SEL is available only with the R-Line Package now, but not the murdered-out R-Line Black look, so you get the sporty body kit but still retain the chrome trim. VW reps said the top trim levels almost always were ordered as R-Lines on the previous generation, so they said the heck with it and just decided to include it now as part of the trim levels themselves.

Drives Like the Last One

If you think the Tiguan looks a lot like the old model, you’ll likely not be surprised to learn that it drives like it, too. The only engine offered is a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 184 horsepower and 221 pounds-feet of torque, mated to a standard eight-speed automatic transmission driving the front wheels. All-wheel drive is optional on the S, SE and SE R-Line Black, and it’s standard on the loaded SEL R-Line. The engine is punchy enough for around-town, lower-speed driving and only shows itself to be underpowered when you really put your foot into it on a long acceleration from a standstill. Rolling starts are spritely, however, and the eight-speed automatic is well matched to the engine to keep it in its power band or to quickly put it there when called upon.

Steering effort is light but not quite numb, and there’s a decent amount of feedback telling you what the tires are doing. The ride, however, is exceptional — smooth and quiet, even with the optional 20-inch wheels on low-profile tires in the SEL R-Line trim that I spent most of my time in. The trade-off for that soft, well-damped ride is body control that is on the lazier side, tuned more toward American interstates than European autobahns. It rolls in corners and isn’t terribly happy being pushed — the Tiguan understeers easily and doesn’t like being hustled as much as it likes being calmly piloted through the countryside. And for a small family SUV like this, that’s perfectly acceptable — not everything has to be a sports car, and VW knows this, delivering instead a capable, comfortable people hauler designed more for calm times than crazy ones.

The Trendy New Insides

So if it sorta looks like it used to, and it definitely drives like it used to, what exactly did VW update to keep the 2022 Tiguan fresh and interesting? That would be the interior, and it’s definitely fresh and interesting in there — if not entirely successful.

Materials quality is still decent, there’s plenty of soft-touch plastic both up front and in back, and the comfortable roominess of the cabin is still very much apparent. The first and second rows have plenty of head, leg and hip room, and the third row is … there … if you want it, I suppose. It’s suitable only for children, but it’s a useful feature to have in a pinch, if perhaps you suddenly find more kids waiting for a ride home from soccer practice than you planned on. However, anyone looking for a true seven-seat VW SUV should instead seek out the Atlas, which is far, far more spacious and has usable room for adults in all three rows. Note: The third row is available only in front-wheel-drive Tiguans — VW said that AWD buyers never really used the third row and instead preferred the cargo space that the folded seat eats into, so now you can have either a third row or AWD, but not both.

New for 2022 is a switch to a standard digital dash, namely an 8-inch digital gauge cluster that’s standard in the S, SE and SE R-Line Black. The SEL R-Line has an upgraded 10-inch digital display. The 10-inch screen looks sharp, with a lot of reconfigurable features, new looks, integrated navigation and a lot more inspired by Audi’s Virtual Cockpit. The 8-inch screen, however, looks fuzzy and low-resolution, and doesn’t have the same kind of reconfigurability that the bigger screen does. It shows you everything you need to see, but if VW was aiming for a “gee-whiz” factor with this digital display, it ain’t working. You have to upgrade to the pricier 10-inch display for any impressive looks.

But that’s not the biggest problem with this redo. Two areas are now optionally touch-sensitive on higher trim levels: the climate control panel and the steering wheel. The climate control touch panel is the lesser of these two evils. It works relatively well, and the only issue is that it’s mounted so low in the center console that there’s no choice but to take your eyes off the road in order to operate it. That’s what happens when you can’t use your sense of touch to locate the button you want and instead have to lay eyes on it to make sure you don’t press something you shouldn’t. The touch-panel climate controls are an option, however, not present in the lesser trim levels.

Neither is the touch-sensitive steering wheel, which has old-style buttons for lesser Tiguans, but premium trims get a newfangled control system that just doesn’t work well. My rule is that there shouldn’t be any part of a steering wheel that you’re not allowed to touch, but wheels like this one (and those of new Mercedes-Benzes) break that rule. It’s too easy to accidentally change volume or media track, or even to select something by brushing against the wheel’s spokes. Conversely, when you want to select a function or feature, the operation of the haptic touch-sensitive panels isn’t perfect, requiring more presses, touches and swipes to get the screen to do what you want it to do. It’s a frustrating, unpleasant experience to use these controls, and that’s not something you want to say about a two-time Challenge winner. But there it is.

The bigger problem? We’d better get used to them, as all of the German automakers are implementing this new touch-sensitive aesthetic across the board despite negative quality scores causing American automakers to abandon the idea a decade ago.

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Is the Best Tiguan the Cheapest Tiguan?

Where does that leave us? Well, with the odd conclusion that the best Tiguan might just be the base S trim level. For just a few bucks shy of $30,000 (including destination fee), you can get an all-wheel-drive S with the optional IQ.Drive suite of safety and semi-autonomous driving features. It includes heated cloth seats, alloy wheels, LED lights all around, the less good but still usable 8-inch digital gauge cluster, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in the standard 6.5-inch multimedia screen and, most important, conventional controls for both the climate control system and steering wheel buttons. It might not look as aggressive as the higher-spec R-Line trims or have a fancy leather interior, but it has the same powertrain and suspension, and it should ride even better thanks to the smaller wheels and taller-sidewall tires.

If you must have a more advanced multimedia system and are OK with the touch-panel climate controls, go for a slightly more expensive ($30,690 for FWD, $32,190 for AWD) SE trim that includes the standard IQ.Drive suite, an 8-inch multimedia system, rain-sensing wipers, power driver’s seat, power tailgate and remote start but not the touch-sensitive steering wheel (that comes if you choose the SE R-Line Black). If the bling isn’t your thing and you just want a solid, good-to-drive, quiet, comfortable, spacious, well-equipped compact SUV, the lesser Tiguans are where it’s at. It’s going to be an interesting 2021 Compact SUV Challenge, for sure.

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