How Does the 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan Compare With Other Compact SUVs?
If there’s any vehicle class where shoppers are spoiled for choices, it’s the compact SUV segment. We recently tested some of the most popular and interesting 2025 models in order to determine which one is the best, but there was one important SUV that wasn’t available in time for our testing: the redesigned-for-2025 Volkswagen Tiguan. So, how would it have fared in our comparison test? After getting some seat time recently in the new Tiguan at the Midwest Automotive Media Association’s Spring Rally in Elkhart Lake, Wisc., we think it would have scored fairly well, even with one major drawback.
Related: What’s the Best Compact SUV for 2025?
As with our recent review, I drove a top SEL R-Line trim with all-wheel drive, which had a $41,180 as-tested price (including destination). That’s right in line with most of the other highly optioned compact SUVs that were part of our comparison. All in all, the new Tiguan impressed us with its spacious interior and delivered the kind of near-premium feel you’d expect at that price.
What Is the 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan Like to Drive?
The new Tiguan isn’t going to blow anyone’s doors off, with acceleration that’s merely adequate despite having 201 horsepower and 221 pounds-feet of torque (207 pounds-feet with front-wheel drive). That comes courtesy of a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine in 2025 models, but a more powerful version of the engine will be offered for the 2026 model year in the Tiguan SEL R-Line Turbo. Power delivery was mostly smooth, but I did notice that the eight-speed automatic transmission had a rougher-feeling shift every now and then.
Where the Tiguan really shines is in its nimble, confident handling and comfortable ride. The SEL R-Line comes exclusively with AWD, which helped keep it in line on the wetter of my two test days. It still feels like a tall SUV, but it offers light but decently communicative steering and braking feel. Visibility isn’t as good as in the Subaru Forester — seemingly nothing can beat that giant greenhouse — but it’s decent, as I didn’t notice any egregious blind spots when looking forward, rearward, to the side or when using its 360-degree camera system.
How Comfortable Is the 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan?
This Tiguan is one of the more comfortable compact SUVs I’ve tested, with soft quilted-leather seats and ample space for both front and rear passengers. The power front seats weren’t just easy for me to get comfortable in as a shorter driver; even the tallest member of Cars.com’s Editorial staff found it to be a comfortable vehicle to sit in, with ample headroom in both rows.
The front seats are one of the SEL R-Line’s best features, as they don’t just offer heating and ventilation but allow you to position the heat or ventilation exactly where you want it on the seatback and bottom cushion. There’s also a 10-point massage feature for both the driver and front passenger that makes you feel like you got something from one of Volkswagen’s higher-end brands. Even the rear passengers get luxuries that aren’t always offered at this price, including heated outboard seats and second-row climate controls on the back of the front console.
Interior quality was mostly good, although the Tiguan’s economy-vehicle roots peek out in a few spots. The real wood trim on the dashboard felt a little thin, and one of the plastic covers over a child seat anchor on the rear bench had already broken. It’s quiet inside and most of the touch points you’ll commonly interact with felt reasonably sturdy, though. The overall design feels slightly more upmarket than you might expect from a mainstream compact SUV.
The only things that were mildly uncomfortable were the bumps at the lower corners of the steering wheel. If your hands are at the nine- and three-o’clock positions on the wheel, these bumps are just below your hands, but they just feel awkward in daily driving situations where you need to cross your hands over each other to make tighter turns or pull in and out of parking spaces.
How Easy to Use Is the 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan’s Technology?
The Tiguan SEL R-Line packs a massive 15-inch infotainment screen that is easy to read, responsive and also infuriating, particularly in the way it handles climate controls. Real buttons on the steering wheel help the driver navigate many functions, but not the climate controls, which rely on a combination of fixed-position onscreen controls and a touch-sensitive panel below the screen for temperature.
A touch-sensitive volume slider takes up the middle of the below-screen panel, which feels redundant with the inclusion of physical volume controls in two other locations. Worse yet, it’s easy to inadvertently touch that touch-sensitive bar when you’re trying to access the climate controls at the bottom of the screen. We complain about touch-sensitive controls often as they’re harder to use without taking your eyes off the road, and even though Volkswagen did improve this touch bar somewhat in the new Tiguan by backlighting it so it’s visible at night, it’s still inferior to real buttons and knobs.
The most egregious sin is the climate-control setup, where some vital items like fan speed are buried in menus that require you to take your eyes off the road to navigate. It was rainy and humid while I was testing the car, and the only defroster option that’s part of the fixed onscreen controls was at max speed, which gets annoying very quickly. Without it on, the car fogged back up again, and navigating to the menu where the lower-intensity defroster was hidden was so distracting that I had to pull over to do it safely.
At least the voice controls work reasonably well, although they’re never a true replacement for an intuitive user interface. The Tiguan also comes with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, which works well enough aside from having a brief delay between inputs and responses. It does not change how the climate controls function, however.
The 10.25-inch digital gauge cluster almost feels small in comparison to the center touchscreen, but it one-ups some of the larger driver displays in this segment by fitting neatly inside the bounds of the steering wheel. I could actually see everything I needed to on this screen!
In addition to the other controls, there’s also a large knob on the center console that can serve as a volume knob, a drive mode selector or an “Atmospheres” selector, the last of which tweaks the appearance of in-cabin lighting and displays as well as audio settings. The top of the knob is a touch-sensitive display that lets you swipe through options as well as turn the dial, but given that it defaults to being a volume knob that you can twist, this wasn’t an issue.
How Much Cargo Space Does the 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan Have?
One area where the Tiguan shines is storage space. While we haven’t yet had the chance to measure its cargo area using the same method in our comparison test, the hatch area is decently roomy. If you need more space, you can fold the 60/40-split rear seatbacks using releases located in the hatch area. Clever bins to the side of the main load floor help keep smaller items from rolling around, plus there’s a real spare tire under the floor as opposed to a tire repair kit.
Storage bins in the front of the cabin are fairly conventional, although the only thing “closing” the center console is a floating armrest that doesn’t completely seal items from view. There is a nice clamp to hold your phone against a wireless charger in the console, though, which keeps it in place and further dissuades drivers from picking it up while driving.
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Do It for the Comfort
If you can tolerate the climate controls and are fine paying a little bit more at the pump (the AWD version’s 25 mpg combined EPA rating is on the low end among compact SUVs), the Tiguan SEL R-Line is a standout when it comes to sheer interior comfort. Its seats were softer than the ones in the Nissan Rogue Platinum that ultimately won our 2025 Compact SUV Challenge while still being firm enough to hold you in place while driving. However, the second-place Honda CR-V hybrid Sport Touring is still my personal favorite of the bunch for being an extremely well-rounded vehicle without the high price tag of the Rogue Platinum.
Like many of the other SUVs in our comparison test, the Tiguan had a clear strength: comfort. The Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Limited was cavernous inside but ergonomically awkward. The Mazda CX-5 2.5 Turbo Signature was the most fun to drive, but it was cramped inside and also had irritating controls. If I had to guess, the VW would have likely finished around these third- and fourth-place contenders in our test given that it does a lot of things well but had one main flaw. So, if comfort is your biggest priority and its luxurious extras in a reasonably priced compact SUV are worth it to you, get the Tiguan SEL R-Line.
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