The Tiguan Allspace has been introduced at the back of the highly successful first generation in South Africa. The Allspace has little direct competition, the other being the Nissan X-Trail. The new Haval H9 may be here to spoil the party for the latter two being almost prized like them but being bigger. Haval as a brand, still has some way to go so the German and the Japanese may not need to worry at this stage. The other seven seaters are either way more expensive or really play in the ‘premium’ segment.

Exterior

Outside, the Tiguan all space does not depart too much from the regular Tiguan. The differences are obvious in the front and back window. The Tiguan Allspace is squarer upfront and longer to accommodate the extra two seats at the back and a bigger boot. The extra length does not make the Tiguan Allspace impractical or an ugly duckling of the pair. It is easy to manoeuvre and has most of the good looks of the smaller Tiguan.

Interior and practicality

The interior is large and spacious. There are all sorts of clever storage spaces. The door bins are large, allowing you to fit in a 1L bottle of water. In the centre console, there are two cup holders that are adjustable to hold small or medium sized bottles. The storage compartment under the armrest is also decently sized and in front of the gear lever there is a storage compartment that can be used to slot in cell phones and keys. Up top, there’s a sunglasses holder and another larger storage compartment that can be used to store other small items.
In terms of the seating arrangements, there’s enough legroom for front passengers and middle row passengers. The last row is however, for children, as legroom is a bit on the tight side. The middle row bench can easily be moved forward and backwards to create for legroom for passengers at the last row.

The boot is large at 745 litres but decreases in size to 215 litres when the last row is up. Notwithstanding this, you would still find some boot space for a trip to the shops or a medium sized suitcase. The boot space also has some practical features such as a hook for plastic bags so that your items do not land up all over the boot. There is also a 12V socket point. The boot also has an electronically deployable tow bar which comes out and folds back at a flick of a button. The middle row passenger seats have a tray that can be used for meals on the go. Getting in and out of the car is easy, so is accessing the last row of seats. Importantly the third row of seats folds down easily and with the second row of seats folded down; this extends the boot space to 1,775 litres.

The Tiguan Allspace is full of useful technology and scores highly on safety. The Tiguan Allspace we had on test had adaptive cruise control. This allows the car to brake on its own, should the cars in front of it start braking. The car also had keyless entry and keyless start and go. The stop/start feature was great for helping save fuel. The Tiguan also had a generous touch screen and a VW electronic odometer. This allows you to see maps when navigating without looking at the infotainment screen. To make things even better, the car had a heads up display which shows speed and also directions when navigating. This really helps the driver focus on the road.

Drive

Our test VW Tiguan Allspace 2.0 TSI 4Motion is powered by a 2.0 162 kW and 350 Nm engine. This is paired with a smooth 7 speed DSG. The 0-100 sprint is claimed to be 6,8 seconds which does not sound bad at all for a 7 seater family car. Fuel consumption is claimed to be a combined 8.1/11.8 litres/100km. The car delivers in terms of comfort and will have the whole family looking forward to long and short trips. Although not top of the list for a family person, the take-off is very good and this leaves feeling confident that the car won’t struggle when fully laden and towing. The Tiguan Allspace feels willing and sometimes makes you forget that you are in a 7-seater SUV. The 4-Motion drivetrain is useful and its modes for driving in gravel and snowy conditions. It’s not a 4×4 though and you should tread carefully when attempting off-road conditions. You will do gravel, sandy routes and some wet conditions without breaking a sweat though.

Overall, the Tiguan Allspace is a welcomed addition to a busy segment. It is practical, well-built and drives really well.