Key considerations
- Available for £27,500
- 2.0-litre inline-four petrol turbo, all-wheel drive
- Won’t be out-accelerated by anything that looks remotely like it
- Handles better than you’d think too
- Nothing much seems to go wrong
- Could be a nifty one-car solution for the thinking PHer
By 2019, twelve years into its production run, the Tiguan had established itself as Volkswagen’s biggest-selling SUV. One in every seven VWs was a Tiguan and new ones were popping off the line at the rate of one every 35 seconds. Against such a voluminous sales background it was hardly surprising that VW felt empowered to push the boat out on a performance version of the facelifted gen-two Tiguan. After all, what did they have to lose? It would all be gravy.
What was surprising when the Tiguan R was announced in 2020 – at the same time as a Tiguan facelift – was just how performancey it was. Few associated the Tiguan with sporting endeavour or trackday fun but the R went in hard and fast with 316hp and 310lb ft from its Golf R fourth-generation EA888 2.0 TSI turbo. The 0-62mph time was an unlikely sounding but actually credible 4.9 seconds, thanks in no small part to an AWD system that would also appear on the Arteon R where drive passed not just between the front and rear axles but also side to side between the rear wheels.
To deliver equally credible handling, VW’s Dynamic Chassis Control was included as standard, electronically controlled adaptive dampers reacting in milliseconds to minimise pitch and roll on varying road surfaces. The ride height was 10mm lower than that of ordinary Tiguans, and UK-spec Rs came with big 21-inch wheels.
The R’s launch price in Germany was 56,700 euros, the equivalent at the time of £50,500. When the UK order books opened in February 2021 however the starting price was £45,915, perhaps an acknowledgement of the difficulty that British VW dealers were expecting to encounter in persuading buyers that a fast and expensive mid-sized SUV was what they needed.
In December 2022 VW’s UK website was showing the car as available ‘from stock only’. It did briefly reappear on the site but by some point well before the end of 2023 it had gone again, this time for good. We’re not sure how many Tiguan Rs were sold worldwide but we can say that the number is not much higher than 10,000 because in March 2023 the 10,000th example was handed over to Trevor Godfrey, a retired British Airways employee. Trevor had been running a Touareg up to that point and had decided that he needed something smaller but also fun and still practical. That’s a reasonable potted description of the Tiguan R. but ultimately it was a niche package that didn’t sell.
The Tiguan R experiment was a short-lived experience but decent used values at the time of writing in January 2025 – a minimum of £27,500 for a 2021 example with high-ish miles (60k plus) – suggest that rarity is now working to its advantage and that there is no shortage of love for them. It might also suggest that not much goes wrong with them. Is that true though? Let’s take a look.
SPECIFICATION | Volkswagen Tiguan R (2021-24)
Engine: 1,984cc inline-four petrol 16v
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto, all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 316@5,200-6,600rpm
Torque (lb ft): 310@2,100-5,350rpm
0-62mph (secs): 4.9
Top speed (mph): 155
Weight (kg): 1,746
MPG (WLTP): 28.3
CO2 (g/km): 226
Wheels (in): 21
Tyres: 255/35
On sale: 2021 - 2024
Price new: £46,000
Price now: from £27,500
Note for reference: car weight and power data is hard to pin down with absolute certainty. For consistency, we use the same source for all our guides. We hope the data we use is right more often than it’s wrong. Our advice is to treat it as relative rather than definitive.
ENGINE & GEARBOX
Despite weighing around 200kg more than the Golf R the hot Tiguan was by no means shamed on the performance front thanks to the excellence of its drivetrain. By the time it reached this evo4 status the 2.0-litre EA888 engine was commanding serious respect from both testers and owners. In the Tig R power was smooth and linear and the torque peak of 310lb ft was maintained across a 3,250rpm wide rev band beginning at 2,100rpm. Good shove started from as little as 1,200rpm.
You had three ‘normal’ drive modes, Comfort, Sport or Race, plus three off-road modes and as many engine sounds as it had real tailpipes, i.e. four. That did feel a bit like overkill, although in fairness one of the four sounds was ‘pure’ i.e. bereft of audio enhancement. In the perennial conflict between sportiness and sensibility there was perhaps too much snap, crackle and pop in Race mode for the type of vehicle the Tiguan was. If you were all in for the big noises however a titanium Akrapovic exhaust system was on the options list at £3,155.
The 7-speed DSG dual-clutch transmission chosen for the Tiguan R was the high-torque compatible DQ500 unit. Shift speeds were very quick but some found it to be a bit snatchy coming off idle and the wheel paddles were disappointingly inert. There was no disputing the acceleration though. Road testers were routinely beating the official 0-62mph time of 4.9 seconds, getting results nearer to or even on the low side of 4.5 seconds. VW recommended 98RON super petrol for the R, and the official average fuel consumption was just over 28mpg, 8mpg worse than the Golf R’s, although if you were driving the Tiguan in R style it could easily drop down into the lower end of the twenties. On a cruise you might see mid- to high 30s and one owner reported seeing 41.8mpg on a non-motorway trip in Eco mode.
Minor services on a Tig R should cost under £200, majors around £350. The EA888 has a timing chain which should last the lifetime of the car but it’s good practice to check it for stretching at around 100,000 miles. We couldn’t find any evidence of systematic problems with the Tiguan R drivetrain but there was a recall on 2022 Golf Rs to address a problem with the radiator potentially not being properly attached to the intercooler, potentially leading to a damaged coolant hose. There was another recall for loose Golf R engine covers which we guess might have also extended to the Tiguan R.
CHASSIS
There was no potentially troublesome mechanical Haldex on the R. As mentioned in the overview the Tiguan R’s 4Motion all-wheel drive system was complemented by an electronic rear diff providing R-Performance torque vectoring across the back axle on top of the normal fore and aft.
A blue R button on the wheel gave you instant access to Race mode. That allowed up to 100 per cent of available torque to go to the outside wheel compared to a maximum of 50 per cent on less powerful Tiguans. The stability control could be disabled but you didn’t get the Golf R’s drift or Nürburgring drive modes. By way of compensation, the Tig had light-duty offroad functionalities that the Golf didn’t have such as rear diff locking and hill descent control.
Overall the Tiguan R’s handling was really decent and not just by SUV standards either. The accuracy and weight of the variable-ratio steering came in for strong praise from most testers, as did the body control. Turn-in, grip and traction were all very good and despite the R’s stiffer springs its ride quality through the adaptive dampers was better than fine. There was one fly in the ointment though: out in the wider world the R’s default wheels were 19-inch or 20-inch but UK buyers got 21-inch Estorils with very low-profile 255/35 tyres.
That showroom appeal-grabbing wheel/tyre combo did impinge on the ride comfort on crumbly urban roads, where you needed to offset the effects by putting the suspension into its cushiest setting. We believe that when you were in that Comfort mode however the transmission operated in Eco mode which if true would have rather killed the fun. As our Matt pointed out in his Tig R review, the Golf R had 18i-inch wheels as standard with 19s as an option and it seemed to do all right on those.
Away from the actual dynamics, not everyone was convinced by the visual combination of 21-inch wheels with noticeably smaller brake discs (particularly the 310s at the back). The larger 357mm drilled discs at the front were a slightly less cringeworthy sight. If we set aside these vanity issues the brakes worked well and felt good underfoot.
All the discs were clamped by blue calipers, the bigger ones at the front embossed with R logos. Some R wheels have suffered from lacquer peel. One owner was told that it was caused by car washes spraying the wheels with acid. Ah.
BODYWORK
The only ‘free’ paint colour was Pure White. Dolphin Grey or Reflex Sliver metallics started at £730, with Deep Black pearl at the same price. Lapiz Blue, a commonly chosen hue, was designated as a ‘special metallic’ costing nearer to £900. Oryx White Pearl was the dearest paint option at over £1,200. An electric glass sliding/tilting sunroof with roller blind was £945. An electronic tailgate was standard.
INTERIOR
The Tiguan was an occasional rather than a full five-seater. The driving position in the R was quite high, which could feel like a conundrum when the drivetrain and chassis were so obviously set up for speed, but then again it was an SUV and sitting up high was what you did in SUVs.
Taller drivers have found Tiguans of all spec levels to be extremely comfortable and the R’s seats were particularly supportive and comfy. Seat adjustment wasn’t electronically assisted but there was heating for the fronts and optional heat for the rear compartment where there was lots of vertical and front-to-back space. Those back seats were on sliders to add flexibility to the human/cargo mix. They reclined too.
The front seat back folded down for bigger loads, which was good, but first you had to hoist those loads over a sizeable boot lip because, unlike other Tiguan models, there was no underfloor compartment in the R. With the back seats in place the boot was rated at a large 615 litres. With them down, it was 1,655 litres.
The gen-two Tiguan was generally a bit behind the pace in terms of its interior design but the R was lifted and distinguished from lesser models by its premium sports seats (with integrated head restraints and R logos), by its blue stitching, and by its R-specific, background-lit trim pieces in carbon grey. The R logos in the aluminium sill kickplates were illuminated too. The pedals were faced in stainless steel.
VW’s MIB3 infotainment setup through a 9.2-inch Discover Pro touchscreen (smaller than the Golf’s) provided everything you might expect, including Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Both of these were wirelessly accessible but had to pay over £400 on top for a wireless smartphone charger. The 10.3-inch digital cockpit was nicely customisable via one of the touch-sensitive steering wheel buttons and included a lap timer for those few owners who felt the need for track action. Adaptive cruise, parking sensors, lane-keeping assistance, blind-spot monitoring, LED matrix headlights and autonomous emergency braking were all standard. A very good heated windscreen was an option and the touch-sensitive HVAC panel was better than the Golf’s. 30 colours were on the ambient cabin lighting menu.
There have been occasional instances of the parking sensors glitching out and the air conditioning hasn’t always worked as expected. Mk8 Golfs suffered from steering wheel issues and sometimes incessant bonging from the Travel Assist semi-automated driving function but we haven’t seen either of these being attributed to the Tiguan. It almost goes without saying that Tiguan infotainment systems have been known to play up, but our suspicion after doing a lot of these buying guides is that this was an industry-wide issue at the time.
PH VERDICT
Depending on your approach to these matters the Tiguan R was either a highly specialised choice or a one-car-fits-all choice. You could see it from both sides. Whichever way you looked at it though it was Covid-expensive at the thick end of £46k. For some, Seat’s Formentor made more sense with its more modern interior. For others, the Tiguan R’s oversized wheels gave it a slightly dodgy restomod look. Those rims didn’t add any quality to the ride and that was a shame because in isolation the suspension was well tailored to the car. If you left it in the comfort settings however it wasn’t much of an issue.
Objectively, the basic Tiguan was an effective SUV and a practical one for a young family. The R version lost very little of that practicality – it pretty much boiled down to the lack of an underfloor boot compartment and rear seats that didn’t fold quite as flat – while adding a whole new performance dimension that could be genuinely enjoyed by a solo driver not having to worry about family members being sick in the back. It was never going to be quite as much fun to drive as a lower, lighter hot hatch like the Golf R, but as a used car it will still impress you with its doggedness and capability on a fast drive.
There have been quite a few Tiguan recalls in the last 15-odd years which have included excitingly scary phrases like ‘fuel may leak’, ’fire may occur’, and ‘seat backrest may collapse’, but almost all of these related to earlier non-R models. The only ones off the list that we found that could realistically be associated with the 2021-on R were for seat frame welds that may have been incorrectly carried out, engine covers and roof spoilers that could come loose, and rear wheel bearing housings that could have things called oxide inclusions.
We can’t say which ones if any of these recalls might have affected the R because the public information on this doesn’t distinguish between Tiguan models. All we can say is that we found no evidence of any serious issues with the Tiguan R. Indeed, we found very few complaints about the car from owners apart from the minor/occasional ones mentioned in the copy. Obviously there weren’t that many of them, owners we mean, but even taking that account we’d have expected to see a few more moans than we did.
In August 2024, a year or so after it disappeared from the UK market and two months after the gen-three Tiguan had been launched, Volkswagen had another, slightly softer, go at the performance Tiguan idea. The 261hp Golf GTI-powered R-Line 2.0 TSI retained the 7-speed DSG box and the all-wheel drive but moved up to the twin-valve dampers of the DCC Pro suspension layout. It was a second slower through the 0-62 than the R.
Most of the PH Classifieds’ selection of Tig Rs as of January 2025 were in the £35k range. The most affordable car was this year-one 76,000-miler in Lapiz Blue at £27,990. Considering the mileage it looked remarkably fresh, the cheap-looking fabric in the seats having defied expectations of premature tattiness. Spend another £6,600 and you’d be chopping 50,000 off that mileage in this otherwise identical car, also from 2021. The most expensive R was this 2023 car in white with 23,000 miles at £39,195. If it sells for that money that would certainly be an example of good value retention.
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