New Volkswagen ID. Tiguan prototype review: more than just a rebadged ID.4

Verdict

The Volkswagen ID. Tiguan drives similarly to the old ID.4 - which is no bad thing as we found the ID.4 comfortable and refined, if a little dull. The key changes come in the shape of the interior usability and as we’ve seen on other new VWs, the company is stepping in the right direction. 

One of the automotive industry’s worst-kept secrets has finally been confirmed after Volkswagen announced the successor to its all-electric ID.4 will be called ID. Tiguan. 

The ID. Tiguan is based on the ID.4, but Volkswagen clearly thinks the amount of changes over the old car are sufficient to warrant a new name. The decision also aligns with Volkswagen’s strategy of giving its electric cars more familiar names – as we’ve recently seen with the ID. Polo and we will see with the forthcoming ID. Golf.

Volkswagen’s chief designer, Andreas Mindt, previously told us: “In my opinion, you have to have names. The original Beetle was the Volkswagen 1200; it’s not a name. But the audience immediately gave it a name. These names are so human; you can humanise them. This is what we want to chase – this human element on a Volkswagen. I love it.”

Used - available now

2024 Volkswagen

Tiguan

18,941 milesAutomaticPetrol1.4L

Cash £22,599

View Tiguan

2020 Volkswagen

Tiguan

72,000 milesAutomaticDiesel2.0L

Cash £13,250

View Tiguan

2024 Volkswagen

Tiguan

70,136 milesAutomaticPetrol1.4L

Cash £17,000

View Tiguan

2023 Volkswagen

Tiguan

95,863 milesAutomaticPetrol1.5L

Cash £15,759

View Tiguan

Taking the Tiguan name puts plenty of pressure on the newcomer. Launched in 2007, the Tiguan has been Volkswagen’s best-selling car globally since 2017, having passed the nine-million mark earlier this year. It will have to not only replace the ID.4, but the ID.5 too, because there’s currently no word from Volkswagen about a replacement for the coupe-SUV variant. 

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The full unveiling of the new ID. Tiguan is due soon, but before then we’ve had the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a prototype model. The first thing we notice getting in are the external door handles. In the ID.4, they looked like a physical handle but had a hidden button, whereas now there are more traditional grab handles. Inside, you get the same lever-action handles as in the new T-Roc, and these uncomplicated changes set the tone for the new ID. Tiguan. 

We suspect the car we tried was a higher-spec model, possibly an R-Line, considering the larger 20-inch wheels and the fact that it had different bumpers to other ID. Tiguan prototypes.

Inside, the ID. Tiguan has the same steering wheel as the new ID. Polo. Unlike the electric supermini, where the wheel feels a little too big for the car, in the larger ID. Tiguan it’s better proportioned, while the physical controls embedded within are a huge improvement over the ID.4’s. 

Most of the dashboard in our pre-production car was covered, but we can check out the huge new 15-inch touchscreen – a unit we’ve already experienced in other large Volkswagens including the ID.7, Tayron, Touareg and the combustion-engined Tiguan. As in those other cars, the neat overall design with clearly laid out menus and sharp response times is mixed with a slightly fussy method of operating the shortcut toggles at the top; they’re still too small to operate seamlessly on the move.

Below the screen a bank of physical controls (also taken from the recently launched ID. Polo) replaces the woeful touch-slider climate and audio controls that VW is thankfully phasing out across its line up. The new switches don’t feel flimsy and have a knurled finish that makes them look fairly premium. The hard points of the ID. Tiguan’s interior are the same as the ID.4’s, so things such as the driving position, visibility and space are virtually unchanged - but that’s no problem, given that we never had an issue with these in the old car. 

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Andy Mindt previously told us that mistakes had been made with the most recent Golf: “Our satisfaction rating dropped down with the Golf Mk8, big time. The swiping things, you know, the touch sliders – it dropped down big time. So it’s that easy to improve this rating with this little thing.”

The total number of changes implemented on the new ID.Tiguan over the ID.4 will apparently be “like the change from Mk5 to Mk6 Golf”, we’re told. Those two models used the same underpinnings, but the later edition was referred to as a new generation by VW. 

On the move the ID. Tiguan doesn’t feel drastically different to the ID.4. Our short drive over some smooth roads near Vienna airport in Austria didn’t particularly challenge the Dynamic Chassis Control (Volkswagen’s adjustable damping suspension) much. Switching between the softest and firmest settings didn’t bring a huge change in ride quality - and certainly not to the same extent we’ve felt in other Volkswagens with the same suspension technology. 

Unlike the ID.4, the ID. Tiguan gets a new one-pedal drive mode. It works perfectly well in the new car, slowly coming on once you lift off the accelerator, giving a nice, smooth deceleration to a full stop. 

We didn’t get a chance to properly stretch the legs of this test car. However, as we found with the ID.4, there’s a typical EV immediacy to the acceleration in the new car. The calibration of the accelerator means it’s not difficult to drive smoothly at the same time either.