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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday November 12, 2008 - 23 FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED You'll Love Our Service! 905-335-4080 BURLINGTON LINE 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan--strange name but great vehicle By LORNE DRURY Metroland Media Group www.yourautos.ca What's a Tiguan? That's the question I'm sure many people ask the first time they hear the name of Volkswagen's new compact SUV. Volkswagen seems to go to extremes in naming its vehicles. On one hand, you have simple names like the Golf, Jetta, New Beetle and Rabbit. At the other extreme, you have the Touareg and now the Tiguan, which started arriving at dealers in June. Since then, Volkswagen has added its new minivan, the Routan, another unusual name. I don't know where these names come from--perhaps they mean something in German. However, they are extremely important vehicles to the Volkswagen brand, which found itself with a few empty shelves in its product cupboard. They had most of the bases covered in the car market, but no compact SUV/crossover and no minivan, both big markets in North America. So being one of the last up to the plate in a very competitive field that includes heavy hitters like the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Ford Escape and the new Nissan Rogue, Volkswagen had to hit a homerun with the 2009 Tiguan. It appears they succeeded. Price may be a stumbling block for some--the Tiguan I recently tested was heavily loaded and priced out at $39,075. The base Tiguan starts at $27,575. But, the vehicle itself stacks up very favourably against the competition. Styling-wise, it's one of the nicest lookers in its class, with a definite European flair. There's no doubt it's a Volkswagen from a front view. It has a peppy turbocharged 2.0litre inline four-cylinder engine, producing 200 hp and 206 lb/ft of torque. Inside, the Tiguan is nicely finished with an upscale feeling to the cabin. Canada gets three trim levels of the Tiguan, starting with the Trendline at $27,575. Even it is well equipped with 16-inch alloy wheels, air conditioning, cruise control, electronic stabilization program (ESP), exterior temperature display, fog lights, overhead console trays, power heatable side mirrors, single in-dash CD player with eight speakers and tire pressure monitoring system. A six-speed manual transmission is standard, but $30,975 more you can move up to a six-speed automatic with Tiptronic and 4Motion all-wheel drive, well worth the extra money. My tester was the mid-level Comfortline model, which Volkswagen expects to be its big seller and account continued on page 24