It’s been a long time coming, but the Tiguan R is here at last. At its heart is a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine shared with the Arteon R and Arteon R Shooting Brake. The same 2.0 TSI will also power the upcoming Golf R and Golf R Estate.
It makes a healthy 316 bhp and 310 pound-feet (420 Newton-metres) of torque, good for a 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) run in 4.9 seconds. Not too shabby for a vehicle that weighs 1,746 kilograms (3,849 pounds), right? As a matter of fact, actual performance is even better when you factor in this real-life test shaved off a tenth of a second from the official sprint time.
Gallery: Volkswagen Tiguan restyling (2020)
Not only that, but the Tiguan R was put through its paces on a damp road, which surely had a negative impact on its capabilities off the line. The 4Motion all-wheel drive and launch control minimised the performance loss, allowing the speedy crossover to achieve a sub-five-second time. The folks over at Automann didn’t stop there, continuing to press the accelerator pedal to record a 0-124 mph (0-200 km/h) in 18.9 seconds.
Another highlight of the Tiguan R is an evolution of the AWD system with a torque-vectoring function that can send 100 percent of the torque to the outside wheel. The lesser versions of the lineup can send only half of that, meaning the R has better balance and cornering. Factor in the stiffer suspension setup and variable steering, it becomes a hot hatch on stilts.
Get up to speed with the Tiguan facelift:
The Tiguan R joins VW’s ever-growing R lineup, which aside from two Golf Rs and two Arteon R models, it also includes the T-Roc R and the Touareg R. The latter is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch in terms of powertrain, packing a plug-in hybrid V6 with a combined output of 456 bhp and 700 Nm (516 lb-ft).
Source: Automann-TV / YouTube