Volkswagen Tiguan experiential drive- The Mumbai Edition

It was a hot October day as I found myself driving through sections of Colaba, in Mumbai city, that I never knew existed to a legendary mills compound (that I also never knew existed) to have some fun with the Volkswagen Tiguan. I arrived at the Mukesh Mills compound and instantly found myself smiling as this was actually a movie set and all around was able to picture chase scenes, shoot outs and even a bit of dramatic confrontations (arrey oh sambha!)…quite a setting to experience the Tiguan stretching its legs.

The experience
After being briefed about what we would experience on the course, we stepped out of the media tent and straight into the Tiguan.

Our first test was the terrapod to test the Tiguan’s ability to handle varied alterations in height and be able to successfully let the driver overcome the obstacle. Of course, yours truly got a bit carried away in the heat of the moment and would have tipped the car over had it not been for the instructor quickly (but quite calmly) pointing that out to me.

After ‘successfully’ clearing the Terrapods, we moved on to the axle breakers. These were designed to demonstrate the ability of the Tiguan to modulate torque between the wheels when one of them struggled for traction. As is the case in off-roading, slow and steady was the key and that’s pretty much what it took to move the car forward.

With the tests to showcase the ability of the Tiguan in terms of articulation and splitting of torque done, we moved on to the ABS section of the test track. In this section, we had the chance to see the ABS in action by braking and attempting a lane change.

Been there, done that

Now here’s the thing. We had already taken the Tiguan off-road and that too during the peak of the Maharashtra monsoon. Our 2017 off-road day was held in a setting that would make any Tiguan owner turn around and quietly go back to their houses in South Mumbai. But, mud-plug we did and successful the Tiguan was in this endeavour. This meant that whatever VW had laid out for us turned out to be a Saturday stroll in the (mills) for it.

The Volkswagen Tiguan is available in India in two variants- Comfortline and Highline and they are priced at Rs 27.49 lakhs and Rs 30.87 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi). The only engine on offer is a 2.0-litre diesel producing 141bhp/340Nm. This engine is mated to a seven-speed AT and is offered with Volkswagen’s 4MOTION AWD system.