Flow Rival

If I was a celebrity in the public eye, I’d make sure I gave the public what they wanted. With the media scrutinising every move a famous person makes, it’s vital you don’t step out of line or rub anyone up the wrong way; else your career will be crushed quicker than you can say “swearing on live TV”. Similarly with advertising and endorsements you don’t want to be turning up to your Volkswagen video shoot three hours late, or shaving your head the night before your hair product photo shoot.

The above all seems obvious to me as I’m sure it does to you which is why I’m incredulous at the acts of some who have the world at their feet and seem determined to throw it all away. Amy Winehouse is a towering example of what not to do with your god-given talent. Blessed with one of the most distinctive jazz voices, actually scrub that, one of the most distinctive voices of recent musical times; she consistently abuses it and herself with drugs, booze and cigarettes. Yes rock and roll is all about over-indulgence but I bet even Keith Richards whilst snorting his dad’s ashes thought “Amy’s a bit out of control”.

Not content with abusing herself, Winehouse insists on insulting her die-hard fans by going AWOL before gigs or showing up horrendously late and giving a shambolic-at-best performance. Yet despite all this her album sales continue to soar, any tour dates are sold out and critics’ awards continue to flow. With all this adulation, it’s easy to see why Amy Winehouse the singer is happy to play second fiddle to Amy Winehouse the drug addict – why change when the going is seemingly so good?

Now I don’t want to compare Volkswagen to Amy Winehouse but bear with me on this before you lynch me because I can see a similarity. Volkswagen have a long distinguished history of producing cars that are well styled, reliable, good to drive and are cutting edge for the time. Due to this impressive curriculum vitae, it’s easy to understand why so many are devoted Volkswagen customers who refuse to deviate from their beloved marque. Yet even with this large customer base, Volkswagen take their sweet time in delivering the type of car their customers are crying out for – they don’t pander to the whims of their fans.

Unlike our famous singer however (that’s the end of my Winehouse bashing I promise) Volkswagen have a perfectly good reason for why they don’t build a competitor for a new sector of the car market created by a rival car firm. This reason is quite simply because they want to release a good car, rather than a rush job. It happened with the Touran which was launched to compete with Renault’s Scenic – a full seven years after the French manufacturer and now Volkswagen have caught up with the Toyota RAV4 by launching their baby off-roader the Tiguan, 13 years after their Japanese rival.

Crucially though is the Tiguan worth the wait? In short let me summarise by saying their patient customers will be over the moon. You see by arriving 13 years late to the party, Volkswagen have sized up what the competition has to offer and bettered them in nearly every department. It’s chock-full of cutting edge gadgetry as you’d expect from VW, with everything from a self-parking system, to rear camera via a panoramic sunroof and finishing up with a 30-gigabite in-car entertainment system.

The car can also tow 2.5 tons – more than any other in its class and looks elegant in doing so. It is essentially a shrunken 4×4 so curves are not the order of the day, but bold lines, and a mix of classy German styling and workmanlike ground clearance and roof bars blend well. It is more than capable of doing the dirty jobs too, rather than just looking like it might want to one day. Other than its impressive towing credentials, the taller front end coupled with all manner of hill climb and descent options make the Tiguan a go anywhere vehicle.

If you, like the majority of 4×4 owners hate the sight of mud, the Tiguan is more than capable on the tarmac with little body roll and a clever four-wheel drive system that sends more power to the wheels that need it the most. With a range of engines on offer – the most notable an environmentally friendly 2 litre turbo diesel which will keep the tree huggers happy, the Tiguan is an economical option without losing much in the way of performance.

The interior is to the usual high standard you’d expect from Volkswagen and completes what is a very strong contender in the now cluttered small off-roader market. The wait then was definitely worth it, although quite whether 13 years of research has gone into the Tiguan is debatable. Next time Volkswagen, please turn up on time.

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