All-New 2025 Tiguan Brings a European take on Affordable Luxury

The compact crossover category is the best-selling automotive segment in the US, and it is hard to find a manufacturer without a model entry. However, with as many compact crossover models as there are, only one hails from Europe without a luxury badge and commands a luxury price. That is the Tiguan, which has been fully redesigned for 2025, and Bud Brown Volkswagen is proud to tell you about it. 

The Tiguan is VW’s best-selling model and greets 2025 with a new look inside and out. Up front, the low-profile LED headlights are over the grille, which are connected by an LED light bar that crosses an illuminated VW grille. These are quickly becoming a Volkswagen family signature. The grille, LED taillights with another full-width light bar and illuminated VW badge, and lower rear fascia are also all-new, with a curved character above the rear fenders, giving it a muscular appearance.  

Naturally, this third-generation Tiguan has an all-new interior.  It features streamlined controls and a modern minimalist appearance that still delivers easily accessible controls and sharp information clarity. Viewed through the flat-bottomed steering wheel is the 10.25-inch Digital Cockpit Pro system, offering a configurable digital display that can show the navigation display directly in front of the driver if desired. Resting atop a central horizontal shelf spanning the dash is a 12.9-inch touchscreen display. It is laid out much like the computer screen you may be looking at now. There is a band of app choices across the top of the screen. At the bottom screen edge is a permanent bank of controls for climate, volume, drive modes, and “Atmospheres.” The latter combines synchronized ambient lighting and audio settings for a harmonious blend of sight and sound. You can adjust the Atmospheres to match your mood. Up to five preset Atmospheres are available upon launch, and you can customize your own.  

As a reminder, this company had the most clever and amusing advertisements in the 1960s. Images of a lonely black Beetle under headlines like “Lemon” and “Think Small” come to mind. The Tiguan offers its own bits of whimsy, such as the tiger silhouette with iguana stripes (the name “Tiguan” is a combination of “tiger” and “iguana”) featured on many of the windows. Additionally, you can create your own greeting for the voice command system, with “Hello Ida” and “Hello VW” as the built-in defaults.

Just because there’s no luxury badge doesn’t mean there are no luxury features. The upper Tiguan models come with luxury features, including a head-up display, a 15-inch infotainment display, ambient lighting with 10 to 30 colors, a premium 12-speaker Harman Kardon sound system, 12-way power front seats with quilted leather seating surfaces, and a full-back massage system with 10 settings, in addition to heating and ventilation.  

The Tiguan is also new under the hood with an all-new 2.0-liter turbocharged engine that adds 17 horsepower over the last model for a total of 201. Thanks to a greater use of aluminum in the suspension and high-strength hot-formed steel in the body structure, the Tiguan now weighs 170 pounds less than the previous model. 

Across the model line is the IQ.DRIVE® Level 2 suite of safety and driver assistance technologies, including: 

• Travel Assist (level 2 semi-automated driving assistance) 
• Front Assist (Forward Collision Warning and Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Monitoring) 
• Active Blind Spot Monitor 
• Rear Traffic Alert 
• Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) Stop and Go 
• Lane Assist (Lane Keeping System) 
• Emergency Assist (semi-automated vehicle assistance in a medical emergency)

Additional standard convenience technologies include:  

• Light Assist (automatic high-beam control) 
• Park Distance Control 
• Exit Warning  

Among the features you hope you never use, the Tiguan has more airbags than before, including one for the driver’s knee, front center (keeping front passengers from impacting each other), and rear side bags.  

The 2025 Tiguan is expected to arrive in the Bud Brown inventory in the second quarter of 2025. We encourage you to contact one of our sales professionals to inform you when the first models arrive. Like all VW models, 2025 Tiguan owners who purchased from Bud Brown will be covered under the Bud Brown Advantage Lifetime Limited Powertrain Warranty because this sounds like a car you will want to keep for a long time.