The third-generation, two-row Tiguan has a more powerful engine, all-new sheetmetal, and an interior that can look as upscale as you can afford.
It may just be the sportiest compact in the class, if a little more harsh when rolling on the optional 20-inch rims. Get 19s or less and you ought to be fine.
Prices start at $30,920. It's available now.

The title “Sportiest Crossover in the Compact Segment” may be a low bar, but the new Volkswagen Tiguan clears it by at least a kilometer.

Everybody buys crossover utility vehicles, compact CUVs in particular. The segment-leading Toyota RAV4 is the sales leader by far, with 475,193 moved out salesroom doors last year, followed by the Honda CR-V with 402,791.

So what does the Tiguan offer that those mondo-mega-sellers don’t? Sportiness, at least sportiness by the standards of the compact crossover segment which, as we said, are set low.

Nonetheless, after a couple days driving Tiguans over the mountain roads of the Jim Bridger Wilderness and Gallatin National Forest of Montana, we’re giving it the handling crown of the segment.

First, the “all-new” part.

The 2025 Tiguan has redesigned sheetmetal, a fresh interior with an optional 15-inch touchscreen through which to control the new MIB4 operating system, and a 201-hp “revised” version of the TSI EA888 evo5 four-cylinder.

Is that ambient lighting distracting or soothing?

That engine also puts out 207 lb-ft of torque in the front-wheel-drive model and 221 lb-ft with AWD. That output represents a solid increase over the 184-pony Tiguan from the 2024 model.

If that’s still not enough engine performance for your compact crossover needs, hang on until fall of this year when a mo-mighty 268-hp engine arrives with 258 lb-ft of torque. That will be followed, at some point around this Tiguan’s mid-cycle facelift, by a hybrid.

The sheetmetal changes are most obvious by looking at the raised-hood line front end that sits like a big double-decker Wendy’s hamburger glommed onto the snout of the rig, and by shorter overhangs front and rear.

(Secret insider information you don’t really need to know but here it is anyway: There are three Tiguans in Europe, a short-wheelbase with short overhangs, a long-wheelbase with long overhangs, and a long wheelbase with short overhangs. We get the LWB with the short overhangs.)

Inside, you get a range of looks, from a utilitarian-but-comfy S model all the way up to a near-luxury SEL R-Line with quilted massaging seats, that 15-inch touchscreen, and a moonroof wider than the Big Sky under which we drove.

How is it behind the wheel?

It’s easy to get into, not one of those big SUVs that make you climb a step ladder or contort yourself to ingress.

Slide onto the seats and they feel firm. Both the SE R-Line and SEL R-Line models I drove had massaging seat options that felt like a stern German nun was forcing a massage on you with golfballs (better analogies listed in the comments section, please).

Power it up and it’s quiet as you twist the little shifter on the end of the stalk and off you go.

At a couple points way out in the wilderness I tried 0-60 mph launches, both with the drive modes and shifter in sport, one with brake torquing and one without, and found it takes over 10 seconds to hit 60 mph. Granted, that was at over 5000 feet elevation, so maybe knock a second off that time for sea level. But it could be an argument for holding off until this fall to buy the engine with the bigger turbo.

The ride at first feels firmer than you might expect, certainly firmer than the segment-sales-leading competitors. This was particularly true with the 20-inch wheels wrapped by 255/40R20 Pirelli Scorpion PZeros.

2025 Volkswagen Tiguan in Avocado Green.

That setup means even small pavement irregularities like tar strips and Botts Dots transfer their force directly into your raging buttocks. I drove only Tiguans with 20s. I heard from others that the 19s made a big difference in comfort. Myself, I’d get an S model on 17s. Maybe.

The benefit to the stiff setup is that roll is perfectly controlled and cornering feels, as far as I was able to push it, quick.

There’s an off-road mode that I didn’t try, even though, in a big dirt lot, I tried to do a donut, a trick that didn’t result in what rally race vehicle engineers call “fun.”

Off-road mode wouldn’t have transferred more torque to the rear wheels anyway, so all you can do is try your best Walter Rorhl and use the momentum to try and pitch it sideways, but even that doesn’t result in as much fun as it should.

Wheel and tire size makes a big difference in ride comfort.

There are no paddle shifters, either, and no way other than twisting the stalk-mounted PRNDL one more time to get S, or go into the submenu on that 15-inch touchscreen to switch the drive mode to “Sport,” if you want maximum performance. S also ramps the shift points up by 1,000 rpm and stiffens the shocks even more.

So while it is the sportiest of the class, even the sportiest of the class could change a few things around to become a much more fun machine.

As it stands, I’d recommend getting an SE model with the 18-inch wheels just to absorb some of those small-frequency road whaps. Or save yer dough and get an S rolling on 17s.

Prices range from $30,920 to $41,180. It’s in showrooms now.

Is sportiness even a requirement in this segment? Let us know below.