FAMILY CAR REVIEW: 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace

Storage is abundant in the Tiguan! There are two cup holders in the front of the central console and they are adjustable so can hold a large refillable water bottle or disposable or reusable coffee cup really well. The two holders also retract so that the area can become a storage box with a lid instead.

The central console storage box is just a small, basic box with a lid that doubles as an extendable armrest. There are no sockets in the console box, instead, they are situated in front of the gear lever just above a rubber lined well containing the USB and 12V sockets. I found this the best place for my phone because I could plug it into the USB to charge and use the Apple CarPlay! There is also a net on the side of the central console next to this that I could fit my wallet into.

The door pockets are all lined on one side, with a thick carpeting so nothing you put in them will rattle. However, if you spill anything in them it will be much harder to remove or clean. In the front they are a really nice big functional size, I could get my large refillable water bottle in them with an iPad or my wallet.

There are no wells in any of the door handles, so that little storage is not there. The glove box is not enormous; it held the manual and my wallet but I could not fit the iPad in there. The glove box does have a cooling dial so you could use it like an Esky for snacks and picnics etc.

In the ceiling of the Tiguan are two of the biggest glasses cases I have ever seen! It might at first seem silly but I think it is actually a good idea! I like to always leave a pair in the car and usually have my other pair on me, plus I have another cheap pair that is for wearing in the ocean that often gets left in the car. My husband has his sunglasses and normal glasses that he swaps between and our daughter has her little sunnies so actually to be able to store them all away instead of them floating around the car is great! The rear of the cases is also reachable by second-row passengers so older kids can put their own glasses away! I did notice the rear case didn't open and close very well and felt a bit flimsy.

There are 1/3 size map pockets on the back of each front seats. They are solid, so conceal what is stored in them which is good; I found them deep enough to hold but not hide my iPad.

Above the map pockets are fold-out tray tables! Fantastic BabyDrive features! They are simple and plastic, with a pull-out bottle or cup holder in the sides of them that I found perfect for a 600ml bottle or Pigeon baby bottle. You can also have them at an angle which is good for resting a screen on for forward facing passengers to watch.

There is also a fold-down armrest in the central seat back with three different sized cup holders in. Two of them are good for a large refillable water bottle and a disposable or reusable coffee cup.

The door bins in the back are also nice and large and carpet lined. They would hold a large refillable water bottle and a 600ml bottle at the same time, or a bottle or wallet.

Storage in the third row was a bit of a let down in the Tiguan Allspace. There was a single cup holder on the left, which is an awkward shape to properly hold a disposable or reusable coffee cup and a large refillable water bottle didn't fit.

Behind it was another storage well and on the right a shallow well too.

Storage in the boot was impressive; the Allspace is slightly longer than the regular Tiguan and so when you're only using five seats it could hold 15 shopping bags rather than the 12 shopping bags the regular model's boot held. That is two bags less than the Hyundai Santa Fe, which held seventeen shopping bags.

The Mountain Buggy Duet twin stroller fitted with five shopping bags alongside it.

With the Britax Flexx tandem stroller in the boot, I can get eight shopping bags in around it.

With the Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle single stroller in the boot, I fitted eight shopping bags in with it.

The Mountain Buggy Nano compact stroller fitted with eleven shopping bags around it.

The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.

Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.

I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.

When using all seven seats in the Tiguan Allspace, the boot is much smaller but it would still hold five shopping bags. That is the same as the Hyundai Santa Fe and one less than the Mazda CX-8.

The Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle just fitted in the boot with a wheel removed and without any bags.

The Mountain Buggy Nano fitted with three shopping bags, but no other strollers fitted.

There is a removable torch on the right side of the boot like you would find in a Skoda and there is also a bag hook.

There is a 12V socket on the left side and a deep well below it which I found useful for putting things in that I needed to keep separated from the rest of the boot, such as a bag of wet swimmers, water bottles or shoes from a beach day out.

There are levers on both sides of the boot for bringing each of the rear seatbacks forward individually (split 40:20:40). In the car I tested, these didn't actually work and when I used the lever on the shoulder of the seat back instead to pull the seat back forward, it started to come off in my hand so it didn't feel like the same build quality as the previous Tiguan I had tested.

The retractable roller blind is stored underneath the boot floor and when the roller blind is not stored away you can also use this area to keep items stored away in out of sight.

The boot floor is carpeted and flat and would make for a very good emergency nappy change!!

The front and rear sensors in the Tiguan Allspace do have a very loud, baby waking, beeping noise to alert you to hazards but that can thankfully be muted with the touch of a button on the screen!

You get these two great camera views you can then touch on the side of the car you want to view from and the main visual will change! The settings are not remembered, so you need to press mute each time.

Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!

That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.

If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?

It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?

A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.

Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!

I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.

The indicator volume in the Tiguan I don't think is loud enough to disturb a sleeping child and I didn't have to avoid junctions when driving my daughter to sleep!

The sat nav voice volume is completely in your control! When you bring your hand towards the media screen, a row of menu buttons appear at the bottom and the announcements button brings up a sliding volume scale or a simple touch will mute and un-mute the voice. This is a fantastic and easy to use feature, allowing you to mute the sound for as long as you don't need it, as I find most often it is only the last five minutes of a journey I actually need the sat nav.

You can also view your sat nav map in the screen in front of your steering wheel.

The Tiguan has Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and Mirror Link, which made connecting my phone to it really nice and simple.

The doors of the Tiguan shut with such a loud bang! It is a real surprise and to continue their baby waking there is a REALLY loud beeping alert if you try to pull off with the driver's door ajar. It is a little bit excessive I think and would definitely wake anyone sleeping!

The window mechanisms are not too noisy, they close with a little clunk but nothing like the doors!!

The doors and windows can be locked by buttons in the driver's door control panel.

The Tiguan has auto engine cut out, where the steering wheel locks when it cuts out. I was more used to it this time but when I drove the regular Tiguan I found a little disturbing on a few occasions when in queues of traffic that were still moving very slowly and the engine cut out, which caused the steering to lock. It was such a weird sensation as if the car had cut out altogether. As the car was still rolling and amongst the traffic I wanted to be in control of the steering wheel. This can be quite disturbing for little passengers as the vibrations of the driving are often what helps them get to sleep. You can turn the auto engine cut out off with a button next to the gear lever.

The road and engine noise in the Tiguan is good. The R-Line is a sportier ride than the regular Tiguan.

The seatbelt removal alarm in the Tiguan is nice and loud! It will definitely alert you to any passenger removing their belt and flash up in the driver display!!

You can come to a stop in the Tiguan, put it in park, remove your seatbelt and open the door and no alarm will go off. If you forget to put it into park then a very loud alarm will go off when you open the door, that will wake your sleeping baby!!

The regular Tiguan is a really comfortable five-seater. This seven-seater Allspace I think is still a very comfortable five-seater! The third-row seats really are not very practical, the seat bases are really short and only came halfway along my thighs, there was very little knee room and my hair touched on the ceiling (I am only 162cm). Accessing the third row is also a problem as the second-row seats are split 60:40 and the kerbside is the 60%, so you actually have to uninstall two child seats in order to access the third-row seats! CRAZY!!

There are also no ISOFix or top tethers in the third-row seats so I could not install any child seats there.

In the second row seats, there are ISO Fix in the two outer seats, they are within plastic guides in-between the seat base and back. They are really easy to connect to.

There are top tether anchor points for all three rear seats, they are situated in the seat backs, I found them best accessed bringing the seat backs forward as I couldn't quite reach through the boot.

The back seats in the Tiguan have a really nice, flat base and are simply upholstered.

When I first saw the seats' simplicity I thought these will be good for fitting child seats and I was right! I can get three child seats nice and easily across the second row, although the seat base could do with being an inch or two wider as the child seats had to move out right to the edges. I did try a different combination of child seats and they didn't fit so it is important to check your child seats will fit.

Fitting the child seats really was nice and simple, I fitted the Britax Maxi Guard Pro forward-facing booster seat in the central seat and the Britax Unity infants capsule rear facing and Britax Graphene rear facing in each of the outer seats all using seatbelts.

The second-row headrests are not removable which I know for fitting some child seats is an issue.

Accessing the middle booster seat was really good in the Tiguan Allspace, as the front passenger seat folds right forward so that you can step through to the back easily. I even found I could reach through that way to fasten their seatbelt relatively easily!

The child seats really were at the limits of the car seat base and you would need to test your child seats to make sure your three would all fit in the width of the seat.

The seat belt buckles in the rear seat base are stored away in the seat base but stick up on really firm stalks, I found they were well positioned for the child seat installation and they didn't stick into your bottom sitting in the central seat!

When posting bub into their rear-facing child seat from outside, the Tiguan Allspace is REALLY good! The doorways are really nice and big with plenty of space. From inside the ceiling is high too allowing lots of space to post from inside the car too.

Australia being a country of weather extremes blazing sun and torrential rain means you may find it easier to put bub into their seat from inside the car. If it’s hot you can get the aircon going, cool the car down and not stand out in the heat with the door open while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether bub can be easily installed from either direction.

With just one child seat installed there is plenty of room in the second-row for feeding bub.

The seats in this model are black leather or pleather with minimal fuss. These would be easier to keep clean with children spilling food and drinks on them compared with woven and suede-like upholstery on some Tiguans, which will be harder to wipe clean.

The front seats in the Tiguan Allspace R-Line I found more comfortable than in the regular Tiguan.

With electronic controls in the Tiguan Allspace, the seats felt much comfier.

The front headrests even have a button in the side of them so you bring them forward or back, which was really good as it allowed me to wear a ponytail!!

I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get it just right too… said no new mum ever!!!

The second-row seats are very comfortable, the central seat is not too bad at all even though it has the armrest in the seat back. There was the room with a rear-facing child seat installed in both outer seats for me to travel in the central seat quite comfortably. There is a hump in the footwell that my feet had to straddle.

The second-row seats can slide forward and back on a 60:40 split to redistribute the legroom, with a rear-facing infant capsule installed the front passenger had 22cm of knee room but the third-row seats really didn't have any legroom.

The steering wheel is fully adjustable in/out and up/down, with a manual lever underneath the steering wheel.

The cruise control in the Tiguan Allspace is FANTASTIC! It was exceptionally good on my test route on undulating roads at 60kmph. It only went over or under the set speed by 1km or 2kms which is very unusual in all the cars I test.

The controls are on the left-hand side of the steering wheel and are nice and simple to use.

There are four air vents in the front of the car, two in the centre of the dashboard and one at either end.

The front air-conditioning controls are positioned underneath the media screen and are very easy to reach and use whilst driving.

In the back, there are two air vents in the back of the central console storage box and the controls for the rear heated seats are positioned there too, they are reachable whilst driving to adjust if need be for little passengers. There is a 12V and USB socket underneath them too!

One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Tulsi has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread when we get the big cars or utes as they take longer to park, in our tight apartment block carpark, the Tiguan was really easy and enjoyable to drive and to park!

Visibility is actually really good in the Tiguan for the first two rows on board! For the driver visibility out of the front, sides and rear windows I found really great! The third-row passengers I think would feel claustrophobic just because of how cramped it is back there.

The best bit was for second-row passengers forward and rear facing those windows in the back come down low enough they can really see out. Our daughter had a great view and it was lovely she could see all the things outside that we always talk about the type of the car we're in really affects view she gets!!

Parking the Tiguan Allspace was good, the view out of the back is good and the reversing camera is excellent with a clear, high-resolution image that combined makes it easy.

The Tiguan is a smooth car to drive, the steering feels light and the turning circle is good, it is an enjoyable car to drive. The ride in the regular Tiguan could sometimes feel a little bumpy but the Allspace R-Line has a sportier styling and thinner tyres which makes for a much harder and bumpier ride especially on certain road surfaces but apart from that, it's a great drive around town and on the open road!

There are lit vanity mirrors on both sides in the front.

The interior lights in the front are in the control panel in the ceiling, there is also a button there to turn the rear lights on and off too. The rear lights are in the centre of the ceiling but too far back for me to reach from the front so the button in the front is a fantastic BabyDrive feature!

I often will reach back to turn on the interior light if I am driving at night time, I find my little girl gets less distressed traveling at night that way. It helps if I can reach the interior light from the drivers seat so I can turn it on and off whilst driving. I often find my daughter will need it on as we start our journey in the dark but once she falls asleep I can turn it off.

It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.

The VW Tiguan has a five-star ANCAP safety rating. In testing it scored 80% for child occupancy protection, 96% for adult occupancy protection and 68% for safety assist technology.

The Tiguan comes with seven airbags as standard. Both front passengers get front and side chest airbags, a drivers knee airbag and side curtain airbags extend to the rear passengers as well.

As standard, the Tiguan Allspace comes with intelligent seat belt reminders for all three rows of seats, tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS), daytime running lights (DRL), antilock braking system (ABS), automatic headlights, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), electronic stability control (ESC), emergency brake assist (EBA), fatigue detection, following distance warning, hill launch assist, lane keep assist (LKA), speed assistance – manual speed limiting/alarm, reversing collision avoidance and secondary collision brake assist.

The top-spec model comes with lane departure warning (LDW) and blind spot monitoring (BSM), adaptive cruise control (ACC), adaptive front lighting systems,