WORTH THE GIRTH

BEING A CHUBBY CHASER OF HIGHER PROFILE RUBBER HAS ITS BENEFITS

- MIKE STEVENS

VOLKSWAGEN TIGUAN ALLSPACE ADVENTURE

Price as tested $54,990

This month 1282km @ 8.9L/100km

Overall 2406km @ 9.1L/100km

THE TIGUAN ALLSPACE Adventure is available with just one engine - Volkswagen's '162TSI' 162kW/350Nm 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder petrol mill, which makes up more than 50 percent of Tiguan sales.

It's a familiar powertrain for those in the know with Volkswagen Group product, having starred in the Golf GTI hot hatch for so long, as well as the Passat and the Skoda Superb, Octavia RS, the Audi A4, and... well, it's a long list.

In some applications - like the Golf GTI and Octavia RS - the 162kW unit can be considered a hot to hottish heart, but in bigger models like the Tiguan, it's more on the warm side. A very good warm, mind you, with a 0-100km/h time of 6.8 seconds. Until the new 235kW hero R model arrived on the scene, this 162 was already a very well-regarded flagship engine matched by very few rivals for power.

So, if you're going to equip a new variant with just one engine option, it's a great choice. In the Adventure, as it is in Elegance and R-Line form, the 162TSI is matched to Volkswagen's 4Motion all-wheel-drive system and seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission - with a proper Sport mode!

Unlike those two variants, however, the Adventure trim gets smaller 17-inch wheels rather than the Elegance's 18s or the R-Line's positively massive 20-inch hoops. (The boss R model? 21s on that.)