Photos: New Volkswagen Tiguan targets RAV4, CR-V, X-Trail

VW's baby four-wheel drive, the Tiguan, looks like a three-quarter scale of the Touareg but, in truth, it's a jacked up and toughened up Golf.

Derek Fung

Derek loves nothing more than punching a remote location into a GPS, queuing up some music and heading out on a long drive, so it's a good thing he's in charge of CNET Australia's Car Tech channel.

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Derek Fung

May 28, 2008 7:17 p.m. PT

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VW's baby four-wheel drive, the Tiguan, looks like a three-quarter scale of the Touareg but, in truth, it's a jacked up and toughened up Golf.

What exactly is a Tiguan?
As you can see it's a small four-wheel drive, pitched in the same size class as the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V and Nissan X-Trail. Like those other "cute utes", the Tiguan is based on a car — in this case the Golf — not a truck. Prices start from AU$33,990.

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No, really, what's a Tiguan?
According to VW, it's an amalgam of tiger and iguana. It's still not as obscure as the Tiguan's big daddy, the Volkswagen Touareg, which is named after the nomadic Tuareg tribe who inhabit the Sahara.

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Tiguan innards
The Tiguan's interior is taken from the Europe-only Golf Plus model — think Golf, but slightly taller. It does, however, debut VW's new (optional) hard drive satellite navigation system. Sad to see, in this digital age, that iPod connectivity and Bluetooth hands-free are also on the options list.

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TSI or TDI, take your pick
Initially the Tiguan's engine options will be a 103kW 2.0-litre turbo-diesel, and two variants &mdash 125kW and 147kW &mdash of the 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine. The diesels will be here any day now, but the petrol models won't arrive until sometime in Q3 2008.