The New Volkswagen Tiguan Is a Huge Step In the Right Direction: Review
Volkswagen’s compact SUV finally feels like a real competitor.
The Volkswagen Tiguan has always been one of the better compact SUVs in its class, but even after 18 years on the market, it’s never quite matched the dominance of rivals like those from Honda or Toyota. That could change with the all-new 2025 Tiguan, which makes massive strides to better compete with the CR-V and RAV4.
With sleek styling and a well-equipped interior, the new Tiguan checks all the right boxes. Built on VW’s versatile MQB Evo platform, the updated model is 170 pounds lighter than its predecessor. Inside, it features higher-quality materials, a cleaner layout, and a large central touchscreen.
Power comes from an updated turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, featuring a new turbo and a revised fuel-injection system. Output rises to 201 horsepower (up from 184), and torque improves to 221 lb-ft of torque (or 207 pound-feet on the front-drive model).
Overall, the new Tiguan is an excellent SUV.
2025 Volkswagen Tiguan Pros
- Sharp Exterior Design
- High-Quality Interior
- Surprisingly Fun
- There’s a Volume Knob
The previous Tiguan was never much of a looker, but the new model is genuinely sharp. While the large gloss-black grille might not appeal to everyone, the overall design is clean, cohesive, and uncontroversial.
Up front, slim LED headlights are connected by a narrow light bar that stretches across the hoodline, giving the Tiguan a modern, upscale appearance. At the rear, a distinctive taillight design and an (optional) illuminated VW logo assure you won’t confuse the Tiguan for a CR-V.
Inside, the cabin is nice—really nice. This fully loaded SEL R-Line trim comes standard with perforated leather seats, ambient lighting, and a massive 15.0-inch touchscreen. Materials throughout the cabin feel premium for the class, with wood accents and high-quality plastics on the dash and door panels adding to the upscale feel.
Power from the turbocharged engine is sent through an eight-speed automatic transmission, with front-wheel drive standard and VW’s 4Motion all-wheel drive system available. The model tested here came equipped with AWD.
In typical VW fashion, the Tiguan is a pretty fun thing to fling around. The turbocharged engine delivers strong low-end torque while still providing enough power higher in the rev range for effortless highway passes. The eight-speed automatic shifts quickly and effortlessly, too.
And finally—yes, there’s a volume knob. Despite adopting VW’s latest infotainment interface (complete with its typical touch-capacitive controls), the Tiguan has a physical volume knob just behind the gear selector. It doubles as a drive mode selector and proves to be surprisingly useful in everyday driving.
2025 Volkswagen Tiguan Cons
- Still Not Enough Buttons
- Somewhat Stiff Ride
As welcome as the Tiguan’s new volume knob is, it doesn’t fully make up for the abundance of touch-capacitive controls. While the steering wheel thankfully replaces the previous controls with real buttons, you still have to deal with finicky touch-sensitive sliders below the touchscreen for adjusting fan speed, temperature, and other basic functions. It’s still very annoying.
Also mildly annoying is the ride quality. The Tiguan isn’t an uncomfortable SUV by any means, but it rides firmer than some of its competitors and doesn’t handle rough pavement or speed bumps nearly as well. That could be due in part to the 20-inch wheels on this SEL R-Line model; drop down to the base model’s 17-inch shoes, and ride quality should improve.
2025 Volkswagen Tiguan Verdict
Frankly, there’s not much to complain about with the new Volkswagen Tiguan. It looks sharp, offers a refined and comfortable interior, and is genuinely enjoyable to drive. At $30,920 to start for 2025 (with destination included), it’s still a bargain, too.
While the touch-capacitive controls and slightly firm ride may annoy some, those flaws are easy to overlook in an SUV that gets so much right otherwise. Honda and Toyota—watch your backs.
Tiguan Competitors
The Lucid Air Feels Like Nothing Else: Review
The Lucid Air feels very much like a car from a startup. That’s good and bad.
Photo by: Chris Perkins / Motor1
By: Chris Perkins
Aug 25, at 12:30pm ET
Share
Comment
The Lucid Air doesn’t feel like anything else on the road. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand, the Air is one of the best-driving, most efficient cars currently on the market, and that counts for a lot. But it’s also not without its quirks.
Lucid began Air deliveries in 2021, but the car still feels fresh, thanks to constant hardware and software tweaks. During a long weekend with this Air Touring, I installed a software update that enabled a new hands-free driver assist functionality that comes as part of the $6,750 DreamDrive Pro package. I’ve been reviewing cars for a decade, and that’s the first time I’ve ever been able to install such a big update during a test.
| Quick Specs | 2025 Lucid Air Touring |
| Battery | 92.0-Kilowatt-Hour Lithium Ion |
| Output | 620 Horsepower / 885 Pound-Feet |
| 0-60 MPH | 3.4 Seconds |
| Range | 406 Miles |
| Base Price / As Tested | $80,400 / $101,850 |
Still, I’m more interested in driving with my hands than without them, and the Air remains superb to drive. There’s a bit of old-school BMW in how the Air goes down the road. The handling is excellent, but that never comes at the expense of ride quality. It’s just the right amount of firm yet compliant in all three of its drive modes: Smooth, Swift, and Sprint. Everything feels in harmony.
I was lucky enough to meet a number of Lucid engineers earlier this year, and it’s obvious they’re true car enthusiasts. Though that fact is obvious just by driving the Air itself, it’s clear that the people who honed the Air’s dynamics love driving.
This Air Touring falls in the middle of the lineup, yet it still has an astonishing 620 horsepower. Sure, that’s around half (!) as much as the Air Sapphire, but there is no world where you need more. Honestly, the car would be fine with even less. It just zaps from place to place in an instant in a fit of overkill. Still, Lucid gets points for calibrating the accelerator pedal so it’s not jumpy. It’s not hard to drive sedately.
Pros: Superb Ride & Handling, More Power Than You’ll Ever Need, Incredible Efficiency
One thing I wish the Air had was a blended brake pedal. The only way to get energy-saving regenerative braking is through one-pedal driving. While the calibration of the system is very good, drivers who prefer braking with the brake pedal shouldn’t have to sacrifice efficiency, or use one-pedal.
Lucid’s whole thing is efficiency, and this Air makes a lot out of a little. I averaged around 4.0 miles-per-kilowatt-hour over 600 miles of highway, city, and country-road driving, and while that’s excellent, it would do much better without the sun heating the cabin through the glass roof, forcing me to run the air-conditioning pretty hard. Still, that translates to about 362 miles of range, and while that’s a little off the EPA estimate of 406 miles, it’s remarkable considering this is a fast, luxurious car. One with an interior that was getting heated by long summer days.
The Air is also space-efficient. An Air is about the same size as a BMW 5 Series or Mercedes E-Class, but the interior space is palatial, and there’s a ton of room in both front and rear trunks. It’s a cool interior, too, with the neat curved display panel for gauge cluster and infotainment, and then a separate lower panel for other vehicle/infotainment functions. Still, there are at least nice physical controls for temperature, fan speed, and radio volume.
The infotainment system is responsive, but it’s not the easiest to learn, and some functions are needlessly complicated. Switching the display to show range vs battery percentage requires digging into the settings menu, when the car should clearly just show both at all times. Lucid’s minimalism also means that steering-wheel and mirror controls are in the lower touchscreen as well, which is just irritating.
Cons: Build-Quality Issues, Buggy, Confusing Infotainment, No Blended Brake Pedal
Some of the interior materials don’t feel quite worthy of the Air Touring’s $80,000 base price, let alone the $100,000 of this tester. The brightwork is mostly plastic, for example. And the build quality is spotty in parts, with loose-fitting panels and various squeaks and rattles present. Outside, the panel gaps are also huge and inconsistent.
The hands-free driver assist system didn’t leave me convinced either. Generally, it worked well, but from time to time, it would ping-pong between lane lines, which left me second-guessing the way it handled traffic. Still, the highways of the Northeast aren’t the best for using any driver-assistance systems, as the roads are fairly narrow and windy, with lots of traffic.
This very much feels like a car from a startup. It’s quirkier than most, and build-quality issues and software bugs are evident. But I found myself quite enamored with it. That’s an easier position for me to be in, given I didn’t spend $100,000 on the thing, but there is so much compelling engineering here. It’s one of the best-driving luxury cars on the market, and its efficiency—in all senses of the word—is remarkable.
There’s a strange calculus here. The Lucid Air has a very specific appeal—it’s for people who value fine engineering, clever thinking, and efficiency. Other than, uh, not being able to afford one, in a lot of ways, I’m the target customer, a car enthusiast looking for a luxury daily driver. But I also know that I am not the norm.
Another car enthusiast friend openly wondered if the appeal of this car is too niche. You have to be into cars in a very specific way to see why the Air is worth so much money, and why its peculiarities are worth forgiving.
The Air isn’t like any other car out there. For better, and for worse.
Competitors
The Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Precision Package Is the Answer: Video Review
The CT5-V Blackwing was already one of the sharpest sport sedans ever made. The Precision Package makes it a handling nerd’s dream.
Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Review | BMW M5 Who?!
Watch More
Photo by: Ralph Hermens | Motor1
By: Chris Perkins
Aug 23, at 10:00am ET
Share
5
Comments
It’s impossible not to love the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing. It’s a sport sedan with a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8, a six-speed manual transmission, and one of the best rear-wheel drive chassis out there. With the new Precision Package, which brings a thoroughly revised suspension and carbon-ceramic brakes, the CT5-V Blackwing is just about perfect.
Compared with the likes of the Audi RS6 / RS7 and the new BMW M5, the Cadillac is the lightweight of the group, at a little over 4,000 pounds. That, plus a helping of GM’s typically expert chassis tuning, makes the Blackwing one of the best cars in the world with which to carve up a canyon road. It’ll do big, dumb burnouts like any old American muscle car—668 horsepower to the rear tires ensures this—but this car is all about handling.
The Precision Package is a spendy bit of equipment, though, at $18,000. For that, you get carbon-ceramic brakes, stiffer springs and sway bars, retuned MagneRide dampers, new steering knuckles, and the option of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires. On the road, the car is notably stiffer than the standard variant, but not so much so that it becomes unusable.
Really, the biggest problem with the CT5-V Blackwing is just how fast it is. At the top of second gear, you’ll be breaking almost every speed limit in the country, and even if you don’t use all the revs, it’s all too easy to get into license-suspension territory. Don’t buy one of these if you don’t have a healthy sense of restraint.
Seeing and hearing is believing with the CT5-V Blackwing, so check out our latest video review above. You’re going to want one of these things.
M0809031_Jim Kilby on Reels_part2
Leave a Reply
Logged in as admin79. Edit your profile. Log out? Required fields are marked *
Comment *
The 2025 BMW M5 Touring Is Absurd and Great: Review
This is one of the most bizarre cars on sale today. I can’t help but be fond of it.
Photo by: Chris Perkins / Motor1
By: Chris Perkins
Aug 19, at 12:00pm ET
Share
9
Comments
Does any new car come with more baggage than the latest BMW M5? The name carries with it the weight of huge expectations, and in case you hadn’t heard, the new M5 simply carries a huge weight—5,390 pounds for the sedan and 5,530 pounds for the Touring wagon. A lot of people have made up their minds about this car, and they’re not fans.
So, it’s impossible to go into this car without expectations. The least I can do is approach the M5 Touring with an open mind and judge it on its merits. I’ll cut to the chase: The M5 Touring is brilliant. And compromised.
| Quick Specs | 2025 BMW M5 Touring |
| Engine | 4.4-Liter Twin-Turbo V-8 Plus Electric Motor |
| Output | 717 Horsepower / 738 Pound-Feet |
| 0-60 MPH | 3.2 Seconds |
| Base Price / As Tested | $125,275 / $140,775 |
As a quick refresher, the new M5 takes the previous car’s formula—twin-turbo V-8, eight-speed automatic transmission, all-wheel drive—and adds hybridity to it. A 14.8-kilowatt-hour battery pack built into the floor powers a 194-horsepower electric motor sandwiched between the engine and transmission. Total output is 717 hp and 738 pound-feet of torque, while the all-electric driving range is 25 miles.
The M5 drives like a big M3. BMW’s latest generation of M cars have a super sharp front end and wonderfully neutral handling balance. I figured, given its weight and size, the M5 would feel pretty different, but I was astonished at how similar this thing felt. It’s agile in a way it has no right to be, and even at reasonable road speeds, it’s very throttle-adjustable. I kind of couldn’t believe it.
On narrow country lanes, it still feels big, of course, but get the M5 out on faster, flowing roads and it comes into its own. The grip is immense, and you get a good sense of what the car is doing through the seat of your pants. Even the steering is good, with a very natural weight buildup off-center that communicates what the huge front Pirellis are feeling. Braking is excellent, too, on these $8,500 carbon-ceramics, and the brake pedal is well-tuned to the point that you don’t even know it’s blending friction and regenerative braking.
Pros: Astonishing Handling, Powerful, Well-Integrated Hybrid, Wagon Practicality / Cool-Factor
Then there’s the speed. The electric torque helps with transient response, and the engine loves to rev in typical BMW fashion. The twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 even sounds pretty tuneful with the eight-speed gearbox cracking off shifts with absolute smoothness and precision. At no point does the M5 feel like it’ll stop accelerating either. Triple-digit speeds are all too easy here.
But with the M5 Touring, you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. The ride is firm, unbearably so at times. BMW doesn’t use any fancy suspension tech here—no adjustable anti-roll bars, air springs, or a fully active system like Porsche’s—just steel springs and adaptive dampers.
The damping is well judged, but there’s so much spring and anti-roll bar here to control the weight and make the M5 turn like anything worth a damn. Even expansion joints can send a jolt through the cabin, and on New York City’s crumbling streets, the M5 is plain uncomfortable.
On some level, I can understand why BMW tuned the M5 like this. The handling is astonishing for a vehicle of this type, and you’re never in any doubt that you’re in an M car. But at the same time, shouldn’t an M5, of all things, offer a blend of ride and handling? It’s a luxury car that, in the case of the Touring, costs $127,675. And in truth, the lighter M3 rides better.
That’s about it for major faults, though. The only other criticism I have is that there are a lot of drive modes to manage when you add in the five settings for the hybrid system on top of the typical customizations for steering, suspension, transmission, etc. Oh, and the driver’s seat in this tester was creaky after just 9,000 miles of use.
The hybrid system can benefit efficiency, too, despite this surely being one of the only hybrids on the market subject to a Gas Guzzler tax. At least in the kind of driving I do, mixing Metro New York highways and city streets, with a full battery and the lower average speeds typical of the area, you can exceed 30 miles per gallon.
Even with a dead battery, I managed 28 mpg on a drive from Westchester back into Brooklyn. It’s no Prius, and if you’re driving super hard, using the engine to charge the battery, it will drink fuel prodigiously, but it’s way more efficient than I was expecting.
Cons: Incredibly Firm Ride, Too Many Drive Modes, Need To Keep Battery Charged For Decent MPG
With time, I grew fonder of the M5 Touring. I think it being a wagon helped, not just because of the added practicality, but because of the incongruity of the thing. What a strange world we live in, where we’ve arrived at an enormous, 700-plus-hp BMW station wagon with bulging fender flares, a gaping maw, and a bright orange interior.
It’s bizarre, and undeniably cool. In this shade of Isle of Man Green, the M5 Touring has serious presence, even making E63 Wagons and RS6 Avants look understated. It gets tons of positive attention, since it isn’t like anything else on the road. So much of the hate this car gets online just doesn’t translate to the real world, where people aren’t so fussed about spec sheets. There’s a magnetism here—every time I get out of it, I look back at it.
The ride quality is a big drawback here. It’s livable on nicer roads, but if you live where the roads are tough, it’s too much. But I find myself falling in love with the M5 in spite of it.
Nothing else is quite so impressive from an engineering standpoint, while also being downright goofy. An M5 that turns like an M3, a Gas-Guzzling hybrid, a practical station wagon that accelerates like a supercar, a performance car that weighs as much as a full-size pickup. It is ridiculous and sublime.
Competitors
Gallery: 2025 BMW M5 Touring Review
