Discussion
A slightly unworthy PH car but I thought I would start a new readers car thread to document ownership experience. Bit of background, this was purchased just before lockdown for my wife to replace her very old Ford Focus 2.0tdci Ghia with 170k miles! We still have the focus and it will get weighed in depending if it fails the next MOT which I suspect it will.
We have a little one and the Tig is ffectively the second car she has owned, I'm not usually a fan of SUVs preferring an estate, but I sold my Jag XF Sportbrake to get this for her and have a bit of a car shuffle. We will probably make do with 1 car for a bit but the plan is for me to then get something else, probably a 130i or another Golf R32 - I have an addiction with them.
It's a Sept 2010 2.0 TSI R Line with 200bhp and 7 sp DSG box. I'm led to beleive very few petrol 2.0 TSIs were made in the gen 1 Tiguan with most going for diesels. Indeed we were looking at the TDIs but wanted R Line trim as they look more purposeful, come with sturdy 19 inch wheels, slightly stiffer suspension, sportier seats etc. No diesels came up near us and a busy home work life meant I wasnt willing to travel miles and miles for one. When this TSI came up not too far I convinced myself we didnt need a diesel anymore!
It's on 37k miles, 2 owner car, has full VW service History, haldex oil changed in time etc. Its a pretty bland spec with cloth rather leather but does have a RNS510 Nav with SD card, reverse camera and quite an old parrot phone kit. But no parking sensors so will see how that works out.. Needless to say my wife is very happy with it and it's a decent step up from the Focus, there are however a couple of issues to sort with it. The air con doesnt work and sat nav map is stuck in Germany.
It was sold via a dealer which I usually hate as many hide stuff and do minimal prep before sticking it up for sale, at least buying privately you can generally tell alot about a cars history and its owner. Now according to the history it had an air con service at VW last Aug about 2k miles ago. I was a little suspicious as when I tested it when we viewed i couldn't hear it engage or fan come on but put it down to it being 5c. Anyway, I suspect it's either the clutch plate spinning on the shaft which wears over time which is a cheap DIY fix, a leak or worse case compressor itself.
It's going in for a DSG oil change next week so will get the garage to diagnose ac issue. With the sat nav I've read it's either the goes antenna or aerial. Tried resetting it but made no difference. We may look to upgrade the head unit and just making do with Google maps on phone for now.
As per my old Mk 5 Golf GTI which liked a sip of oil, I'm keeping an eye on levels, in the 1000 miles we have done so far its only used about 250ml so not too bad. First impressions are very good, and I wasnt expecting it to handle so well for an SUV. I am aware these engines run from a chain and the tensioners can fail, ours is running smoothly with no rattles, let's hope it stays that way. I think you can upgrade the tensioners to later revisions.
We have a little one and the Tig is ffectively the second car she has owned, I'm not usually a fan of SUVs preferring an estate, but I sold my Jag XF Sportbrake to get this for her and have a bit of a car shuffle. We will probably make do with 1 car for a bit but the plan is for me to then get something else, probably a 130i or another Golf R32 - I have an addiction with them.
It's a Sept 2010 2.0 TSI R Line with 200bhp and 7 sp DSG box. I'm led to beleive very few petrol 2.0 TSIs were made in the gen 1 Tiguan with most going for diesels. Indeed we were looking at the TDIs but wanted R Line trim as they look more purposeful, come with sturdy 19 inch wheels, slightly stiffer suspension, sportier seats etc. No diesels came up near us and a busy home work life meant I wasnt willing to travel miles and miles for one. When this TSI came up not too far I convinced myself we didnt need a diesel anymore!
It's on 37k miles, 2 owner car, has full VW service History, haldex oil changed in time etc. Its a pretty bland spec with cloth rather leather but does have a RNS510 Nav with SD card, reverse camera and quite an old parrot phone kit. But no parking sensors so will see how that works out.. Needless to say my wife is very happy with it and it's a decent step up from the Focus, there are however a couple of issues to sort with it. The air con doesnt work and sat nav map is stuck in Germany.
It was sold via a dealer which I usually hate as many hide stuff and do minimal prep before sticking it up for sale, at least buying privately you can generally tell alot about a cars history and its owner. Now according to the history it had an air con service at VW last Aug about 2k miles ago. I was a little suspicious as when I tested it when we viewed i couldn't hear it engage or fan come on but put it down to it being 5c. Anyway, I suspect it's either the clutch plate spinning on the shaft which wears over time which is a cheap DIY fix, a leak or worse case compressor itself.
It's going in for a DSG oil change next week so will get the garage to diagnose ac issue. With the sat nav I've read it's either the goes antenna or aerial. Tried resetting it but made no difference. We may look to upgrade the head unit and just making do with Google maps on phone for now.
As per my old Mk 5 Golf GTI which liked a sip of oil, I'm keeping an eye on levels, in the 1000 miles we have done so far its only used about 250ml so not too bad. First impressions are very good, and I wasnt expecting it to handle so well for an SUV. I am aware these engines run from a chain and the tensioners can fail, ours is running smoothly with no rattles, let's hope it stays that way. I think you can upgrade the tensioners to later revisions.
As we have done 10k miles in the last 12 months, thought I would update the thread. It's used no oil at all which was a nice surprise.
Wifes focus has been scrapped, so this was our only car for a while. I will be buying something for myself again shortly.
Fitted 2 new Avon ZV7 tyres on the front and did a 4 wheel alignment.
Given the timing chain tensioners like to eat themselves on these and I couldn't see any record of them being updated, I decided to bite the bullet and get them done with the latest variant. I decided to go to VRS in Northampton given their knowledge of VAG cars. Whilst there they replaced the chain too, new front discs and pads, front control arm bushes, oil service, spark plugs and coils and gave it a general check over.
Pleased to report it was in great shape, so asked them to stick an APR stage 1 map on. Standard these are supposed to be 200bhp and 207 lb ft, it made 200bhp and 225 lb ft. Post map it's now 250bhp and 313 lb ft. Goes well now.
Just need to get the air con sorted, we had it working for a bit but now its stopped again.
Wifes focus has been scrapped, so this was our only car for a while. I will be buying something for myself again shortly.
Fitted 2 new Avon ZV7 tyres on the front and did a 4 wheel alignment.
Given the timing chain tensioners like to eat themselves on these and I couldn't see any record of them being updated, I decided to bite the bullet and get them done with the latest variant. I decided to go to VRS in Northampton given their knowledge of VAG cars. Whilst there they replaced the chain too, new front discs and pads, front control arm bushes, oil service, spark plugs and coils and gave it a general check over.
Pleased to report it was in great shape, so asked them to stick an APR stage 1 map on. Standard these are supposed to be 200bhp and 207 lb ft, it made 200bhp and 225 lb ft. Post map it's now 250bhp and 313 lb ft. Goes well now.
Just need to get the air con sorted, we had it working for a bit but now its stopped again.
How are you finding the Tiguan now?
We are looking at buying a manual model this week.
A 2013 but higher miles than yours (80k).
Also coming from a previous MK5 golf I was worried about the oil usage, so was glad to hear about yours not using much.
How much was your tensioner change?
This one being a 2013, I’m hoping it already has the revised tensioner.
Will also be looking at a remap too, although ours is a little bit longer in the tooth. If it needs a turbo a hybrid can be had for around £600 on exchange that will tune to 350BHP (with a similar torque figure) that will run on standard fuel system on these too (albeit we may need a clutch).
Hopefully we will have a Tiguan ‘Gti’ of our own fairly shortly
Ollie
We are looking at buying a manual model this week.
A 2013 but higher miles than yours (80k).
Also coming from a previous MK5 golf I was worried about the oil usage, so was glad to hear about yours not using much.
How much was your tensioner change?
This one being a 2013, I’m hoping it already has the revised tensioner.
Will also be looking at a remap too, although ours is a little bit longer in the tooth. If it needs a turbo a hybrid can be had for around £600 on exchange that will tune to 350BHP (with a similar torque figure) that will run on standard fuel system on these too (albeit we may need a clutch).
Hopefully we will have a Tiguan ‘Gti’ of our own fairly shortly
Ollie
olliel said:
How are you finding the Tiguan now?
We are looking at buying a manual model this week.
A 2013 but higher miles than yours (80k).
Also coming from a previous MK5 golf I was worried about the oil usage, so was glad to hear about yours not using much.
How much was your tensioner change?
This one being a 2013, I’m hoping it already has the revised tensioner.
Will also be looking at a remap too, although ours is a little bit longer in the tooth. If it needs a turbo a hybrid can be had for around £600 on exchange that will tune to 350BHP (with a similar torque figure) that will run on standard fuel system on these too (albeit we may need a clutch).
Hopefully we will have a Tiguan ‘Gti’ of our own fairly shortly
Ollie
The car is running really well post map, had a slight issue with a hesitation on partial throttle but VRS did a live data log whilst driving and it turned out to be non genuine sparks and coils, swapped them over and issue gone. We are looking at buying a manual model this week.
A 2013 but higher miles than yours (80k).
Also coming from a previous MK5 golf I was worried about the oil usage, so was glad to hear about yours not using much.
How much was your tensioner change?
This one being a 2013, I’m hoping it already has the revised tensioner.
Will also be looking at a remap too, although ours is a little bit longer in the tooth. If it needs a turbo a hybrid can be had for around £600 on exchange that will tune to 350BHP (with a similar torque figure) that will run on standard fuel system on these too (albeit we may need a clutch).
Hopefully we will have a Tiguan ‘Gti’ of our own fairly shortly
Ollie
I'm not sure theres much point tuning these cars to more than 250bhp as you then have to look at brakes (noticed ours is a bit lacking since remap despite fitting new discs and pads at time), suspension, exhaust, air intake and cooling. The best bit about stage 1 is it uses all the standard hardware. It's still an SUV at the end of a day and not a hot hatch.
The 7 sp DSG is the dq500 so can handle quite a bit of torque providing you keep on top of oil changes.
I'd check the 2013 MY doesn't already have the revised tensioners. Think they updated in 2012 and again in 2014. Just checked the invoice and I got them to do the chain at the same time whilst they were in there, one less thing to worry about. It was £379 for labour and about £325 for parts so chain, gaskets, tensioners, guides, bolts plus vat.
The MPG is actually worse around town than my R32, prob about 25 mpg, up to about 32mpg on motorway at a steady 70, but we dont do massive miles so not a problem.
Good luck, keep us posted. Great cars for small family, easy to park, sliding rear seats, tables, not a massive boot.
Unfortunately the one I went to look at was rather beaten up and a bit all round crap.
Had 25 fault codes when I gave it a quick scan with OBDeleven, 5 of which wouldn’t clear.
Decided it would be best to give a miss.
As a result I’ve not bought a non R facelift DSG in Japan!
With the price of cars rising so much here it made sense financially and my last import was a very clean car!
Yeah understand what you mean, but I’m likely to fit 340MM brakes as a matter of course (find every DSG I’ve owned to be rather under braked).
Already have a 3’ resonated miltek system that should fit with a bit of a tweak from an old project too.
I’ll let you know how it is when it turns up on the boat.
But please keep this updated and give me some inspiration
Had 25 fault codes when I gave it a quick scan with OBDeleven, 5 of which wouldn’t clear.
Decided it would be best to give a miss.
As a result I’ve not bought a non R facelift DSG in Japan!
With the price of cars rising so much here it made sense financially and my last import was a very clean car!
Yeah understand what you mean, but I’m likely to fit 340MM brakes as a matter of course (find every DSG I’ve owned to be rather under braked).
Already have a 3’ resonated miltek system that should fit with a bit of a tweak from an old project too.
I’ll let you know how it is when it turns up on the boat.
But please keep this updated and give me some inspiration
Haha good man, look forward to seeing some pics, should be very clean underneath but generally think the mk 6 platform and materials are better than mk 5 in terms of paint and rust, interior plastics etc
They def need a remap to liven up and with better brakes you should on to a winner. Away at the min on a family holiday and took the Tig rather than R32. Not much to report really, it does what it says on the tin, think most expect it to be a slow diesel so always nice to have a bit of fun
mid range is the best. Not many mk 1 TSI 200s around, theybjust weren't popular at time. Finding a shell for V power or tesco momentum takes a bit more planning on a longer trip with the map.
Think a dsg remap would help too as I find the throttle sensor is way too keen to change up and takes a firm input before making progress, sport mode helps. Sometimes wish outs was specced with flappy paddles for more spirited driving but use the tiptronic or sport for overtakes when needed.
Wifey has recently had a minor scrape on rear offside bumper so smart repair later and £250 lighter all is well. Partly her fault and driver behind not stopping as she was reverse parallel parking. No sensors on ours, just camera, so worth finding one with sensors or retro fitting.
They def need a remap to liven up and with better brakes you should on to a winner. Away at the min on a family holiday and took the Tig rather than R32. Not much to report really, it does what it says on the tin, think most expect it to be a slow diesel so always nice to have a bit of fun
mid range is the best. Not many mk 1 TSI 200s around, theybjust weren't popular at time. Finding a shell for V power or tesco momentum takes a bit more planning on a longer trip with the map. Think a dsg remap would help too as I find the throttle sensor is way too keen to change up and takes a firm input before making progress, sport mode helps. Sometimes wish outs was specced with flappy paddles for more spirited driving but use the tiptronic or sport for overtakes when needed.
Wifey has recently had a minor scrape on rear offside bumper so smart repair later and £250 lighter all is well. Partly her fault and driver behind not stopping as she was reverse parallel parking. No sensors on ours, just camera, so worth finding one with sensors or retro fitting.
A wheel with paddles could be an easy retrofit - fitted one to two different mk5 Jetta dsg and a quick check of a box on VCDS it was working (that’s certainly my plan for ours).
Yeah DSG map would probably help, although like you when I’m making progress I’m normally in manual and using the tiptronic in our DSG Golf. No harm looking in to it when mapping ours though, thanks for the advice.
Contacted a local retrofitting specialist about fitting parking sensors, and they didn’t offer that service. So ours might also be a camera only system, as Jap imports don’t tend to have sensors.
If you or anyone else knows of somewhere that’ll do them for me, I’d be interested.
Yours and the R32 look great 👍
Yeah DSG map would probably help, although like you when I’m making progress I’m normally in manual and using the tiptronic in our DSG Golf. No harm looking in to it when mapping ours though, thanks for the advice.
Contacted a local retrofitting specialist about fitting parking sensors, and they didn’t offer that service. So ours might also be a camera only system, as Jap imports don’t tend to have sensors.
If you or anyone else knows of somewhere that’ll do them for me, I’d be interested.
Yours and the R32 look great 👍
Quick update on the family bus for the albeit minority who might be interested. Its done 30k miles since we've had it from start of Lockdown in 2020, 25k of those have been with the remap on. Its been ultra reliable and took 5 of us on holiday to Provence in South of France last year - c 2,250 miles fully laden. We did have to hire a roof box (should have gone for a Toureg etc), we averaged 25mpg which was pretty poor but to be expected. Outside usual servicing, tyres, its only needed minimal maintenance since the last update:
Haldex oil change
2 x Rear Coil springs and seating pads
Second hand climate control unit - fixed the a/c issue
2 x Front shock absorbers
My wife drives this pretty sedately but has been known to floor it a few times when people drive aggressively up her arse, then gets a few bemused looks / thumbs up when she pulls in to let them pass, I've suggested an experiment against the R32 but she's not playing ball, reckon it might leave it behind in the mid range to be honest.
Haldex oil change
2 x Rear Coil springs and seating pads
Second hand climate control unit - fixed the a/c issue
2 x Front shock absorbers
My wife drives this pretty sedately but has been known to floor it a few times when people drive aggressively up her arse, then gets a few bemused looks / thumbs up when she pulls in to let them pass, I've suggested an experiment against the R32 but she's not playing ball, reckon it might leave it behind in the mid range to be honest.
69k miles now. This week we had 2 new Avon ZV7 tyres slapped on the rear to replace the aged 2017 ditch finders. Having matching 4 tyres coupled with a 4 wheel alignment has made a much more pleasant driving experience - noise, handing, comfort all improved. Its also fixed an annoying vibration at motorway speeds felt through the steering.
Can confirm from a recent 'test' that it is as quick as the R32 in real terms with my wife driving the Tiguan, given her capabilities, in reality i think it would be quicker!
I find it weird that for a 2010 R Line car with the 7sp DSG DQ500 box it doesn't have steering wheel paddles to change up and down. The 6sp DSG in Mk 5 R32's had them and that was effectively a generation before.
Off to France (Brittany) again soon, no roof box this time as only staying a week. Will be a squeeze with 3 adults and 2 children.
Can confirm from a recent 'test' that it is as quick as the R32 in real terms with my wife driving the Tiguan, given her capabilities, in reality i think it would be quicker!
I find it weird that for a 2010 R Line car with the 7sp DSG DQ500 box it doesn't have steering wheel paddles to change up and down. The 6sp DSG in Mk 5 R32's had them and that was effectively a generation before.
Off to France (Brittany) again soon, no roof box this time as only staying a week. Will be a squeeze with 3 adults and 2 children.
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