HILE PLANNING OUR CRAZY
adventure with the Polo, where
we drove it up to Sandakphu
on the 4x4 track that is also the highest
road in West Bengal, we had to have a
back up car — something with four-
wheel drive to pull us out of a sticky
situation, with the ground clearance
to tackle the atrocious track, with the
space for our camera crew and their
equipment, and with the speed and
comfort to get to Sandakphu in time for
our shoot days. And thus I was relieved
of the Tiguan’s keys as the boys set off
from the west coast to the north east,
covering the 3000-odd km in three days
and then we headed up to the highest
peak in East India, a track as difficult as it
was spectacular.
I was in the Polo on the way up and
the boys complained about the Tiguan
struggling. Can’t be, I said. The solution?
Off Road mode. It switches the 4Motion
from on-demand all-wheel drive to
four-wheel drive while also altering the
mapping of the engine, gearbox, throttle
responses and even the ABS to allow
a little more slip, a lower intervention
of stability control and more low down
grunt. The Tiguan was transformed.
And my colleague’s fears of the clutch
of the DSG gearbox heating up also
proved unfounded. What an easy SUV to
chomp massive highway kilometres and
an equally easy SUV to drive up off-road
tracks.W
down its power better with less squirming
of the front tyres, but I think the only time it
was really put to use was when Anand took it
to the Rann of Kutch on his winter holidays.
We also swapped the Nexen tyres for MRF
Markus rubber, a slightly wider size that is
the same as what you will find OE on the
Skoda Kodiaq, and the improvements to not
just grip but also ride comfort are significant
enough for us to recommend those tyres very
highly. And over 15,000km there’s not been a
single puncture either.
It’s a shame you don’t see too many
of these Tucsons on the road, getting
overlooked just become of the badge on the
nose, but if you get past badge snobbery you
get much more than what you would on other
SUVs at this price. L
Selina Chandran (@SelinaChandran)
The Arkamys is better
than some of the
big-names stuck to
the speaker grilles of
luxury cars and SUVs
A 6000km road trip from Pune to Sandakphu
and back, and the only sign of wear is a scratch we
put on the bumperVolkswagen Tiguan
Date acquired May 2018
Total mileage 9348km Mileage this
month 900km Costs this month ` 0
Overall kmpl 9.5kmpl
Date acquired December 2019
Total mileage 26,408km Mileage this
month 300km Costs this month ` 0
Overall kmpl 10.5kmplThe Sandakphu shoot done, the boys
then put another 3000km bringing the
Tiguan back to Pune, on the way putting a
scratch on the bumper while negotiating a
tight parking spot. I’m getting increasingly
OCD-ish so we sent it off to get touched up
and also thoroughly cleaned of the detritus
of a cross-country drive, and now I’m back to
enjoying the charms of the Tiguan on my daily
commute, with a quick detour to a stationery
store to get a replacement battery for the key
fob that ran out of juice. L
Sirish Chandran (@SirishChandran)