Volkswagen Tiguan review - Practicality & boot space

The latest Volkswagen Tiguan is larger than before in every direction, so it feels bigger inside and gets a larger boot as a result. Tall adults should feel pretty comfortable in the rear seats, and the cabin generally feels very airy. There’s generous rear legroom and headroom, and a neat rear armrest means two passengers in the back can use its two cupholders. If there’s a middle passenger the middle of the bench is a bit less comfortable and there’s a small hump in the floor.

You also get a set of 40/20/40 split folding rear seats as standard in the Tiguan, which are similar to the optional Varioflex items found in the Skoda Karoq. These can be slid and reclined individually to alter passenger and boot space to suit your preference. The Tiguan has three ISOFIX child-seat mounting points – two in the outer rear seats and another in the front passenger seat.

Does the Volkswagen Tiguan have a big boot?

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The Volkswagen Tiguan’s boot is now 37 litres larger than that of the previous model, offering up to 652 litres with the seats up. That’s larger than almost all rivals including the Skoda Karoq and Kia Sportage, or even larger models like the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Ford Kuga and Renault Austral. The rear seats fold completely flat, freeing up a very usable space for larger items, and a small loading lip makes placing heavy items into the Tiguan very easy.

It's worth noting that the boot shrinks to 490 litres in the plug-in hybrid Tiguan, but this still betters rivals like the BYD Seal U with only 425 litres of space.

Is the Volkswagen Tiguan a good tow car?

The 1.5-litre petrol with 128bhp is capable of towing a trailer with a weight of up to 1,600kg, while the 148bhp version can manage up to 1,800kg. Unsurprisingly, the 2.0-litre diesel is even more capable in this respect, and can haul up to 2,000kg, making it the ideal choice if you want to use your Tiguan to tow anything.