200k report 2018 Tiguan

[lovcom]

We have owned since brand new a 2018 Tiguan SE 4motion (AWD) with panoramic sunroof.

This is one model above base with leatherette light grey interior on black exterior. Niceties: Apple CarPlay , basic safety like auto braking for front and rear along with bling spot detection.

How did it fare so far?

Just following maintenance per manual including 10k OCI.

Notable this has been our most reliable vehicle by a long shot to 200k including her prior 2005 Subaru Legacy and 96 Civic. This is her third car she has owned in her life is 50.

Issues on the way:
1) Panoramic roof started leaking 4 months into ownership due clogging from an excessive pollen year. Turned out to be later TSB to open up ends of drain lines. Issue never happened again.

2) 151k miles engine going into limp mode. A bummer because a goodwill extended warranty came out till 150k to replace ignition wiring harness(known issue). Dealer charged over $1000 to replace $100ish part.
3) At 195k miles Fuel door electric lock started to be intermittent. $200 .

Wear items outside of scheduled maintenance:
• Full Brakes including pads/rotors twice
• tires twice and nearly worn out now. Replacements were General RT43 and RT45. Guessing she’ll want General RT4? Again. The 4motion coupled to these tires is very predictable in snow, ice , rain and slush.

Car remains a pleasure to drive and a little bit fun compared to its peers (CRV and RAV4). Power is okay, just adequate. It’s smooth and quiet. The 8 speed AISIN automatic remains smooth. It was clunky at first but a free TSB fixed that 1 year or so in from new.

The interior looks still newish as easy to clean especially wipeable leatherette. Just slight wear on interior driver door handle.

Wife commutes 70 miles highway round trip to work 3-4 days per week. I use for ski trips with daughters.

It manages 30+ MPG consistently but guessing 80% high way. It drops to 25 mpg city/town. It beats the rated 22 city / 27 highway.

Minor nags:
Suspension if you hit bumps at certain angles has slight creak however it is factory original.

It is slightly leaking oil from valve cover gasket area. Consumption or loss not sure is about 1/2 quart in a 10k oci.

We hope for another 3 years/75k which conicides with daughter graduating college and home fully paid. I think this perfectly maintained per schedule car can do it.

I thought it was going to be a bad experience when she picked VW over Honda , Subaru , Mazda and Toyota compact SUVs. However thus far not the case.

You lucked out...good for you!

 

[lovcom]

My wife is a VW person to her bones. Since we've been together she has had 3 Beetles (1998, 2003, 2013 current), 2 Tiguans, and her current Atlas. All three Beetles have been pretty good considering the beating they have taken. The Atlas has been excellent. The Tiguans were first generation cars and had some major issues. Our overall stance is that either you get a good one or a turd. There is no middle ground with a VW.

It sounds like your wife made several emotional decisions...my father was the same way with Chrysler products...every one of them was unreliable, but he kept buying them...he refused to look at Japanese makes...said they bribed Consumer Reports, and bribed dealers into selling them. LOL

 

[lovcom]

Respectfully, my standards for maintenance and reliability are pretty stringent. (When my 94 BMW is serviced at the local dealer - it has 200k - they park it in the corner of the indoor car reception area, with cones around it. My other two vehicles, both trucks, are similarly clean.). But I Understand your point and it has merit. But having taken half a dozen vehicles into the high mileage category (250k plus) when you are past 100k there is no question that you are at greater risk for what I call a stranding failure. It’s just the reality of owning an older vehicle. It doesn’t happen all the time but in my experience it is a real risk. There are a few vehicles, like our Toyota trucks, where I think the risk is lower, but even there all of those vehicles have required repairs over 100k. (A lot of Toyota owners simply ignore worn suspensions and noisy pulleys but they will wear out and fail too.). But a lot of people don’t want to drive a PreRunner, 4Runner or a Corolla.

If you have spent time in Europe you will see many VW taxis and related brands like Skoda with very high kms. But generally speaking my experience is that Europeans, particularly the German, take proactive maintenance more seriously and I do think that European cars are less tolerant of owners ignoring maintenance and needed overhaul and I think that contributes to the perception that they are unreliable because candidly a lot of Americans are clueless when it comes to maintenance. As I said originally, for the first 100k I think you will find that most new cars are pretty reliable today.

Have a good day.

Perhaps the Germans are better at maintaining their cars.

However, their cars deserve their bad rap in America, because if what you say is true, that Americans are not as on top of their maintenance as Germans, then Japanese cars should have a bad rap, too. But they don't.

The Japanese produce better cars, and the data support this claim. Still, I love how German cars drive...

 

[KrisZ]

You lucked out...good for you!

Wait, @trd1zz is saying the two issues were a big deal. So which is it? Is OP lucky or not?

Seems like we have a schism here.

 

[trd1zz]

Wait, @trd1zz is saying the two issues were a big deal. So which is it? Is OP lucky or not?

Seems like we have a schism here.

Lucky - for a VW?

 

[KrisZ]

Lucky - for a VW?

You don't disappoint.

 

[trd1zz]

You don't disappoint.

It was a question. I have no idea what lovcom meant.

 

[MParr]

Nearly 60,000 on our 2019 Tiguan SE.
It's been flawless.

 

[lovcom]

Wait, @trd1zz is saying the two issues were a big deal. So which is it? Is OP lucky or not?

Seems like we have a schism here.

For a Japanese vehicle, I would say he did badly...but it's a German car, so he did really good! LOL

 

[supton]

I only had my VW go into limp mode once. I cycled the key (while still driving) in hopes of clearing the fault.

Nope. Turbo snapped the shaft. It was at 255k so about 8 years old? came right after the DMF had failed too. Expensive summer.

Not sure if we've had anything quite like that. Wife did have a Civic that snapped a CV axle, so that bricked the car; anything else was something that could be scheduled for repairs (wheel bearings, exhaust, nothing that would stop a car). Even when the alternator died on the CRV, it was still drivable (it was charging intermittently).

We dislike downtime so we only keep for maybe 10yr (200-250k). There's a sweet spot there, longer than that and things get unpredictable.

 

[andrew_j]

For a Japanese vehicle, I would say he did badly...but it's a German car, so he did really good! LOL

So oddly it’s done better than sisters 2018 RAV4 that has a differential failure($1500+) and brake system issues but only has 135k. Not expected and not saying VW is better.

 

[RBT]

Perhaps the Germans are better at maintaining their cars.

However, their cars deserve their bad rap in America, because if what you say is true, that Americans are not as on top of their maintenance as Germans, then Japanese cars should have a bad rap, too. But they don't.

The Japanese produce better cars, and the data support this claim. Still, I love how German cars drive...

I understand your point to some degree but bear in mind when you are dealing with the German cars, particularly the higher end, they are more ambitious, engineering wise, to achieve a certain performance and that comes with a price. But for what they are they are actually pretty good. The Japanese cars, really I only have experience with Toyota and Honda, are great but the driving experience and performance is not the same.