Volkswagen Tiguan Problems

There are a couple of issues with changing wheels sizes, but it’s a question a lot of people ask. That’s because the trend towards larger-diameter, super-low profile tyres doesn’t make sense for a lot of owners. Complaints include poor ride quality, expensive tyre replacement costs and the punctures you’re experiencing.

Even though the 50-series tyres on your car are not what most would call super-low profile, they don’t feature the same depth of sidewall as a `taller’ high-profile tyre. At that point, the sidewall has to be more rigid and there’s less flex in it. Which, in turn, makes the sidewall sometimes more susceptible to copping a stray rock or even a kerbside gutter and not being able to flex to prevent damage to the rubber itself. So, in some cases, going to a smaller wheel but a tyre with a higher profile (deeper sidewall) can be a good move.

What will limit this will be the brakes on your Tiguan. Fundamentally, you need to have a wheel rim with a large enough inside diameter that it clears the brake calipers. If the wheel diameter is smaller than the brake package, you physically won’t be able to fit the new wheel-tyre combination. There are also the issues of ground clearance and speedometer calibration, both of which can be compromised with a different wheel-tyre package and, therefore, a different rolling diameter. The trick is to use, say, an 18-inch wheel and match that with an 18-inch tyre that has a deeper sidewall that gets you back to the original tyres’ rolling diameter. That will retain your speedo accuracy and your ground clearance and should also give you a tyre that’s less prone to sidewall damage and cheaper to replace if the unthinkable does happen again.

A good tyres shop should be able to help you with the necessary measurements and sizing.

The upgrade to your navigation system can be done at a Volkswagen dealership and would be part of the work carried out at your next service (assuming you use a VW workshop). What most people tend to find, however, is that the Tiguan’s Apple CarPlay facility allows you to use the navigation services on your phone which, based on consumer feedback, are more accurate anyway since they’re updated in real time.

Your car’s sat-nav should be taking its data from an SD card that’s inserted in a slot inside the glove-box. So, the first thing to check is that the SD card is seated in the slot correctly. But there have been cases where the VW’s software seems to have a light-headed moment and loses the plot (it happens on plenty of other brands, too). One thing you can try is to press the on-off button for the infotainment screen and hold it down for at least 15 seconds. Sometimes, that will actually reboot the system and everything will come to life again, including the sat-nav.

Failing that, it’s a trip to the dealership to have the experts fix it. It may turn out that your data card or the software in the car needs an upgrade, which the dealership should be able to sort out for you.

It’s really not good enough, is it: A modern car should go well beyond the 100,000km mark before the cost of repairs required are higher than the value of the vehicle itself. However, before making a decision either way, I’d be getting a second opinion, because either your dealership has no idea what it’s talking about, or it’s making an attempt to shake you down. So go back to them and tell them – just for starters – that your engine has a timing belt and not a timing chain.

Based on that alone, I’d be dubious about any diagnosis made by a workshop that doesn’t know this rather simple fact about the engine in your car. A second opinion might put the situation into an entirely different light financially speaking, too. Try a workshop that isn’t a Volkswagen dealer and start from scratch. I’d also be talking to VW Australia customer service department, because that degree of work on a vehicle with just 96,000km showing is a scandal.

There’s more factors than distance covered when it comes to diesel fuel-injector lifespan. That said, modern, common-rail diesels do seem to work their injectors pretty hard, so it’s possible that yours will be ready for replacement at 165,000km on the odometer.

Other elements that will contribute to injector wear are fuel quality, dirty fuel filters, the overall condition of the system including the fuel pump and simply how well the vehicle has been maintained generally. How it’s been driven will also have a bearing on injector life, including whether it’s been used for highway travel, urban running and whether it’s been used to tow relatively heavy loads.

Fuel-injectors can be rebuilt or reconditioned, but the trade reckons that a reconditioned injector will have about half the useable lifespan of a brand-new replacement injector. As for injector servicing intervals, I’d be guided by what Volkswagen says in its factory service schedule.

It would be very rare for a facelifted version of a car to be less expensive than the one it replaces, Imran and, on balance, the upgrade model usually costs a little more based on more features. At the moment, though, there’s no word on exactly when the facelifted Tiguan will arrive here, nor exactly what the changes and improvements will be, so it’s very difficult to know whether it’s worth waiting for.

But it is worth mentioning that you’ll be very unlikely to manage a discount on the new version, whereas VW dealers might be a little more motivated to clear the decks of the existing model and will possibly be a bit more keen to negotiate.

Of course, even if you wait for the upgrade model, there’s a very real chance that we’ll be seeing an all-new Tiguan by 2022 anyway.

The Ford Escape plug-in should be an interesting vehicle when it arrives, with 165kW of power and something like a 50km electric-only range. It will be here sometime this year, but the exact timing is still a trade secret.

The Toyota RAV4, meanwhile, isn’t a plug-in hybrid, so it can’t be recharged form your home solar panels (which the plug-in Escape could be). Frankly, if you’re making four times the power your household needs with your solar array, you’re in the pound seats for owning a plug-in hybrid which could put that excess electricity generation to very good use. That’s especially true if most of your driving is around town within a 20km radius or so of home-base.

That said, the new RAV4 Hybrid is gaining rave reviews as well as recording very sharp real-world fuel-economy figures. But a plug-in hybrid in a household with excess solar capacity could almost be run for free.

It clearly needs deeper investigation to try and determine the cause. Take it to a panel beater who specialises in European cars and have them assess it.

While VW’s history over the last few years has been somewhat chequered there haven’t been any major issues in more recent times. I don’t believe you should be concerned about the Tiguan.