The 2018 Tiguan is the SUV Volkswagen has desperately needed for years

Business Insider’s 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL 4Motion testHollis Johnson

• Volkswagen has struggled in the US market without a competitive crossover SUV.
• The 2018 Tiguan is VW’s chance to restore its fortunes in the US.
• The new Tiguan is bigger and more practical.
• But it’s also not nearly as fun to drive as the outgoing model.
• We spent a few days with the Tiguan to find out if it can challenge the industry leaders.

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As car companies work to satisfy America’s almost insatiable appetite for crossover SUVs, Volkswagen has been all but left behind. As brands like Honda, Toyota, Ford, Chevrolet, and Nissan have charged ahead on the strength of their SUV sales, VW’s Tiguan and Touareg models have grossly underperformed.

For example, VW sold just 43,638 compact Tiguan crossovers in 2016. It’s a figure that pales in comparison to Ford, Honda, Nissan, and Toyota. Each sold more than 300,000 compact crossovers in the US during the same period.

(Point of disclosure: I’m one of the 43,638 people that took delivery of a Tiguan last year.)

Fortunately for VW’s brand loyalists, the German auto giant has been working to revamp its entire SUV lineup in a bid to turnaround its less than desirable performance in the marketplace. For 2018, a new near-full-size Atlas SUV has been added to the roster, while the pricey Touareg has been axed.

And there’s the new second-generation Tiguan. The compact crossover is now larger with room for more cargo and passengers— a major shortcoming of the car it replaces. (Oddly enough, the first gen Tiguan will remain on sale in the US as an entry-level model called the Tiguan Limited.)

Even though the second-gen Tiguan went on sale in other parts of the world last year, the US will help debut the long-wheelbase version of the crossover. The US Tiguan, which will be sold as the Tiguan Allspace in other markets, is 8.5 inches longer than the standard-wheelbase version.

But the question remains. Is it good enough to help VW make up ground in the race to sell more SUVs?

To find out, Business Insider borrowed a new 2018 Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion in Premium Gray Metallic from Volkswagen. The base Tiguan starts at $25,345 while our top-of-the-line all-wheel-drive SEL Premium model started at $37,550. With options, our test car came to $38,950.