2022 Volkswagen Tiguan Debuts With Familial Facelift, More Safety Tech

The Volkswagen lineup is evolving, and at the heart of that evolution is the stylish new Mk8 Golf. So it’s fitting that the rest of the lineup follows suit, and the latest to get the brand's new look is the 2022 Tiguan. The mid-size crossover now sports a familial face, a totally renovated cabin, and the latest in safety and technology equipment.

And the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan does indeed look sharp – probably because it shares a lot in common visually with the latest Golf. New design cues include standard LED headlights and taillights, a larger grille, a bold "TIGUAN" wordmark on the trunk lid, and a fresh bumper with bigger vents. In the US, the Tiguan will come in four different flavors: S, SE, SE R-Line, and SEL R-Line. And both third-row seating and all-wheel drive will be available as options on SE models and above.

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In terms of styling, the base Tiguan S gets standard 17-inch wheels, while the SE gets 18-inch wheels, the SE R-Line gets 19-inch wheels – as well as a few blacked-out trim pieces – and the range-topping SEL R-Line gets 20-inch wheels and the same dark features standard across the R-Line range. The Tiguan also sports two new exterior color options for 2022: Oryx White and Kings Red. With this facelift, VW says not only does the Tiguan look more like the Golf, but also its SUV siblings, the Atlas Cross Sport and the European-market Touareg.

But most of the significant changes to the 2022 Tiguan are in the cabin. The SUV sports a new multifunction steering wheel, as well as a redesigned center stack that houses a redesigned touchscreen. That central screen runs the latest VW infotainment system, dubbed MIB3, and now every Tiguan comes standard with a digital instrument cluster. The base digital instrument cluster is 8.0 inches and the optional screen is 10.0 inches (standard on the SEL R-Line).

The Tiguan S gets cloth seating standard, available in either Titan Black or Storm Grey, while the mid-range SE and SE R-Line models get a standard faux leather in four different color options: Titan Black, Storm Grey, Cinnamon, and Horizon. The latter two color options are new for 2022. The range-topping SE R-Line, meanwhile, gets real leather seating in four different color options: Titan Black, Storm Grey, Noisette, and Barrell Craft.

Also new for 2022 is VW's "Travel Assist" safety suite. With features like adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go as well as lane-keep assist, the equipment is available as an option on the base Tiguan but comes standard on mid-range models.

Powering the Tiguan is the same turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine from last year. And it still produces the same 184 horsepower (137 kilowatts) and 221 pound-feet (300 Newton-meters) of torque. European buyers will get a hot Tiguan R with 315 hp (235 kW), as well as a more efficient plug-in hybrid with 241 hp (180 kW), but VW says it has no plans for a hybrid version here in the US. A Tiguan R for the States is still under consideration.

American buyers interested in the new Tiguan will have to wait. While the updated SUV goes on sale in Europe next month, it doesn't arrive in the US until next year. And Volkswagen won't release pricing information until closer to the SUV's Stateside debut.