2009 Volkswagen Tiguan Road & Trail Test

The Frankfurt auto show is an amazing spectacle made up of nine conjoined warehouse sized buildings sheltering more new cars and concepts than this journalist has ever seen at any single event.

The Tiguan made a stir in Frankfurt. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

Two days of purposeful wandering yet shameful aimlessness provided some favorites, most of which will never see North American shores, although some that will grace our continent immediately impressed.

Volkswagen's global debut of its new compact sport utility, dubbed Tiguan, was one of the more intriguing for sure. And how did it get its name? That's interesting. It was chosen via an internet poll of some 350,000 automotive magazine readers from 10 European countries. According to Volkswagen, Tiguan was formed by combining the words "tiger" and "leguan" (German for "iguana"), so it either represents an extremely slow tiger or a ruddy quick iguana, and either way is much better sounding than some meaningless alphanumeric designation (X3, RSX, EX35) or VW's internal code name KSUV. VW may

Crowds gathered around the Tiguan after its introduction for a closer look. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

or may not know that it's also a Spanish word that means “close to the water”, and therefore reminds me of Tijuana, but I digress.

The little crossover sprang onto stage to great admiration, although most had seen it in concept form previously, and then more recently in pre-show press photos, so its design was nothing unexpected. Actually, anyone who likes the Touareg will probably find the Tiguan perfect from an aesthetic standpoint, as its general shape is very similar, immediately recognizable as a Volkswagen SUV. It bridges the not-too-feminine yet not-too-masculine divide well, with a bold enough stance to appear rugged, yet sporting aerodynamically rounded corners to soften it around the edges. It should resonate well with most people.

Inside,

Fabulous interior... as usual. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

the Tiguan will find few complainers. Actually, I'd be complaining if I'd spent thousands more for a BMW X3 after taking in the superior quality of VW's latest. Yes, the Tigger raises the bar for “entry-level” cute utes, completely leaving the Japanese and Koreans behind to fight it out in a lower class. I'm sure that it will be priced slightly higher than these, mind you, but the extra couple of thousand will be worth it to those who value a first class experience.

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