Volkswagen Tiguan R now on sale in the UK. This, or wait for the VW Golf R Estate?

The Volkswagen Tiguan R is now on sale in the UK with prices starting from £45,915, but should you wait for the Volkswagen Golf R Estate instead?

The whole Volkswagen ‘R’ thing started out as a performance take on the Golf with the Golf R32 back in 2003 to create a range-topping hot hatch. But it’s grown a bit since then.

Yes, the Golf R – as Hatch and Estate – is still going strong, but as car buying tastes move from Hatch to SUV, VW is busy adding ‘R’ to its high-riding stuff too.

We’ve already got the Touareg R and T-Roc R, and the Tiguan R, which was revealed last year, is now on sale in the UK with prices starting at £45,915 – some £6k more than a new Golf R.

The Tiguan R gets the same 316bhp 2.0 litre turbo as the Golf R, here good for 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds and with four-wheel drive and dual-clutch auto ‘box, as well as torque vectoring to shuffle power to maintain traction.

There’s also 21″ alloys covering 18″ discs with bigger calipers, Adaptive Dampers and lower tweaked suspension, quad tail pipes, ‘R’ badges and bigger rear spoiler.

Inside it’s the same ‘Blue-Fest’ as the Golf R, sports steering wheel and extended flappy paddles, with standard kit including Matrix LED headlights, heated front seats, 12.3″ digital instruments and 10″ infotainment, ambient lighting and Travel Assist for semi-autonomous driving.

It all adds up to an appealing performance SUV, but wouldn’t you be better off waiting a short while for the new VW Golf R Estate to arrive, which offers as much practicality, a bit more performance and a far better drive, and for less money?