New Volkswagen Tiguan vs used Range Rover Evoque: which is best?

New Volkswagen Tiguan vs used Range Rover Evoque – driving

The chances are that the vast majority of cars such as these will never be used off-road. However, if that is part of your intended use, the Range Rover Evoque has the legs on the Volkswagen Tiguan, with a huge wading depth and generous ground clearance, not to mention a system that allows you to set the car up for four different types of terrain.

Conversely, on the road, it’s the Tiguan that impresses most. The biggest problem with the Evoque is its ride quality; even with relatively small wheels, like those which come as standard on the SE Tech model, there’s still too much bumping and shuddering over imperfections in the road, and the body doesn’t feel well controlled.

By contrast, the Tiguan rides smoothly and softly in most circumstances, its feathers only becoming ruffled over patched-up Tarmac. It’s noticeably quieter than the Evoque, too, with less engine and road noise.

The two are on more level terms when it comes to handling, with both falling short of the class best, but feeling agile enough for most drivers nevertheless. The Tiguan just about wins on feel, but the Evoque can offer better traction thanks to its standard four-wheel drive, which obviously makes it a more useful companion in poorer weather too.

What does come as a surprise is that, despite its 30bhp power advantage, the Evoque never feels noticeably quicker than the Tiguan. Indeed, the two cars’ performance figures are fairly evenly-matched – in fact, on paper, the Tiguan is the quicker car. It could be that the extra weight of the four-wheel drive system slows the Evoque down, but either way, it never feels significantly more sprightly than the Tiguan.

New Volkswagen Tiguan vs used Range Rover Evoque – costs

For a two-year-old Evoque in this form, with average mileage and all the requisite history, you’ll pay a shade more than you will for a brand-new Tiguan at our Target Price. That said because Range Rovers hold their value extremely well, you can look forward to seeing a larger chunk of that money back than you will with the Tiguan – which, let's not forget, still has its heavy first couple of years' depreciation to come. What's more, that sort of money buys you a car for sale under Land Rover’s excellent Approved scheme, which won our Best Used Car Scheme last year.

Buying under this scheme gives you a two-year used car warranty, which helps overcome the warranty deficit between a new Tiguan and a used Evoque, the latter only coming with the remainder of its three-year manufacturer warranty while the former, of course, gets the full three-year, 60,000-mile guarantee.

A warranty is something you might need on the Evoque. We don’t have specific stats on the model itself, but Land Rover finished second from bottom in our 2017 Reliability Survey. Volkswagen fared better, but not by much, coming 22nd out of 32 manufacturers, although the Tiguan itself clearly bucked this trend, finishing top of its class with a shining score of 96.3%.

Fuel economy is much of a muchness between the two cars, with their average economy figures near-identical, and the same goes for tax: an Evoque registered before 1 April 2017 will cost £120 a year to tax, while a new Tiguan falls under the latest tax regime, meaning it incurs a flat rate of £140 a year.

You’ll pay less to service and repair the Tiguan, mind you; in fact, servicing an Evoque will cost you around three times as much at a main dealer, even if you take out a pre-paid service plan.