The 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL R-Line is a SUV that offers looks, luxuries, and tech. With this being the top of the line trim, you’ll get a lot for a relatively good price.

Starting with the outside, I hate to upsell, but the R-Line front looks significantly better than the non R-Line front. My favorite component in the front would definitely be the lighting design that includes adaptive headlights with integrated poor weather lights, the LED front light bar, and of course the illuminated VW badge. I was intrigued by the Sandstone Gray color which felt was like a soften gray and was absorbing of the golden hour sunlight to give a great warm look to it. To finish off the exterior, the 20” alloys with the machined face, nicely filled the wheel wells.

Getting in, I was surprised to see the quality of finishes for this price point. Thankfully the seats had some life with a nice pattern and a two-tone color to them. The heating and venting is pretty standard in this segment of vehicles, but the surprise was the fact that you can actually distribute it more to the back or the bottom of the seat. The other surprise was the massaging that is not common at this lower price point but was relaxing to experience. To add to the tech, the big 15” infotainment screen offers a sharp and bright offering. Be aware that it might take a bit to learn how to navigate the VW system.

Under the hood, the 2.0L turbocharged 4-cylinder, offers 201 horsepower and 221 lb.-ft. of torque. This was the model with 4MOTION which is VW’s AWD system and has an 8-speed automatic. This configuration honestly felt underpowered specially when I live in Texas and highway passing is tough in 70 mph speed limits. I think it was a combination of long gears and an AWD system that was making the 201 horsepower seem slow. I say this because my wife’s Trailblazer with a similar size only has around 150 horsepower, but felt faster with it’s CVT that pairs better with the 1.3L turbo engine. I’m sure you’ll be fine with the front-wheel drive option, but I feel like I’d want more when you’re delivering the power to all four wheels.

Overall, I was loving the package that the 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL R-Line had to offer. The looks, luxuries, and tech it had to offer, was definitely punching above its as tested price point of $41,180.