Fast cars & cool cars

At the Los Angeles Auto show Volkswagen has unwrapped its new concept car that previews the upcoming Volkswagen Tiguan SUV. The new concept car is 4.4 metres long, 1.85 m wide and 1.69 m high and it is set to go on sale in North America in 2008 being ment to compete with Toyota RAV4.

The name Tiguana is a combination of tiger and iguana and is probably related to the design of this concept.

The new Tiguana concept from Volkswagen has cool features, including a front MacPherson-strut and rear multilink suspension. A very cool impression is made by this concept through the flame patterns on the study’s hot-blooded wheel rims.

Although the interior of the Tiguana Concept car was made out of expensive materials, leather and a sport steering wheel, the future Tiguana SUV will have in the interior soft plastic surfaces along with a variety of optional trims, including wood and aluminum and will be more cost-effective.

The future Tiguana SUV will be powered by a BLUETEC diesel engine ( a special catalytic converter is periodically injected with urea to reduce nitrogen oxide levels - the results are amaising: levels are reduced by up to 90 % over the existing pump injector engine offered throughout Europe) which was developed in partnership with Audi and Mercedes-Benz and this will be a transversely mounted 16-valve 2.0-liter 4 cylinder common-rail unit.

So the new Volkswagen Tiguana will not be just a fast car, but also an environment friendly one. Other engines available could include the 200 hp turbocharged 2.0-liter 4 cylinder direct-injection unit now used in the Golf GTI.

The new Tiguan will debut probably in late 2007 or in early 2008 and it will be named Clean TDI.