Volkswagen Tiguan Long Term Report: March 2020

The Tiguan’s touchscreen though, has an ace up its sleeve with an animation function that you can switch on. As most user of touchscreen multimedia systems would acknowledge, using touchscreen controls effectively while in motion is a hit and a miss process.

Sometimes it’s the minor touches to a car’s design that makes you really appreciate the thought process that has gone behind the finer details of the car. Now, avid readers would know that I’m no fan of touchscreens in cars, and in most cases, I find them a distraction to the process of safely driving a car.

The Tiguan’s touchscreen though has an ace up its sleeve with an animation function that you can switch on. As a most users of touchscreen multimedia systems would acknowledge, using touchscreen controls effectively while in motion is a hit and a missing process. But, here, once you have the animation function turned on and move your hand closer to the screen, it magnifies and makes the controls at the bottom of the screen larger. This basically means that, say, for instance, if you’re trying to pause or replay the music, you have a much higher chance of getting it right the first time around. In fact, the Tiguan is probably the first car where I’ve got 100% success rate with the touchscreen controls.

Some users question the need for the extreme level of design details in German cars, but as the touchscreen in the Tiguan shows, this detail can go a long way in enhancing the user experience.