With my right foot riveted to the floor, throttle all the way down, I pummelled through the dense vegetation and splashed mud wildly. The path was narrow, but just sufficient to squeeze through. My pupils were dilated and my sweaty palms gripped the steering as if I was hanging from a cliff.

A single little mistake in my judgement and that would have been the end. The omnivores chasing behind were ravenous and extremely determined for a nice meal, and I definitely had no intention to fulfil their desire.

Wait. This isn't Jurassic Park. And this was no terrain-bashing military vehicle I was driving. It's just a crossover vehicle that was based largely on the chassis of a highly-successful hatch - the Volkswagen Golf.

And there weren't any meat-craving gnarling beasts, but given the place I was in, one really couldn't help but constantly imagine plenty of hungry wildlife hiding in the bushes, eyeing greedily as I drove by.

Slowing down and taking a breather, I reminded myself again that there were neither starving tigers nor velociraptors where I was exploring, and if I kept up the crazy thoughts, I'd have a big crash and end up being eaten by some crows and ants instead.

Somehow, the car had made it in this far, without myself even realising how deep in I had gone. In fact, there was no way a regular Golf would have even made it in half way.

But this was no "normal Golf" - this was the Tiguan. And even if those two cars shared the same platform, the Tiggy was already showing that it was a decent off-roader in its own right.

Mud, sand, gravel, slopes and whatever else on the ground were hardly obstacles to the Tiguan as it rode through comfortably, always holding its head high and moving with an air of nonchalance about the conditions. It isn't a hardcore terrain-basher like a Land Rover, but it certainly has no qualms about providing a pretty comfortable ride through it.

This vehicle, whatever "crossover" one may wish to call it, was not designed as an SUV from the ground up and it certainly is no Land Rover. Yet, it handled accurately, gently and instilled loads of confidence in me to take it through increasingly rougher roads.
Good Genes

Volkswagen have derived names for their cars, inspired by many things like insects (Beetle), ocean currents (Golf), a nomadic tribe (Touareg) and even Gods from Greek mythology. Now, they've invented a cross-bred creature that the world has never seen. Mix a tiger and an iguana and the result is err™ clear, somewhat. You get the Tiguan.

We still haven't got a clue what the boys in Wolfsburg were smoking when they thought of that.

The Germans have once again done brilliantly, utilising a praiseworthy combination of the PQ35 chassis and its award-winning engines.

The test car we drove came with the 200 hp 2.0-litre turbocharged powerplant, which is a close relative of the engine found in the GTI.

Of course, placing the Tiguan off the beaten path is another story altogether.

Don't expect it to behave like a GTI just because it carries many similar components. It weighs in excess of 1,600 kg and the zero-to-hundred sprint is completed in just 8.5 seconds.

Something which we noted also was the car's superior torsional rigidity. On a Mark V Golf GTI, it has a rigidity of 25,000 Nm/deg. A Lamborghini Gallardo has 23,000 Nm/deg worth of stiffness and, as a more relevant comparison, the Land Rover Freelander 2 only has 28,000 Nm/deg. The Tiguan is on another level with 34,000 Nm/deg. The significance of this is that you get to enjoy more consistent handling characteristics from the chassis, leaving the suspension to do the bulk of the work.

The Tiguan doesn't carry the wonderful DSG transmission, though; Volkswagen has put in place a six-speed automatic gearbox (with manual Tiptronic mode) that fulfils off-road requirements, allowing the user to control the cog-swapping when going on to some serious terrain.

One might wonder at this point whether the Germans have simply stuck newly-designed body panels onto an existing chassis, swapped the transmission system for an "inferior" one, put in bigger wheels and suspension, give it a name inspired by marijuana and then sell it for around the price of a GTI.

But it so isn't.
At the front, you get McPherson struts with an aluminium subframe. Its 4MOTION system runs on the electro-hydraulic Haldex clutch. Placed in an oil bath, the multi-plate clutch system is integrated into the rear axle of the Tiguan and is capable of sending nearly 100 percent of its power to the rear. During normal driving, however, it drives with 90 percent of the torque at the front wheels.

Underneath its rear, Volkswagen has utilised a high-strength steel frame together with a four-link suspension, which they claimed to have tuned for off-road driving.

All of that sounds pretty interesting. But how well do they work?

On the prowl

Don't for a moment think that this is going to mean one nasty, motion-sickness inducing ride. It has a better-than-average amount of control, and, though it does roll about, it's nothing more than an average sedan would. Grip levels are also impressive for a vehicle of its size.

Despite its all-wheel drive system, 90 percent of the power is sent to the front wheels under normal driving, but the man behind the machine messes things up, close to 100 percent can be sent to the rear. You get mild understeer, but not enough to complain about given the dimensions of the car.

Cruising on a highway, there was only slightly more road noise invading the cabin, thanks to its 18-inch wheels and huge tyres, and a massive, gorgeous panorama roof. And when VW named it a "panorama roof", they were being serious. It's huge! Not to mention, the front half of the glass panels slides back to reveal a properly magnificent area where your kids can stare at the sky and you can enjoy some sunlight.

The moment I climbed in the seat of the Tiguan, it got a little perplexing. The entire centre console is rather similar to the Golf's, but seemingly tilted at a higher angle. Matched with the re-designed door-sides, it gives drivers the sensation of being seated higher up than normal, while in the Golf you can sit pretty low down.

The main differences show up in the form of a new air-con vent design, colours available on the optional RNS 510 touch screen system, and a raised door-side armrest with buttons for its power windows angled towards the driver.

Altogether, it befits the typical expectations of a commanding view from the cockpit of an SUV, and still gives the feeling of being in a car that's no higher than most others on the road.
Creature comforts

There's more for the kids to love, too - food trays that fold down from the back of front seats. There's no need for a plane ticket to enjoy their meals in this manner. The trays even come with cup-holes, and even when in use, they definitely boast more room than one would get in an economy-class seat.

And Volkswagen probably designed this bit for Americans - two cup holders aren't usually enough for two of them, so Volkswagen hid another two more in the centre armrest. Good for those giant-sized blokes, err™ Cokes.

For the rear passengers, there are also two more air-con vents to keep them cool while they munch hard on their quarter-pound burgers.

They haven't forgotten about the adults either - you have the GPS system to play with, although the one fitted here liked accusing me of being 50 metres off the road.

It can store up to 500 different way points so that you can lose yourself in the middle of timbuktoo and still find your way back. The map shows up clearly on the RNS 510 radio-navigation system but its 400 MHz processor responds a tad bit slower than we would like.

More importantly, however, you also get the rear view camera with this system and that works perfectly. Lines show up on the screen, turning according to your steering angle and constantly mapping your trajectory, so you won't end up parking your Tiguan into the side of a tree or the car next to you. And it is extremely accurate.

The Park Assist feature, though, has to be the most impressive, especially for our local roads where parallel-parking is essential and still proves a challenge for many drivers. It's also pretty much idiot-proof to operate.

Once you've set your sights on a lot, you just press the Park Assist button, drive up slowly and past the available spot until the car tells you that it's scanned the space, then brake and put it into reverse. There on, the Tiguan will accelerate and steer itself, backing into the lot with inch-perfect precision while all you need to do is control the brake pedal. Once it's within the selected area, you only need to adjust the gap between yourself and the other cars. It is so precise that every single time we tried it, the car managed to park within two inches or less of the kerb side. And no matter how expertly you can parallel park your car, the Park Assist would still be consistently better. One downside to it though, was that it occasionally had difficulty searching for the lot.

Despite that, the S$11,000-plus option for the radio-navigation system, rear-view camera and the Park Assist are all well worth the money.

There are plenty of reasons for one to like the Tiguan. It has a very respectable chassis, a good engine and it's very comfortable and spacious. If practicality was ever your concern, this car is more practical than even the most practical of buyers. Plus, it looks gorgeous enough to sit at the front driveway of any hotel along Orchard Road.

It is quite difficult to think of something I didn't like about the Tiguan. Everything worked the way it should, sometimes even better than I had expected, like its capabilities on harsh terrain and relaxing ride on the road.

The Tiguan really is quite a lot of car for the money and is undoubtedly a leader in its class. And if I had S$96,300 (for the basic 170 hp version) or even S$116,800 (for the 2.0 TSI Sport), there's no doubt that my name would be on the dotted line. But I don't have ninety-six thousand to splash on a car, so for now, I'll settle for a pair of S$116 boots for going off the beaten path.