Compare the2023 Volvo XC40VS 2023 Volkswagen Tiguan

Safety
Warranty
Reliability
Engine
Fuel Economy and Range
Brakes and Stopping
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Chassis
Passenger Space
Cargo Capacity
Towing
Ergonomics
Recommendations

Safety

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For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Volvo XC40 have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Volkswagen Tiguan doesn’t offer pretensioners for its second-row seat belts.

The XC40’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Tiguan doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.

Both the XC40 and Tiguan have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The XC40 has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Tiguan’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

The Volvo XC40 has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Tiguan doesn’t offer knee airbags.

The XC40 has a standard Whiplash Protection System (WHIPS), which use a specially designed seat to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the WHIPS allows the backrest to travel backwards to cushion the occupants and the headrests move forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. At the same time the pretensioning seatbelts fire, removing slack from the belts. The Tiguan doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.

The XC40’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the Tiguan.

The XC40’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Tiguan doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.

Both the XC40 and the Tiguan have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available around view monitors.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Volvo XC40 is safer than the Volkswagen Tiguan:

	XC40	Tiguan
	Front Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Hip Force	320 lbs.	337 lbs.
	Rear Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
HIC	119	156
	Into Pole
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
HIC	237	330
Spine Acceleration	33 G’s	49 G’s
Hip Force	411 lbs.	855 lbs.

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the XC40 is 1.3% less likely to roll over than the Tiguan.

For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard front crash prevention system, and its headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the XC40 its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2019, a rating granted to only 125 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Tiguan is only a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2019.

Warranty

The XC40’s corrosion warranty is 5 years and unlimited miles longer than the Tiguan’s (12/unlimited vs. 7/100,000).

Volvo pays for scheduled maintenance on the XC40 for 1 year and 16000 miles longer than Volkswagen pays for maintenance for the Tiguan (3/36,000 vs. 2/20,000).

Reliability

To reliably start during all conditions and help handle large electrical loads, the XC40 has a standard 800-amp battery. The Tiguan’s 360-amp battery isn’t as powerful.

A reliable vehicle saves its owner time, money and trouble. Nobody wants to be stranded or have to be without a vehicle while it’s being repaired. Consumer Reports rates the XC40’s reliability 42 points higher than the Tiguan.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2021 Auto Issue reports that Volvo vehicles are more reliable than Volkswagen vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Volvo 6 places higher in reliability than Volkswagen.

Engine

The XC40 B4’s standard 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder hybrid produces 10 more horsepower (194 vs. 184) than the Tiguan’s 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder. The XC40 B5’s standard 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder hybrid produces 63 more horsepower (247 vs. 184) and 37 lbs.-ft. more torque (258 vs. 221) than the Tiguan’s 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder.

Fuel Economy and Range

On the EPA test cycle the XC40 gets better mileage than the Tiguan:

			MPG
XC40
	FWD	2.0 turbo 4-cyl. Hybrid	24 city/32 hwy
	AWD	2.0 turbo 4-cyl. Hybrid	23 city/30 hwy
Tiguan
	FWD	S 2.0 turbo 4-cyl.	24 city/31 hwy
		2.0 turbo 4-cyl.	23 city/30 hwy
	AWD	2.0 turbo 4-cyl.	22 city/29 hwy
		R-Line 2.0 turbo 4-cyl.	21 city/28 hwy

Regenerative brakes improve the XC40’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Tiguan doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

The XC40 has a standard cap-less fueling system. The fuel filler is automatically opened when the fuel nozzle is inserted and automatically closed when it’s removed. This eliminates the need to unscrew and replace the cap and it reduces fuel evaporation, which causes pollution. The Tiguan doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

Brakes and Stopping

For better stopping power the XC40 B5’s brake rotors are larger than those on the Tiguan:

	XC40 B5	Tiguan
Front Rotors	13.6 inches	13.4 inches
Rear Rotors	13.4 inches	11.8 inches

The XC40 stops much shorter than the Tiguan:

	XC40	Tiguan
70 to 0 MPH	173 feet	183 feet	Car and Driver
60 to 0 MPH	111 feet	134 feet	Motor Trend

Tires and Wheels

For better traction, the XC40 has larger standard tires than the Tiguan (235/55R18 vs. 215/65R17).

The XC40’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 55 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Tiguan S’ standard 65 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the XC40 has standard 18-inch wheels. Smaller 17-inch wheels are standard on the Tiguan S.

Suspension and Handling

For better handling and stability, the track (width between the wheels) on the XC40 is .8 inches wider in the front and 2.1 inches wider in the rear than on the Tiguan.

The XC40 B5 Plus AWD handles at .85 G’s, while the Tiguan 4Motion® pulls only .82 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

The XC40 B5 Plus AWD executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver quicker than the Tiguan 4Motion® (27.4 seconds @ .62 average G’s vs. 28.3 seconds @ .58 average G’s).

For greater off-road capability the XC40 has a greater minimum ground clearance than the Tiguan (8.1 vs. 7.6 inches), allowing the XC40 to travel over rougher terrain without being stopped or damaged.

Chassis

The XC40 is 11.3 inches shorter than the Tiguan, making the XC40 easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

Passenger Space

The XC40 has .7 inches more front legroom, .2 inches more front hip room, 1.1 inches more rear hip room and .4 inches more rear shoulder room than the Tiguan.

Cargo Capacity

The XC40 has a much larger cargo volume than the Tiguan with its rear seat up (20.4 vs. 12 cubic feet).

A standard locking glovebox (which can’t be accessed with the valet key) keeps your small valuables safer in the XC40. The Tiguan doesn’t offer locking storage for small valuables.

Towing

The XC40’s standard towing capacity is much higher than the Tiguan’s (3500 vs. 1500 pounds).

Optional Trailer Stability Assist (TSA) on the XC40 uses the Dynamic Stability and Traction Control sensors to detect trailer sway, then uses individual brakes to counteract any swaying and help keep the tow vehicle and trailer steady. The Tiguan doesn’t offer electronic trailer sway control.

Ergonomics

If the windows are left open on the XC40 the driver can close them all at the outside door handle or from a distance using the remote. On a hot day the driver can also lower the windows the same way. The driver of the Tiguan can’t use the remote to operate the windows.

The XC40’s rain-sensitive wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically based on the amount of rainfall on the windshield. This allows the driver to concentrate on driving without constantly adjusting the wipers. The Tiguan’s standard manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

To improve rear visibility by keeping the rear window clear, the XC40 has a standard rear fixed intermittent wiper with a full on position. The rear wiper standard on the Tiguan only has an intermittent setting, so in a hard rain visibility isn’t as good.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducts detailed tests on headlights for their range both straight ahead and in curves and to be certain they don’t exceed acceptable amounts of glare to oncoming drivers. The XC40’s headlights were rated “Good” by the IIHS, while the Tiguan’s headlights are rated “Acceptable.”

The XC40’s standard rear and side view mirrors have an automatic dimming feature. These mirrors can be set to automatically darken quickly when headlights shine on them, keeping following vehicles from blinding or distracting the driver. The Tiguan offers an automatic rear view mirror, but its side mirrors don’t dim.

Both the XC40 and the Tiguan have standard heated front seats. The XC40 also offers optional heated rear seats to keep those passengers extremely comfortable in the winter. Heated second row seats aren’t available in the Tiguan.

The XC40 has a standard dual zone air conditioning allows the driver and front passenger to choose two completely different temperatures so people with different temperature preferences won’t have to compromise. This makes both the driver and front passenger as comfortable as possible. Dual zone air conditioning is only available on the Tiguan SE/SEL.

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the Volvo XC40 has a standard wireless phone charging system (Qi) in the center console. Only the Tiguan SE/SEL offers wireless charging.

Recommendations

Consumer Reports® recommends the Volvo XC40, based on reliability, safety and performance. The Volkswagen Tiguan isn't recommended.

J.D. Power and Associates rated the XC40 second among small premium suvs in owner reported satisfaction. This includes how well the vehicle performs and satisfies its owner’s expectations. The Tiguan isn’t in the top three in its category.

The Volvo XC40 outsold the Volkswagen Tiguan by over two to one during 2021.

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