The Volkswagen Tiguan has been a shortlist favourite for families over the past 15 years or so, with its allure of no-nonsense practicality and VW brand quality. The Allspace is a simple evolution of the standard Tiguan – it has seven seats instead of five, which adds 215mm to its overall length. But even with that added heft, the Tiguan doesn’t look like your typical big SUV on the kerbside, with its sleek roofline hiding its hulk really well.

With seven seats, the Tiguan Allspace looks to challenge other family car familiars like the Kia Sorrento, Peugeot 5008 and Skoda Kodiaq.

The headline feature of the Tiguan Allspace is without a doubt its seven seat configuration. Accessing these far seats is simple, with a wide opening to climb through – after you’ve tilted the middle row forward and given it a good shove. 

As mentioned, the Allspace’s silhouette is fairly trim, with a sloping roof that effectively masks its seven seat character. Unfortunately, that sloping roof makes for extremely limited headroom in the rearmost seats. Kids will be okay, but lanky teenagers will have their hair ruined. It’s not all bad news though, because the middle row of seats does slide back and forth, meaning that in a pinch you can free up enough leg room for taller passengers to be comfortable (ish) in the rearmost seats, at least when it comes to legroom.

When utilising the Allspace as a five seat people mover, however, you won’t have any problems whatsoever when it comes to space. Headroom and legroom in the middle row is in abundance – even with the glass roof – and you get a fold down armrest, big door bins and your own air-con controls. As well as the middle row sliding back and forth, it also reclines, which is a nice nap hack on longer journeys.

The Allspace’s boot space is pretty limited with all seats in place. You’ll have 230 litres to play around with, which isn’t huge, but enough for a few shopping bags and even a folded-up buggy. Fold these seats into the boot floor and you get 700 litres of space. Collapse the middle row and you get a whopping 1,775 litres of space, with an almost completely flat loading bed.

There’s even space to tuck away the parcel shelf too, although you are left with a slight hump in the boot floor when doing this. Quick release levers for the middle row, side storage cubbies in the boot and a nifty detachable torch make the Allspace a great, weekend-ready SUV.

The Allspace’s family-friendly credentials are evident in the cabin too, and while its interior design may be borderline boring – at least by today’s lavish SUV standards – it’s functional, comfortable and very well equipped. The presence of physical climate control buttons further down the dashboard may seem brazenly utilitarian by today’s standards, but there’s no denying that they’re a handy addition in practice. 

The graphics on the 8.0in touchscreen are a little basic, but they are easy to understand and the screen is quick to respond. The touchscreen system gets Android Auto and Apple Carplay, satnav, Bluetooth and DAB radio as standard too. Although the main touchscreen is a little rudimentary, the digital instrument cluster behind the steering wheel is far from it, with crisp, detailed graphics, and easy to customize and navigate menus – all via the steering wheel.

Things like big door bins, a filing cabinet-esque glove box and adjustable cup holders further add to its practical appeal.

The Tiguan Allspace may not stick to bends like a sporty SUV, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a big, unwieldy seven-seater. Its light steering and cushy suspension make long, and short journeys, a breeze. Excellent insulation from wind and road noise make it a perfect road trip companion too, as does its adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist – both of which come as standard.

There are several different petrol and diesel engines on offer in the Tiguan Allspace, but the 150hp 2.0-litre TDI we tested represents a nice sweet spot in the range. This 2.0-litre has plenty of pull through the gears and offers up admirable economy – expect around 40-45mpg around town and 55-60mpg on the motorway.

We had this 2.0-litre TDI mated to a six-speed manual gearbox, which is snappy through the range, although some of the gear ratios do feel a little short, which does take some getting used to. If that’s likely to annoy you, you can opt for a 7-speed DSG automatic instead.

Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace Life 2.0 TDI  

P11D: £35,690

Residual value: 43.94%

Depreciation: £20,008

Fuel: £9,922

Service, maintenance, and repair: £2,935

Cost per mile: 80.91p

Fuel consumption: 53.3 mpg

CO2 (BIK %): 140g/km (33%) 

BIK 20/40% a month: £196/£393

Luggage capacity: 700 litres

Engine size/power: 1,966cc/150hp