So, I've been lurking on this forum specifically because I have a Tiguan and wish it were a CX-5. I bought November 2017 (SEL Premium 4Motion), and almost pulled the trigger on a CX-5 GT, but was mostly a little hesitant on the power, and I was lured in by the better cabin tech of the Tig. I have since test driven a GT-R and it checks all the boxes for me. After running the numbers I decided I had to be a grown up and suck it up with the VW for a while instead of taking the depreciation hit.
Tiguan pros: The virtual cockpit is pretty nice. If I had complete control there would be some configuration options that aren't built in. The lame thing is that since I (probably like most people) use Apple Carplay, nothing shows up on the virtual dash. You have to use the built in nav to get nav info in the dash. Space - it is very spacious, especially the back seats, which are on rails and can slide pretty far back. It seems like a small thing but the power hatch is probably twice as fast to open and close as my wife's Highlander. Decent sound system but I'm no audiophile. LED lights. Pano sunroof. The surround view and cameras are very good, and the rear washer also rinses off the rear camera lens, which is awesome. Seems to drive pretty well in the snow.
Tiguan cons: It's a dog. If you put it in Sport mode (need to switch every time you start the car), get an OBD coder (I got Carista which works fine) to change the throttle response, then it's *acceptable*. The tuning options currently available are piggybacks from Burger and Neuspeed - they are generally well reviewed. I haven't gotten one in part because I don't want to admit to myself that I'm keeping this car for that long .... ECU tunes like APR so far haven't been able to crack the new encryption from Bosch (my understanding is this affects all new Audi, VW, Porsche, etc.). It takes a full 3 seconds after pulling the wiper stalk for fluid to squirt out, and it seems to burn through wiper fluid. The interior feels (relatively) cheap. I have the top of the line (R line wasn't out when i bought; it's all just cosmetic upgrades afaik), and the passenger seat is MANUAL adjust. No ventilated seats, rear seats are not heated. Coming from Recaros, the seats are fine, but certainly not great or memorable. Oh and the remote start works from about 15 feet away, maybe 20 feet in optimal conditions.
This vehicle is perfectly "fine", but there is truly nothing to love about it. I buy into the "zoom zoom/driving matters/fahrfegnugen/etc" thing. I like driving and I want to feel a little excited to walk out of work or whatever and see my car waiting for me. This vehicle definitely does not give me shivers.
I haven't really objectively evaluated the interior space of the CX-5 (2 kids is why I went bigger from my Ford Focus ST), but I assume it would be fine. I don't need the extra cargo space of Tiguan vs CX-5, but if someone needed max cargo space for the class, Tiguan is probably the way to go. I have not had any major reliability issues.
LMK if I can answer any questions. Hopefully I'll be on this forum as an owner one of these days. I had a gen 1 Speed 3 and I loved that car, even though the transmission was temperamental.
