VW Tiguan 2018 Factory Fitted Towbar

Car manufacturers are well aware of the clearance necessary for an AlKo hitch. It would be a serious oversight if VW didn't take it into account in the design, which I cannot imagine. The easiest thing to put your mind at ease is to find such a car at a dealer and measure the clearance to the bumper which should be 75mm to the centre of the ball.

The clearance issue with respect to the Tiguan was raised due to concerns in service and AlKo did carry out tests which revealed that it was adequate under all conditions. In fact, there is even a test report covering the subject issue. However, it's in German:

 https://www.motor-talk.de/forum/aktion/Attachment.html?attachmentId=706288

Many thanks for taking the time to reply to my post and for the comments and advise - very helpful and much appreciated Kind regards

Do make sure that they wire it up for the caravan, as otherwise you will only get wiring for a commercial trailer, preventing you using the fridge on tour.

I have a 2017 Mk2 Tiguan with factory towbar, and tow a 2013 Swift. Yes it is closer to the bumper than my previous car, but I have had no issues, and the rear camera is a benefit (although I always use my mover for both hitching and unhitching for greater control which is especially useful if the hitch has compressed)

The operation is so easy, and I can confirm that ALL the pins necessary for the caravan are fully wired as delivered,

It also integrates with the car alarm - if the caravan is unhitched whilst parked, the car alarm will go off.

The Satnav also recognises the caravan is hitched, and modifies the speed limits to those required for towing.

Its a brilliant piece of kit, and  has100kg noseweight limit

A VW forum member added this photo, when I and others were concerned about clearance. It looks tight, but in reality its fine

Thank you for the posts, information and espcially the picture All very helpful and reassuring Much appreciated Kind regards

If the car has LED lights the car alarm will not operate due to technical reasons, according to VW.

I've only towed once with mine and its fine using a mover, only thing to watch is that you don't unhitch with a compressed hitch as the damper will touch the bumper, on my SEL.

It's a known fact that after reversing you should pull forward a little to expand the damper to stop this happening but I still forget sometimes.

xtrailman - glad you warned me, mines an SEL with LED lights, but I haven't tested if the alarm works, but next time its hitched I'll double check.

I have noticed that the ATC takes slightly longer to activate on hitching up, than it did with my previous Mondeo, but it always does after 2-3 seconds.