In the lates 80s, VW's engineers faced a conundrum. The product planning department expressed the need for a compact six-cylinder engine that could be squeezed into a front-wheel-drive car.

A few years after introducing the first-gen Touareg in 2002, Volkswagen decided its flagship crossover needed a smaller sibling. Thus, they set to work, and the first Tiguan was ready in 2007.

Ever since its 2007 debut as Volkswagen’s diminutive “Golf-in-elevator-shoes” entry in the exploding compact SUV segment, the Tiguan has grown in both size and popularity among U.S. families.

Whenever you can extract additional horsepower from a little four-cylinder engine, the results are rewarding. The impressive VW engine has been known to produce nearly two horsepower per cubic inch in ...