Volkswagen steers into Singapore with auto-parking SUV

Juniper Foo | Aug 20, 2008

One of the bugbears for greenhorns taking their driving test is the grind of parking. Fail this, and you can kiss your licence goodbye. That is, until the next test. As a bit of self-congratulatory patting, yours truly, by a miracle, managed to ace parking on the first attempt.

Well, the bad news is, you still have to pass your parking to score a driving licence. The good news is, once you do, you may never have to worry about parking again. Short of getting your own chauffeur, Volkswagen is bringing its Tiguan to Singapore roads, joining the rarified car marques here like Toyota Estima Aeras in offering an intelligent parking system. The Tiguan will also roll into Taiwan and Indonesia soon, besides being already available in New Zealand, Australia and Korea.

Volkswagen's 2-liter SUV will launch in early September in the Republic with its nifty auto-parking feature. But like the Toyota, this is extended as an option. So if you desire this functionality, do factor in an additional S$11,800 to the car's S$105,000 sticker (with COE, for 150bhp turbo engine; S$125,000 for the 200bhp version). The price of the option bundles the Park Assist with a rear view camera, Bluetooth package and DVD player with SD card slot and 30GB harddisk with a touchscreen navigation system.

There's another catch: This does only parallel parking and isn't quite fully automatic. Volkswagen only recently showcased its second-gen auto-parking system that will do vertical lots and doesn't even require a warm body in the car while parking. But for now, the driver still has to control the accelerator pedal, brake and clutch while the Tiguan steers into a pre-measured space under sensor control. As a safety feature, the moment the driver manually intervenes in the steering process, the Park Assist function is deactivated.

Now, before you can say, "look ma, no hands!", just know that handsfree doesn't equate to attention-free. The Parking Assist Feature will most assuredly park your car. But it won't brake for any moving obstacle getting into its way. You still have to keep your eyes peeled for that dog, cat, kid dashing into the car's path.

Still, if you're one of those inclined to break out into cold sweat inching the car endlessly in and out of a cramped parking space, this little tech party trick can be a boon to help lower your blood pressure.

For a comparison of the Volkswagen vs. Toyota Estima Aeras' auto-parking system, check it out here. Or have a look at the Tiguan's auto parking feature in action in the vid below.