Once upon a time, way back in model year 2009 to be precise, the Volkswagen Tiguan arrived in America as little more than a lifted Golf hoping beyond hope to cater to a burgeoning crossover market. Now that segment clearly stands out as the largest swath of buyers in America -- and the Tiguan is Volkswagen's clear best-seller. So for the little crossover's third generation, VW needed a knockout. And boy howdy, does the new third-gen Tiguan deliver, in a way not seen for decades, quite literally.

In many ways, the new Tiguan actually reminds me of the MkIV Golf, with premium touchpoints and a design that far outclasses its pricing. A perfectly calibrated powertrain, stunning suspension tuning, and even significant weight savings versus the outgoing gen all make the new Tiguan a true miracle of the modern automotive age.

Unfortunately, Volkswagen held a media drive program in Montana on a couple of disappointingly drenched days -- so my sincerest apologies for the foul-weather pics. And yet, the slippery conditions provided an excellent opportunity to test the Tiguan's front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive variants. I never thought in a thousand years that I might ever recommend a FWD car of any kind, yet as I sit here cranking out this story on the flight home, I can't help but confoundingly land on the conclusion that a base FWD Tiguan with perhaps only a few options tacked on might just be one of the best budget buys on the market today.