car tests

How exciting is it?

Compact crossovers are so popular that more and more car manufacturers are offering several variants in the B-segment. Volkswagen is now introducing the Taigo alongside the T-Cross. Under the skin practically the same car, but the carriage looks a bit more exciting. AutoRAI.nl went out with the SUV coupe and found out whether it is exciting enough.

SUV coupe

A few weeks after we first came face to face with Volkswagen’s first SUV coupe – the ID.5 – we are already stepping into the second SUV with coupé styling from the German automaker: the Taigo.

The compact SUV shares its underbody with the T-Cross, but should appeal to a younger and wider audience. SUVs – such as the T-Roc and Tiguan – are popular among people in their thirties and forties, but they only drive a T-Cross if they borrow it from their parents. The Taigo must change that.

Sporty look

The Taigo is slightly lower and has a sporty sloping roofline. A wide grille and flat headlights complete the rugged look. It gets standard LED headlights, but matrix LED headlights are on the option list. As with the ID4, Arteon and Golf, a thin LED strip runs between the lamps.

Powertrain

The engine range is clear: there is a choice of a 1.0 TSI petrol engine with outputs of 95 or 110 hp or a 150 hp 1.5 TSI. The 95 hp three-cylinder is coupled to a five-speed manual gearbox and the 110 hp and 200 Nm variant is available with a six-speed gearbox or a seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission. With the 1.5-liter four-cylinder you get the latter as standard.

With 95 or 110 hp you can get along well in our country. We never feel that we are not moving fast enough. Our test car is equipped with the automatic transmission, which works nicely with the petrol engine. With small plastic flippers behind the steering wheel you can change gears yourself, but the car doesn’t really invite you to do so.

The sporty aspect is in the appearance of the body and not in the drivetrain and chassis. The Taigo does not behave much differently on the road than a T-Cross. That is not a disaster, because Volkswagen always knows how to find a good mix between comfort and sportiness. The driving experience is not very exciting, but there is little to complain about.

Happy atmosphere

The interior is very similar to the interior of the T-Cross and the updated Polo . The dashboard has a soft top layer and hard plastic, which is painted in the body color. As a result, there is quite a cheerful atmosphere in the interior. Especially if the Taigo has a nice color, like our test car: Visual Green.

The centrally placed infotainment screen looks sharp and clear and is pleasant to operate. Only if you quickly zoom in and out of the navigation map do you notice some delay, but otherwise it runs quite well. The digital instruments are also nice to look at and can be put together according to your own wishes. If you use the navigation, you can easily show the map on the instrument panel, so that you almost no longer have to take your eyes off the road.

South American

The Taigo was not designed in Europe, but in Brazil. In fact, it has been on the market there for a long time, under the name Nivus. Volkswagen has adapted the design and technology of the Nivus, so that it is also popular with Europeans. Of course, the name has also been changed, so that it starts with a T, just like its SUV brothers. In addition, it is not built in South America – like the Nivus – but simply in Spain, where the Polo and T-Cross also come from.

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Volkswagen Taigo prices

Volkswagen will introduce the Taigo in early 2022 as a Life version, with a starting price of 28,590 euros. This makes the Taigo loafer just as expensive as the Life version of the T-Cross.

Later in the year, there will probably be another version with a lower starting price, which is expected to be priced around 26,000 euros.

Check out our review: