ON TEST: VOLKSWAGEN TAIGO
Volkswagen goes back to the SUV well and draws up the stunning Taigo Volkswagen has hit a good sales streak with its latest series of SUVs: will the all-new Taigo keep the run going? Andrew Walker takes a look Do we need another small SUV? Volkswagen obviously thinks so, which is why it’s introduced the Taigo, a new crossover that sits above the T-Cross and below the T-Roc in the Volkswagen car range. The T-Cross is Polo based, as it the Taigo, sharing it’s MQB A0 architecture. Model range The Taigo is available with a 1.5-litre petrol engine and two smaller 1.0-litre petrol engines. There are also three trim levels: Life, R-Line and Style. The smaller of the two 1.0-litre engines produces 95hp model, and is only offered in Life trim in five-speed guise. The more powerful 1.0-litre is a six-speed and produces 110hp, and is available on all trims. In addition there are two auto boxes: a 1.0 litre seven-speed 110hp across all the range, and one for the 1.5 litre 150hp engine, on just R-Line and Style trims. Spec As with most VW’s nowadays, all models are well appointed. Life comes with LED 48 | August 2022 | Company Car & Van
headlights, 16” alloys, black-painted roof rails, an 8” digital driver’s display, wireless phone charging, adaptive cruise control, plus front and rear parking sensors. We were testing the R-Line, which features 17” alloys, tinted rear windows, R badging, black roof lining, an R Line steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, a 10.25” digital driver’s display and an 8” touchscreen infotainment system with SatNav. The range-topping Style model adds to this with a full-width LED light bar in the front grille and automatic headlights. All models also feature lane assist, traffic-sign recognition, autonomous emergency braking, plus the bonus of wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. Exterior Squint and there’s bit of 1990’s Scirocco there, as the Taigo is lower and longer than a T-Cross. Up front, there’s a large VW logo sitting centre grille, with narrow headlights and deep set fog lights. The side is neat and tidy whilst the rear features high set headlights at each corner, low set bumper lights and a sloping rear hatch. Interior This will be familiar to current Volkswagen customers, with logically laid out instrumentation, a large, central touchscreen, steering wheel controls for infotainment and adaptive cruise control and separate climate controls. There’s also a proper handbrake and gear lever finishing things off.
The quality is mixed, with the good stuff located higher up on the dash front and top, but cheaper plastics adorning the door pockets and centre binnacle. The seat fabric looks and feels built to last, however. Practicality There are twin USBs in the front and rear with all door pockets large enough to hold a drink, which is good, because the two drinks spaces located in the centre binnacle are too small for most bottles. The wireless charger is a nice touch and the glove box gives you a useable. Despite the sloping roof, rear space is actually pretty good and up front, the Taigo offers decent head and legroom. The 440-litre boot is generous and it comes with a flat load floor, so it’s also easy to load up. There’s a space saver wheel located underneath. Fuel economy The EURO 6 engine comes with 134g/km of CO2 emissions and a combined economy of 47.8mpg. A week behind the wheel saw us average 44.6 mpg, so not far off the claimed. The 40-litre fuel tank should see a range of www.companycarandvan.co.uk
