The 2025 Volkswagen Taos Doesn’t Stand Out: First Drive Review

There’s an iconic line within the film Workplace House the place effectivity knowledgeable Bob Slydell asks programmer Tom: “What would you say you … do right here?”

It’s a query many embroiled in company life can relate to, or at the very least chuckle at, nevertheless it additionally applies to automobiles. To earn its megamillions in improvement prices and advert spending, a automobile should do one thing new or higher than the competitors, and that factor should be significant to its supposed viewers. After spending a day with the refreshed 2025 Volkswagen Taos, I’m undecided what it does right here. It’s nice sufficient however completely forgettable—the vehicular equal of water-cooler dialog.

The brand new Taos presents little to distinguish itself from the myriad of different small crossovers on the market, nor from its bigger sibling, the Tiguan. Whereas spacious and well-equipped, it’s not significantly environment friendly, low cost, or superior, and VW doesn’t carry Honda or Toyota’s repute for high quality. That’s to not say the Taos is a nasty automobile—it isn’t—nevertheless it’s unremarkable, and VW can’t afford to be “unremarkable” proper now.

In case you hadn’t heard, Volkswagen isn’t having the very best 12 months (or 5). Gross sales are down, income are nonexistent, and the corporate’s shuttering a German manufacturing facility for the primary time because the aftermath of the Second World Battle. The corporate’s CFO even not too long ago instructed workers it has “one, perhaps two years” to show issues round.

On condition that rosy backdrop, Volkswagen should get its up to date Taos and new Tiguan SUVs proper, because the pair are a few of its best-selling automobiles each within the US and globally. Whereas the 2025 Taos is extra refined and competent than earlier than, it’s not the form of game-changer prone to win over many undecided consumers. 

Photograph by: Volkswagen

Professionals: Spacious Inside, Clean Driving Dynamics, Lengthy Listing of Normal Tools

At $26,420 together with supply, the Taos is the most affordable five-door VW Individuals should buy. For 2025, it will get a mid-cycle replace with a fair boxier look, a 16-horsepower bump to the 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine, and an eight-speed automated rather than the outdated seven-speed dual-clutch in 4Motion all-wheel drive fashions. The bottom mannequin additionally will get a number of ordinary tools together with projector LED headlights and an 8.0-inch infotainment display.

I’m undecided this facelift does the small SUV any favors. Whereas the outgoing mannequin wasn’t a lot to take a look at, pinching the headlights and higher grille in favor of a big decrease snout accentuates the Taos’s slab-sidedness. It makes the automobile seem like it’s pouting. There are a pair of recent colours: Monument Grey and Vibrant Moss Inexperienced, the latter of which VW says was impressed by Porsche’s Mamba Inexperienced.

Photograph by: Volkswagen

Photograph by: Volkswagen

Photograph by: Volkswagen

Fortunately, the mechanical and tech upgrades fare higher. The eight-speed auto shifts easily and is a extra acceptable match than the DSG on this software. VW says the 1.5-liter’s modest energy bump comes courtesy of revised internals, bigger injectors and intercooler, and a modified turbo housing. It feels energetic off the road however runs out of steam round 50 miles per hour, making freeway passes a think-twice affair.

VW’s IQ.Drive suite of driver-assistance tech is commonplace and welcome. Computerized emergency braking and lane-keep help hold issues on the straight and slim, whereas adaptive cruise management and Journey Help managed by (mercifully) tactile buttons assist with freeway slogs. It’s a small marvel that $30,000 crossovers now have commonplace ADAS suites that will be the envy of $80,000 luxurious sedans from a decade in the past, however such is the march of progress.

Photograph by: Volkswagen

Cons: Common Effectivity, Laggy Acceleration, Near Tiguan in Worth

Gasoline effectivity climbs one mile per gallon on 4Motion all-wheel drive fashions to twenty-eight mixed, and stays 31 for the front-wheel drive Taos. That is on par with its opponents, nevertheless it’s merely acceptable given the Taos’s efficiency. Hyundai has a battery-electric Kona, Toyota sells the Corolla Cross as a 42-mpg hybrid, and Subaru revealed a brand new hybrid model of the Crosstrek in Japan that it may carry to the US. VW sells plug-in hybrid variations of the Golf and Tiguan in Europe, nevertheless it doesn’t supply any hybrids right here.

The Taos is a pleasant place to be, with cloth- and leatherette-trimmed seats, loads of bodily buttons (VW has lastly seen the sunshine), and wi-fi Apple CarPlay. There’s loads of area for rear passengers, and the rear cargo space is capacious, too. It steers exactly and feels as comfy and strong at freeway velocity as you’d anticipate any German automobile to, albeit with some audible highway noise.

Herein lies the issue: The VW Taos does practically all the things effectively, however nothing remarkably so. If you would like enjoyable dealing with, you’re shopping for a Mazda CX-30. If fashion and tech come first, the Hyundai Kona is asking your title. When effectivity is the purpose, the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid has you coated with far superior gas financial system. Different decisions within the phase decide their line and keep on with it—the Taos is a jack of all trades, however a grasp of none.

Photograph by: Volkswagen

Photograph by: Volkswagen

Extra worryingly, I’m not even positive the Taos could make a price case for itself inside VW’s lineup. The reasonably outfitted SE 4Motion I drove stickered at $31,040, whereas a comparable 2024 Tiguan Wolfsburg AWD could be $33,920—$2,880 extra. Assuming 2025 Tiguan pricing follows the identical pattern because the Taos and doesn’t change by greater than $1,000 both means, we’re speaking a two-figure distinction in month-to-month lease cost for a automobile with appreciably more room and energy.

Throughout our drive, the dialog turned to decades-old adverts, from the intelligent Spanish lesson TDI spot to the unforgettable Unpimp Your Trip sequence. The temper was wistful for a time when VW’s merchandise and model stood for one thing cheeky and clever within the US. Publish-Dieselgate Volkswagen doesn’t have a transparent identification in North America. And not using a clear benefit over its competitors, the Taos doesn’t get it any nearer to determining what that subsequent chapter will likely be. 

I’m undecided what it does right here.

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