Style council
FOR Surprisingly spacious. Decent enough to drive
AGAINST Some cheap interior plastics. Sluggish and noisy 3cyl
This is Volkswagen’s latest nichebusting coupecrossover It joins the seven other VW SUVs on sale in the UK and is based on the same onesizefitsall underpinnings as the Polo and the TCross It’s not technically an allnew car either because it shares a great deal with the Volkswagen Nivus sold in South America To become a Taigo it gets a couple of styling tweaks inside and out as well as a sporty new RLine trim level
When it was initially unveiled the general consensus was that the Taigo would become the new entry level VW SUV on our shores However Volkswagen knows that the ‘coupe’ body means it can charge extra for a little bit more ‘style’ It’ll set you back roughly more than the equivalent TCross ouch and around less than the larger TRoc
In reality the Taigo is similar in size to the Polo although it does get a bigger boot with litres playing litres We reckon it looks rather good That fullwidth rear lightbar is a neat little premium feature and it’s less polarising than something like a Puma Just a shame it doesn’t drive as well as the Ford
The Taigo is petrol only with the option of a litre turbo cyl or a litre turbo cyl You can have manual or auto gearboxes but frontwheel drive is standard and VW has ruled out a GTI or R performance variant
If you’ve driven a TCross you won’t find too many differences behind the wheel of a Taigo The bhp threecylinder engine isn’t the most refined of units clattery on startup and sounding a little strained at higher revs so you’ll be wanting to avoid the gearbox’s Sport mode Oh and mph takes a full seconds Ouch
It is fairly impressive through twisty stuff staying level and composed The suspension is on the firm side but it rarely feels crashy and copes with potholes well The brakes are as good as they need to be with decent feel to the pedal too but you won’t ever be writing home about the Taigo’s driving experience
On the inside the seats are welltrimmed and comfortable you get proper buttons on the steering wheel and no matter what trim level you go for all examples get clear digital dials
It’s not all great there are a few cheap plastics particularly on the centre console and the door panels and the inch infotainment screen can be confusing to use You do at least get a separate panel for the climate controls though Would the person at VW responsible for this please have a word with the team working on the MkVIII Golf?