[Mach_1590]

Many congratulations on driving home the VW Taigun. 1.5L, 150PS with 7DSG and the stiff chassis should keep you engaged for years. All the shortcoming will be forgotten as you spend more time with the vehicle. Still, VW should quickly understand that 19 lac rupee vehicle isn't cheap by any standards especially a small crossover in the Indian market. Although its true that other cars in the segment have their cons as well but again Koreans are very smart in hiding those.

[Newtown]

Originally Posted by sid2017

Congratulations for your new car.
Thanks for the wonderful review.
I have booked the 1.5TSI DSG and waiting for the delivery.

I was on the fence for long time(since March 2021) and finally booked the car after I took at least 4 test drives of Kushaq/Taigun 1.5TSI combined.

The reason to go with Taigun was the familiarity with the dealer from last 8 years.

Thank you and congratulations on your booking. It does seem like a very few individuals have had long term relationships with VW dealers and their service centres and have come out happy. I am also one such customer.

Originally Posted by Mach_1590

Many congratulations on driving home the VW Taigun. 1.5L, 150PS with 7DSG and the stiff chassis should keep you engaged for years. All the shortcoming will be forgotten as you spend more time with the vehicle. Still, VW should quickly understand that 19 lac rupee vehicle isn't cheap

Thank you and I agree with you. My thinking is that getting vendors ready to do their best work during a lockdown would have been hard. It is my assumption that as more cars get delivered, these niggles will be ironed out.

On another note, a piece of black plastic cladding that is like a cover on the rear bumper (one on each side of the bumper) just popped out! I noticed it when I was covering the car one of these days. I tried putting it back and it went in but did not stay clicked in and was loose. I got some transparent 2 way tape and applied it to ensure it stays in place and does not fall off. These niggles I am positive will get sorted out down the line.

[Gokrish]

Originally Posted by Newtown

Thank you and congratulations on your booking. It does seem like a very few individuals have had long term relationships with VW dealers and their service centres and have come out happy. I am also one such customer.

You are right! I am one of those lucky few and my 2nd VW car purchased from the same dealer even after a gap of almost 8 years! The dealer was patient enough to answer all my provoking queries including issues on EPC, rear wheel bearing, long term reliability of DSG, etc. In fact, the dealer had insisted on taking a test drive long enough to get a feel of the engine, gear box, and other features!

[blackwasp]

Many congratulations on the new car. Great write up as well.

Originally Posted by Newtown

Suggestions are most welcome on this as I'd like to have this fixed soon.

Why do you want to use the rivets? Just use bolts, or best yet, use 3M double sided tape to stick the number plate. Even if you use rivets or bolts, ensure you put some double side tape on the corners and the middle area to cut down on the number plate rattles.

[Newtown]

Originally Posted by sid2017

....finally booked the car after I took at least 4 test drives of Kushaq/Taigun 1.5TSI combined.

Sid - When do you get delivery of your car?

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Many congratulations on the new car. Why do you want to use the rivets?

Thank you. Conceptually the HSRP necessitates the usage of rivets and hence it was my understanding that it is mandated. Finally bolts is all that could be used. Not using 2 sided transparent tape because there is PPF behind it.


A few more updates on the Taigun:

• The DSG has become more predictive over time. It shifts into the gears I expect it to and hence the drive has become smoother.
• The piano black around the Start Stop button has scratches and I don't even know how. There is a need to coat it with something. Any suggestions?
• The reverse camera does not turn on if the boot has not latched in and closed properly. I realized this when I saw the icon on the digital cockpit for the boot being ajar. Once I secured the boot completely, all was back to normal and the camera worked fine.
• I keep the car covered when parked. I went to retrieve something I had forgotten in the car. Hence, did not uncover the car completely. Mistakenly I must have hit the sunroof button. When I realized it was open, I tried to close it. It refused to close and kept bouncing back. The trick was to slowly close it with slight touches to the switch and once it closed completely doing so, it worked fine after that.
• There is a plastic piece in the rear bumper cladding that is removeable perhaps to access some bolts. That suddenly popped out. I have put it back together with 2 sided transparent tape. No further issues with it.
• Expectedly, there is a lot of brake dust on the front wheels. It is a good idea to keep the wheels as clean as possible to ensure no particles enter the mechanism and that mud and dust does not cake up.
• The car remains brilliant to drive. The power, handling and ride comfort at all speeds are extremely good. Slow speeds over bad roads feels stiff. One ends up at being at a much higher speed than they feel they are going at, because of the long wheelbase and good suspension setup.

[Newtown]

Hello Team BHP family.

I have been up and about trying to use the Taigun at every opportunity which is mostly on weekends. For the in person work days, I use the good old 8th gen manual Civic. While the convenience of an automatic is second to none, the feeling of shifting gears on a rev happy car is unparalleled as well.

The odometer is just shy of 3000 km and a fair portion of that have been trips between 250 to 350 kms. While the kms may not be too high, the amount of time taken to cover them in the conditions we drive in are significantly high as you can imagine. One of the biggest wins is that I complete the day with significantly lower fatigue post a long drive in the Taigun. Decisioning time when at the wheel is low and can be made with little or no planning. This contributes to lowering fatigue.

The car can munch up the miles effortlessly all day with good speed, agility, road manners and economy. The car regularly returns a combined mileage of 13.5 to 14.5 km to the liter. If you take off directly on a high way trip directly after filling your tank with sedate driving (75 to 80 km/hr with a few bursts) you end up with about 16 to 17.5 km to the liter. It is a frugal engine when compared to its competition. This can partially be attributed to the 20 to 25 kg lower curb weight.

It is simple to drive in a crowded city and magnificent on an open highway. However you cannot run over the uneven concrete patches without feeling them. It feels hard and one needs to slow down. Initially I was not very convinced with the Good Year tyres but they have done well and are purpose built for the Taigun. They don’t fuss when you push them around and quietly deliver without screeching. Twisty long roads are the Taigun’s strength and you won’t want to get off them. It is effortless with confidence.

A few things that I feel will not hold up over time – The rear light bar, the piano black surrounding the stop start button, bits and pieces of the bumpers both front and back and the upholstery to some extent. Even though the headlights are LEDs, I would like them to be better. Could the PPF covering the headlights be a cause for me feeling like this? Let me know your thoughts and comments.

I find the accessory net extremely convenient to hold down things and prevent them from rolling about in the boot. The VW floor mats are holding up well and are made of top quality. I use the car cover daily and find that very durable as well. I plan to keeping a spare car cover as well. I haven’t used the TPH cover that I ordered for the Taigun as it feels more like a dam tuxedo rather than a T-shirt like a cover is meant to be. It is too good to just put on daily and very heavy.

This was a quick update on what I have been up-to with the Taigun. I shall continue to post my experiences with it and put up a few pictures in the next post.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

[vinitbarve]

Originally Posted by Newtown

One of the biggest wins is that I complete the day with significantly lower fatigue post a long drive in the Taigun. Decisioning time when at the wheel is low and can be made with little or no planning. This contributes to lowering fatigue....

The car can munch up the miles effortlessly all day with good speed, agility, road manners and economy.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Newtown - looks like u r having a super fun...

I fully agree with your statements on quality of ride and low fatigue. On Christmas weekend I drove to Pune and back, usually @2.5 hrs journey took painful 4 hours. On my earlier car, I would hand over the driver seat to my wife at Panvel toll or at Vashi...this time i drove the full journey with less fatigue. Its a superb drive.

[Newtown]

Time to decide on service and maintenance

5,500 km + and a decision needed to be taken on the soon to start maintenance. The 7,500 km Oil Change notification started making an appearance some kilometres back.

From a VW India perspective this is termed as the 2nd inspection service where they will:

• Go through a sheet of checks
• Reset the oil change notification
• Check for any updates & service bulletins
• Wash the car

With some tinkering around, I managed to get into the service menu. The video below shows how to get to it and the options available within the service menu. This I would assume would work for the 1.0 TSI with a Digital Cockpit as well.

https://youtu.be/AyQ3BUA3BOw

From the VW India website I documented the parts & labour that would be charged at each yearly service interval. The cost has also been put into the table below for each yearly service that includes GST. On comparing the total individual yearly service cost for 4 Years, the service package on offer works out to about Rs. 8,600 lighter on your wallet.



I walked into the VW Downtown service centre after many years to check the facility and how it is operated. Not much has changed and looks almost the same as I had seen it years back. Found this innovative chandelier at the service centre made with discarded spark plugs and a cycle tyre. Ingenious!



Over the 6 1/2 months of ownership, I have formed a cleaning regime that I shall post on in a future update. But for some perspective for those of us Mumbaikars who park their cars on the road, this is the state of my car cover. Although I have another cover as well, this one is lighter and way more convenient. I have time and again requested VW Downtown to sell me another cover. Each time their response has been that their accessories are sold bundled and the cover cannot be sold separately. I find this quite ridiculous and laughable.

[throttleflick]

Originally Posted by Newtown

Over the 6 1/2 months of ownership, I have formed a cleaning regime that I shall post on in a future update.

Thanks for the updates. The video is surely insightful. I’ve no clue how my cars long term stats got erased. I generally leave them be but after the car crossed ~ 3200kms, I found the long term stats reset. Have you faced the same issue by any chance?

I’ve shifted to Pune from Thane and have no covered parking, hence the car remains parked in the open taking all of the sun shine till 1 pm. No covered parking and construction going on means a lot of dust and sand accumulation on the rear bumper and a thin layer of dust always makes its presence felt on the car.

After every car wash, I’ve used the cover VW gave but I saw it holds on fine sand particles and now I’m doubtful if I should continue using it or leave the car exposed to the sun. I’ve also started leaving the sunroof in the partially open position so that there is some ventilation.

I’ve been using the services of a friendly car wash guy, but I might have to take the car cleaning up on my own. WFH means I can do this multiple times a week. Keenly awaiting details of the cleaning regime.

[yatesh.92]

Originally Posted by throttleflick

After every car wash, I’ve used the cover VW gave but I saw it holds on fine sand particles and now I’m doubtful if I should continue using it or leave the car exposed to the sun. I’ve also started leaving the sunroof in the partially open position so that there is some ventilation.

I’ve been using the services of a friendly car wash guy, but I might have to take the car cleaning up on my own. WFH means I can do this multiple times a week. Keenly awaiting details of the cleaning regime.

As long as the cover is doing it's job of protecting your car, I'd suggest you continue using it atleast till the time you get a proper parking space. The parking alloted to me inside the society premises is an open one. Problem is it's right under a tree so bird droppings and the tree shedding leaves is a big pain. That's not all, there's a clumsy, mannerless neighbour who throws waste food out of his hall window quite frequently and most of the time it lands on my Ignis. Because of this issue I have to keep my car covered all the time.

Sad part is I'm almost sure whose the culprit but can't confront them because I don't have evidence against them or personally haven't seen them doing it. Thanks to car cover, it has saved me a lot of trouble. Trust me the cover will save you a lot of trouble as well.

[throttleflick]

Originally Posted by yatesh.92

As long as the cover is doing it's job of protecting your car, I'd suggest you continue using it atleast till the time you get a proper parking space. The parking alloted to me inside the society premises is an open one. Problem is it's right under a tree so bird droppings and the tree shedding leaves is a big pain. That's not all, there's a clumsy, mannerless neighbour who throws waste food out of his hall window quite frequently and most of the time it lands on my Ignis. Because of this issue I have to keep my car covered all the time.

The thing with the cover provided by VW is that I feel* fine sand and dust particles seep through the material and settle down on the car body. I almost didn't notice this on the car paint but dark plastic parts and the bumper had dust settled on them. *It might be because of the parking is in a windy space and hence, the cover balloons around the car, providing easy ingress to dust to get around and this might be one reason why my car is so dusty and covered in a fine layer of sand.

I'm on the lookout for a good cover that has a fabric liner inside it. GTOs recommendation of Polco covers doesn't work for me because they don't manufacture one for Taigun. A couple of days ago, I read owners of TPH covers weren't satisfied with the recent drop in the cover quality.

Originally Posted by yatesh.92

Sad part is I'm almost sure whose the culprit but can't confront them because I don't have evidence against them or personally haven't seen them doing it. Thanks to car cover, it has saved me a lot of trouble. Trust me the cover will save you a lot of trouble as well.

Mount a gopro with full view of the car and record things if you can. A second hand gopro might do it for you, connect it to a power bank and remove the gopro battery if you want to record it for a longer duration. Or you can also have a dashcam installed in the car but since you've mentioned your car is covered all the time, I'm not sure if that'd be of much help in this particular case.

[Newtown]

Originally Posted by throttleflick

I'm on the lookout for a good cover that has a fabric liner inside it. GTOs recommendation of Polco covers doesn't work for me because they don't manufacture one for Taigun. A couple of days ago, I read owners of TPH covers weren't satisfied with the recent drop in the cover quality.

I have always used Polco covers for all my previous cars. I had spoken to their office for a Tyvek cover for the Taigun. I was given to understand that they manufacture OE covers now and hence was told to go ahead and buy the cover directly from Volkswagen.

The TPH covers still have excellent quality even now. I have one unboxed for the Taigun which I have kept for the rainy season. This cover needs a workout to be put on, it is really heavy duty.

[Floyd de Souza]

Hello Newton....any further ownership updates?

[pannags]

Fantastic, comprehensive review. This thread is a great starting place for anyone wanting to make an informed purchase decision.

BTW, I had pre-booked the VW Taigun Highline AT, but held back my purchase due to incidents reported on the Kushaq and the lack of clarity of features on the Highline. With the impending launch of the Suzuki/Toyota CSUV twins rekindling my interest, I'm looking at giving the 1.5 DSG a consideration too.

Have a couple of questions:

You said the cruise buttons increase/decrease the speeds in steps of 10 KM. I find this surprising and inconvenient. Is there a way around this? On my S-Cross the speed changes by a nominal 2-3 KM.

How has the DSG been doing so far, particularly in B2B traffic when driving for long periods of time? Coming from Bangalore, this is something I have to be prepared for.

Frankly, while I'm not bothered about the mileage, do you have any figures for how the 1.5 fares in city-only conditions? Was wondering to what extent cylinder deactivation works when pottering around town?

[Newtown]

T-BHP family - The Taigun has been doing very well overall. There are some great things and some not so good. Here goes - Some more outcomes from the experiences since I last posted.

The not so good

• The fit and finish of plastic parts, especially the unpainted pieces in the bumper, are abysmal. As a result of them not being of good quality, the snap fit suffers. While not so noticeable, for someone like me who cleans their own car, it is.
  
• The light bar at the rear - I have mentioned this before and doing so again. This looks very attractive but will not last. I am seeing internal cracks in the plastic throughout the light bar. I am so concerned that I plan to take it to the dealer and have it at least registered as a customer complaint.
  
• It needs tyres with a higher wall. There is no question about it. To make up for that you can fill some more air but then the ride suffers on broken and uneven roads.
  
• Do I miss rear disc brakes? - 95% of the time I do not. But there is that 5% of the time that I wish it had them.

The great things

• The engine - The 1.5 DSG has made me a smoother driver and added more patience to my driving style. I am no longer anxious when I need to make a quick maneuver as I know I have the car to support me when I need it.
  
• Digital Cockpit - I enjoy fiddling with the various options on the digital cockpit to get the different pieces of information. It is not the best, but it is pretty dam good and does the job really well.
  
• Infotainment - The screen is quick to respond 99% of the time and has great clarity. Apple Car Play also permits splitting the screen. For example, Spotify and Google Maps work side by side on the screen. Maybe Android Auto also does this, but I am not sure.
  
• The boot - I had a chance to do a few airport runs. The boot is large enough to pack in 2 large, 1 medium and 2 to backpacks/smaller bags/cabin bags.
  
• Mechanical seat movements - I am glad the car does not come with power seats. If the car does not recognize me as an individual and cannot load all my preferred settings, then I might as well do everything myself including quick mechanical seat adjustments.
  
• The sunroof/moonroof - I have voiced my opinion on not needing one at all. There were days when it was nice and cloudy, and the weather was cool. On such days having the sunshade of the roof open makes the cabin nice and bright. I do not ever slide the sunroof except to check that it is working.
  
• The USB C port - While the wireless charging is really slow, wired charging directly through the USB port is surprisingly fast!

My incidents on Mumbai roads

• Left hand side front bumper - A nice long scratch on the side from a scooter who lost balance while going over a speed breaker. It is on the PPF and not on the paint so no worries. I have not changed the PPF there to serve as a reminder for me to drive better.
  
• Rear bumper - On 2 separate occasions I have had scooters crashing into the rear bumper. Both crashed at a speed of about 20 to 25 km/hr. Nothing noticeable unless one looks deeply. Some of the shiny chrome has become misaligned but otherwise all intact. PPF also intact.
  
• Left had side door - The lower definition line was completely gone over by a car when I was standing still in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The PPF across the definition line has become very rough, but it has not gone through the paint thankfully. I will need to replace this soon.

Fuel efficiency

I have logged every tank filled into the car. Fuel type is sada/standard unleaded fuel. Overall economy from the time the car was bought has been 12 km/lt (~28 mpg). The split would be 20% highway, 80% city. Most long-distance cruises average anywhere between 15 to 19km/lt. The car has been refueled 21 times with 705 lts of fuel.

Car covers

If you haven't already, take a look at my earlier posts on my parking conditions. I have invested in 4 car covers. One is still unused. The one I used the most was the VW provided cover. The other 3 are from TPH. From my experience TPH is good at their marketing and packaging but the materials used for the covers are pedestrian at best. I feel a little cheated for the price I paid for them.

Car maintenance

I wash my own car. Frequency varies on my usage. The Turtle ceramic spray coating helps not to reduce the washes. The Jopasu duster suffices for the most part. I have a cordless blower to get all the leaves, branches and dust off the car cover and only then do I uncover the car. Takes very little time and goes a long way.

My first oil change was at 7500 km in June 2022. I sampled the oil under bright light to check for metal shavings and used a strong magnet as well. All was well and it was run in perfectly. My next oil change will now be in April 2023 and then it will be done every October and April of each year. I expect to do less than 7500 km between each change.

In addition to the cordless blower, I have a battery jump starter, a vacuum cleaner, a 12V air pump with a separate Michelin tire gauge (I do not fill air at gas stations as those machines are just mostly wrongly calibrated).

I also have a battery tester that I got from the US. It is important to note that the battery is a CCA 320 A, 59 Ah battery weighing about 10 kg with a pert number of 000915105EB. This will help selecting the correct battery on the battery tester.

That ends this update. I will be posting pictures to go with this as well. Watch out for it.

Cheers!