2021 Volkswagen Taigun 1.0L AT: Ownership experience

I started looking at the Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos & Hyundai Venue in late 2019 but deferred the buying decision due to parking space constraints.

BHPian asmr recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Greetings to everyone!

This will be my first ownership report ever. I wouldn't call myself an enthusiast by any measure but I will try to make this as comprehensive as possible.

Quick summary

Volkwagen Taigun 1.0L Topline AT

• Engine: 999cc, 3 cylinders
• Max. power - 114 bhp @ 5000 rpm
• Max. torque - 178 Nm @ 1750 rpm
• ARAI Mileage - 16.44 kmpl
• Dimensions (lxbxh in mm) - 4221x1760x1612
• Kerb Weight - 1275kg
• Ground clearance (unladen) - 188mm
• Brakes - Front discs, Rear drums

OTR Price - Rs.18,96,631 (including 2 year extended warranty to a total of 6 years, no discounts, standard accessory kit) + Rs.33,412 (own insurance) = Total of Rs.19,30,043/-

Likes:

• Very spacious and comfortable for 4 people, with sufficient boot space
• TC AT is very smooth, making it easy to drive in the city, especially in bumper to bumper traffic. On the highway, D mode is very nice and gives power on demand. S mode makes short work of steep inclines in ghat roads.
• Excellent ride quality and handling in city, highways and in ghat sections, on all types of roads.
• Cruise control, ACC, Auto wipers, cooled glove box - all work nicely, have used all of those in the initial 1999kms that the car has run till now
• On a dark highway or road, the headlights seem to be excellent. Loved the static, intelligent cornering lights as well. The interior switch and ambient lights make it very lively and easy to use the controls at night.
• Touchscreen infotainment is very good. The sound quality is very much acceptable for me. Android Auto worked seamlessly once connected via the USB-C cable.
• The sunroof, even if not panoramic, instantly gives a more airy feeling to the cabin.
• The ventilated seats. No explanation is needed for this.

Dislikes:

• Touch controls for AC are quite distracting, requiring one to take eyes away from the road to operate.
• The sunroof mechanicals being visible is an eyesore when the sunshade open.
• Stock MRF Wanderer tyres dampen turning confidence at speeds or on inclines.
• Mileage - not exactly a dislike and certainly not unexpected, but running at steady speeds at 80 km/h would extract maximum mileage. Push the vehicle to perform even a bit more and the numbers will drop significantly. I have provided more details on the numbers in the following sections.
• Android Auto doesn't work seamlessly via a wireless connection.
• The TPMS seems to be more of a pressure difference monitoring and not a real-time pressure indication. It was an irritant when I set the tyres to 33 (recommended for single occupancy) and after 1 hour of drive time, the tyre pressure reducing warning lit up. I checked the pressure again and it was 33 on all tyres. Then, on consultation with the SA, I topped up the pressure to 38 in all tyres and then the warning disappeared.
• The wipers seem to do a good job in moderate rain, but in heavy rain especially with slushy water being thrown at the windshield from vehicles in front, the cleaning action was certainly not very satisfactory for me. In fact, while driving during
• Thursday's downpour, the left wiper started leaving a trace on the windshield at the maximum wipe angle point.
• There was just one instance where the car (fully loaded with 5 people and luggage) scraped a bit over a bad road + speed breaker combo on the outskirts of Salem near a railway crossing. There is a metal bar that runs the width beneath the car body approximately the midpoint of the B pillar. I believe that was the one that met the road for an instant.

How I ended up buying the Taigun

I owned a Santro Xing XL between 2006 and 2021. Maintained it in excellent condition, although I had driven it sparingly. But it was beginning to age. The family was also feeling that the car was no longer sufficient space. Thus started the search for my next car.

My requirements were very simple. A larger car, preferably petrol, must be an automatic transmission, decent mileage, OTR budget up to 20L.

Round 1:

I started looking at the Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos & Hyundai Venue in late 2019 but deferred the buying decision due to parking space constraints.

Round 2:

In July 2021, I finally decided to go ahead and change my car. Creta was still on top of my list. Called up the Hyundai dealership, took a test drive and booked the car on July 21st, with a delivery commit of 3 months which I was naive enough to trust. I also sold my Santro via the dealership, which I should not have done, in retrospect. In the following 2 months, I found that I had enough reason for losing my trust with the dealer and HMIL, based on the sales process experience. After a short interaction with the dealer + HMIL support folks, which elicited no meaningful response, I cancelled my Creta booking on Oct 12th and managed to get the full booking amount of Rs.25,000 refunded. Back to square one.

Round 3:

I started looking at other options, did a couple more test drives (detailed here (Cancelled my Creta booking | Which SUV or Crossover with a budget of 15-23 lakhs?)) of S-Cross Alpha AT & MG Hector Sharp CVT. Based on the TDs and also extensive reading of reviews here on Team-BHP, I booked the S-Cross Alpha AT on Oct 20, 2021, with a 1-month delivery commit from the Nexa dealer. Fast forward to Nov 22, 2021, I receive an email saying that the waiting period has been extended by one more month. At that point, my situation was that I needed a car that met at least some of my expectations. Back to square one again.

Round 4:

Till this point, I hadn't even considered VW or Skoda vehicles. But on Nov 28, 2021, I called VW Mount Road, Chennai (part of Sundaram Motors) and asked them to bring a Taigun 1.0L Topline AT for TD. The team was very responsive and even in the rains, they got the TD vehicle to my home on Nov 29, 2021.

I was able to only a very short TD but liked the vehicle overall. They informed that a Curcuma yellow and a Red vehicle were readily available in the yard and also that a new booking will be delivered in 28 days or less. I decided to stick with the silver colour and told the sales executive to go ahead with the booking. Shortly after that, I was contacted by the Team lead who said there was a Silver Topline AT in the yard which could not be delivered to another customer due to their loan process not going through (or something like that). I asked to do a PDI and they readily accepted.

I went to their yard the next day where the vehicle was kept ready for inspection. It was 2 weeks old from the line, received at the yard just a week back and had 7kms on the odometer. I checked the VIN, the dispatch logs, inspected the vehicle and didn't find any obvious issues during the PDI (not detailing the inspection itself here). Thus, the decision was made to take the vehicle.

The sales executive and Team lead came to my house to complete the booking process (being month-end and all). It so happened that the Team leader recognized my father in a photo on the wall. He was saddened to hear about my fathers passing away a few years back and had good memories from their interaction several years back. At that point, I took it as a sign that this vehicle was destined for me. All the formalities were completed in 2 days and I took possession of the vehicle on Dec 04, 2021, with 44 km on the odometer. The booking and delivery experience was very much smooth, in my opinion, and supported well by the team at VW Mount Road.

The same day, the Nexa dealership manager visited my home and took the booking cancellation form from me. The booking amount of Rs.11,000 was refunded in full (after I objected to any deduction) to me in a few days time.

Here is my Taigun 1.0L Topline AT.

My family liked the car looks from the beginning, with its clean looks. Maybe the generous helping of chrome as well.

This photo was taken right after I parked the car at home.

These were the accessories that were 'mandatory'.

On a slightly cold morning in Yercaud.

Cladding texture and the gaps seem uniform (may have fixed it, as it was an issue before as I understand from the 1.5L DSG report)

Some photos of interiors.

Usage patterns

To date, the car has covered 1999 km.

• ~120km - a trip to Mahabalipuram
• ~690km - a trip to Bengaluru
• ~740km - a trip to Yercaud
• Balance of ~449km - Shuttling between school, office and home

The first 3 trips are not indicative of typical usage. I expect that much of the usage will be office runs. With looming lockdowns and a hybrid model of working, I expect to do ~400 km or less in the next few months. But I do plan to take the car out on more road trips through the year.

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