Ownership review and updates: My Volkswagen Taigun 1.5L DSG

The boxy shape and overall styling of the Taigun really appeals to me. Despite being such a different car in the VW SUV lineup, it looks so similar to them all. The Taigun is like the smallest smallest Matryoshka doll in a set.

BHPian Newtown recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Volkswagen Taigun GT+ (1.5 DSG) - Ownership & updates:

Part 1 - Selection, Purchase experience, Initial driving impressions & some learnings.

At the time of starting this thread, the car had clocked about 280 km. The photos are courtesy of my mobile phone and I am not a photography aficionado so bear with me.

The boxy shape and overall styling of the Taigun really appeals to me. Despite being such a different car in the VW SUV lineup, it looks so similar to them all. The Taigun is like the smallest smallest Matryoshka doll in a set:

One more picture. I like the fact that its neither a sedan nor a full blown SUV. It is a car raised slightly off there ground with close to sedan driving dynamics.

Current & previous cars owned:

Currently this is the only car I own. My earlier cars were mostly hatchbacks. Of these, four were Volkswagens (two sedans) with different motors and gear box combinations. Within these four VW's, two were with the DQ200. Hence I am already conditioned like a well oiled cricket bat on what to expect from the 7 speed DSG.

Why the Taigun:

I had cumulatively driven the four VWs for about 120,000 km's. I had always wanted to keep at least one car long term, but nothing felt right to keep for that long. All of them moved on to good homes. Most of the new owners are now good friends and I still get to see my old cars.

Since there was nothing left to consider, I bought a Maruti Baleno hatch, and drove it 47,000 km's in little under 2 years (until March 2020). When things opened up a little after the first lockdown, I sold the Baleno.

I had a good 14 month run without a car to my name. It also gave me time to think on what I wanted next. This time it had to be something that I would keep longer. Perhaps the last internal combustion engine car that I buy who knows.

I had driven the 2020 T-Roc and found it well suited to my needs. It went out of contention immediately being a CKD/CBU. I went looking for low mileage used cars - Octavia RS, T-Roc, even a Corolla Altis. Eventually still stuck to the belief that I need to buy a locally made car so that any issues could be taken care of expeditiously.

Sofa seating for the rear has almost all but gone now. You see most cars even abroad offering precious little for the middle passenger. And hence if one needs to seat more than four, a full size SUV must be considered.

The Taigun and Kushaq were in the pipeline waiting to be launched. Since my experience with Skoda had been one of my lowest points in car ownership, the Kushaq was out of the race. I did however drive it extensively to know what the Taigun would feel like.

Although very good packages, the Creta and Seltos did not interest me. They have a lot of equipment, most of which I would not have used. This and a combination of how the cars looked, drove and my previous experience with Hyundai, closed the door on these very quickly.

I finally listed down the buying criteria:

• Must be engaging to drive both in the city and the highways with excellent road manners and good performance
• Safety: Brands historically known to make strong cars and keep safety in mind.
• Size: Needed to be larger and a little taller than the previous cars owned. The roads in Mumbai call for something taller and broader.
• Previous experience with the brand.

Car booking and delivery:

Over the years I have known most of the long timer staff at VW Downtown. They have always been more than nice and helpful. They called me in July when they started taking pre-bookings. I promptly paid the amount. Then came the torture of the "Squads" and "Hustles" and what not. Call me from the old school, but these theatrics to me seemed completely unnecessary.

My documentation was given to the dealer on the 25-Sep. For the choice of color - I do not like white cars, have had plenty of grey, silver, and even a red car. Hence, Curcuma Yellow it was.

At the dealership, I also took pictures of the VIN numbers of all the test drive cars. I had requested them to proceed with the registration only after they confirmed the VIN number with me. They promptly did and it all checked out well.

One of the best things being Indian is that I get to choose good days from a variety of calendars. 1-Oct was one such day. The Taigun was delivered, fuss free. I refused video shoots and what not. A small simple puja with the staff there for what was their first Taigun delivery.

And the journey begins!

Car specifications:

Engine and transmission:

• 4 cylinder, 1498 CC, VW 1.5L TSI EVO.
• Maximum power of 150 PS (110 Kw) in the 5,000 to 6,000 RPM band.
• Maximum torque of 250 Nm starting 1,600 to 3,500 RPM band.
• 7 speed dual dry clutch automatic (DQ200) driving the front wheels.

Dimensions (mm):

• Length - 4,221
• Width - 1,760
• Height - 1,612
• Wheelbase - 2,651
• Ground clearance (unladen) - 188

Other specifications:

Turning radius - 5.05 meters.

Fuel tank capacity - 50 liters.

Brakes - Front disc brakes & rear drum brakes.

Wheels - 17 inches.

Tyre size - 205/55 R17.

Tyres - Good Year Assurance Triplemax 2 with manufacturing dates in Aug & Sep 2021.

Front suspension - McPherson suspension with a stabilizer bar.

Rear suspension - Twist beam axle.

Exterior:

Timeless Volkswagen shape with strong bold lines. Both the front and rear have a timeless design. The comparatively longer wheelbase not only provides more rear room but gives the Taigun the ride maturity. It is extremely calm and collected at high speeds and does not feel twitchy. The driving dynamics of this car are just fantastic:

With lights on. VW seems to have gone with the halogens rather than put LEDs in the fog lamp housing. Halogens help in foggy conditions as opposed to LEDs and that seems to be the thought:

Interior:

Rear seating. This has been a heavily discussed topic. The contours of the seats both front and rear and scooped out a bit too much making it smaller in width:

The front is clean. The seat grey works well with the other grey bits on the dashboard. These pictures gives you an overall sense of the design:

The light knob plastic is good. However its operation is not as solid as I recall it to be on my previous VW's. While the twist motion is acceptable, pulling it out for the fog light gets fiddly:

A closer look at the seats. VW's choice of vendor who does upholstery needs to change. This is an eyesore in an otherwise well appointed interior. The bunching up of the cloth is something that is not expected at any price point:

2 USB C ports and a wireless charging pad. The wireless connectivity to the infotainment is excellent but charging as expected it slow:

The driver side footwell has sufficient room but your left leg as in most cars today, will tend to stay straighter that the right. The dead pedal width will accommodate even a large foot size. The aluminium pedals are of good quality. I have realized that the DSG interprets foot inputs almost perfectly if you have driving shoes on. When you wear shoes whose soles have too much cushion in them, the DSG thinks a bit longer before making a decision:

The passenger foot well is very wide and front seat passengers will be pleased with the leg room on offer. The front seat needs to be made height adjustable. The fixed height it is at, drowns shorter passengers:

The sunroof glass is longer than most conventional non-panoramic sunroof glasses. The handle to move back the sunshade has slits in them and light gets through them which is not ideal. Would have liked it to be completely solid:

The glove box just about manages to hold the car manual, a box of tissue and one micofiber towel. It is cooled although I don't know what I would use it for:

The window cluster buttons are narrow but otherwise feel well made. They do not have the metal tip that the higher SUV siblings get. The lock - unlock buttons seem to be the same as in their other models:

The centre arm rest extends very well and feels tough. It is better than what they used to provide in the previous Vento's. Those were at the wrong height and used to slope downwards:

The start and stop button is rather awkwardly placed and not intuitive. It takes sometime to build muscle memory:

The spare tyre is a 205/55R16. The toolkit resides within it. The thermoformed housing of the toolkit will not last long. The flap that covers the spare does not have any insulation beneath it:

Driving the Taigun & ride comfort levels:

Delivery mileage of the car was 76 km's. I recall previous VW's from the same dealer had a delivery mileage in the 50's. I assume either the stock yard location has changed or then they had to bring it to the showroom through some other route which is fairly common given the condition of the roads right now.

Bear in the mind that complaints for the Kushaq were at their peak at this time. Tweets, a dedicated thread, videos and so much more with stories from buyers, so many who were first time owners. Expectedly I was shaky (and still remain so). Drove about 12 km's to the HP factory owned pump and tanked up. On the way I felt that the steering was wayward and I knew why. Dealerships spruce up your car before delivery, put accessories and do all kinds of things to it. One thing they don't does check the tyre pressure. Pressures across 4 tyres were (in psi) - 58, 26, 17 & 23. Dealerships need to include checking tyre pressure in their SOP for car delivery.

From the get go I was comfortable driving the Taigun even as I entered some very congested patches. Other cars on the road wont give you an inch even if they see you have a new car. The car pulls cleanly much like a naturally aspirated engine. Torque delivery is more linear than the other Indian made VW's with DSG's. Since I plan to run in the engine for about 1500 km's, I have kept the RPM below 3,000 RPM.

Peak torque comes in quickly at 1,600 and continues all the way to 3,500 RPM which makes driving it very easy in all circumstances. Performance is strong in that band. Like other VW's, when compared to Skoda's, the Taigun has the slightly stiffer suspension setup. That could be due to the 35 psi I have set the TPMS at. The 33 psi recommended is too low for a large percentage of city driving.

The auto start-stop is a tad annoying at certain times. If go over a speed breaker fairly gently and want to motor forward once off it, the engine takes it as me needing to stop and so shuts off, only to switch on again after a split second. In such conditions I plan to switch this function off.

I have always been user of the cruise control, even within city limits. What is not so obvious in the usage is that the + & - buttons increase/decrease the speed in blocks of 10 km/hr. To increase it in blocks of 1 km/hr, VW's use the 'RES' button. May not be significant but it has been a long standing user interface design which is not so intuitive.

Rear passenger comfort has not been completely tested. The feedback I have from the 280 km is that it feels settled and the constant pitch or bobble that one gets in a larger SUV, is missing. Rear seat sickness is a thing even for me. Unless the driver is very steady, I easily get sick in the rear seat and hence always sit up front. More on this as the mileage goes up.

Noise insulation within the car:

The overall insulation is good although there is tyre noise that creeps in. Surprisingly despite not having a hood liner, the engine is very muted within 3,000 RPM. It would be just excellent to have some acoustic insulation pads put on the car floor and the tyre humps. That alone should decrease the noise levels by about 5 to 7 decibels.

Continue reading Newtown's review of his Volkswagen Taigun 1.5L DSG for BHPian comments, insights and more information.