2024 Volkswagen Taos: Much-loved small SUV has its downsides

2024 Volkswagen Taos SEL 4Motion: A small SUV winner?

Price: $35,260 as tested, which includes $395 for 19-inch black wheels.

Conventional wisdom: Car and Driver liked that it’s “roomier than most rivals, more fuel efficient than expected” and with “big trunk space.” They were less impressed by the “drab interior design, mediocre acceleration,” and that it was “not quite as athletic as the Golf.” Edmunds puts it in the top of the “Best X-Small SUVs.”

Marketer’s pitch: “There’s plenty of fun out there, find yours with Taos.”

Reality: Quite nice, but one big drawback.

What’s new: VW’s IQ.Drive assistance technology is available across the lineup. Otherwise, it pretty much holds its own since its 2022 debut.

Competition: Chevrolet Trailblazer, Buick Encore GX, Mazda CX-30, Kia Seltos, Subaru Crosstrek, Toyota Corolla Cross

Up to speed: The little SUV gets to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds, so it’s not going to blow you away, Car and Driver reports.

The Taos that I tested was, in a word, jumpy. It had plenty of oomph from the 1.5-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine, but seemed like it didn’t know how to corral its 158 horses. I felt like I was driving a stick and had lost my touch, feeling my face turn red as Mrs. Passenger Seat sat in silent judgment of me.

Still, it does seem quicker than its stated 0-60 time. But I’d have a hard time living with the touchy accelerator. A shame, because once you get moving, it’s quite nice.

Shifty: Perhaps it was the turbo, but I’d chalk up the rough standing starts to the 7-speed dual clutch transmission in the test model, the kind that was the bane of Kias that featured the same setup for several years. It uses clutches instead of torque converters to change gears automatically, allowing the gears to change more quickly, and geared toward sporty cars.

Front-wheel-drive models benefit from an 8-speed automatic transmission, which I’m sure is smoother.

On the road: The Taos’ handling was pretty nice. It was a fun vehicle for speeding along the back lanes or guiding through the curves — definitely more than the average Hyundai or Kia.

Its highway manners were pretty nice as well; we took a few trips to King of Prussia from central Chester County and found it remained composed at high speeds and over road seams.

After driving six days, I realized I found the Taos most like a Subaru Forester from about 2015 or so. The height, the driving position, and the shape of the vehicle really felt just right. And that’s not a bad vehicle to emulate.

Driver’s Seat: I knew that the Taos fit into the Kia Soul category before I took delivery of it, but it felt so much bigger. Perhaps it was the prevalence of tall windows that just gave it a more open, airy feeling.

The seat is quite comfortable and offers some support. Between the space and the trim level, I kept feeling like I was in a Tiguan.

The gauges offer plenty of different setups, but apparently not the one I really want: just one setting to see trip information and fuel economy for it. I kept having to scroll to find different bits of info.

Friends and stuff: This is probably one of the roomiest rear seats in its class. Legroom, headroom, and foot room are all generous enough that I can move around, not just sit politely in one shape and hope I don’t develop an embolism.

The seat is not bad, though maybe a little flat and hard.

Cargo space seemed quite generous, and the numbers back that up. Space in the all-wheel-drive model tested is 24.9 cubic feet, bumping to 60.2 with the rear seat folded. The front-wheel-drive model boosts those numbers by about 10%.

Play some tunes: The BeatsAudio stereo provides pretty good playback, about an A-. I tried the adjustments but couldn’t convince it to hit some of the notes just right.

Operation is fairly simple, with knobs for volume and tuning and everything else in the smallish 8-inch touchscreen.

Keeping warm and cool: Volkswagen has almost matched its old simple three-dial setup that owners enjoyed for many years. In this vehicle, driver and passenger have separate temperature knobs, and the third is for the blower speed. Only the source requires a toggle push, which then displays the results in the touchscreen.

Fuel economy: Oops, in the madness of switching the info back to fuel economy, I neglected to record it. It’s rated 32 highway and 24 city, and Car and Driver noted its efficiency in their likes.

Where it’s built: Puebla, Mexico

How’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the reliability of the Taos to be a 1 out of 5.

In the end: The Volkswagen Taos provides a good experience, but a Volkswagen with a bad reliability rating is just asking for trouble, or at least a lighter bank balance.

Volkswagen reports a “major refresh” is coming for the model for 2025, so there’s that.

Still, that CX-30 is really nice, and goes a whole lot faster. A Subaru Crosstrek would be a strong choice as well.