Tested: 2022 Volkswagen Taos Plays Big among Subcompact SUVs
UPDATE 11/18/22: This review has been updated to add test results for an all-wheel-drive model.
UPDATE 8/23/21: This review has been updated with test results for a front-wheel-drive model.
The all-new 2022 Volkswagen Taos is the product of a familiar pattern in the car business. As a particular vehicle segment (in this case, crossovers) grows in popularity, manufacturers tend to enlarge and differentiate their entries to make room for new models that fill the newly created gaps in their lineup. With VW’s range of SUVs in the United States swelling to include the compact Tiguan, the mid-size Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport, and the electric ID.4 (sort of an SUV, we guess), a vacancy has opened up in the increasingly popular subcompact space, among the likes of the Jeep Compass, Kia Seltos, and Subaru Crosstrek. It also helps that VW won’t be offering Americans a regular, non-GTI version of its latest Golf hatchback, which we’re still sore about. At least the Taos is a compelling little crossover on most fronts.
“Little” is sort of misleading, though, as the Taos is one of the larger players in its class. Its MQB-based architecture rests atop a wheelbase of either 105.6 inches for the all-wheel-drive variant or 105.9 inches for the front-driver. It has a huge back seat for a subcompact SUV, and its capacious and easily accessible cargo hold can swallow 25 cubic feet of stuff behind the rear seats (28 cubes if you forgo all-wheel drive). On the road, if you don’t know to look for its distinguishing design cues—a broad LED light bar that connects the standard LED headlights plus chrome TAOS lettering on the rear liftgate—you can easily mistake it for a (slightly) larger Tiguan. VW says the name Taos refers to the rugged, picturesque town in New Mexico. We didn’t go there for our drive, but we did traverse our local Michigan haunts in front-drive and all-wheel-drive variants, both top SEL trim levels
Powering the Taos is a new 1.5-liter version of the EA211 turbocharged inline-four—a 1.4-liter EA211 is found in the Jetta sedan. Aided by the boost of a variable-geometry turbocharger, the engine purrs willingly to its 6000-rpm redline and produces a respectable, if not quite spirited, 158 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque, the latter from just 1750 rpm. That’s less grunt than you’ll get from a top-spec 175-hp Seltos 1.6T or a 250-hp Mazda CX-30 Turbo, but it’s perfectly adequate for casually merging onto highways. Standard front-wheel-drive models pair the turbo-four with a conventional eight-speed automatic transmission. All-wheel-drive versions get a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, which VW calls a direct-shift gearbox (DSG). The company says this split allowed it to focus both on greater fuel efficiency with the eight-speed and a sportier driving character with the dual-clutch.
The front-wheel-drive SEL model we tested ambled to 60 mph in 7.4 seconds and covered the quarter-mile in 15.8 seconds at 87 mph, making it slightly quicker than the latest Subaru Crosstrek with a 2.5-liter flat-four and significantly fleeter than a Jeep Compass. An all-wheel-drive SEL 4Motion example—which at 3557 pounds was 313 pounds heavier than the front-driver—was only a hair slower to 60 mph, hitting that mark in 7.5 seconds. It also posted an identical 15.8-second quarter-mile time. The more-powerful turbocharged Kia Seltos, however, is roughly a half-second quicker than the VWs both to 60 and through the quarter-mile.
That said, the front-drive Taos is the fuel miser’s choice, earning an EPA combined estimate of 31 mpg, versus 28 mpg for all-wheel-drive models. Our front-drive example fared well in the real world with a 30-mpg average, and it posted an impressive 40 mpg on our 75-mph highway test, beating its federal rating by 4 mpg. The aforementioned Subaru and Kia (both AWD) managed only 30 mpg on our highway run—significantly behind the 33 mpg that the all-wheel-drive Taos achieved in that test. Overall, the AWD version averaged 29 mpg while in our care.
