The 2023 Volkswagen Taos Highline is a solid compact crossover. It isn’t the cheapest in the segment, and the Taos isn’t the best at anything in particular, but it’s a jack-of-all-trades and you certainly can’t fault anyone for picking one up.
It’s important to understand target demographics when talking about a vehicle like the Taos. Subcompact crossovers are nary more practical than some hatchbacks, yet people flock to them for the perceived capability, slightly elevated seating position affording a more commanding view over the road plus easier ingress and egress, and the compactness against behemoths we regularly see speeding through parking lots and taking up two spots. For all of these reasons and more, subcompact crossovers are a good pick for first-time buyers, and more importantly, empty nesters. Both these groups don’t usually require much more than safe, sensible, practical, and right-sized transportation. This is where the Taos shines.
Sensible doesn’t have to mean boring, though. The Taos is quietly attractive, taking no real risks in its design but executing a clean, typical-VW aesthetic. Unlike other options in this space, the Taos maintains a boxy design, coming off rather cute as it tries to mimic its much larger Atlas sibling. The front end is flat with squared-off headlights and a oversized chrome grille, while the funky 19-inch machined alloy wheels are perhaps the most distinctive cue from the Taos’ otherwise plain and mostly slab-sided profile. Around back, the clean and boxy rear end mimics the front; our tester’s Kings Red Metallic paintwork was also sedate, something you could rarely say about red. Overall, the Taos is handsome but conservative compared to, say, a Mazda CX-30, but will likely age better than the newest Hyundai Kona.
If you’ve been in any new-ish Volkswagen product from the last few years, the Taos feels immediately familiar. In typical VW fashion, the Taos is well-put-together overall; it does lack the top-shelf fit-and-finish of previous-gen Volkswagens, but nothing looks or feels offensively cheap. The leather-trimmed seats are perfectly comfortable, and by eschewing the trendy coupe-like roofline in favour of a boxier silhouette means enough room all around for normal-sized adults.
Cargo space is on par for the segment; fitting a baby stroller into the back is tight, but most first-car buyers and empty nesters don’t have kids to deal with, anyway. If you’re a college kid and this is your first car, the Taos is plenty spacious with the rear seats stowed for loading up your entire dorm into the back; if you’re an empty-nester, the back seats are roomy enough for occasionally ferrying your grandkids around.
Volkswagen hasn’t blessed the Taos with its latest infotainment system. That’s mostly a good thing, mostly because as we’ve harped on VW’s latest infotainment from a usability perspective, one thing it does have going for it is vibrant graphics, something this Taos lacks. Don’t get me wrong, the eight-inch touchscreen and 10.3-inch digital gauge cluster still look crisp and are responsive, but look a little dated against VW’s newer system. Yes, I’m hard to please.
That being said, compared to others in the segment and even newer VWs, the rest of the Taos’ interior holds up well from a usability perspective. There is no learning curve; everything is right where you need it, be it the classic P-R-N-D shift lever, the actual buttons on the steering wheel, or the physical buttons and knobs for the climate controls on the centre stack. Everything worked relatively well, although we did experiece a couple of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay freeze-ups and random infotainment re-boots during our time with the Taos. Still, its interior and infotainment isn’t intimidating, and that overall simplicity is what makes the Taos perfect for its audience.
Volkswagen often strikes a good balance between comfort and being fun-to-drive, and the Taos toes this line perfectly. It’s an easy vehicle to drive with a suspension good enough to soak up most bumps, but tight enough to feel like evasive manoeuvring (or taking an on-ramp with a bit of extra speed) won’t cause a rollover. The steering feels good as well, making this cute-ute feel solid and stable around town and on the highway.
Under the hood, a 1.5-litre turbo-four makes 158 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 184 pound-feet of torque at 1,750 rpm; it’s more than adequate, but falls short against the CX-30 Turbo’s 250 horses, though it’s admittedly an outlier in this segment. All-wheel-drive Taos models use a seven-speed automatic transmission, but it’s a bit of a letdown: there were a few instances where I pulled out to pass on the highway and the transmission refused to kick down for a few moments. It was almost unnerving and made lane-changes or passing a challenge. It’s unfortunate, because outside of that, the powertrain is otherwise well-suited to the Taos.
The 2023 Volkswagen Taos Highline, priced at a reasonable $42,657 as-tested, is a no-nonsense choice for first-time car buyers and empty-nesters alike. It’s comfortable, offers good fuel economy, and delivers that “German engineering” feel you’d expect from VW. has that solid feeling of German engineering on the road. But for similar money, and if interior space isn’t a top priority, check out a CX-30 first.
