The 2025 Volkswagen Taos Doesn’t Stand Out: First Drive Review

There’s an iconic line in the movie Office Space where efficiency expert Bob Slydell asks programmer Tom: “What would you say you … do here?”

It’s a question many embroiled in corporate life can relate to, or at least chuckle at, but it also applies to cars. To earn its megamillions in development costs and ad spending, a car must do something new or better than the competition, and that thing must be meaningful to its intended audience. After spending a day with the refreshed 2025 Volkswagen Taos, I’m not sure what it does here. It’s pleasant enough but utterly forgettable—the vehicular equivalent of water-cooler conversation.

The new Taos offers little to differentiate itself from the myriad of other small crossovers out there, nor from its larger sibling, the Tiguan. While spacious and well-equipped, it’s not particularly efficient, cheap, or advanced, and VW doesn’t carry Honda or Toyota’s reputation for quality. That’s not to say the Taos is a bad car—it isn’t—but it’s unremarkable, and VW can’t afford to be “unremarkable” right now.

In case you hadn’t heard, Volkswagen isn’t having the best year (or five). Sales are down, profits are nonexistent, and the company’s looking at shuttering a German factory for the first time since the aftermath of the Second World War. The company’s CFO even recently told employees it has “one, maybe two years” to turn things around.

Given that rosy backdrop, Volkswagen must get its updated Taos and new Tiguan SUVs right, as the pair are some of its best-selling vehicles both in the US and globally. While the 2025 Taos is more refined and competent than before, it’s not the kind of game-changer likely to win over many undecided shoppers. 

Pros: Spacious Interior, Smooth Driving Dynamics, Long List of Standard Equipment

At $26,420 including delivery, the Taos is the cheapest five-door VW Americans can buy. For 2025, it gets a mid-cycle update with an even boxier look, a 16-horsepower bump to the 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine, and an eight-speed automatic in place of the old seven-speed dual-clutch in 4Motion all-wheel drive models. The base model also gets a host of standard equipment including projector LED headlights and an 8.0-inch infotainment screen.

I’m not sure this facelift does the small SUV any favors. While the outgoing model wasn’t much to look at, pinching the headlights and upper grille in favor of a large lower snout accentuates the Taos’s slab-sidedness. It makes the car look like it’s pouting. There are a pair of new colors: Monument Gray and Bright Moss Green, the latter of which VW says was inspired by Porsche’s Mamba Green.

Photo by: Volkswagen

Photo by: Volkswagen

Photo by: Volkswagen

Thankfully, the mechanical and tech upgrades fare better. The eight-speed auto shifts smoothly and is a more appropriate fit than the DSG in this application. VW says the 1.5-liter’s modest power bump comes courtesy of revised internals, larger injectors and intercooler, and a modified turbo housing. It feels energetic off the line but runs out of steam around 50 miles per hour, making highway passes a think-twice affair.

VW’s IQ.Drive suite of driver-assistance tech is standard and welcome. Automatic emergency braking and lane-keep assist keep things on the straight and narrow, while adaptive cruise control and Travel Assist controlled by (mercifully) tactile buttons help with highway slogs. It’s a small wonder that $30,000 crossovers now have standard ADAS suites that would be the envy of $80,000 luxury sedans from a decade ago, but such is the march of progress.

Photo by: Volkswagen

Cons: Average Efficiency, Laggy Acceleration, Close to Tiguan in Price

Fuel efficiency climbs one mile per gallon on 4Motion all-wheel drive models to 28 combined, and remains 31 for the front-wheel drive Taos. This is on par with its competitors, but it’s merely acceptable given the Taos’s performance. Hyundai has a battery-electric Kona, Toyota sells the Corolla Cross as a 42-mpg hybrid, and Subaru revealed a new hybrid version of the Crosstrek in Japan that it could bring to the US. VW sells plug-in hybrid versions of the Golf and Tiguan in Europe, but it doesn’t offer any hybrids here.

The Taos is a nice place to be, with cloth- and leatherette-trimmed seats, plenty of physical buttons (VW has finally seen the light), and wireless Apple CarPlay. There’s plenty of space for rear passengers, and the rear cargo area is capacious, too. It steers precisely and feels as comfortable and solid at highway speed as you’d expect any German car to, albeit with some audible road noise.

Herein lies the problem: The VW Taos does nearly everything well, but nothing remarkably so. If you want fun handling, you’re buying a Mazda CX-30. If style and tech come first, the Hyundai Kona is calling your name. When efficiency is the goal, the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid has you covered with far superior fuel economy. Other choices in the segment pick their line and stick to it—the Taos is a jack of all trades, but a master of none.

Photo by: Volkswagen

Photo by: Volkswagen

More worryingly, I’m not even sure the Taos can make a value case for itself within VW’s lineup. The moderately equipped SE 4Motion I drove stickered at $31,040, while a comparable 2024 Tiguan Wolfsburg AWD would be $33,920—$2,880 more. Assuming 2025 Tiguan pricing follows the same trend as the Taos and doesn’t change by more than $1,000 either way, we’re talking a two-figure difference in monthly lease payment for a car with appreciably more space and power.

During our drive, the conversation turned to decades-old ads, from the clever Spanish lesson TDI spot to the unforgettable Unpimp Your Ride series. The mood was wistful for a time when VW’s products and brand stood for something cheeky and intelligent in the US. Post-Dieselgate Volkswagen doesn’t have a clear identity in North America. Without a clear advantage over its competition, the Taos doesn’t get it any closer to figuring out what that next chapter will be. 

I’m not sure what it does here.

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