Volkswagen Tayron review 2025 | The Car Expert

Make and model: Volkswagen Tayron
Description: Large SUV – petrol, diesel or hybrid
Price range: £40,130 to £47,490

Volkswagen says: “Fine design, with carefully judged detailing inside and out, is matched by superb practicality and a wide variety of drivetrain options.” 

We say: The Volkswagen Tayron is pricey, but with plenty of choice and VW quality in both build and performance, it’s an investment worth making.

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Introduction

Volkswagen is clearly a big fan of SUVs. The arrival of the Tayron (pronounced ‘Ty-ron’) takes the line-up to six fossil fuel-powered models – most of them with hybrid options – plus a pair of electric vehicles in the ID.4 and ID.5.

The new Tayron will sit almost at the top of the Volkswagen range, just below the Touareg, and is pitched as a versatile SUV designed for and built in Europe. With the Touareg set to be retired next year, the Tayron will become Volkswagen’s flagship SUV.

Depending on which of the six engine options (three of them with hybrid) and five trim levels you select you can have front or all-wheel drive, five or seven seats in a vehicle which offers almost as much space and no major lack of versatility when compared to the larger Touareg, but in a rather more visually appealing package.

What is the Volkswagen Tayron?

The Tayron is a big SUV, currently the second biggest in the Volkswagen line-up. It fills the gap between the Tiguan (which is the company’s global best-seller) and Touareg models, and replaces the extended version of the previous Tiguan, which was sold with seven seats and known as the Tiguan Allspace.

Tayron buyers get a choice of five or seven seats (except for the plug-in hybrid models, which only come in five-seat form) in a car that in size alone leans closer to its larger sister than its smaller one – at 4.8 metres in length it is some 25cm longer than the Tiguan and just 10cm shorter than the Touareg.

The Tayron is built on the same flexible platform that underpins the Golf and Passat cars and Tiguan SUV, the newcomer being the largest model to use this particular platform. 

Volkswagen also believes that this will be a car popular with caravanners and the like as it has a towing capacity of between 1.8 and 2.5 tonnes, depending on the model chosen. That’s more than enough for most of those who need to hang something on the back on a regular basis.    

First impressions

Initial viewing of a Tayron is rather positive, as while this is a big beast, it doesn’t necessarily look it – the styling tilts more towards large estate car rather than boxy SUV. 

As well as the slightly more aerodynamic profile than is typical in this market the designers have worked hard to give the car some visual presence – there are illuminated logos front and rear (the first time these have been seen on a non-electric Volkswagen), a bold horizontal lighting bar front and rear and a choice of six alloy wheel designs ranging from 18 to 20 inches. 

Other personal touches include the option of advanced LED headlamps, each containing more than 19,000 LEDs, and even the ability to choose which of six different ways the car will come to life and welcome you as you approach it.

We like: Visual profile slightly softer than other box-on-wheels SUVs.
We don’t like: Do we really need six ways to approach a car?

What do you get for your money?

There is no shortage of Tayron choices, ranging across six engines (detailed below) and five trim levels, but you do need to study carefully what’s on offer. 

If you are keen on the plug-in hybrid, for tax-saving or other reasons, then you won’t be able to have the car with seven seats, and if you really need all-wheel drive then you will be restricted to one of the pair of non-hybrid petrol engines.

Cheapest in the range is the Tayron Life with the 1.5-litre petrol engine, and even this comes with a long list of standard equipment. This includes features that would formerly be confined to top specification models such as wireless smartphone charging, voice activation, a rear-view camera, adaptive cruise control and an extensive safety specification. 

On the subject of safety, the Tayron gets a five-star rating from safety body Euro NCAP. Unsurprisingly, you get a full selection of electronics offered as standard equipment – these include all of the usual driver assistance systems plus more unusual ones, such as a system that brakes the vehicle when turning across traffic it if senses there could be a collision with an oncoming vehicle. 

Go up the grades and in terms of equipment various desirables but non-essentials are added, examples including electric seat adjustment, a panoramic sunroof and electric tailgate plus even more safety aids such as an around-view camera and park assistance. 

Standard features on the top-spec models are also in many cases available as options on the lower-down trims, from an upmarket Harman Kardon ten-speaker sound system to ‘ergoActive Plus’ perforated leather seats that offer electronic adjustment in 14 directions and provide a mobile back massage – with the form and intensity set from the central touchscreen. Note though that the Tayron is not by any means one of the less-expensive models in its market and too much delving into the options list can soon balloon the price. 

We like: Good basic specification, especially in safety.
We don’t like: Lack of powertrain flexibility – plug-in hybrid is only five-seat, petrol engines only available with 4WD

What’s the Volkswagen Tayron like inside?

That extended length over its forebear ensures that this is generally a spacious SUV, whether in five or seven-seat form. Choose the latter and you won’t be surprised that the rear two seats are not really adult-sized, especially above the head, but the ability to slide the middle row back and forth adds to the flexibility.

With all seven seats in use, there’s still a reasonable 350 litres of luggage space available. With the rear seats folded, this goes up to 850 litres – oddly, the five-seat version gets significantly less, at 705 litres. Fold both rear rows flat and there’s 1,905 litres of cargo area, or 1,915 in the five-seater.

As one expects from a Volkswagen, it’s all very well put together – the trim detailing complements the general cabin layout and the surfaces are of a quality finish, soft to the touch. 

Volkswagen tells us that much has been done to make the Tayron a comfortable vehicle to travel in – the seats have plenty of adjustability, while the second row can be specified with a reclining function and heating. 

There are two wireless charging pads up front plus USB-C sockets in the second row. Also fitted in this row is a useful centre armrest that folds down with a couple of built-in cupholders and a stand for a tablet. And just to ensure the screen viewing is not ruined by extraneous noise, on most trim levels the windows have a sound-deadening film fitted between the layers of glass. 

The driver’s surroundings, effectively the same as on the Tiguan, are dominated by a central touchscreen of 13 inches – we would suggest this is a better option over the optional 15-inch version, which can start to become obscured by the steering wheel.

Meanwhile essential information such as speed and such are shown on a separate ten-inch digital display ahead of the driver (this able to include such extra information as the sat nav map) and repeated in a head-up display on the lower windscreen.

Volkswagen tells us that customer feedback has resulted in the return of some physical buttons to the cabin, which is welcome, but you still have to change such settings as the climate temperature via the touchscreen – it’s pretty quick and easy to do but a dial would be easier and quicker.

There do seem to be a great many buttons clustered on the steering wheel – they include the audio volume control, which can also be adjusted on the touchscreen, via the voice assistant or using a large rotary button at the base of the centre console and called the ‘Driving Experience Control’.   

This button can also be used to adjust such things as the drive mode and even a series of ‘atmospheres’ which change the background lighting. It occupies the space where a gear selector would traditionally be – in the Tayron, gear selection is on a stalk at the right of the steering wheel, moving the wiper controls to a switch on the left-hand indicator stalk. 

We like: General fit and finish, big boot space even in seven-seater.
We don’t like: Too many buttons on the steering wheel.

What’s under the bonnet?

The Volkswagen Tayron comes with six engine options, and while two are plug-in hybrids and one a mild hybrid, there are also two plain petrol units and a diesel.

All the hybrids use a 1.5-litre petrol engine as their basis – the mild hybrid version having 150hp on tap while the electric motors in the two plug-in hybrid models take the combined power up to either 204hp or 272hp, with a 0-62mph time of either 8.6 or 7.3 seconds. Both plug-ins also offer an all-electric range of more than 70 miles, which makes them more attractive to company car drivers paying benefit-in-kind tax.   

The petrol engines are both 2.0-litre units with either 204hp or 265hp allied to the all-wheel drive system, while the diesel is also a 2.0-litre unit with 150hp and significant pulling power of 360Nm, plus an official fuel economy figure of 51mpg.  

What’s the Volkswagen Tayron like to drive?

On the launch event in Worcestershire, The Car Expert was able to test both mild and plug-in hybrid variants of the Tayron, and we came down firmly in favour of the latter. There is nothing particularly wrong with the mild hybrid model but it does give an impression its drivetrain is being worked quite hard, the engine note noticeably coarse despite that acoustic dampening in the glass. As with most mild hybrid units, it’s really just a petrol engine with a glorified stop-start system that adds little to the driving experience.

The 200-plus kilograms of extra weight that the plug-in drivetrain adds makes the car feel more planted on the road, while it also produces a more refined performance especially at lower speeds when the electric part of the drivetrain does most of the work.

Generally the Tayron is an easy vehicle to drive and from behind the wheel it does not feel as big as it is. The steering is light but not over so, the adaptive chassis control fitted as standard on the R-Line trim test cars doing its job well through corners. Ride comfort is generally good – a couple of significant potholes on the test route were well smothered by the chassis.

Thin pillars all round make for an excellent view, with the only minus point a rather over-enthusiastic driver attention alert. Our reviewer did not expect to be told to pay attention to the road when looking to turn out of a junction minutes after getting into the car – it’s expected in some of the new brands from Asia, not in a Volkswagen…    

We like: Refinement of plug-in hybrids
We don’t like: Irritating driver alert

Verdict

Volkswagen models already enjoy a large slice of the burgeoning SUV market and the manufacturer clearly knows how to make them – the new Tayron follows the trend of being both of generally high quality in its build and performance and practical, particularly in the internal cabin layout and space. 

It’s by no means the cheapest model out there – every version sits above the £40,000 marker putting them in Expensive Car Supplement territory and adding to the annual VED costs, but buyers can be assured that their money will be well spent. We can foresee buyers who previously would have gone for the far more dominating Touareg instead choosing the Tayron for its more aerodynamic, less in-your-face style, achieved without any significant compromises over its larger sister.

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