For the family-oriented enthusiast: Volkswagen Tayron first drive

If it looks like a cat, walks like a cat, sounds like a cat, it must be a cat. Not in VW’s dictionary. Their slightly stretched Tiguan is now a Tayron (pronounced tie-ron), not the Tiguan All Space as it had been till the previous generation. Regardless of the new naming strategy, you will be hard pressed to find significant changes between a Tayron and a Tiguan other than the addition of the 3rd row. And that really is the review of this car. But it is my job as a journalist to give you more details before you go and book yourself a new Toyota Fortuner.

The three row SUV segment is so limited that the Fortuner alone outsells all of VW’s combined portfolio. The only other contender in this segment is the Tayron’s formidable cousin: the Skoda Kodiaq. Although they hail from the same stable and share numerous components, Volkswagen has ensured enough differentiation that the Tayron not only looks distinct but offers a unique driving experience, a point I shall revisit later.

Volkswagen Tayron exterior

On the outside, the Tayron is a handsome looking car. Timeless, is the word that comes to mind. The design will not offend anyone; it will also not dazzle anyone. Which happens to be a small problem – because the current trend in India is to try and stand out with designs on the constantly jammed roads. This one won’t get you a second look from the street. While there are minor changes in the head and tail lights and bumper details compared to the Tiguan, the real difference is on the profile where the length is now 4792mm (only 3mm short of a Fortuner), to accommodate for the third row. The extended roofline also slopes down a bit towards the rear, which is the reason why it doesn’t give off the MUV (Innova) vibe.

Volkswagen Tayron interior

On the inside though you will feel very much at ease. Again, not much to differentiate from the Tiguan, but a very ergonomically laid out interior with all the physical buttons within arms-length and placed conveniently to remember. There is a significant lack of physical buttons though compared to the Kodiaq. Much of the functions are housed in the large 15-inch square shaped infotainment screen, with a touch slider for volume and temperature settings (aargh!). Also unlike the three multi-function dials in the Kodiaq, this gets just one. And that controls the volume or the drive mode. The shortcuts on the top of the screen are easy to access, especially when you want to turn off the pesky driver aids. The 10.25-inch digital cluster and the HuD also provide for very clear to read information – thumbs are all up for these.

You may like to get well acquainted with the screen because that is where the important seat ventilation and massage functions are too. The front seats also boast of 12-way front electric seats with lumbar adjustment and memory function. When you get done playing with all the gizmos, you will also notice the soft touch materials on the top of the dash and the suede materials that line the front of the dash. Everything you touch feels premium and robust, very reassuringly German.

Volkswagen Tayron second row

With all these praises, it still baffles me that a family car which will likely be chauffeur driven many times gets all the aforementioned functions only for the front seats. The suede does make it to the rear doors but not the soft touch leatherette. The second-row passengers will be pleased with the pull-up sun blinds, the USB Type C charging ports and the third zone of the AC for rear. Panoramic sunroof, a feature without which you cannot expect to sell a premium car (unless you are a Toyota Fortuner), is also present. Leg room and headroom are very good too, with the flexibility of sliding the seats forward or rearward to give you or the passengers in the third row more space.

Volkswagen Tyron third row

And that is a necessary bit, because without the sliding feature, this third row would only be able to seat children. The sloping roofline I mentioned earlier, hampers the headroom and I (5’ 9”), just had about an inch left – not a place one would want to spend a lot of time in. When seated there, you will still feel like a third-rate citizen. There are no vents, no ports, no armrests for you – just two spaces for a bottle and probably your phone. The best use of this row is to lay the seat down to make way for a massive 850-litre boot space, which with the third row up is still a fair 345-litres – in the vicinity of a mid-size SUV. Fold even the second row and you will get 1905-litres, and that is fairly larger than either the Kodiaq or the Fortuner.

Volkswagen Tyron ride, handling and performance

Thankfully for the passengers and the driver, it rides well. Somehow many manufacturers have got this idea that the best ride quality is when cars are magic carpet like and completely disconnect you from the road feel. It’s not. This car is what I consider a great ride quality. It has the right balance between communication and comfort. You get a fair sense of what the tyres are doing, without it becoming so hard that your passengers reach the destination with their backs shattered.

I am even more thankful though of how it drives. It drives well, very well in fact. The engine is the EA888evo4, which you find in the Kodiaq, and the Tiguan, and the Golf GTI. Like the former, it makes 201bhp and 320Nm, paired to the 7-speed DSG gearbox. It also shares its platform with all these three cars (how modular is the MQB EVO platform!!). And what a platform it is. In theory it should drive very similar to the Kodiaq, but it is actually far more planted and reassuring. Every time I approached a corner in the winding Jaiselmer roads, the car kept on offering more and more confidence to attack it even more. Turning all the settings to the Sport mode makes things even more crisp and precise. The car then holds its line with the precision of your steering input, sometimes losing the rear ever so slightly when you overstep the limit of the tyres, but not in a way that feels out of control, rather its being slightly playful. Though I wouldn’t advice doing this with people sitting in the third row. For a large 7-seater it exceeds how you expect it to handle. Worth noting is that the major miss as compared to the Tiguan is the absence of Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC), which enables 15 different settings for the suspension and makes a host of difference to the ride and handling. That said, even without the DCC this seems to handle itself much better than its cousin. It’s a good thing it knows how to hold itself because the speed builds up rather quickly when you put your foot down, and the speedo almost always shows a higher number than you think it would be. To give you context, 0-100 arrives in 7.3 seconds as claimed by VW – and it didn’t feel any slower.

Volkswagen Tayron safety

All this speed is sufficiently backed up with the braking prowess as well, though there is a bit more to be desired from the initial bite. Notably, while I was being zealous with the accelerator and the brakes, they did begin smoking, clearly the pads and discs got overworked sooner than expected. Thankfully, VWs have always been equipped well in the safety department. 9 airbags, ABS, EBD, and level 2 ADAS work together to keep you safe, which the 5-star Euro NCAP rating gives you the best possibility in the event of a crash.

Volkswagen Tyron verdict

At the time of writing this piece the prices have not been announced, but expect it to be around ₹48-52 lakh. That makes it slightly more expensive than the Kodiaq and the Fortuner, both of which top out at ₹46 lakh and ₹50 lakh respectively. For this premium, you get the R Line badge and the visual frills that come along with it, some more tech like ADAS, and more space in the second row and the boot. Combine all of this with the quintessential German engineering and this price starts looking acceptable. That is just how car prices are these days. “15 years ago that was the price of a BMW 5 Series”, I hear you murmur. Yes, but we have to take into account the significant increase in features and safety parameters of these cars as opposed to the standard in early 2000s, and I am not even getting into the devalued rupee. Resisting my digression, the Tayron is thoroughly impressive in pretty much every aspect, and the people who pick this are the ones who seek class, quality and the sheer joy of driving without feeling the need to be flashy or seek attention of the world. So, are you a cat?