My Volkswagen Taigun 1.0 TSI AT: Observations after 1 month

The digital display seems like a half baked attempt for the sake of giving one. Would have seriously preferred the Kushaq's analog display.

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Took delivery of our Taigun Topline AT in December 2021 in the Cherry Red. This car is going to be primarily driven inside the city and is a replacement for our 7 year Polo GT TSI.

The car has completed about 900 km so far. The drives were a mix of city, highway and hills.

We were a confused between the Topline AT and the GT Plus and finally went with the Topline AT.

Observations after 900 km:

Pros:

• The car is super spacious and the boot size is deceptive. The boot can hold a lot.
• The suspension is on the firmer side and the ground clearance with full load is good. Didn't scape even once over huge potholes and speed breakers with full load. The car is sorted at speeds of 100- 110kmph and the brakes are good.
• The car has enough and more creature comforts and is on par with the competition.
• The TC gearbox has a jumpy start, but is comfortable for city use and bumper to bumper traffic.
• Steering is light, making city drives and parking easy. Outside visibility is good with a fair range of seat adjustment.
• Wireless CarPlay and wireless charging seem to be working as advertised and is convenient.
• Ventilated seats, though noisy at max setting - work well. This is a first for me, never used one before. But its nice.

Cons:

• Quality and feel seem lower than the Polo.
• HU audio quality is very average.
• The 1.0 TSI is not the engine for spirited driving and is more suited for cruising. The engine struggles with full load and 4 passengers to reach cruising speeds. Once u reach speeds of 100-110 kmph it cruises comfortably. The gearbox shifts to 6th gear only around 70 to 80 kmph when the engine reaches around 2000 rpm.
• Fuel efficiency is not a strong point. B to B crawling traffic on our regular commute is around 9 kmpl. Highway efficiency with 80 to 110kmph speeds is around 13 kmpl.
• The digital display seems like a half baked attempt for the sake of giving one. Would have seriously preferred the Kushaq's analog display.

Cars considered:

Kushaq / Taigun.

Why?

Most of our cars are VAG and we didn't actually consider the Korean twins.

Why Taigun instead of Kushaq?

This is going to be my wife's car and she liked the Taigun better and wanted to stick with the VW brand. I liked the looks of the Kushaq mainly because of less chrome and analog dials. The Taigun's rear lights look better. Honestly, I liked both equally and couldn't differentiate much between the 2 cars mechanically and drive wise.

If this was our primary car I would have hands down chosen the 1.5 L with the DSG. The 1.5 also has a fair bit more torque and power. Yes, the DSG has its own problems. But having used DSGs in over 5 VAG cars, I still feel its performance is in a different league. And we have had DSG problems with one car and its been addressed satisfactorily.

Why 1.0 TSI?

Though jumpy at the start, its actually better to drive in city traffic. Our yearly mileage for this car will be less than 7000 km and 95% will be city traffic. And we are planning to hold on to this car for at least 7 years.

What would I like to have been better?

Audio / speaker quality. Though not an audiophile, the sound quality is very very average. Looking at speaker swap options.

The AC seems to take it own time to cool. This is not summer yet. Have to wait to see the actual performance in summer and with more usage.

All the above observations are my personal views over 1 month. I might be biased regarding the driving experiences as my comparisons are with the Polo GT TSI 1.2L and Octavia vRS.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.