My Volkswagen Taigun: 1st long trip review

The turbo lag was noticeable but it was very subtle, unlike in the Venue and Sonet where the lag is much more prominent.

BHPian vinitbarve recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Here goes my Taigun's first long trip review on the Dussehra weekend.

Car: Taigun 1.5 DSG GT
Drive: Mumbai-Wai-Satara-Pune-Mumbai, about 550 km

Attached the summary of the trip

The drive was smooth, acceleration was linear. Turbo lag was noticeable but it was very subtle (unlike in the Venue and Sonet where the lag is much more prominent). The best part of the drive was the power. The car begs to be driven fast. Overtaking/accelerating at 120-130 km/h felt easy. At times, the D-mode was found lacking in power while overtaking/need for sudden acceleration. But the S-mode would bring that delight with a butter-smooth acceleration.

I drove in the D-mode for 95% of the trip. Used the S-mode for faster accelerations/overtaking or braking before toll/signals. Used the Manual mode at the toll queues. Drove in M1 so that I can shift to higher gears and optimize fuel efficiency, where I drove to M7, while mechatronix went for D6.

It will be good to hear BHPian JoshMachine’s feedback on whether this qualifies as the right usage of the modes with the DSG or not.

The seat cushion was exceptionally good. Cushion at the hamstrings as well as the back was comforting. My friend, who just bought a Safari, also agreed that the seat design was better than Safari’s and felt really comfortable.

We had our driver seat closer to the steering. The view of the digital display wasn’t blocked thanks to the 2-way steering adjustment. Didn’t notice any blind spots during the drive.

I am not a fan of sunroofs and having a car sunroof was incidental than a choice. But driving in the evening felt nice and more spacious with it.

The digital display is adequate. I was initially disappointed, but now getting used to the functions.

On the top left side of the display, it shows "Auto On/Off Mode". I keep this mode on in the city, off on highways. Don’t want the engine to turn on/off in toll queues but don’t mind the engine turning off at the traffic signals.

The cruise control status is displayed on the bottom right side. Will put up a separate post explaining the left side controls on the steering and cruise control mode. One con, that Newtown/Neville pointed out, the total km reading is not displayed when the cruise control is activated.

The luggage space is large and more than what we need, don’t have a comparison benchmark here.

Screen clarity and size is very good, still getting used to the functionality.

Cons

• My Maruti's widest part was the bumper, hence, it was the first impact area most of the time and get scratched. Taigun's widest part is its door lining, scratches there are likely to be more prominent and expensive to get rid of.
• There is a scope for the sunroof to remain partially open, without anyone noticing it. So have to ensure that it is properly closed.
• I didn’t like the one-touch AC system. The buttons are sensitive and an inadvertent touch would result in a change in AC settings.
• There are times when I miss the front-view camera, especially till I get a full sense of the car dimensions.
• I like the old age key-ed cars, in which the key had a designated slot to store it. Not unusual for both of us to be searching for the key.

The worst part of the drive - my wife refused to vacate the driver's seat. She drove as much as I did during the trip (with my old car, the ratio was 75:25 in my favour). Looks like I will have to part away more with my driving time.

Fuel efficiency

Drove about 70% on highways, 20% in cities (including long toll queue at Navi Mumbai, moderate/low queues on other roads) and 10% on interior roads including a mix of kuccha roads and 2-lane asphalt roads.

Trip average of ~15 km/l

Peak average ~23.5 km/l on Pune Vashi stretch (it involves a downhill)

Eco Mode sign (Eco) appears at the bottom right, next to the fuel remaining symbol. Eco Mode was up for short spans, seldom exceeded 1 min. Any acceleration or braking or change of gears led to the disabling of the Eco mode. One hardly feels any change in driving when this mode is on.

My return trip fuel efficiency was 19.3 km/l. Pune to Dadar drive involved downhill from Lonavala to Khalapur, hence, higher efficiency, but got compensated due to the long queue at the Vashi toll bridge.

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