Volkswagen

Tayron

The Volkswagen Tayron is a full-sized five-door family SUV that is available in a wide range of trims with a choice of powertrains. It has seating for either five or seven occupants and is generously equipped with high-end tech.

Test Drive

Volkswagen Tayron – First Drive (2025)

The impressive Tayron is the latest SUV to come out of the Volkswagen stable and it fits in snuggly between the Tiguan and Touareg models.

With prices starting from a competitive £40,130, customers can select from five generously-equipped trims here in the UK, called Life, Match, Elegance, R-Line and R-Line Edition.

When it comes to powertrains, Match and R-Line Edition versions are only sold with eHybrid technology, while other models benefit from a choice of a 1.5-litre petrol unit with various power outputs or a 2.0-litre diesel engine that delivers 150PS, 204PS or 265PS.

The customer choices stretch further with the option of six or seven-speed gearboxes and, despite most cars featuring seven seats, the Tayron with eHybrid technology comes with just five.

For our test drive, we opted for the Tayron R-Line, powered by the 1.5-litre petrol engine mated to a seven-speed automatic transmission, priced at £43,105 (rising to £47,775 with optional extras factored in).

There’s been quite a resurgence in the demand for seven-seaters recently with some fabulous models coming to market, including the latest Skoda Kodiaq, Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento. So, the Tayron needs to do well in order to stand out from the crowd.

And in fairness, it has plenty of kerb appeal and a strong SUV appearance with muscular haunches, a black grille, privacy glass, silver roof rails, illuminated VW badges at the front and rear, sweeping light clusters with a connecting light bar at the back, R-Line sports style bumpers and 20-inch black and grey alloys.

Step inside and the interior build quality cannot fail to impress with high-end fixtures and fittings throughout. The main focal point is a 15-inch infotainment screen, and creature comforts are plentiful too with an eight-speaker sound system, sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity, voice control with ChatGPT AI technology, a DAB radio, Bluetooth and plenty more besides.

The seats are manually adjusted, but offer ample support and with the leather-wrapped steering wheel, they can be heated to fend off the winter blues.

The vital driving data can be viewed on a clear head-up display as well as via the 10.25-inch digital driver display which can be personalised to taste. Elsewhere a centrally-positioned dial is used to alter the volume and drive modes, so you’re not stuck tapping and swiping away at a display screen for really simple tasks.

So the Tayron certainly ticks all the right boxes when it comes to styling inside and out, but how does it cope when put to the test on the open road? The answer is very well indeed.

Our car, featuring the 1.5-litre petrol powertrain, delivered 150PS along with 250Nm of torque resulting in a 0-62mph sprint time of 9.4 seconds and top speed of 127mph, while achieving a WLTP-tested 42.9mpg with carbon emissions of 150g/km. Not bad figures for a family SUV weighing in at 1.7 tonnes that can tow a caravan of up to 1.8 tonnes.

The Tayron is a comfortable and relaxed motorway cruiser sitting effortlessly at 70mph as it eats up the miles. It also feels solid and confident when faced with more testing country lanes demonstrating impressive grip with minimal signs of body sway.

The steering is perfectly weighted and driver visibility is excellent which makes manoeuvring through busier town centres more enjoyable.

Steering wheel paddles allow you to take control of the gear shifts, but when left to its own devices the seven-speed automatic transmission is beautifully smooth. There are drive modes too to alter the dynamics and these are called Eco, Comfort, Sport and Individual. Elsewhere atmosphere settings change the mood within the cabin and these are labelled Lounge, Joy, Energetic, Minimal, Me and Inactive.

Refinement levels also impress with a nicely hushed cabin and all but the roughest of road surfaces smoothed out along the way.

The Tayron, which stretches almost 4.8 metres in length is billed as a family car so needs to cover the practicality needs well. And it does just that thanks to a spacious cabin with room for four adults (five at a push) in rows one and two, plus space for a couple of youngsters in the pair of rear seats.

The boot is accessed via a powered tailgate and can swallow up to 345, 850 or 1,905 litres of kit depending on the seating configuration. It also has a kick sensor beneath the rear bumper which is ideal if your arms are full of shopping as you reach the car.

Additionally, there are plenty of practical storage options throughout the cabin, including a deep central cubby, a glovebox, door bins, seat back pockets, a sunglasses compartment, front and second row cup holders, a wireless charging pad, a concealed lower dashboard compartment next to the driver’s door and some trays.

All in all, the Tayron certainly does a great deal right. It boasts eye-catching good looks, can accommodate seven people, is packed with top notch technology and drives really well. It’s even competitively priced and, just in case you were wondering, it’s pronounced “Tie-ron” rather than “Tay-ron”, so now you know.