2025 Volkswagen Taos Road Test and Review

2025 Volkswagen Taos SE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Compact crossovers have gotten expensive. America’s favorite SUV class – think Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Volkswagen Tiguan – now tends to cost around $30,000 and up. That’s bad news if you’re trying to buy a roomy, nice-to-drive crossover on a tighter budget. 

Fortunately, there’s an alternative: the 2025 Volkswagen Taos. This subcompact crossover, a size smaller than those bestsellers, punches above its size class. Spacious and peppy, the Taos starts at just $24,995. And it’s newly updated for 2025 with fresh styling, more power, and an updated interior. It won’t work for everyone, but if you’re interested in saving a bit of money on your next SUV, check out our full review to see if the 2025 Taos is the right small, affordable crossover for you. 

All Lit Up

The Taos debuted for the 2022 model year, and this year brings redesigned front and rear styling. Lightbars now connect the headlights and taillights – a slim LED strip above the grille at the front (at least on upper trim levels) and a thicker bar at the rear. The rear VW emblem also glows red. The new front end is simplified, with a slim grille between the headlights that’s separated from the larger opening built into the bumper. Our test vehicle has optional blacked-out wheels and trim.

The overall shape remains boxy and conservative. It’s not an ultramodern crossover like the wildly edgy Hyundai Kona, or low and sleek like a Mazda CX-30. It has straight, simple lines and an upright profile. For some tastes, that’s too stodgy. For others, the VW will be classy and attractive. 

2025 Volkswagen Taos SE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Modernized Interior

Even America’s cheapest cars are now competing to have the largest available digital displays. The 2025 Taos isn’t one of them, with all trim levels using a modest 8-inch touchscreen. However, that’s an upgrade from the 2024 model, whose base version had a mere 6.5-inch screen. The gauge cluster is an 8-inch display on most trim levels this year, including our test vehicle, while the top SEL trim level's measures 10.25 inches. On the SEL, you can even display GPS maps on the gauge cluster.  

For 2025, the Taos’s dashboard is redesigned with a more modern shape. The screen now pops out of the dash, which lets VW simplify the rest of the dash’s shape. Importantly, it retains simple knobs for audio volume and tuning, along with physical buttons on the steering wheel. Some other recent VWs have adopted sleeker but fussier touch-sensitive controls there. The new Taos does take this route for the climate controls, which complicates the otherwise user-friendly dashboard layout. This year’s updates do include some nicer materials on the dashboard; while the new Taos isn’t quite a luxury car, it’s pleasant for the price. 

2025 Volkswagen Taos SE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Big Backseat

As we mentioned, a big Taos asset has long been its extra-spacious interior. We don’t mean you’ll confuse it for a three-row VW Atlas, but there’s ample legroom and headroom for adults in both the front and rear seats. This is a great small family car. And the Taos also has a higher, more upright seating position than many subcompact crossovers. 

The midlevel Taos SE like our test vehicle has leatherette upholstery, heated front seats, and a power-adjustable driver’s seat. The top SEL model has genuine leather and ventilated front seats. A heated steering wheel is standard on all trim levels, an uncommon perk that owners will appreciate in a northern or mountainous state. 

2025 Volkswagen Taos SE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Class-Leading Cargo Volume

The Taos is also unusually roomy for cargo. Front-wheel-drive models like our test vehicle have 27.9 cubic feet behind the rear seat and 65.9 cubic feet with the rear seat folded down. That’s more than any competitor, and also more total cargo volume than larger compact crossovers like the Mazda CX-5 and the Ford Bronco Sport. 

If you get your Taos with all-wheel drive, you give up a bit of cargo room for a bulkier rear suspension system. It has a still-respectable 24.9 cubic feet behind the rear seat and 60.2 cubic feet with the rear seat folded down. However, whether you get front- or all-wheel drive, the folded seatbacks form a ledge to the cargo floor. And unlike some competitors, you can’t adjust the cargo floor height to create a flush surface. No power liftgate is available, but the manual one is easy enough to use. The Taos also isn’t rated to tow a trailer. 

2025 Volkswagen Taos SE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Peppier Yet More Economical

The 2025 Taos received upgrades to its 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine. This little turbo now makes 174 horsepower, up from 158 last year. And all Taos models now get an eight-speed automatic transmission. It shifts more smoothly than the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic available on last year’s AWD Taos. Our front-drive test vehicle jumped off the line eagerly and sounded better than many small SUVs. It has a spirited growl rather than an unhappy moan. It’s not as quick as a 250-horsepower Mazda CX-30, but it’s a zippy car that doesn’t sound miserable. 

It gets good gas mileage, too. The front-wheel drive model gets an EPA-estimated 28 mpg in the city, 36 mpg on the highway, and 31 mpg combined. With AWD, the 2025 Taos gets 25 mpg in the city, 33 mpg on the highway, and 28 mpg combined. That’s 1 mpg better than last year’s model, but not great for a subcompact crossover. 

The good news is that we beat the EPA estimates in our front-drive test vehicle. We averaged 34 mpg in a week of mixed driving. That’s quite good for a roomy gas-powered SUV. 

2025 Volkswagen Taos SE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Smooth Ride and Agile Handling

The Taos’s peppy engine complements agile handling to help this little VW feel fun to drive. The steering responds quickly, and the tautly tuned suspension keeps the Taos in control as it obeys your commands. It’s not fluidly graceful – the steering is artificially hyper-responsive rather than building up naturally – but we appreciate that it doesn’t feel loose and lazy. The Taos rides comfortably, too. It’s firm and steady without being too stiff over bumps. 

We mentioned that front- and all-wheel drive Taos models have different suspension systems. Front-drive models have a simple torsion bar, while AWD brings a more advanced multi-link setup. When we drove the two versions back to back a few years ago, the AWD model felt more responsive to us, but even our 2025 front-drive test vehicle had decent moves. 

2025 Volkswagen Taos SE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Reasonable Starting Price

As we mentioned, the 2025 Volkswagen Taos starts at $24,995. That’s for a base S model with gear that includes spiffy 17-inch alloy wheels, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, rain-sensing windshield wipers, and a heated steering wheel. 

The SE, like our test vehicle, starts at $27,895 with leatherette upholstery, heated front seats, a power-adjustable driver’s seat, push-button starting, automatic climate control, a wireless smartphone charger, and 18-inch wheels. Add $1,800 for all-wheel drive, $1,200 for a panoramic sunroof, and a mandatory $1,425 destination charge, and the sticker price comes to $31,020 for a roomy and nearly loaded crossover. 

You can also pay $34,695 plus destination for the top SEL. That brings genuine leather, ventilated front seats, 19-inch wheels, GPS navigation, the larger digital gauge cluster, and eight stereo speakers instead of six. AWD and the sunroof are included at that price. But it’s a steep bump up from the SE. We think the S and SE are the best Taos choices. But when a compact crossover can top $40,000 with all the options, loading up the Taos SEL at $35,000 still gives you a discount. 

Note that the Mexican-built Taos is currently subject to 25 percent tariffs on imported cars. If those tariffs remain, these prices will likely rise. 

2025 Volkswagen Taos SE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Plenty of Competition

The Taos faces a number of strong competitors in the subcompact crossover space. Some are smaller, cheaper-feeling models that may lack an all-wheel-drive option, such as the Hyundai Venue and Nissan Kicks. Others that are more like the Taos include the Chevrolet Trailblazer, Honda HR-V, Hyundai Kona, Kia Seltos, Mazda CX-30, Subaru Crosstrek, and Toyota Corolla Cross. 

Versus the Taos, only the Mazda has sportier handling and more power; the Hyundai and Kia also come close with an optional turbo engine on upper trim levels. The Mazda has a lot less passenger and cargo space and a lower seating position than the others; the Toyota also has a notably tighter backseat than the VW. 

On the flip side, the Taos lags the Honda and Mazda for interior finishes; the Corolla Cross’s hybrid model for gas mileage; the Subaru for off-road capability; and the Chevrolet, Hyundai, and Kia for big digital displays. 

2024 Hyundai Kona N Line ・ Photo by Brady Holt

A Smaller Compact Crossover

The 2025 Volkswagen Taos is the most compact-like subcompact crossover. It’s roomy, upright, reasonably powerful, and loaded with features. 

The touchscreen will be too small for technophiles, and the new climate controls are an annoying step backward from the old Taos’s simple knobs. Some people will prefer sportier, more modern styling. There’s no gas-electric hybrid model. And some people will pay more for a well-rounded compact crossover like the roomier Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson, or Nissan Rogue. 

But for many people, the Taos is a great way to get the qualities of a slightly bigger SUV in a less-expensive package. 

2025 Volkswagen Taos SE ・ Photo by Brady Holt