2025 Volkswagen Taos SE Black - Review by David Colman

Reintroducing a Fun-to-Drive Vehicle in the VW Line-up

David Colman

Photos and Story by David Colman
Special Correspondent
THE AUTO CHANNEL

When is black green? When VW paints its 2025 "Taos SE Black" Bright Moss Green, a startling chromatic shade that constantly alters the look of the Taos. In bright sunlight the little SUV's paint positively pulsates. Cloudy days throttle the Moss Green back a few notches to Merely Vivid. VW's "Deep Black" agenda for the Taos blackens the A pillars, roof, mirror caps, rocker panels, rear spoiler, and alloy rims - subdued items that make the wild paint pop all the more. As a final touch, VW extends the Johnny Cash look to the interior, covering the seats with black "CloudTex Leatherette." Charcoal cloth seating surfaces grace the supportive front buckets as well as the (60/40) split row rear bench. One particularly nice touch is VW's decision to finish the large front grill in matte black, with piano black flourishes highlighting its contours. This SE Black edition marks it as one of VW's best ever stylistic efforts.

Perhaps you remember VW's comically successful 1990 "Fahrvergnugen" advertising campaign. It was designed to convince you that only VW owned the patent on Driving Fun. Well, after a long dry spell of building cars that were just the opposite of Fahrvergnugen (looking at you ID 4), the Taos has reinvigorated the flagging brand with an SUV that really is fun to drive. I immediately noticed VW's newly rediscovered talent when I climbed into the pleasing cabin and was immediately able to establish where all four corners of the Taos were situated. You might laugh about such a minor triumph of engineering, but the SUV tanks I've been reviewing lately render corner determination a completely lost art.

So with that bit of reassurance tucked into my portfolio, I discovered that the second rule of driving fun requires that the driver needs to be informed of what the vehicle is doing at all times. This crucial information needs to be communicated instantaneously, so the driver can respond appropriately. Like the VW Jetta I recently tested, the Taos - through its steering feel, its tire contact patch messages, and its throttle input - transfers a ton of information about road surface, handling needs, and terrain changes. These are essential bits of knowledge most oversized, overwrought, over-automated vehicles conceal today.

There's nothing magical about this Taos' set-up or power train that would explain the reassuring immediacy of its responsiveness. For example, the tires it brings to the fight look rather puny - all-season Bridgestone Turanza LS100 radials (215/50R18) with a not-very-sticky rating of TW 560. The 8-speed automatic gearbox with Tiptronic override doesn't even offer paddles on the steering wheel. To utilize the Tiptronic feature, you must slide the console-mounted stick into the manual mode gate and bang your upshifts with the stick (forward for upshifts, backward for downshifts). That inconvenience alone means you'll probably leave the Taos in Drive and forego manual operation entirely. The engine, like the rest of the front-wheel-drive powertrain, is a bit underwhelming, producing just 174hp and 184lb.-ft. of torque. That output limits tow capacity to just 1500lbs. The flabby power-to-weight ratio of 17.96lb/hp means you'll be doing some thumb twiddling on your way to 60mph from a standing start in 8.0 seconds. Cruising through the standing start quarter mile is more of an eternity than a sprint, with a 16.1-second run at 89mph.

And yet, despite all these apparent negatives, the SE Black Taos proved to be one of my favorite back roads rides of the entire year. Perhaps you've heard of the SCCA road racing class called Formula Vee - that's "Vee" as in VW. These lightweight open-wheel race cars are very slow in a straight line, but once they get up to speed, they tend to retain and augment that speed in ways you would think impossible with just 65hp. This underpowered Taos provides the same kind of cheap thrills. Despite its comparatively low horsepower motor, indifferent tires, and lack of paddle shift involvement, the 3,305lb Taos proved to be a real blast to drive on curvy back roads. Credit light weight, responsive steering, and supportive sport seats for the fun. The Taos felt perfectly balanced, and as responsive to input as its ancestral Formula Vee race car.

In short, this fetchingly attractive, reasonably priced, 'joy of driving' gift from Volkswagen will become the bright spot that counteracts your daily driving drudgery. You wouldn't expect to find this kind of reward in an unpretentious family hauling SUV. Fahrvergnugen resurrected indeed!

2025 VOLSWAGEN TAOS SE BLACK

• ENGINE: 1.5 liter inline-4, turbocharged and intercooled, DOHC, 16-valve, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection
• HORSEPOWER: 174hp@5500rpm
• TORQUE: 184lb.-ft.@1750rpm
• FUEL CONSUMPTION: 28MPG City/36MPG Highway
• PRICE AS TESTED: $32,025

HYPES: Makes You Feel Like You're in Charge - Not Some Factory Programmer

GRIPES: Needs VW's 268hp E888 evo5 motor

STAR RATING: 9 Stars out of 10

©2025 David E Colman