Review: Volkswagen Tayron

You may be forgiven for thinking that you’ve seen Volkswagen's Tayron somewhere before.

And you may very well be right - well, almost. It’s very similar to the Tiguan Allpace, which it has replaced. The Allspace was the seven-seat version of the Tiguan.

Like the Allspace, the Tayron is a practical, comfortable family car which comes with the option of seven seats.

At 4.8m long, it can swallow 850 litres of luggage as well as seven people - a warning that the third seats are only really suitable for children or adults if on a short journey.

As you’d expect with Volkswagen, there are numerous trims, transmissions and engines to choose from.

Trim-wise, there is Life, Match, Elegance, R-line and R-line Edition.

Engines encompass turbo-charged petrol (TSI) and turbo-charged diesel (TDI), mild and plug-in hybrids. Transmissions are either six or seven-speed automatics with all-wheel drive available in the two-litre TSI.

We drove the 148bhp 1.5 eTSI mild hybrid Elegance that starts at £42,105. By the time the extras had been added, that was bumped up to £45,000.

The top speed of the Tayron mated to this engine is 127mph with an impressive 0-62mph time of 9.4 seconds.

Fuel consumption for the combined cycle is 44.1mpg, but fully-laden, you should expect to get quite a bit less.

There’s nothing particularly special about driving the Tayron except to say it seems composed and safe and the ideal family transport, whether five or seven-up.

Inside the cabin, all surfaces are of high quality and feel nice to the touch with good fit and finish.

The majority of functions are accessed through the 12.9in infotainment screen - an optional 15in version is available.

There are some signs that Volkswagen is moving away from a completely switchless experience, which is a really positive direction.

The Tayron has physical buttons on the steering wheel and a wheel on the centre console for the infotainment system. The wheel also toggles between volume and driving mode.

The gear selector is on the steering wheel, and once I got used to it, I found it intuitive to use.

The specification level of the Tayron is extremely high, with a whole raft of safety and security measures as standard.

There are a few nice touches, such as the ambient interior lighting with 30 colour options and the centre console, which has a light, plenty of USB ports and three 12v sockets, including one in the boot, which is ideal for a coolbox.

Comfort-wise, there is climate control to both front and rear, heated front seats with massage function and a split folding movable rear bench seat in the second row.

The added extras on our test car were the tow bar (£1,095), net partition (£190) and tyre pressure monitoring system. It also came in a fetching shade of purple metallic which added another £800.

Volkswagen Tayron 1.5 eTSI

Price: £45,000 (as tested)

Engine: 1.5-litre, 48v mild hybrid

Power: 148bhp

Torque: 250Nm

Transmission: seven-speed, direct shift automatic

Top Speed: 127mph

0-62mph: 9.4 seconds

Economy: 44.1mpg (WLTP combined)

CO2 emissions: 146g/km