OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
My wife turned-in her 2024 VW Taos rental yesterday after ~4 weeks. Her truck is still not done, so the body shop is going to lend her a vehicle later in the week. In the interim, she's going to drive my SRT and I'm borrowing my parent's 2024 Grand Cherokee L. Her truck is having the storm damage repaired.
On to the Taos! I was lazy and didn't grab a pile of pictures, so these two will have to do:
Pros:
- Physical controls for HVAC and the stereo
- Simple HVAC layout
- Simple (digital) cluster
- Easy to use wheel controls
- Seats were reasonably comfortable for short trips
- Hatch space was more than you would expect
- Wireless Apple CarPlay, UI made it easy to switch between phones
- Engine was surprisingly eager when pushed
- Brakes were confidence inspiring with good pedal feel
- Handling was good, wife likened it to a go-kart
- Low fuel consumption
Cons:
- Seats made my rear sore after a 2 hour drive to the cottage, so longer trips, at least for me, were problematic
- Auto start stop was quite noticeable, I disabled it, wife got used to it
- Screen quality for the infotainment was pretty "meh", it was not as clear or with as good of colour quality as I would expect, given the year
- Lots of road noise, though I think that's to be expected at this price point
- "Auto" setting on the HVAC didn't seem to run the fan as high as it should, which resulted in my wife overriding it with manual fan speed (visible in the 2nd pic)
- Window switch on passenger side was broken. Whole switch lifted out of the arm rest at the front when you tried to put the window up. This may just be rental abuse though.
- Cruise control was very "lazy", allowing considerable deviations from the set speed
- Engine seemed lethargic with low to moderate pedal inputs, though this may be an intentional programming decision
Overall, for the price of the vehicle and as a rental with some considerable (and I assume hard) mileage on it, I'm not sure my "cons" list is being fair to it.
I believe my wife put about what it would cost to fill the truck once, which lasts her about a week, in this vehicle to drive the month, so that was really noticeable to her, how much less fuel it used than her 1500, lol.
On to the Taos! I was lazy and didn't grab a pile of pictures, so these two will have to do:
Pros:
- Physical controls for HVAC and the stereo
- Simple HVAC layout
- Simple (digital) cluster
- Easy to use wheel controls
- Seats were reasonably comfortable for short trips
- Hatch space was more than you would expect
- Wireless Apple CarPlay, UI made it easy to switch between phones
- Engine was surprisingly eager when pushed
- Brakes were confidence inspiring with good pedal feel
- Handling was good, wife likened it to a go-kart
- Low fuel consumption
Cons:
- Seats made my rear sore after a 2 hour drive to the cottage, so longer trips, at least for me, were problematic
- Auto start stop was quite noticeable, I disabled it, wife got used to it
- Screen quality for the infotainment was pretty "meh", it was not as clear or with as good of colour quality as I would expect, given the year
- Lots of road noise, though I think that's to be expected at this price point
- "Auto" setting on the HVAC didn't seem to run the fan as high as it should, which resulted in my wife overriding it with manual fan speed (visible in the 2nd pic)
- Window switch on passenger side was broken. Whole switch lifted out of the arm rest at the front when you tried to put the window up. This may just be rental abuse though.
- Cruise control was very "lazy", allowing considerable deviations from the set speed
- Engine seemed lethargic with low to moderate pedal inputs, though this may be an intentional programming decision
Overall, for the price of the vehicle and as a rental with some considerable (and I assume hard) mileage on it, I'm not sure my "cons" list is being fair to it.
I believe my wife put about what it would cost to fill the truck once, which lasts her about a week, in this vehicle to drive the month, so that was really noticeable to her, how much less fuel it used than her 1500, lol.
