Volkswagen Tayron interior, tech and practicality

You sit nice and high in the Volkswagen Tayron, so you feel like you’ve got a really commanding view of the road ahead. It occasionally feels a bit wide on narrow country lanes but generally it’s not difficult to drive. All-round visibility is pretty decent, which helps.

We found the seats comfortable for long journeys and, while it’s always worth testing the seats out before you buy, there’s plenty of adjustment to find your ideal driving position. And, on certain models, front seats that can give you a wincingly firm massage if that’s what you want on the way to the office.

Starting proceedings is the Tayron Life, which seems to have pretty much everything ticked off. There’s a rear-view camera, park assist, wireless phone charging, adaptive cruise control, LED headlights with auto high-beam assist, 10-colour ambient lighting and 18-inch alloy wheels.

Next is Elegance, with 19-inch wheels, heated and massaging front seats, a powered tailgate, keyless entry and the ability for the park assist system to remember frequently used parking spaces (for example, your driveway).

The sporty-looking R-Line sits on 20-inchers and features upgraded headlights, sports seats and privacy glass.

Match and R-Line Edition trims sit above Elegance and R-Line respectively, and are currently only available as a plug-in hybrid. They mainly add a panoramic sunroof, but also come with the fancy self-parking tech, the tinted windows and keyless entry.

You’re guaranteed a big infotainment screen in the Tayron. Every model gets at least a 12.9-inch screen, while a 15-inch one is optional. We don’t see the need to upgrade to the bigger screen if you’ll be paying extra for it, because the 13-inch screen is just as quick to load and reacts to your responses immediately.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to set the Tayron up to your liking. The home screen and subsequent pages can be set up to your preferences, so you can put your most-used functions front and centre. There’s also a row of similarly configurable shortcut icons at the top of the screen, giving you quick access to things like the drive modes and safety assistance tech.

While we’d ideally prefer a bank of physical climate controls, the touch-sensitive panels are fairly easy to use. The climate menu is initially a little confusing because you have to touch different areas on the screen for the different airflow directions, but it should quickly become second nature. Alternatively, you can press the options for ‘warm my feet’ or ‘defog the windows’ and the climate control system will automatically sort it for you.

If you don’t want to use VW’s native software, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included as standard.

With the rear bench in its standard position, even tall adults will be able to stretch out – legroom and headroom are both fairly generous. We found that the plug-in hybrid (only available as a five seater) offered more legroom than a petrol seven seater.

Across the range, the seat bench can slide forwards and backwards. On seven-seat models, it’s necessary to slide the seats forwards to gain access to the rear row – it’s less useful on plug-in hybrid models but still added versatility.

The seatbacks recline, too, so you can choose to sit bolt upright – which increases the boot space a little – or in a more laidback position to relax on a long journey.

Second-row passengers get a fold-down centre armrest with cupholders and a tablet holder, plus seatback pockets with a phone slot and USB-C sockets for keeping devices topped up.

Slide the seat forward and flip the backrest forward, and you’ll be able to clamber into the third row without any elegance whatsoever. Even with the second row slid forwards, there’s not enough space for an adult to sit comfortably. Legroom is in short supply and there isn’t enough headroom for anyone tall.

As with the Tiguan Allspace that the Tayron replaces, it’s best to think of it as a 5+2 seater, with the rear seats folded down until those occasional times where you need the extra seats. It’d be more useful if the third row had Isofix points, as then you’d be able to put young kids back there. As it is, the rear seats are probably only good for kids who aren’t in child seats any more but aren’t quite adult-sized yet. There’s a third set of Isofix points in the front passenger seat if you need to take three young kids along.

To fold down the rearmost seats, you’re going to need to slide the middle seats forward anyway, because the third row won’t fold if you’ve got the middle seats all the way back. It just seems a bit poorly thought out.

Even with the third row of seats up, the Tayron offers a 345-litre boot space – which is about the size of a Polo’s boot. That includes an underfloor storage area where the parcel shelf can be stowed away when you’re not using it.

In five-seat mode, boot space rises to a vast 850 litres, and 1,905 litres with the third and second rows folded.

The plug-in hybrid, which only comes with five seats, offers 705 litres of space with the seats upright. A big area under the floor is ideal for sticking your charging cables in.

For comparison, a Tiguan offers 652 litres of boot space, or 490 for plug-in models.