2025 Volkswagen Taos: 3 New Features And Upgrades

In October 2021, Volkswagen USA took the covers off a new car called the Volkswagen Taos. The vehicle was the European carmaker's first attempt at the highly competitive compact SUV segment in the U.S. It was manufactured at Volkswagen's Puebla Plant in Mexico, from where it was exported to other markets in the Americas, including the U.S.

Volkswagen's gambit paid off, and the Taos — named after a small New Mexico town — ended up becoming a raging success in the U.S. Since its launch in 2021, the company has consistently managed to ship nearly 60,000 units of the vehicle every calendar year. The Taos continues to rake up good sales numbers in 2024. Given the massive success the Taos has been, Volkswagen is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that consumer demand for the car remains high. To that effect, the company has just announced a major midlife update to the 2025 model year Volkswagen Taos.

The all-new 2025 Volkswagen Taos claims to feature a bolder external design, which is somewhat of a departure from the older generation Taos' understated looks. While the overall silhouette of the car remains unchanged, the new car looks refreshingly different and is easily distinguishable from its older generations.

Among the most notable changes to the 2025 Volkswagen Taos include the changed exterior styling, all new color options, a more powerful engine, in-car tech, and a revised design for the wheels. Let's take a closer look.

The most noticeable change to the 2025 Volkswagen Taos is the refreshed design. Volkswagen describes the changes to the design as "bold" and "expressive." When looked at from the front, the changes become apparent, thanks to the new grille design, which now comes with a light bar. Another 2025 model year addition is the availability of LED projector headlights being offered as standard across all variants.

The design changes continue towards the rear of the 2025 Volkswagen Taos, which now gets connected taillights and an illuminated Volkswagen badge. Volkswagen has also introduced three new bright color options for the Taos, which lets the vehicle shed its conservative design approach. These colors include: Bright Moss Green, Monterey Blue Pearl, and Monument Gray.

The 2025 Volkswagen Taos comes with redesigned 17-inch alloy wheels for the front-wheel drive "S" trim. If you want larger wheels, you'd need to upgrade to the SE or SEL variants that ships with 18-inch and 19-inch wheels, respectively. There is also a SE Black trim that comes with a black roof, distinctive 18-inch wheels with front-wheel drive, and 19-inch wheels for the 4Motion all-wheel drive.

The changes to the design elements of the Volkswagen Taos continue once you step inside the 2025 Volkswagen 2025. The most noticeable upgrade here is the all-new 8-inch floating infotainment display that is now offered as standard across all variants. This was not the case with the outgoing Taos models, which offered an 8-inch (non-floating type) infotainment display only on the top variants, while the standard models had to settle with a smaller 6.5-inch display.

Another new addition to the 2025 Volkswagen Taos is touch controls for the Climatronic HVAC system. This feature, however, is only available on the SE trim and above. The updated Taos also gets upgraded dampening treatments that should help it insulate exterior noise, allowing for a quieter ride. The rest of the changes are limited to using materials for the seats. The SEL trim, for example, features leather seats in several color options, including a dark blue option. 

Lower trims of the car use CloudTex and cloth materials for the upholstery. On the SE trim of the Taos, Volkswagen offers seats in two different two-tone options. There is also an SE Black edition of the 2025 Taos, which features all-black upholstery.

It is important to note that most of the changes to the 2025 Volkswagen Taos are part of a midlife update, which restricts most of the changes to the exterior and interior design. For the same reason, this newest edition of the Taos gets the same 1.5-liter EA211 turbocharged four-cylinder engine used on the older models of the vehicle. What is new this time around is that the engine has been re-tuned to make more power.

While the older Volkswagen Taos made 158 hp of power, the 2025 model will be significantly more powerful, making 174 hp. The company managed to extract more power from the engine by making changes to the piston rings, fuel injectors, turbo housing, and a larger intercooler. Volkswagen has also retired the older seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission on the 2025 Taos and has replaced that with an eight-speed standard auto box.

The 2025 Taos also gets a plethora of VW's driver assistance features across all trims, including semi-automated driving assistance, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, active blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and lane keep assist. Volkswagen expects the refreshed 2025 Taos to reach dealerships by the end of 2024. The company has yet to reveal pricing details.