[Carijc3]

So it’s been two weeks driving my new 2022 Taos. Definitely see the concerns about lag and power. I’m referring to this vw as the little engine that could… it hesitates when your foot hits the gas. This concern is a viable one there are a lot of aggressive drivers who are not gonna understand why I can’t speed up and hopefully I can remain safe as they swerve around me. I have leased VW‘s for 20 years mostly Jetta GLI did have a Wolfsburg and a GLS in the beginning and I do understand that with an engine that is basically a Jetta engine with the body of the vehicle being heavier there needs to be some sort of fix to create power to be able to move the vehicle and allow to safely merge onto the highway and speed up when changing lanes. The first thing I am trying which seems to improve a bit is changing to sport mode. Unfortunately I’ll use more gas but maybe it will be better for highway. When climbing hills as suggested by a friend to change to 4 wheel drive which definitely helped me to maintain speed. I can keep you updated after trying these tweaks for a while. 🤞🏼🙏🏻

 

[derekdal]

how do you put it into 4wd?

 

[k.aoi]

So it’s been two weeks driving my new 2022 Taos. Definitely see the concerns about lag and power. I’m referring to this vw as the little engine that could… it hesitates when your foot hits the gas. This concern is a viable one there are a lot of aggressive drivers who are not gonna understand why I can’t speed up and hopefully I can remain safe as they swerve around me. I have leased VW‘s for 20 years mostly Jetta GLI did have a Wolfsburg and a GLS in the beginning and I do understand that with an engine that is basically a Jetta engine with the body of the vehicle being heavier there needs to be some sort of fix to create power to be able to move the vehicle and allow to safely merge onto the highway and speed up when changing lanes. The first thing I am trying which seems to improve a bit is changing to sport mode. Unfortunately I’ll use more gas but maybe it will be better for highway. When climbing hills as suggested by a friend to change to 4 wheel drive which definitely helped me to maintain speed. I can keep you updated after trying these tweaks for a while. 🤞🏼🙏🏻

This makes no sense. First, you can't manually engage 4WD/AWD. That is completely computer controlled, putting it in "off road" mode will make it kick in the rear axle more quickly than it would otherwise, but if you have no rear wheel slip you aren't getting power to them. Not only that it wouldn't help you "maintain speed" since it doesn't give you more power, it just adjusts the throttle response, resulting in more throttle opening with less pedal travel (sport mode also accomplishes this). Next, the "turbo lag" (really boost threshold) coupled with throttle programming resulting in the "nothing then everything" is pretty common in turbo vehicles. Once upon a time I had a Chevy Cruze 1.4T and that thing was even worse, especially in hot weather.

The Taos has plenty of power, the issue is the delay between mashing the throttle and getting power, which can be mitigated by learning how to best operate it.

 

[Carijc3]

how do you put it into 4wd?

I have a dial near the cup holders in between front seats.

 

[k.aoi]

I have a dial near the cup holders in between front seats.

That doesn't engage 4WD. It changes the drive mode which changes when and how the computer engages the AWD. 100% of the torque is being directed to the front wheels until the computer detects one of the rear wheels slipping. Then, and only then, will it send torque to the rear wheels. This part of the video (start at the time mark in the link) demonstrates that. The front wheels slip, the rears don't move, so the computer sends torque to the rear wheels that do have traction.

 

[Carijc3]

Ok good to know I’ll tell my friend who suggested that thanks

 

[derekdal]

You may want to go back to the dealer and ask for a class on the car. Having a good understanding of how it works will help your experience.

however, you probably want to practice pressing down the gas pedal. based on your description, that appears to be the culprit. I have no issues driving my Taos up steep grades here in the rockies and maintaining speed on highways or passing people. This SUV also does a capable job of accelerating up grades with a bit extra gas pedal. the way it behaves is based on throttle position, if you don't press it, you don't get results.

 

[Slime Q Slimeball]

the problem with the car is that it pretty much immediately gives 28 psi (somehow, that's what obd scanner says) once you put your foot down a modest amount. The turbo must be TINY because it spools crazy boost almost instantly. The older turbo cars came on much slower and you simply have to relearn how to drive this car. vw says this is "normal" and it's the same way in the tiguan with the bigger engine.

 

[derekdal]

it spools fast because its a VVT design which is unusual to have on gas motors....not because its a small turbo I wouldn't describe that as a problem in any respect, its a positive. This doesn't seem like the problem in this drivers case....

 

[Slime Q Slimeball]

I think they could have tuned it a little better, if the engine has variable timing in the cams and variable turbo geometry, they sure as hell could have made it accelerate without blasting off like a rocket after slowly taking off. It really catches you by surprise until you retrain your foot. I've had three turbo VWs and a turbo Volvo and they do not act like this. Although the VWs were all mkiv and mkv manuals so maybe I never had to experience this before. The Volvo just "went" when you pushed down on the gas and you felt the turbo after a little bit.

Maybe the regular mode should be less aggressive and the Sport mode is like this and not just shift points get changed.

 

[Jwages]

Read the manual.

 

[Carijc3]

Thanks for all the input sport mode seems to have improved the situation. The video was helpful also. I just didn’t expect this so it is helpful to hear others opinions and knowledge of the situation. I’m going to learn to work with it

 

[SebaTaosSEL]

So it’s been two weeks driving my new 2022 Taos. Definitely see the concerns about lag and power. I’m referring to this vw as the little engine that could… it hesitates when your foot hits the gas. This concern is a viable one there are a lot of aggressive drivers who are not gonna understand why I can’t speed up and hopefully I can remain safe as they swerve around me. I have leased VW‘s for 20 years mostly Jetta GLI did have a Wolfsburg and a GLS in the beginning and I do understand that with an engine that is basically a Jetta engine with the body of the vehicle being heavier there needs to be some sort of fix to create power to be able to move the vehicle and allow to safely merge onto the highway and speed up when changing lanes. The first thing I am trying which seems to improve a bit is changing to sport mode. Unfortunately I’ll use more gas but maybe it will be better for highway. When climbing hills as suggested by a friend to change to 4 wheel drive which definitely helped me to maintain speed. I can keep you updated after trying these tweaks for a while. 🤞🏼🙏🏻

I lease 2022 TAOS SEL 4matic and hate that turbo lag when pressing the gas pedal. Few days ago I’ve installed RoarPedal (Bluetooth version) and I can tell you it’s worth the price of $159! The response from my gas pedal is much better. It’s not perfect but much much better then before I put it on. I highly recommend it and you can see the reviews of other people using it. Just try it and let me know what do you think. Thank me later

 

[Slime Q Slimeball]

For what it's worth, a $14 dongle and carista changing the throttle to "direct" has fixed most of my complaints. Someone at VW decided that the accelerator should act like a rubber band for some reason.

 

[SomeDude]

the problem with the car is that it pretty much immediately gives 28 psi (somehow, that's what obd scanner says) once you put your foot down a modest amount. The turbo must be TINY because it spools crazy boost almost instantly. The older turbo cars came on much slower and you simply have to relearn how to drive this car. vw says this is "normal" and it's the same way in the tiguan with the bigger engine.

That might be absolute pressure reading, what RPM did you get that reading at? I know on the Golf platform, the sensor reads in absolute pressure, so I suspect Taos is the same.

 

[Slime Q Slimeball]

I'm not sure what it was set to but it was probably absolute and if that's the case subtracting 14.7 is probably more correct.

 

[taos1peach]

I just bought mine a few days ago and have not noticed any lag in acceleration even in ECO Mode.

 

[sanford1252]

Seems from what I've read is the DSG 7 speed has some issues in the Taos. It was fine in my 2021 GTI Autobahn. I have a 2022 SE Taos now with the 8 speed and so far it's been fine and am surprised how much better the 1.5 in the Taos runs than the 1.4 did in the 2019 Sportwagen did which also had the 8 speed..

 

[blnewto]

Seems from what I've read is the DSG 7 speed has some issues in the Taos. It was fine in my 2021 GTI Autobahn. I have a 2022 SE Taos now with the 8 speed and so far it's been fine and am surprised how much better the 1.5 in the Taos runs than the 1.4 did in the 2019 Sportwagen did which also had the 8 speed..

x2, the 8AT is a nice performer, and in manual shift mode it shifts pretty quick!

 

[Cntrygrlathrt22]

This makes no sense. First, you can't manually engage 4WD/AWD. That is completely computer controlled, putting it in "off road" mode will make it kick in the rear axle more quickly than it would otherwise, but if you have no rear wheel slip you aren't getting power to them. Not only that it wouldn't help you "maintain speed" since it doesn't give you more power, it just adjusts the throttle response, resulting in more throttle opening with less pedal travel (sport mode also accomplishes this). Next, the "turbo lag" (really boost threshold) coupled with throttle programming resulting in the "nothing then everything" is pretty common in turbo vehicles. Once upon a time I had a Chevy Cruze 1.4T and that thing was even worse, especially in hot weather. The Taos has plenty of power, the issue is the delay between mashing the throttle and getting power, which can be mitigated by learning how to best operate it.