If you haven’t heard, the little hatchback that began life as the Rabbit back in 1975 is departing for good, sort of. The hot-hatch Golf GTI and hotter-hatch Golf R variants will return for 2022, although the 147-horsepower base-model Golf bows out. In its place, the 2022 Taos subcompact utility vehicle, which is smaller than the compact Tiguan, will compete with the similarly sized Chevrolet Trailblazer, Ford EcoSport and Jeep Renegade, to name a few. The Taos comes with a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 158 horsepower. An eight-speed automatic transmission is standard with front-wheel-drive versions, while a seven-speed comes with the all-wheel-drive models. The Taos should arrive here by late spring or early summer of 2021 with a base price that’s about the same as that of the 2021 Golf.
The Volkswagen Taos is smaller than the Tiguan. The Taos’ arrival dovetails with exit of the base Golf models. PHOTO: VOLKSWAGEN