There was a time when a holiday meant rushing to the airport, shuffling through queues, and waiting for cramped seats to take you somewhere far. But things have changed. In India today, the journey has started to matter as much as the destination. With highways smoother, pit stops friendlier, and once-remote corners finally connected, travellers are swapping boarding passes for steering wheels. The road trip is back, and it’s not just convenient, it’s the adventure in itself.
That’s where Volkswagen’s Taigun and Virtus step in. They aren’t just cars in the literal sense; they’ve become tickets to freedom. Both models are powered by Volkswagen’s acclaimed TSI family of engines — the 1.0-litre TSI that blends efficiency with spirited performance, and the larger 1.5-litre TSI EVO that adds a layer of punch and refinement, complete with active cylinder technology for better economy on long hauls. On the road, these turbo-petrol powertrains give drivers confidence whether they’re gliding down expressways or powering through mountain switchbacks. And paired with Volkswagen’s European build quality, they make every trip as secure as it is enjoyable.
The Taigun, with its muscular stance and high ground clearance, makes light work of broken stretches, hilly detours, or sudden diversions, staying planted where lesser SUVs might falter. The Virtus, by contrast, is a car you fall in love with on open stretches of tarmac. Low-slung, composed, and tuned for comfort without diluting its dynamic character, it’s made for drivers who savour every kilometre as much as the destination itself. Together, they offer two distinct flavours of the same idea: that the best way to see India is to drive across it.
The desire to chart lesser-known routes has only grown. Travellers today aren’t just looking for cities or resorts, they’re chasing experiences. It could be a boutique homestay nestled within a plantation, a cliffside café known only to locals, or a campsite on the edge of a lake so obscure that it doesn’t appear on maps. You don’t reach these places by flight. You find them when you take the road less travelled, when you follow instinct over itinerary. That’s the joy a Volkswagen brings, the ability to turn a line on a map into a story you’ll tell years later.
Even we couldn’t resist exploring the highlands of Ladakh with the Virtus and Taigun. The expedition started from Chandigarh and wound its way through Manali, Jispa and into Leh, climbing to some of the highest motorable passes in the world. These were not easy miles. High-altitude terrain, broken roads, snow, and thin air — these are the elements that test both the car and the driver. Yet the Taigun, with its mix of strength and composure, and the Virtus, with its balance and surprising comfort, turned the ordeal into an experience worth celebrating. Watching these machines, powered by their TSI engines, smooth and refined gearboxes conquer mountains was proof that Volkswagen engineering isn’t just a tagline; it’s the difference between surviving the road and enjoying it.
That’s the bigger story here. The rise of road travel in India isn’t simply about infrastructure. It’s about aspiration. People want to drive because they want to control their own journeys, stop where they like, explore what catches their eye, and write itineraries that no travel agency could have scripted. A road trip lets you taste food from a roadside shack, pull over for a sunset, or take an unmarked turn just because it looks interesting. It’s travel with freedom at its core, and Volkswagen is enabling exactly that.
The Taigun and Virtus embody this spirit. They give you the confidence to go beyond the familiar, the comfort to keep fatigue at bay, and the technology and safety to make sure adventure doesn’t come at the cost of peace of mind. Volkswagen’s own expeditions across the country, coastal runs, desert crossings, and mountain climbs, have shown that India is a canvas waiting to be explored, and these cars are the brushes to paint your journey.
Ultimately, the most memorable aspect of any trip is rarely just the destination. It’s the stretch of road that surprised you, the village you stumbled upon, the conversations you had along the way. With Volkswagen, those moments aren’t just possible — they’re inevitable. The Taigun and Virtus don’t just get you there. They make sure that getting there is the very best part of the story.
