- 2 days ago
SUV or a Golf on stilts? This is the all-new second-generation Volkswagen T-Roc and I can assure you it’s more than just a lifted hatchback. Welcome to the test and drive.
The new T-Roc has grown by over 12 cm (4.8 inches), dropped the manual gearbox in favor of the standard DSG, and for the first time, offers exclusively electrified powertrains. I’m checking if the improved interior with the MIB4 system, physical buttons on the steering wheel, and optional Head-up display will make you forget about its predecessor, which sold over 2 million units.
In this video:
Design & Dimensions: How the extra length (437 cm / 172 in) affects proportions and space.
Interior: Has the material quality finally caught up with the price, and how does the new 12.9-inch screen work?
Drivetrain: How the 1.5 eTSI mild-hybrid (116 hp or 150 hp) performs on the road.
Practicality: Is the 475-liter boot and the longer wheelbase enough for a family car?
Technology: What’s the new "Driving Experience Control" knob, and has the software improved?
↔ Volkswagen T-Roc 2026 dimensions:
✔ length: 4372 mm
✔ width: 1828 mm
✔ height: 1573 mm
✔ wheelbase: 2629 mm
✔ boot/trunk: 475-1350 L
💲 Volkswagen T-Roc
The new T-Roc has grown by over 12 cm (4.8 inches), dropped the manual gearbox in favor of the standard DSG, and for the first time, offers exclusively electrified powertrains. I’m checking if the improved interior with the MIB4 system, physical buttons on the steering wheel, and optional Head-up display will make you forget about its predecessor, which sold over 2 million units.
In this video:
Design & Dimensions: How the extra length (437 cm / 172 in) affects proportions and space.
Interior: Has the material quality finally caught up with the price, and how does the new 12.9-inch screen work?
Drivetrain: How the 1.5 eTSI mild-hybrid (116 hp or 150 hp) performs on the road.
Practicality: Is the 475-liter boot and the longer wheelbase enough for a family car?
Technology: What’s the new "Driving Experience Control" knob, and has the software improved?
↔ Volkswagen T-Roc 2026 dimensions:
✔ length: 4372 mm
✔ width: 1828 mm
✔ height: 1573 mm
✔ wheelbase: 2629 mm
✔ boot/trunk: 475-1350 L
💲 Volkswagen T-Roc
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00this is the second generation volkswagen t-rock and i won't beat around the bush
00:03after six years of rolling downhill it seems as if vw has finally bounced back
00:11this car is not what i expected
00:29the t-rock started live in 2017 as a sub compact crossover and a spiritual successor to the golf
00:35country its dimensions fell between the larger tiguan and the smaller t-cross although the arrival
00:41of the cheaper tygo model in the volkswagen lineup has caused the first generation t-rock to lose
00:46some of its appeal the new t-rock is over 13 centimeters longer than the previous generation
00:51model even though most of it is due to longer overhangs as the wheelbase has been extended by
00:57just four centimeters the new t-rock is also about a centimeter wider and a centimeter lower than the
01:04first generation model the volkswagen t-rock isn't the largest car in its segment it's larger than the
01:10citron c4 but smaller than the kia nero or the mazda cx30 the boot however is among the largest
01:18in its segment vw claims this thing has got 475 liters capacity and according to my measurements
01:25when you drop the double floor this is actually how much you'll get the capacity will be smaller if you
01:32option a mini spare shut up or the harman kardon audio system with a subwoofer and okay okay okay bye
01:46i wish it made up its mind
01:55electronics too much electronics is never good
02:01the boot will also likely be smaller in the all-wheel drive version but more on that later when we
02:07talk about the engine lineup the early production models have bare metal under the false floor now
02:13this is supposed to be filled with some styrofoam insert where you will put your tire repair kit and
02:19stuff the floor can be lowered for more cargo space or when it's in its upper position i can barely
02:26squeeze the parcel shelf underneath it folding the second row backrests creates a flat loading area
02:33the second row backrest now splits 40 20 40. there is a shopping bag hook and a 12 volt outlet
02:40gesture control for the tailgate costs 390 euro and this option is available only on the two top of the
02:48line trim levels speaking of options the backlit logos and light strips running across the front and
02:56the rear of the car are controversial sorry it's a bit slippery i like the front implementation and i
03:01understand why the rear logo is red but i'm not a fan what can you do about it what can
03:06i do about it
03:06choose the basic trim or make sure you skip the optional led plus headlights package on the live trim
03:12style and r-line get led plus as standard and this car here also has the optional iq light led
03:19matrix
03:19headlights with adaptive high beams there's finally more leg room in the rear i'm 175 centimeters tall
03:28and the driver's seat is set to my driving position however slide the seat all the way back and it's
03:34tight
03:35so much so that you can't even properly fold the rear backrest without pushing the seat forward a bit
03:41or adjusting its backrest in the life and style trims the front passenger backrest can be folded down for
03:50transporting long objects this option isn't available on the trend and r-line though for different reasons
03:56the trend is all about economy while the r-line has sport ish seats ice fix anchor points on the
04:05front
04:05passenger seat are now standard regardless of the trim level and seat variant
04:10ice fix anchor points are also in the rear two on the outer seats high tunnel running through the
04:16middle remained there are also still two usb-c ports and an air conditioning vent but third zone climate
04:22control has been added standard on the two top trim levels and optional on live trim the door pockets are
04:30slightly larger and my water bottle now fits there are also cup holders in the armrest
04:37the biggest changes are in the cockpit where we now must have two displays one in front of the driver
04:44and one in the center of the console their size depends on the trim level and the options selected
04:51the good news is the software has improved besides the volume control slider freezing on me occasionally
04:59i haven't noticed any other issues furthermore the current software version adds isa deactivation
05:05option to the shortcuts menu here on top of the screen so you can turn off the annoying beeper in
05:11one click
05:12now i'll go back to the volume control for a moment because volkswagen has listened
05:17to its customers and added a physical multi-function knob which i never use and i'm sure i'm not the
05:26only
05:26one who won't use this knob volkswagen will then analyze the data from millions of cars and decide that
05:32this is useless no more knob it'll say so why don't i use this knob because the user interface is
05:40so
05:40focused on the display that i forget that the knob even exists similarly i always look for the engine
05:47start button somewhere next to the steering column rather than on the tunnel next to the volume knob it's
05:53just in the wrong place now i can adjust the volume with the knob or press it to select the
06:00drive
06:01modes which again i don't use because i rarely change drive modes at all and secondly it's more
06:07convenient for me to do it either from the screen or i can adjust the volume using physical buttons on
06:13the steering wheel so the volume knob is just redundant in this car now fortunately there are
06:20physical buttons on the steering wheel again good and there is also a wireless charger which works fine
06:27and next to it is a little cubby tray where you can drop your keys or maybe glasses or something
06:32above our two usb-c ports then there are cup holders and this kind of open storage compartment
06:38under the adjustable armrest the glove box is medium size the door pockets are good and the interior
06:47quality seems to have improved again it may not be the golf mark 7 level but it doesn't feel as
06:53recycled
06:54as in some other vw models in recent years manual transmission seems to be gone from all new vw so
07:01we now have this gear selector next to the steering wheel on the steering column which means the wiper
07:06switch is on the same stock as the turn signals and since the gear selector is on the steering column
07:12the engine start button should also be somewhere around here not on the tunnel next to this useless knob
07:20ergonomics volkswagen ergonomics you used to be great at it
07:37volkswagen is gradually electrifying its engine lineup the t-rock is currently available with a 1.5 liter
07:44e tsi mild hybrid petrol engine with a choice of 116 or 150 horsepower it's a front wheel drive setup
07:53a front wheel drive full hybrid based on the 1.5 liter engine will be added at a later date
07:58as will a
07:592 liter mild hybrid motor with 4 motion all-wheel drive producing 204 horsepower an even more powerful
08:06version with a 2 liter engine and all-wheel drive will follow later this is the 150 horsepower mild hybrid
08:17which i could not believe because this t-rock with this powertrain drives differently to any other vw from
08:25the last decade i recall volkswagen has started curbing the emissions for real with the mark seven and a
08:32half gulf when the 1.4 tsi engine was replaced with the 1.5 tsi motor but despite the larger
08:40displacement
08:40the new engine it was gutless during the goal facelift launch event i remember that they had the
08:48new beetle with the 1.4 engine as a camera car so i tried driving the new and old engine
08:54back to back
08:55and i felt how dialed down the new powertrain was now they must have opened the taps again with the
09:02new
09:02t-rock because i was convinced i was driving the 204 horsepower 2 liter engine model and the only thing
09:10that didn't add up was the lack of all-wheel drive
09:16the 150 horsepower 1.5 e tsi engine delivers punch in the low and mid range and the gearbox isn't
09:23afraid to
09:23downshift when you need to accelerate harder even when following a slower car with adaptive cruise
09:28control on activating the turn signal not only causes acceleration but also usually a downshift
09:34i talk about this as if it were something special but for the last 10 years volkswagen has been
09:39throttling its cars and what i feel now is truly exceptional
09:49driving has become engaging and fun again in recent years as test cars were becoming more and more
09:56eco-friendly i often limited my test drives to absolute minimum because my cars are more fun
10:02and if i need to drive into the city center i'd rather take public transport but with this new t
10:08-rock i
10:09felt an urge to run errands or just to drive it for pleasure and this is a good sign and
10:17all this
10:18in normal mode because as i mentioned earlier i rarely change driving modes i do it only for acceleration
10:24runs to see if there's real difference between the normal and sport modes
10:35but the new t-rock feels faster and more elastic it's a shame the 1.5 engine can't be ordered
10:41with
10:42all-wheel drive as it would be useful during the winter and i'm afraid the two liter engine
10:49it'll be just too expensive the new t-rock should be slower from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour than
10:55the
10:55previous generation it weighs over 1450 kilograms which is some 100 kilograms heavier than its
11:01predecessor therefore it should do 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 8.9 seconds 3 tenths of a
11:08second slower than the old model with the same power output i checked and i had to ask vw for
11:14a
11:14comment regarding potential engine or software tuning in this test example i got 8.3 seconds on wet tarmac
11:23and on winter tires volkswagen poland is adamant this is a stock early production model with no
11:29modifications whatsoever it seems they pulled a trick from bmw's handbook under promise and over
11:35deliver i'm impressed now the suspension here is standard it soaks up the bumps well while remaining
11:44sufficiently firm to handle fast cornering and that steering i can't think of anything in the
11:50volkswagen lineup below the golf gti that would be as fun to drive as this t-rock
12:03adaptive suspension is optional and not tied to any equipment pack i think you can skip it because vw's
12:10dcc usually makes knocking sounds which allegedly is not a bug but a feature and i find it greatly annoying
12:18soundproofing soundproofing is good enough it's not the most quiet car out there but it's also not
12:23as bad as the toyota chr visibility is decent the 360 camera is a part of a tech equipment package
12:31along
12:31with the hud and travel assist the latter is volkswagen speak for semi-autonomous driving
12:40and speaking of semi-autonomous driving and safety features volkswagen's improved a lot since my
12:46terrible experience in the current generation tiguan the tiguan would phantom brake frequently
12:52here i only had two front collision system warnings but i was really pushing the car and there was no
13:00emergency braking though
13:06okay after i recorded this i've experienced overzealous emergency braking twice and the seatbelt
13:12tensioners went off once and the boot started opening every time i passed close to the rear of the car
13:18parked in my driveway there's also a new feature called park assist pro it costs only 155 euro but
13:26is it worth anything at all let's find out the conditions outside are difficult yep we can establish
13:36that and we've parked our countryman in a spot that will be relatively tight so when we park this car
13:47it would be difficult for either one person from the other car or us to get out so we'll use
13:54automatic
13:55parking now whether a tighter space would be feasible i don't know the conditions are difficult there's a
14:03lot of snow so we'll just go with whatever we have see this is the spot right here
14:10we've already parked it just so that we don't go absolutely blind into it but let's see
14:18how it's gonna cope oh i think i've driven a bit too far okay so we'll try it again
14:33okay let's see if it can discover the space once again when i'm closer
14:43come on
14:46you've done it already off camera so now you can show us how great you are
14:52and no more okay let me go around
15:00okay attempt number two hopefully okay so it found some other spots which are not that interested
15:08interesting but i want this one and it's not this one just yet i think
15:16aha yeah this is our spot okay so now i can either park while sitting inside or i can use
15:22the app
15:23so i shall use the app okay i can feel the brake blocking and now it tells me to
15:31park with the app so let's get out of course i've got the keys on me
15:40okay okay let's go into the park park assist app which is separate from the volkswagen app start parking
15:51accept start and now auto parking
15:59you have to be around up to two meters away from the car not further and there shouldn't be
16:04anything obstructing it so we can't approach too close now see that passat there that's pretty close
16:12but let's see how's it gonna cope
16:18that's close
16:22when i watched it from the inside it looked really really close
16:29okay
16:34sometimes it needs a bit more motivation so you need to release park press it again and then it knows
16:40that you're still in control see turning the wheels going a bit for a bit front a bit forward
16:47come on come on come on come on come on now would i do it quicker of course i would
16:52would i want to
16:54be getting in and out of the car that's parked close to other dirty cars not necessarily so
17:01it's something you may or you may not want to use of course there's also automatic parking which
17:06you can store like your parking position on your driver driver or something in the car will park there
17:12so in we go
17:20yep we're done so
17:28it's not great not terrible
17:33over and out
17:49prices of the new volkswagen t-rock started 30 845 euro this test car is an r-line 1.5
17:56etsi
17:56and with options it costs 47 330 euro yes you can buy a bigger chinese car for the money but
18:04before
18:04you do take the new t-rock for a test drive i'm telling you it'll be worth it
18:12volkswagen has paid dearly for dieselgate software issues and half-hearted electrification dragged on
18:17while internal combustion engine cars were collateral damage however it seems the new
18:23management is leading the company in the which one is right anyway in the right direction and
18:29the new t-rock is living or rather driving proof what about you do you own last generation t-rock
18:35what made you choose it did it live up to your expectations and are you planning to get this new
18:40one
18:41or maybe you're looking at some of its competitors let me know in the comment section below
18:50if you like my sarcastic down-to-earth and possibly mildly amusing car reviews join me
18:55every friday at 3 p.m central european time and don't forget to subscribe and like this video
19:01as it helps me with the youtube algorithm thanks for watching and i will see you in the next one
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