Volkswagen T-Cross Review (2024)

Introduction

If you're after an SUV, Volkswagen has spoiled you for choice.

It is not the only manufacturer in that position; BMW also offers SUVs in just about every size imaginable.

And why not? SUVs are everywhere nowadays, outpacing saloons and even the traditional family hatchback.

Who wouldn't want more practicality and more space instead of cramming your two-point-four children into the tiniest of family hatchbacks?

The T-Cross may be considered large for a hatchback, but it’s the smallest conventional SUV in the VW range (though pedants may point out that the coupe-styled Taigo is technically smaller, as it's a T-Cross with a chunk removed from the boot).

It is also designed to be budget-conscious, and the VW T-Cross is based on the same MQB platform as the Polo.

Although the VW T-Cross is only four years old, it has recently undergone an overhaul. It boasts a revised interior and some cosmetic styling tweaks to the exterior.

It has always been good-looking, but it’s never really caught on in the UK. That is despite it being a worthy rival to the Nissan Juke and Ford Puma – the former beating the T-Cross in popularity by three-to-one, while the latter outperformed it by five-to-one, going by 2023’s figures.

We will see if the latest version is likely to change that.

At a Glance

Not much has changed between the outgoing VW T-Cross and this newly facelifted one. That is no bad thing, though, as the car was reasonably good-looking to begin with.

The front grille features one horizontal silver strip running along the centre, while the rest of the blackened grille blends neatly with the headlights. A lower grille appears trapezoidal, with a silver bar running underneath.

Around the sides, the doors feature a crease and an indentation towards the bottom, while the side skirts bulge out slightly.

Around the rear, the taillights look almost disproportionately large compared with the back of the car, with a horizontal light bar spanning the width of the tailgate.

There's a black lattice-filled cutout towards the bottom, positioned above another trapezoid brightened by a piece of silver trim.

It looks lively, funky and full of personality but without being ostentatious.

Key Features

Volkswagen offers four trims to choose from on the T-Cross.

The entry-level Life features 16-inch alloys, an 8.0-inch infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, a DAB radio, automatic LED headlights, ambient lighting, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and electrically folding door mirrors.

Match trim upgrades to 17-inch alloys, adding a rear-view camera, keyless entry and start, plus rear tinted windows.

Next up is Style, which adds the IQ.DRIVE package with some semi-automated driving technology, a Discover Media SatNav system, an 8.0-inch Digital Cockpit display, silver roof rails, sports comfort seats, dual-zone climate control, and IQ.LIGHT matrix LED headlights.

The top-of-the-range R-Line gets chrome-plated radiator grille inserts, air vent surrounds, and light switch surrounds, plus a larger 10.0-inch Digital Cockpit display and heated front seats.

What's curious, though, is that neither the higher and more expensive trims - Style and R-Line - include the rear-view camera or keyless entry/start in the lower Match grade.

And despite R-Line being above Style trim, the latter gets the IQ.LIGHT matrix headlights, not the top-of-the-range version. This is unusual and risks over-complicating the trim levels, which generally build more equipment on top of the next model down without sacrificing anything.

Regarding powertrains, two 1.0-litre petrol engines are producing 95 and 115PS.

The 115PS variant is available on all trims, while the 95PS unit is only available on the bottom two models.

The alternative choice with the top two trims is a 1.5-litre petrol generating 150PS.

All come with front-wheel drive, and depending on the engine, a five-speed manual, a six-speed manual, or a seven-speed automatic transmission is available.

Performance & Drive

The 1.0-litre 115PS mill we're testing does 0-62mph in 10.0 seconds flat.

We are trying it out with the six-speed manual gearbox, although a seven-speed DSG automatic is also available.

Both are adequate, and the choice comes down to personal preference.

The lower-powered 1.0-litre TSI engine with 95PS is slower, so if you need marginally better acceleration, then the 115PS variant is the one to go for.

The 95PS engine is only available on the lowest two trims, Life and Match, and comes with a five-speed manual.

If you are after superior performance, though, the top two trims - Style and R–Line - have the 150PS petrol available, cutting the 0-62mph time to 8.4 seconds.

This engine is under less strain than the lower-powered variants, but in a car like this, it's overkill unless most of your driving is going to be on dual carriageways and motorways.

In terms of handling, the Volkswagen T-Cross is excellent for driving around town centres thanks to its effortlessly light steering. And it doesn't feel big despite its comparatively high riding position compared with the VW Polo on which it's based.

It feels well planted on straighter, faster roads and settles down better than some of its rivals over bumps and crevices in the road surface.

However, it isn’t quite as comfortable as the competition, especially on the larger 17-inch alloys of our test car in R-Line trim. Entry-level Life trim gets smaller 16-inch rims, adding extra absorption.

Around corners, the steering weights up - not to the same extent as larger Volkswagen SUVs - but it's sufficient to provide the confidence to push on, and plenty of grip helps the VW tackle twister roads.

There is also less lean than we had expected, with body roll well controlled, and while we'd be hard-pressed to call it exciting to drive, you can have some fun with it.

Running Costs & Emissions

Despite the difference in clout between the engines available, the fuel economy is surprisingly consistent across all of them.

The 115PS petrol we’re driving returns 48-49mpg with the seven-speed DSG automatic emitting 131-133g/km of CO2. But this becomes 50mpg and 127-128g/km of CO2 if you opt for the six-speed manual.

The lower-powered 95PS mill returns only 49mpg and 128-129g/km of CO2.

Opting for the higher-powered 150PS petrol gets you 47mpg, returning 134-135g/km of CO2.

The fuel economy and emissions figures will vary slightly depending on which trim you choose. But the headline is that, surprisingly, the most powerful unit is also the most economical.

The VW T-Cross won’t be attractive as a company car, as a lack of hybrid options means it won't qualify for the significant savings on Benefit In Kind tax, where you’d be better off leasing a plug-in hybrid or fully electric car.

In terms of reliability, Volkswagen's once-proud German dependability isn’t necessarily the case these days, and the manufacturer sometimes ranks in the bottom half of reliability survey tables.

That said, the VW T-Cross has often bucked the trend and hopefully will continue to do so.

Interior & Technology

The outgoing VW T-Cross had a relatively average interior – nice but nothing to write home about. The new interior has a similar vibe.

While it's a step forward, it remains nice but a tad bland, lacking the design of modern cabins. However, considering the T-Cross is the bottom rung of the ladder in terms of VW SUVs, this isn’t all that surprising, and many foes are on a similar level.

Maybe we’re being harsh, as it’s still perfectly pleasant enough, with silver décor on both the steering wheel spokes and the dashboard to brighten things up.

What’s bizarre, though, is that the top-of-the-range R-Line trim we're testing looks by far the blandest of the lot.

Unlike the other trims, it lacks the silver dashboard décor, simply featuring a blank panel which blends in with the rest of the dash.

While the R-Line does get aluminium pedals, these are hidden from view as soon as you sit in the driver’s seat.

The best-looking, in our opinion, is the next trim down, Style, which features cosmic blue seats, while beige can be specified as an optional extra.

There is no such option on the R-Line, however.

The infotainment screen sits like a tablet in the middle of the dash, although its large black borders on the R-Line and Style trims make it look dated. Again, surprisingly, it looks more contemporary on lower Life and Match trims, sitting flush against the dash.

All in all, it means the trim with supposedly the most razzmatazz looks the most vanilla.

On all trims, the digital instrument screen is positioned far back within its housings with a surprising amount of depth.

One highlight is that physical controls are retained for the air conditioning. But Style and R-Line get dual-zone climate control as standard, with touch-sensitive controls – which are far harder to operate on the move compared with the Life and Match trims.

At least the infotainment system itself is decent, offering a reasonably intuitive menu layout and a fairly responsive interface. However, the display is small by today’s standards, so it may not be as convenient if you're used to larger touchscreens.

There are also four USB-C ports in the cabin (two in the front and two in the back).

Overall, the build quality is good, the materials feel reasonable, although cheaper and thinner plastics aren’t far away, which is typical of this class.

One advantage of the R-Line trims is that they feature more leather on the dashboard, but so does the next trim down, Style.

While the aesthetics might be a little lacking, they're still enough to match - and in some cases marginally exceed - many of its rivals. However, if cabin design is a priority, we'd urge you to look towards Audi or BMW.

We can’t imagine many people paying top whack for the R-Line model will be impressed when they realise cheaper trims look nicer.

Boot Space & Practicality

Considering it’s a small crossover, you sit surprisingly high up in the VW T-Cross. This means you get excellent visibility out of the front, aided by the narrow windscreen pillars.

They are much thicker at the rear, making it difficult to see by looking over your shoulder, but all trims get front and rear parking sensors as standard to mitigate the problem.

Another oddity is that although the second-from-bottom trim, Match, gets a rear-view camera as standard, the more expensive trims - Style and R-Line – don’t. Style also gets adaptive matrix LED lights, whereas R-Line doesn’t.

Finding a comfy driving position is easy enough, and there's a lot of adjustment in the driver’s seat – including height adjustment. You can also change the height of the central armrest.

There is a lot of space in the front, even for taller occupants. However, it’s worth bearing in mind this is the smallest SUV in VW’s line-up, so it has to be taken in context, with larger models offering more shoulder room.

The rear impresses, too - again, taken in context with this being a small car - offering more space than some of its challengers. The rear bench can slide forward and backwards, sacrificing boot space for more legroom and vice versa.

Three rear-seat passengers are unlikely to be comfortable for long journeys, which is to be expected, but then VW offers plenty of larger SUVs for those who need the space.

Headroom isn’t an issue no matter where you sit, although there's slightly less in the back due to the roof's slope, as is true of most cars in this class.

There is also a lot of interior storage, with a decent-sized glove compartment, large door bins, cubbies, and even a drawer that slides out from beneath the driver's seat.

The boot space is 385 litres, which isn’t as big as its rivals. You can extend this to 455 litres, so it’s on a par with the Ford Puma - but this means sliding the back seats as far forward as possible, significantly limiting rear legroom.

Folding them away completely in a 60:40 configuration increases the available capacity to 1,281 litres. Meanwhile, height adjustment in the boot floor is standard on all trims - handy if you want to remove the load lip to slide in heavy boxes, for example.

Safety

Euro NCAP won't re-test the Volkswagen T-Cross, given that it's a facelift of the existing model, which was put through its paces in 2019.

It earned a five-star rating, scoring a whopping 97 per cent for adult occupants, 86 per cent for children, and 80 per cent for safety assists.

The latter category includes adaptive cruise control on all models, an advanced driver attention and drowsiness monitor, and dynamic road sign display.

All models include high beam assist, hill start assist, a front-facing camera, front and rear parking sensors, semi-automated driving assistance, travel assist, lane keeping system, and lane assist as standard.

Curiously, only the second-from-bottom trim, Match, gets a rear-view camera, with the more expensive higher trims missing out.

Our top-of-the-range R-Line test car gets driving profile selections as standard, too.

Options

If you're willing to spend a bit more on your VW T-Cross, there's no shortage of optional extras.

On models that don't include them as standard, you can have dual-zone climate control, heated front seats, keyless entry/start, and a rear-view camera. You can also choose LED matrix headlights with animated indicators, rear tinted glass and a tow bar.

Inside, a media pack adds various features, including a Discover Media navigation system with streaming and internet access, while a Pro version of the pack adds voice control.

There is also a 10.25-inch digital cockpit pro, a Beats Audio sound system, along with carpet mats, an anti-theft alarm system and numerous accessories.

Rival Cars

If you’re after good handling, the Ford Puma is more fun and is a great driver’s car.

However, the Kia Stonic, Seat Arona, and Skoda Kamiq all put up a good fight for your money.

If you're interested in the more premium end of the market, the BMW X1 and the Audi Q2 are worth considering.

Verdict & Next Steps

Overall, the Volkswagen T-Cross is a worthy entry-level SUV and crucially, it doesn't feel like the Polo on which it's based.

The interior is spacious for a small car, and it offers a decent level of practicality while also being nice to drive, albeit not particularly exciting.

All the engines seem relatively well-refined, and there's nothing wrong with the entry-level 95PS petrol if you're on a budget.

However, the confusing equipment list means some standard accessories on lower trims aren’t included on higher trims, so you’re not getting value for money.

This is enough to put us off the higher trims, even aside from the fact that the top-of-the-range R-Line interior looks the blandest of the lot.

We recommend the Match trim, which is barely more expensive than the Life grade. However, the 150PS engine is only available if you go for Style, so we’d only recommend the latter if you need the bigger power unit.

The R-Line is more expensive than the entry-level model and it doesn't come with all the equipment that lower models do.

The top-of-the-range model is pricier than the next SUV in the Volkswagen range, the superior T-Roc, so if you're happy to spend the money on the R-Line, you may want to consider leasing the T-Roc instead.

Where to next?

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Call us on 0118 3048 688 or hit the green 'Enquire' button for more details.

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**Score based on Select’s unique meta score analysis, taking into account the UK’s top leading independent car website reviews of the VW T-Cross.

**Correct as of 25/07/2024. Based on 9 months initial payment, 5,000 miles annually, over a 24 month lease. Initial payment equivalent to 9 monthly payments, or £1,816.47 (Plus admin fee) Ts and Cs apply. Credit is subject to status.