Volkswagen T-Roc Review: Price, specs and boot space

Volkswagen T-Roc at a glance:

• Body type: SUV
• Price range: £31,635 - £38,935
• MPG: 50.3 - 50.6mpg
• Number of seats: 5 (3 Isofix)
• Boot capacity: 475 litres
• Insurance groups: TBC

Volkswagen T-Roc: Everything you need to know

The Volkswagen T-Roc is the company's small SUV offering, sitting between the T-Cross and Tiguan in its range. If it helps, think of it as an SUV version of the ever-popular Golf. 

The first-generation T-Roc proved incredibly popular among buyers, so the latest 2026 VW T-Roc has some big shoes to fill. It's also likely to be the seal its place in Volkswagen’s historical annals – it’s said to be VW's final all-new car to be powered by combustion engines. 

The term small SUV now encompasses a lot of cars and the positioning of the VW T-Roc means it finds itself in the mix against a plethora of rivals. It will be battling slightly smaller (and more affordable) rivals like the Ford Puma and Renault Captur, while its proportions might mean it's considered as a more stylish alternative to something like a Kia Sportage or Nissan Qashqai. It's also up against a slew of alternative sportily-shaped SUVs, including the svelte Mazda CX-30, the daring Cupra Formentor and the even more radical Toyota C-HR among several others. 

The sharper styling of the latest VW T-Roc is an obvious change over the previous car, but a key area that VW has focused in on is the interior – there's a greater focus in quality in the new model, with better materials throughout the cabin, while the tech has also been stepped up a notch or two as well. 

This sees the T-Roc adopt the same large 12.9-inch multimedia touchscreen featured in other new VWs like the Tiguan and Passat, as well as a separate digital driver’s display screen. It still has the touch-sensitive panels beneath for operating the climate control’s temperature settings, but to be fair, these are nice and responsive in use. 

Engine choice at launch is a little limited, with two mild hybrid-assisted 1.5-litre eTSI engines in 116PS and 150PS power outputs to choose from, but these should probably suit most buyers. If either of those don't tickle your fancy, there are a couple of self-charging hybrids on the horizon that promise better fuel economy, as well as a four-wheel drive model and hot T-Roc R with 333PS.

How we tested the Volkswagen T-Roc

For now, we've driven the Volkswagen T-Roc with the more powerful 150PS eTSI engine in R-Line trim. During our week with the T-Roc, we've driven it on a range of UK roads, from rutted country lanes to that horrible concrete section at the bottom of the M25. We haven't just plonked ourselves in the car either – we've fitted car seats in the back and ferried children around to get a real feel for what it can do.

Is the Volkswagen T-Roc a good car?

The Volkswagen T-Roc is indeed a good car and one of the better small SUVs you can buy today. It's not the cheapest, but it comes with a good amount of space in the cabin, as well as a decent boot, making it one of the more practical options out there. There's a limited choice of engines at the moment, but the 150PS option is a great all-rounder that should suit most people's needs. 

Round town the T-Roc's light steering makes threading it round obstacles and road furniture a breeze, while the steering firms up nicely as you move onto faster flowing roads. It's here that the T-Roc shows how polished it is underneath, delivering a stable and controlled driving experience, letting you power out of corners with confidence. 

The DSG transmission is pretty smooth here as well, as long as you're not constantly jabbing at the throttle, while the 150PS variant of the engine we've tested delivers its power smoothly through the range.

Once on a motorway the T-Roc quickly settles into a comfortable cruise, while the latest adaptive cruise controls works a treat – it's now capable of making automatic lane changes if needed. Wind noise is also nicely controlled, and with minimal tyre noise, it combines to make the T-Roc's cabin a very refined place at motorway speeds. 

So far we've only tested the T-Roc on some pretty large (optional) 19-inch alloy wheels with the R-Line's standard sports suspension. It is a bit on the firm side and can crash a bit over poorer road surfaces, but it still manages to feel pretty refined on the majority of road surfaces in the UK.

If you wanted something a little more supple, while it might come at the the expense of the T-Roc's sporty looks, we'd point you in the direction of some smaller 18-inch alloys that are standard on the R-Line trim. Alternatively you could select VW's adaptive dampers from the options list (you'll see referred to as Adaptive Chassis Control on the configurator) to take the sting out of some of the more rutted roads on larger wheels. It'll set you back £765 and is available on R-Line trim only. 

Currently, the choice of engines is pretty limited to two mild-hybrid offerings, both based around a 1.5-litre petrol engine. The difference between the two is the power output, with a lower-powered 116PS option complementing a more powerful 150PS offering. 

Both badged as 'eTSI' and running through a seven-speed DSG automatic gearbox, the 116PS has a more pedestrian 0-62mph time of 10.6 seconds, while the 150PS option is a bit quicker at 8.9 seconds. While the 116PS engine is fine for general driving, the 150PS and the extra punch it delivers would it our pick. It's got a bit more punch that makes it a better all-rounder, especially for motorway driving or when you need a bit more shove for an overtake.

These are both front-wheel drive, but there's a four-wheel-drive T-Roc coming later in the year with a 204PS petrol engine that we've seen in numerous VW Group cars, while there are two self-charging hybrid on the horizon as well. 

These will use a 1.5-litre petrol engine with a larger battery and should see fuel efficiency improve even further, with the choice of two power outputs – 136PS and 170PS. 

Finally, there's also a 'hot' VW T-Roc R planned with a 333PS, but that's expected in 2027. 

The Volkswagen T-Roc has already been crash tested by independent safety organisation Euro NCAP and scored a full five-star safety rating, scoring highly for adult and child occupant safety.

Speaking of child safety, the T-Roc comes with Isofix mounting points not only on the two outer rear seats in the back, but also the front passenger seat. 

There's also a good amount of driver assistance tech as standard, with automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-keeping assist, traffic sign recognition and cross traffic alert. 

Other tech available on the latest T-Roc includes Travel Assist, which enables automatic lane changes when driving on motorways, with an enhanced, more natural reaction to varying speed limits, as well as Park Assist Pro, which allows the car to be manoeuvred in and out of parking spaces using a connected smartphone.

While it might not be an obvious tow car, the VW T-Roc can pull a braked trailer to 1300kg with the 116PS engine and 1500kg with the 150PS engine. 

A folding tow bar can be fitted as an optional extra for £830.

The VW T-Roc is one of the more practical small SUVs on sale today, with Volkswagen managing to eke out even more space on the newer car.

The headline improvement is boot space – the new VW T-Roc has a boot capacity of 475 litres, which is some 30 litres up on the old car. There's a slight lip, but it shouldn't make it too much of an issue getting things into the boot, while the floor's height is adjustable to make it deeper still it need be.

The T-Roc's boot is a good, usable space that's bigger than a lot of rivals, offering more space than a Ford Puma, a Toyota C-HR, a Lexus LBX and even a Volvo XC40. You'll have to look at something like the Skoda Karoq for more space. 

The back seats don't tilt or slide, but they do helpfully split 40:20:40. This can be quite handy when you have two child seats in the back; the design means you can pop the middle seat down and slide longer items through from the boot. 

Up front there are some nice little details, including the interior door handles that now pull up vertically rather than inwards. VW has also moved the gear lever from the centre console to a stalk on the right side of the steering column, freeing up space for a multi-functional rotary dial in the centre console. While this allows you to adjust the volume and toggle between the drive modes, it feels like VW has missed an open goal here – surely some climate control functionality could have been added here as well? 

That grumble aside, there's a good amount of space up front, while the seats in our R-Line trim car are excellent with plenty of comfort and support. Visibility is also good – compared to something like a Golf, you sit quite a bit higher up, giving you a good view of the road, especially as the windscreen pillars are relatively thin. 

The design of the dash is kept pretty simple and, thanks to the touchscreen, comes with minimal buttons. It's pretty inoffensive, but a little bit more flair wouldn't have gone a miss here, especially with a colour palette that has a bias towards blacks and dark greys. Things get a little better when the sun drops, when the ambient lighting lifts the cabin.

If you're going to be regularly wrestling kids into child seats in the back, you'll appreciate the wide door openings, which make it that bit easier to reach in and buckle them up, while tall adults should be able to get comfy thanks to the generous foot room under the front seats. The only issue is if you're looking to squeeze a third person in the back – the middle seat is not only raised slightly, but it straddles a relatively high central tunnel. 

Volkswagen T-Roc dimensions

The second generation Volkswagen T-Roc is 12cm longer than the older car, now measuring 4372mm long, 1828mm wide (excluding mirrors) and 1573mm high. 

For comparison, that's about the same size as a Hyundai Kona, longer than a Ford Puma, but a bit shorter than a Skoda Karoq. 

One of the complaints levelled at the outgoing T-Roc was the interior plastics used, with a lot of hard plastics higher up in the cabin that weren't as plush as in some rivals. This was improved when it was face-lifted, but the new T-Roc is much better.

There are a number of gratifying materials used round the cabin, including a fabric dashboard that lifts the overall feel. Some of this is trim dependent though – our top-of-the-range R-Line trim test car has some pleasing faux-leather on the doors for example that lower end trims don't have.

Ultimately, its not quite a match for something you'd find on an Audi Q2 or a Volvo XC40, but then you're not paying that kind of price and overall it should satisfy most buyers.

Just as we've seen with the likes of the Tiguan, the Tayron and the updated Golf, the T-Roc uses a 12.9-inch touchscreen display. Using VW's latest operating system, it's very responsive to use and pretty easy to navigate.

You'll need to spend a bit of time familiarising yourself with the various submenus, especially as pretty much every control and adjustment is controlled via the touchscreen display, There's also a touch-sensitive panel beneath the screen for operating the climate control’s temperature settings, but at least they’re permanently on show. 

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, so you can use your preferred mapping app. This becomes even more important if you opt for the entry-level Life trim, where sat-nav is not bundled as standard. 

Life trim cars also get a smaller 8-inch digital dash compared to the larger 10-inch display in both the Style and R-Line models. On the 10-inch display in our test car, the graphics were rendered at a high resolution, making them look crisp and clear.

A six-speaker stereo is standard across the range, though you can upgrade to a more sophisticated Harman Kardon sound system for just over £500. 

Despite the power and performance difference between the two engines, there's not much too choose between them when it comes to fuel economy – both should be pretty frugal, with the lower-powered 116PS engine promising a combined consumption of 50.6mpg, while the more powerful 150PS engine is only a smidge behind at 50.3mpg. 

Insurance groups for the VW T-Roc haven't been finalised just yet, but the previous model topped out at group 25 (out of 50), so it shouldn't be too bad to insure. For comparison, a Cupra Formentor with the same 1.5-litre 150PS engine in V1 trim is insurance group 24.

The VW T-Roc comes with a three-year/60,000-mile warranty, the first two years of which are unlimited, with the third year capped at 60,000 miles. You can pay extra and extend this cover to up to five years, and there are a number of service plans available. The cover of the warranty is pretty standard, but if you're looking for greater cover, then Cupra's five-year/90,000-mile warranty looks more attractive. Toyota also offers a 10-year warranty, though that does require your car to be regularly serviced at a Toyota dealer to qualify.

Car tax for the VW T-Roc is currently set at £200 per year, and while all come under the £40,000 premium car tax, be careful with the options on higher-priced models, as that could easily tip over £40k. If that happens, you're looking at an additional £440 to be paid on top for five years from year two. 

The Volkswagen T-Roc range is pretty straight forward, with only three trims currently available – a Tiguan, for example, comes in six different flavours. 

The range kicks off with the T-Roc Life. Available with both petrol engines, it comes with the following as standard: 

• 17-inch alloy wheels
• 8-inch digital dash
• 12.9-inch infotainment display
• Black roof rails
• LED headlights
• Lane keep assist
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Rear view camera
• Keyless start
• Adaptive cruise control
• Two-zone climate control
• Fabric upholstery
• Six-speaker stereo system
• Leather-wrapped multifunction steering wheel

Move up to the T-Roc Style trim and you also benefit from: 

• 18-inch 'Torino' alloy wheels
• LED Plus headlights
• 10-inch digital dash
• Ambient interior lighting
• Silver roof rails
• Built-in sat nav
• Heated front seats with massage feature
• Three-zone climate control
• Rear tinted glass

The T-Roc R-Line sits at the top of the range and along with the sporty finish, it enjoys:  

• 18-inch 'Coventry' alloy wheels
• R-Line bumpers
• Black roof lining
• Brushed stainless steel pedals
• Front scuff plates
• Integrated head restraints for front seats
• Sports suspension
• Heated front sports comfort seats