2021 Volkswagen T-Cross review
The dashboard almost broke our hardness tester! Paul gets behind the wheel of the 2021 Volkswagen T-Cross to see what this Polo-based crossover is really like and why the dashboard is so hard!
Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/review/2020-volkswagen-t-cross-launch-review/
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 00:54
Interior: 02:56
Infotainment: 04:54
Features: 06:26
Practicality: 07:13
On the Road: 10:01
Verdict: 13:25
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
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Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/review/2020-volkswagen-t-cross-launch-review/
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 00:54
Interior: 02:56
Infotainment: 04:54
Features: 06:26
Practicality: 07:13
On the Road: 10:01
Verdict: 13:25
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you! #volkswagen #review #tcross
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au
Paul Maric:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
@volkswagen @volkswagenaustralia
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. I've got a story to tell you.
00:02 Over a cup of tea, some German product planners at Volkswagen got a little bit cross when they realized they didn't have a crossover SUV to compete with the likes of the CX-3, the Kona, the CH-R.
00:12 So they sat down and they did some planning and they came up with this, the T-Cross.
00:17 It's a mixture between the warm drink and the step between a hatchback and an SUV. T-Cross.
00:23 This one here is the 85 TSI style. It is priced at just under $31,000. It sits at the top of the tree in Australia for the T-Cross range until a more powerful version comes later this year.
00:34 But this one here has almost $4,000 worth of options attached to it.
00:38 Today we're going to do a detailed review of this car and you can skip ahead to other parts of this review using the time codes above.
00:43 Or if you're on YouTube, just scroll down to the description for the links.
00:47 If you haven't done so already, I'd love it if you could hit subscribe and also press the bell icon. That's going to tell you every single time we drive something new.
00:53 Let's talk exterior. Before I get into it, I was having a debate. You can get this in eight colors and this is like a turquoise color.
01:01 Is this more blue or is this more green? I don't know. I reckon it's green.
01:06 But let me know in the comments below if I'm colorblind, what color is it?
01:10 What you can do here with the T-Cross is get it with the R-Line package, which is what this car has fitted to it.
01:16 You know it's got the R-Line package because it says R-Line and it comes with a different diffuser at the rear and a few extra highlights,
01:22 including some bigger wheels that I'll show you in a second.
01:24 But the R-Line package really gives this a bit of an aggressive, sporty look.
01:27 The platform that this is shared with is the Polo. So the Polo is a small car.
01:31 This actually looks much bigger than a Polo, so it kind of sits as a hybrid between the two.
01:35 I love the styling up the front here. They've got a good mix of that highlighted black plastic and chrome.
01:40 And it is quite a sort of sophisticated looking car.
01:42 This has been out for a little while now, but it is brand new to Australia.
01:45 Jump around to the side here. It's 4.1 metres long, just over 4.1 metres long, so it is reasonably sized.
01:51 But it's not quite a family SUV and we'll see how much room there is inside later on.
01:54 This comes standard with 17-inch alloy wheels, but the R-Line gets these 18-inch wheels.
01:58 They look really nice. They've got quite a reflective finish on them with the black highlights in between.
02:03 Low-profile tyres as well. A little bit concerned about this having low-profile tyres.
02:07 The Polo rides fantastic. This, on the other hand, with bigger wheels, low-profile tyres,
02:11 I'll be keen to see whether it feels just as good as the Polo does.
02:14 The rest of the car looks quite nice as well.
02:17 If you come down the side, another R-Line badge there. This is fun.
02:20 Volkswagen branding on the B-pillar.
02:22 Got quite a compact look to it with those chrome roof rails.
02:26 And then around the back, I really like these highlights.
02:28 So this diffused LED look is really quite sophisticated in my opinion.
02:33 You can't see the individual LED elements. It's just sort of washed out and over, over kind of like tissue paper there.
02:38 So it looks really nice. And at night time, you're going to be able to tell this car apart from other Volkswagens.
02:43 And then it proudly wears that T-Cross badge on the back there.
02:46 This car's built for young people, so it's the type of people that perhaps don't have a family yet,
02:50 but kind of want to look like they're going to have one soon.
02:53 And they kind of want to look like they go off-roading, but it's only front-wheel drive.
02:56 Let's talk interior of the T-Cross.
02:58 You'll notice with competitors of the T-Cross, manufacturers are happy to charge a whole lot more money for these cars
03:03 because they're SUV crossover type things, but they generally don't jazz up the interiors.
03:08 And you're left with a very basic interior, but a big price tag.
03:12 Volkswagens tried to jazz this up, and have a look at it.
03:15 I think it presents beautifully. It really looks nice on the surface.
03:19 You've got a big media screen, you've got a screen in front of the driver that's available as an option and fitted to this car.
03:24 But, you then kind of have a bit of a look around the place, and holy moly, there is a lot of plastic in here.
03:31 This is kind of, feels a bit like a Volkswagen Caddy.
03:34 It just feels very industrious, and I don't think that's the feel they want to go for.
03:39 So, to test how industrious this is, we have our hardness tester.
03:43 So, this is a durometer. It measures on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is soft, 100 is hard.
03:49 And I want to see exactly how hard that dashboard is.
03:52 Alright, let's give this a shot.
03:55 Wow, that's pretty much maxed out the durometer.
03:58 95. Even this section here.
04:02 99. That is 100% hard.
04:05 Let's try the centre console. This is probably the softest thing around here.
04:08 Oh, that's not too bad. So, 40.
04:10 So, what I'm trying to get at here is, yes, it does look nice, but they've stopped right at the end.
04:17 Instead of going and putting like a soft-touch dashboard in, or just something to make it feel a little less like it's been moulded out of one piece of plastic.
04:25 What about the build quality, though?
04:27 It's saved by the fact that it all feels nice and rigid and in place.
04:32 Nothing feels soft or loose.
04:33 So, there is that, but it is let down by all this scratchy stuff.
04:37 Sorry, I'm being a negative Nancy here. Let's talk about the stuff I do like.
04:40 So, I mentioned earlier that this car has the R-Line package.
04:42 It continues inside. You get these cool seats with R insignia on them.
04:47 You get R-Line on the scuff plates. You get alloy pedals and then R on the steering wheel here.
04:52 And I love this steering wheel, by the way. It sits beautifully in the hands.
04:54 Let's talk infotainment. This car uses what they call the Discover Media infotainment system.
04:59 I'm going to walk you through this right now, but if you want a detailed review of Discover Pro,
05:03 which is kind of a fancier version of the system fitted to this car,
05:07 you can click on the link up there to watch the detailed review.
05:09 But today, I will take you through just the highlights.
05:11 If we jump over to the radio menu, you'll see that it doesn't have DAB digital radio.
05:15 It's just got FM and AM, which is a little bit disappointing.
05:18 But it does overcome that with a pretty impressive source list for the media.
05:23 So, you can do CD player, which is in the glove box.
05:25 An SD card. One SD card is for the navigation. The other SD card is for images and music.
05:30 You have USB connectivity, Bluetooth audio, and also wireless LAN.
05:34 In terms of the phone, you can connect the phone directly for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
05:38 It's wired, not a wireless system. I'll show you what that looks like in a second.
05:41 Or you can connect just on Bluetooth.
05:43 It is disappointing, though, that this button, the voice recognition button, does absolutely nothing.
05:48 If you do press voice, it tells you that it has to be activated by an activation key after contact with dealers.
05:53 So, it's a bit strange to have the button there, but then it doesn't really do anything.
05:56 It only works if you do have it paired to a smartphone.
05:59 Now, in terms of smartphone, Apple CarPlay is here.
06:02 It's not the best-looking resolution in the world.
06:05 You can see it's kind of pixelated if you go up close there.
06:08 On the Discover Pro system, it's quite a high-res integration.
06:11 And then there's also in-built navigation.
06:13 Works quite well. It's fast enough.
06:15 And it also comes with an auto-zoom function, so that when you are on the freeway, it zooms out.
06:19 And as you approach intersections, it zooms in.
06:21 Outside of that, it's a really easy-to-use navigation system, and it looks nicely in place in the dashboard there.
06:26 Infotainment to one side. What other features are you getting with the car?
06:29 So, dual-zone climate control. You get a self-parking feature if you're not confident with parking.
06:33 Safety. You get autonomous emergency braking, which is the tech that stops the car if you don't.
06:38 Blind-spot monitoring. A lane-keeping assistant. Radar cruise control.
06:42 And this car has the Sound & Vision package, so you get a 10.25-inch digital cockpit in front of the driver.
06:48 On top of that, you're getting a Beats sound system. 300-watt with an amplifier and a subwoofer.
06:53 And then two USB ports as well.
06:55 What does the key look like?
06:57 Here it is here. So it's an old-school flip key, but you don't actually use it as a flip key.
07:02 You've got lock, unlock, boot, and then on the back of it, the Volkswagen logo.
07:06 It's just a proximity-sensing key, so you just keep that in your pocket.
07:08 You grab the door handle to open the car, and then you have a start button as well, so it never needs to leave your pocket.
07:13 Let's talk practicality, and we'll kick off with storage.
07:16 Your phone. It can live down here, and guess what? That doubles as a wireless phone charger.
07:21 There's also this cavity on the dashboard where you can put your phone.
07:24 I can also fit it in here, but we'll see how that tucks my bottle.
07:27 Not great. This is really weird. It's like it's a bottle-sized hole, but it doesn't go all the way down.
07:33 It's a bit strange that they haven't made that big enough, but you can put this in your door,
07:37 and then you have storage alongside it as well.
07:39 This centre console is the smallest centre console I've ever seen.
07:44 I have a wallet and a key, and it's pretty much full.
07:47 I just don't understand why they make things that small.
07:49 That moves, though, so you can rest your arm on there if you need to.
07:52 Old-school handbrake. It doesn't have an electrically actuated handbrake.
07:55 You have a glovebox there. It has the CD player plus your SD card slots.
07:59 Keep in mind, one of these SD card slots is for the navigation,
08:02 so you can only use the other one for music and images,
08:04 and then you have holders here for credit cards and coins and other little bits and pieces.
08:08 Now, in terms of comfort, this seat is extremely comfortable.
08:11 It's hugging me in nicely, and I love these suede Alcantara bits.
08:15 They kind of grip you and stop you from moving around.
08:18 The steering wheel is fantastic, too. It's got these little perforations as air holes.
08:21 You grab onto it. It fills the hand nicely, and it makes the car feel sporty,
08:25 even though it probably isn't. We'll see about that.
08:28 Back seat of the T-Cross. Have a look at this.
08:30 I'm not cramped with my knees around my ears.
08:33 There's actually quite a bit of room back here,
08:35 so I got my driver's seat in my regular driving position,
08:38 and I have fairly adequate knee room.
08:40 Toe room's excellent, and headroom is pretty good as well.
08:45 Obviously, you're not going to be always carrying your tall, lanky mates in the back here,
08:49 but you can if you need to.
08:51 There's no center armrest, so in that sense, it's pretty basic back here.
08:54 No air vents, but you do get USB outlets and mat pockets as well.
08:58 In terms of bottle storage, you can fit that there,
09:02 and you can fit your phone in here as well.
09:05 If I grab that... Oh, no, you can't.
09:08 You have to have a small phone to fit it in there,
09:10 but for the most part, this seating position's fine.
09:12 Now, before we go into the back, I've got a secret to tell you.
09:15 If I grab this and move this seat all the way forward,
09:19 I can actually make 455 litres of cargo space magically appear in the boot.
09:24 But if I have this all the way back to a seating position I'm comfortable with,
09:27 it drops to 385 litres, and because we have the sound system as well,
09:31 the dual-tier floor of the boot, which goes up and down,
09:34 is kind of eliminated because the subwoofer sits there.
09:37 But it is useful that you're able to expand cargo space if you need it
09:40 when you don't have passengers, and then when you do have passengers,
09:43 you get a little less cargo space in ball leg room.
09:45 So, let's see how our bags fit in here.
09:50 Fairly confident this will fit.
09:52 Yeah, perfect. So that'll fit, that'll shut nicely,
09:54 and the seats fold easily as well.
09:56 They just flick down like that,
09:58 and that expands that space to just under 1,300 litres.
10:01 We're behind the wheel of the T-Cross now,
10:06 and I'll run you through the engine specs,
10:07 because this is an interesting little car.
10:10 Instead of a conventional four-cylinder,
10:12 this actually uses a three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine.
10:15 It's a one-litre unit.
10:16 That may sound familiar because the last time we drove one of those,
10:19 it was in a Ford Fiesta ST.
10:21 That is such a fun little car.
10:23 If you do want to see that review, just click on the link up there.
10:25 In terms of power output for this car, though,
10:27 85 kilowatts of power and 200 newton-metres of torque.
10:30 200 newton-metres of torque is actually pretty good for such a small engine,
10:33 and that is because of the turbocharger.
10:35 It's mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
10:39 Now, you know my feelings on dual-clutch transmissions.
10:41 Not a huge fan of them, and that's because of low speed,
10:44 a little bit stuttery, and they just don't really know what they're doing,
10:47 and it's the same story here.
10:48 It's just, I don't know, it's elastic, and it just doesn't feel right.
10:51 You don't get the smoothness that you do in a traditional torque converter.
10:55 Yes, it is something that you get used to,
10:57 but they primarily fit these gearboxes for fuel economy,
11:00 and you can kind of feel that behind the wheel of this car.
11:03 In terms of fuel economy, 5.4 litres per 100 k's.
11:06 That's an incredible figure, because that's not far off
11:08 what you're getting in similar hybrid-powered cars.
11:11 So, you don't really need to go down the path of a hybrid
11:14 to get fuel efficiency.
11:15 You can just stick with a smaller engine like this
11:17 that still has enough poke for overtaking
11:19 and the sort of basic type of city driving that you're going to be doing.
11:22 If that's still not enough, this 85 TSI version
11:25 is going to be bolstered by a 110 TSI version
11:28 that's coming later in the year.
11:29 That will have a little bit more pep,
11:31 and give this a slightly sportier edge.
11:33 So, what happens if you're done in the city?
11:35 You want to go let your hair down, go for a bit of a sporty drive?
11:37 You pull the gear lever down into Sport mode.
11:39 It automatically activates Sport mode,
11:41 which you can see on the dashboard there with the S.
11:43 It starts belting back through the gears.
11:45 Now, this is actually pretty fun.
11:48 It's not pulling my face off, but it's actually really raspy
11:52 and the engine note is quite unique.
11:53 Three-cylinders really sound thrummy
11:55 and they have a really cool tone
11:57 that just gives you a bit of feedback
12:00 that you don't normally expect.
12:01 And look, this isn't a sports car by any stretch,
12:04 but it's actually cool to have the ability
12:07 to have a fun drive if you need to
12:09 and not have a thrashing four-cylinder engine
12:11 without a turbo just making a racket up the front.
12:14 With the R-Line package, you do get paddle shifters
12:16 so you can start flicking through the gears on your own.
12:19 You can start rowing through those cogs as you like.
12:22 But for the most part, the Sport mode is actually where you want to be
12:24 because it's quite intelligent.
12:25 It'll hold gears, it'll whip back through the gears
12:27 when it needs to, and really all you have to do
12:29 is just concentrate on driving.
12:30 What's the ride comfort like?
12:31 So, there is no adaptive dampers or any other sort of trickery here.
12:35 And unfortunately on these bigger wheels,
12:37 it is slightly firm.
12:39 So the 18-inch alloy wheels that you get with the R-Line package,
12:41 they kind of ruin the almost perfect ride that you get
12:44 in stuff like the Polo and the entry-level T-Cross.
12:47 They make it just a little bit brittle
12:49 and a little bit firmer than you'd like.
12:51 Look, it is fine.
12:52 It's not going to break your neck or anything.
12:54 It's just that when you are driving in and around the city,
12:56 you will notice that it is a little different
12:58 to just an entry-level T-Cross.
13:00 How noisy is it in the cabin?
13:02 Is it going to be a nice quiet environment?
13:04 Not as quiet as I would have hoped.
13:06 The tyres are going to transmit a fair bit through the cabin,
13:08 so on a course chip road like this,
13:10 you will get some tyre noise in the cabin.
13:12 It's not the end of the world, but it is noticeable.
13:15 And in terms of visibility, at the front it's excellent.
13:17 The sides, it's great.
13:18 And that's also because you have really big wing mirrors.
13:21 Visibility out the rear is also good,
13:22 but if you do load passengers in the back,
13:24 it's going to be a little bit limited.
13:25 Okay, Volkswagen T-Cross, what do we reckon?
13:27 Let's get the negatives out of the way first.
13:29 So the ride is probably a tiny bit too firm,
13:31 and on top of that, some of the plastics inside the cabin
13:33 are just a little bit too cheap for my liking.
13:35 But if you put those to one side,
13:37 this car drives really nicely.
13:39 It has heaps of room inside,
13:40 and it comes with a lot of technology,
13:42 plus the ability to option more technology
13:44 if you don't want to spend megabucks on the top-spec model.
13:47 And there's a faster one coming,
13:48 so it's kind of like an evolving package,
13:50 and I think this is going to do really well here,
13:53 especially in Australia.
13:54 So let me know in the comments below
13:55 if you have ordered one.
13:56 What colour did you go for?
13:57 Did you get the green/blue/whatever colour that is?
14:00 Please let me know in the comments below.
14:02 Also, if you haven't done so already,
14:03 I would love it if you could hit like on this video,
14:05 press the subscribe button,
14:06 and also the bell icon that's going to tell you
14:08 every single time we drive something new.
14:10 But until next time, drive safely.