IF the T-Roc is rocking, then don’t bother knocking. We reckon Volkswagen is channelling the spirit of the Combi in the 2021 T-Roc 110TSI Style, with its spacious, inviting and comfortable interior, and lifted and pronounced exterior.
We decided to give the T-Roc a chance to shine on a beach run across the Sydney and southern coasts, and boy did it live up to the challenge. It’s bold in its colour style and attracts a heap of attention thanks to its black roof and two-tone body colours.
Our beach buddy was draped in an appropriate Ravenna Blue Metallic/Black combination, which paired well with the panoramic sunroof. It is quite pleasing to the eye, from front to rear, with a real hatchback come SUV feel.
The ride height is almost perfect for an adult to step into the cabin with ease, or to load your beach gear into the boot, with a tailgate that conveniently opens and closes electronically.
If we could change anything, we’d probably lower the stance a little or add some bigger wheels (it comes with 18-inch alloys), just to make it look a little more gangster, but that’s just us.
Naturally, we drove to and from Coogee, Little Bay, Maroubra, and La Perouse beaches with the roof open, sun and wind in our hair.
A word to the wise though. If you’re going to open the glorious panoramic roof in an Australian summer, be sure to slip, slop, slap some sunscreen beforehand. This writer may have learned that the hard way.
The beach car parks were the perfect opportunity to test out the parking assist features, and the reversing camera displays superbly on the large 8-inch touchscreen in the centre of the dashboard.
It also has 360-degree sensors to let you know if you’re getting too close to an object and can also detect if a moving object is coming into view from behind you. These functions were quiet valuable getting the parking right.
The car also can park itself, if you allow it too, but we chose to park it ourselves. Once you’ve turned off your T-Roc though, you do get a nice little message asking you if you’ve ‘Got everything? mobile phone?’, on the screen.
It’s a small touch, but we never did forget our phones or wallets.
Once we’d covered the local beaches, it was time to road trip down south. We had already noticed the incredible fuel economy we were getting from the trusty 1.4-litre, 4-cyclinder turbocharged engine, with an advertised fuel economy of 6.2-litres/100km.
We were achieving about 7.7-litres/100km, in and around Sydney, which is still pretty good. The powertrain pushes out 110kW and 250Nm, and is paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission. It’s fun to drive, and is deceptively quick off the lights.
Back to that trip down the coast. Car loaded, roof open, tunes playing. Thanks to the optional Sound and Vision package, that meant a super cool 10.25-inch digital instrument display, and a 300-watt 8-channel Beats audio sound system.
Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are on board for some added goodness too. One thing worth noting though is that Volkswagen only give you USB-C connections in the T-Roc. It means you’ll need a USB-C to [insert device name] charging cable.
We had to resort to using a 12V charging adaptor because our iPhone was a little too old and we didn’t have the right cable, which could well be an excuse to upgrade our phone to something a little newer, and not blame the car so much.
Our car also came with the Luxury package, which adds that amazing panoramic roof and electric tailgate, heated seats, and Vienna leather appointed seats, which we had in the beautiful Quartzite-Ceramique colour.
The seats were comfortable enough but lacked the electronic controls you would typically experience in a modern car. There’s a leather wrapped steering wheel though, and adaptive cruise control made our trip down the coast super easy.
We took the winding scenic route to test the adaptability amid busy Sunday beach traffic and the T-Roc handled itself beautifully by slowing down as we approached other road users, and doing all the right things to match the speed limit.
Blind-spot assist is gold on a highway when people come out of nowhere travelling at questionable speeds too. We also noticed the T-Roc keeping us in the centre of the lane, which can be felt in the hands of the driver through the steering wheel.
The Volkswagen T-Roc 110TSI is backed by a 5-Star ANCAP safety rating and comes with three top tether car seat anchor points, and multiple ISOFIX points as well. Luggage space is generous too, with 445-litres with the seats up and 1290-litres with them down.
It was by chance that we had the T-Roc when we did, and the beautiful beach weather was on offer, but we are comfortable to say you would be hard pressed to find another car more suited to adventures and fun in the sun.
It’s jam packed with tech and safety features to keep you and everyone around you safe, and the cherry on top is a 5-year unlimited kilometre warranty, roadside assistance and optional care plans.
You can pick up the 2021 Volkswagen T-Roc 110TSI Style in Ravenna Blue Metallic/Black with the Luxury, and Sound and Vision packages, for $44,881 (drive away).
It can also be had in Indium Grey Metallic/Black, Turmeric Yellow Metallic/Black, and White Silver Metallic/Black, as well as Flash Red/Black and Pure White/Black.
Our test vehicle was supplied by Volkswagen Australia. To find out more about the 2021 Volkswagen T-Roc 110TSI Style, contact your local Volkswagen dealer.
