VW stuck between Roc and a hard place

SUV outdone by sister brands’ cars

IT’S an own goal. Volkswagen has been kicked out of the Compact SUV Cup by two of its own players.

VW has been a player in the off-roader game for a long time with its big Touareg and smaller Tiguan models, both of which have been pretty successful in the showrooms.

However, the Skoda Karoq and Seat Ateca – both VW brands – have since arrived offering a more exciting proposition.

It’s also taken the company a surprisingly long time to come up with something smaller than the Tiguan with which it can challenge the Nissan Qashqai and the other participants in the highly lucrative compact SUV market. So, to right this wrong here we have the Volkswagen T-Roc.

So why the football analogy at the beginning?

It’s because the T-Roc is a rather underwhelming car that, for several reasons, remains inferior to those Skoda and Seat cousins I mentioned before.

The T-Roc is a tidy piece of design that is inoffensive but offers nothing special – far from the visual explosion that is, for example, the Toyota C-HR.

The interior is rather dull, too. The plastics are hard and only a bit of aluminium breaks up the deep pit of dark space. The idea is that in the VW Group, Audi is the top brand with Volkswagen coming below it in quality, with Skoda providing value and Seat some Latin pizzazz.

Traditionally, the latter two

brands’ materials (we’re talking about the cabin here) have been slightly cheaper. Not in this case. Both the Karoq and Ateca use materials at least as good as the T-Roc’s.

We’re testing the SEL version fitted with the group’s relatively new 1.5-litre petrol engine which shuts off two cylinders on light throttle loadings to save fuel – although you won’t notice this out on the road.

Power output of this engine is 150bhp and it’s connected to a sixspeed manual gearbox. Four-wheel drive is available but it’s not fitted to this car which is priced at £24,520.

Slipping inside the T-Roc for the first time reminded me just how brilliant the simple old Golf is. If you remember, we tested a basic 1.0-litre new Golf this time last year and I was hugely impressed by its quality and the sense that you were in a car that was virtually perfect.

It’s a car that you could buy and would be happy keeping for 20 years – an only car that did all jobs perfectly. I have none of that feeling in the T-Roc.

Sure, it’s well made like a Golf but it doesn’t have the same feeling of plushness and overall competence. It’s not as fun to drive but then not many compact SUVs are because their centre of gravity is so high.

SEL spec brings with it VW’s eight-inch Discover infotainment system and the 10.3in active digital instrument display. Both are crisp, clear and straightforward to use, but are no better than the systems fitted to the previously mentioned Seat and Skoda rivals. Neither does the T-Roc offer more space or practicality.

There’s so much choice in this arena now that, to stand out, a car has to be really special. Hyundai’s Kona, while being slightly shorter but wider, is a more interesting car than the T-Roc for less money.

By VW’s usually high standards the T-Roc is a very average car.

The only clever detail that will stay in my memory is the warning “Don’t forget your mobile phone” as you switch off the ignition and almost leave your paired mobile on view in the car.

The interior is dull and the plastics are rather hard too