#Askwhatcar Your motoring-related questions answered
We’re thinking about buying a new Volkswagen T-roc 1.5 TSI SEL. We’ve looked at the car in the showroom and read your review, which says the car is one of the best in class for performance, ride comfort and re nement and has a decent amount of equipment.
However, your review gives the T-roc only three out of ve stars for reliability.are you saying that all Volkswagens are unreliable, or just that the T-roc is unreliable? If it’s speci cally the T-roc, what are its faults?
Graham and Carla Goodall WHAT CAR? SAYS…
You’re right, the T-roc is one of the best cars in its class to drive, although it isn’t the absolute benchmark, because the Ford Puma has sharper handling and the Skoda Kamiq is better for ride quality.
The three-star score for reliability means the T-roc is average in that area; that means it isn’t the most durable, but it’s also not the worst.
Although the T-roc ranked second from last in the small SUV category in the most recent What Car? Reliability Survey, that’s partly because the class itself has a really strong reliability record. Sixteen of the 18 small SUVS featured in the survey had scores of more than than 90%.
The T-roc scored 86.5% because a significant proportion (25%) of cars had a fault and the majority of cars took more than a week to fix. However, the most common problems were minor bodywork or interior trim issues, so most of the cars that had a fault could still be driven and all repair work was done for free under warranty.
There were some reports of engine problems, which relate to a known issue with VW Group petrol engines; the cars ‘kangaroo’ when pulling away in first gear in cold weather. Volkswagen has issued a fix for this, and while it has improved many cars, some owners are still dissatisfied. Therefore, we’d advise you to take a car for a test drive first thing in the morning when the weather and the car’s engine will both be cold.
If reliability is your priority, you might want to consider the Seat Arona instead, because this is a four-star car based on the same underpinnings as the T-roc and it gained a reliability rating of 93.6% in our survey.
The 2020 What Car? Reliability Survey is now open. Tell us how dependable – or not – your car has been during the past 12 months at whatcar.com/reliability-survey