VW T-Roc R review - it's a Golf R in sheep's clothing!

**The Volkswagen T-Rock: A Family-Friendly SUV with a Sporty Twist**

If you're looking for a sporty starter button on your car, the Volkswagen T-Rock is definitely worth considering. However, if you want to pay extra for it, you'll have to shell out an additional 400 pounds. The keyless go system comes as standard, but if you want this particular blue color, you'll have to pay over 600 pounds more.

The digital driver's display on the T-Rock is one of its standout features. Not only does it provide a clear view of your speed and RPMs, but it also includes three different displays: the dial, the digital number within the dial, and the digital number again in the middle. However, you can only choose from just one free paint color as standard - white. If you want a different color, you'll have to pay extra.

When it comes to space, the T-Rock is slightly compromised due to its four-wheel drive system. The rear differential takes up some of the boot space, making it 50 liters smaller than the front-wheel drive versions. However, this isn't a major issue for most families, and there's still plenty of room for luggage or everyday essentials.

One of the unique features of the T-Rock is its adaptive suspension system. Unlike other SUVs in its class, the T-Rock has been tuned to have a more responsive handling feel. This means that you can actually disengage the stability control completely, allowing you to drive aggressively and experience the thrill of rear-wheel drive.

The T-Rock also features an additional driving mode called "Race Mode". This setting makes everything feel more responsive and engaging, with adjustments made to the throttle response, shift point, and steering. It's a great way to get the most out of your car on the road.

However, when it comes to everyday driving, the T-Rock is surprisingly comfortable and easy to live with. The adaptive suspension system makes for a smooth ride, even at higher speeds, and the digital driver's display provides plenty of information without being too overwhelming. You also get a decent view out of the car, thanks to its slightly higher seating position.

In terms of economy, the T-Rock may not be the most fuel-efficient car in its class. However, it averages around 28 miles per gallon on the combined cycle, which is respectable considering its high-performance engine.

**Five Good Things About the Volkswagen T-Rock**

Despite some compromises on space and fuel efficiency, there are still plenty of reasons to consider the Volkswagen T-Rock as a family-friendly SUV with a sporty twist. Here are five good things about the car:

* **Aggressive Handling**: The T-Rock's handling is surprisingly responsive, thanks to its tuned suspension system and rear-wheel drive layout.

* **Digital Driver's Display**: The digital driver's display provides a wealth of information without being too overwhelming, making it easy to stay connected to your driving experience.

* **Comfortable Ride**: The adaptive suspension system makes for a smooth ride, even at higher speeds, and the car is surprisingly comfortable on everyday drives.

* **Space for Everyday Essentials**: While the T-Rock's boot space may be compromised, there's still plenty of room for luggage or everyday essentials.

* **Decent Economy**: Despite its high-performance engine, the T-Rock averages around 28 miles per gallon on the combined cycle.

**Five Annoying Things About the Volkswagen T-Rock**

However, like any car, the Volkswagen T-Rock isn't without its annoyances. Here are five things that might get under your skin:

* **Jerky Gearshift**: The dual-clutch automatic gearbox can feel a bit jerky at lower speeds, making for an unpleasant driving experience.

* **Expensive Options**: If you want certain features or color options, you'll have to pay extra - up to 600 pounds more in the case of the blue color scheme.

* **Small Boot Space**: The T-Rock's rear differential takes up some of the boot space, making it 50 liters smaller than front-wheel drive versions.

* **Only One Free Paint Color**: You're limited to just one free paint color as standard - white - unless you want to pay extra for a different color.

* **Not Ideal for Skidding**: The T-Rock's stability control system can be quite aggressive, making it difficult to initiate skids or drifts.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is a new Volkswagen T Rock all and it's a perfect car for this kind of situation hi honey I'm home hello darling I think it's new car time and I'd really really like to get a hot hatch oh no I don't think that's very sensible oh how about this then look a family friendly small SUV go on check it out oh yes that's much better what does o mean that stands for responsible that seems like a much better choice thank you very much for compromising we'll definitely be having sex tonight Oh awesome I'll just go get the car then why do I have paper towel let's start this review by talking about the cars engine so it's the same 2-liter turbocharged petrol that you get in the Golf R and of course ah doesn't stand for responsible quite the opposite really it stands for racing that's because you've got 300 horsepower and 400 Newton meters a talk box I can say this car should do not 60 in 4.8 seconds but ah not gonna believe them I'm gonna check you for myself see what the reality is here I have my specialist timing gear which I'm just gonna plug in see exactly how quick it is when I launch it so to put this kind of launch mode I have the stability control in sport got the cars driving mode in race the gearbox in sport as well left on the brake floor the throttle at least the brake let's do it normally gets off good this this is fast it's gonna be a good time I'm telling me up I reckon this is quicker than 4.8 seconds they tryna kid let's um look oh yes I am right nought to 60 4.2 seconds not bad for a school run car right there's upgraded brakes over the normal T Rock you've got three hundred thirty millimeter discs at the front you've got two eight eight millimeters at the back which interestingly are the same size as a standard t rocks at the front you've also got two piston sports calipers as well and then the ones off the old golf are performance so they're two kilograms lighter than on the normal Golf R we see how good this car is it going so now let's see what it's like at stopping so once again I'm going to use my specialist timing gear you know full emergency stop from 70 miles an hour see how long it takes let's do it ready there we go there's a 70 almost drop my special it's timing here so 72 not forty four point seven meters which is good really good actually not quite as good as an Audi RS q3 Sportback if you want to see just how good that car is at braking and its performance in the general review click up there on the pop-out banner to go check it out VW has fitted this R version of the T rock with upgraded aluminium front subframe which improves the stiffness between the front wheels you get upgraded sports suspension so you have stiffer springs and dampers and it slowed by 20 millimeters over the normal car also you can get an inductive setup which once again is more sporty than the standard adaptive setup and that cost an extra six hundred ninety five pounds but it's well worth having you get a 7-speed dual clutch automatic gearbox as standard and Volkswagens full motion system which is a four wheel drive system which mainly runs in two-wheel drive mode but it can send up to 50 percent of the engines power to the back wheels when you need some extra grip the car comes with a sports exhaust but it doesn't really sound that good and listen to this now you can upgrade in Akrapovic system and that sounds awesome the trouble is it costs 3000 pounds and also some people might make you say a crop of itch properly and that sounds weird innit a crap ovitch the cognate specially tuned variable ratio steering it's really really stable at high speeds but also highly maneuverable because you can go from lock all the way through to lock in just two turns while this car doesn't have a proper and mechanical limited slip differential it can mimic one sort off with its brakes so what it'll do is if it wheel starts to spin up the brake will grab it to send power to the wheel with the most grip let's see what these upgrades have done to how this car feels to drive when you encounter a twisty road put it into manual mode is it gonna be fun is it like a Golf R it should be well gosh fusee a Stickley to that corner my god it grips really well and it's quite responsive on the throttle it leans maybe a bit more than the Golf R just because it's taller but that doesn't mean that it moves around a bit and so it makes it quite good fun can I jump it can I jump it you bet your ass I can jump it oh she likes to get here this is wicked now this is a closed Road and I would not be driving like this on an open legally this is all you need this is a lot of fun that was great it's very precise you can feel what's going on beneath you even though you're sat up higher than in a Golf R it feels just like a Golf R Q to the smile on my face bogs are gonna has done a good job with this car it's a sense of workshopping mum car yeah it can hoon about like some kind of nutcase hooligan machine epic the Volvo interior car starts from thirty eight and a half thousand pounds though look here you can save an average of four thousand two hundred pounds have won through car Wow and if you click on the pop-up banner up there you can download our new app where you can do things such as compare offers on cars check out our reviews and even includes a special tool where you can use your phone's camera to scan a car's number plate and I'll give you the value of that car download it it's free see paying more money for this our version you're gonna want it to look a bit more special than the standard car and it does say it's got more aggressive from bumpers they're deeper there's also these huge air intakes to help feed air and to cool the radiators there's also LED daytime running lights there's normal fog lamps that you get on the standard car and of course the all-important our budge for those in the know at the side you get some unique 19-inch alloy wheels I like the design of these they look really good also there's some black wheel arch extensions and they merge into these slightly more pronounced side skirts you also get some satin door mirrors and the all budging on the side as well this pointless fake vent effect at the back you also get some more are budging so that means every angle is now covered you also get some redesigned rear bumpers which are more sporty locking and quad tailpipes which I'll illustrate with this car why twiglet of truth pokey poke it's a very important test pokey poke and yeah there we go all real what's not real though is this diffuser it's just there for show also these vents here totally fake totally pointless there you go here on the inside there's some upgrades over the standard T Rock as well such as the our sport seats so they're Park cloth hot Alcantara there's also an AR steering wheel which is sort of flat bottoms and obviously the all budging on it as well you get some aluminium pedals some are branded sill plates also you have gloss black trim pieces and they're normally on the dash as well and the doors but you can upgrade to this horrible scheme if you want to for a hundred and fifteen pounds yeah don't do that please fingers all these upgrades don't really do enough to make the car feel pretty enough on the inside because the quality of the materials inside the t rock just generally a really low rent it's actually pleasure inside the cheaper Golf R if you want a slightly posh a version of this car well get an Audi s q2 feels nicer inside here in the back you also get the off sport seats so rear passengers can enjoy that feature as well and that it's team Rock business as usual which means this in Headroom all right knee room more space than a golf but less than a tick one the bit on this car is okay you get 392 litres there's about a hundred litres less Sayre a ticker Cupra or should that be an attacker Cupra either way if you wanna watch my video of that car click on the pop-up banner up there to go check it out the t rock art comes in lots of standard equipment for instance you get the top-of-the-line infotainment system it's got a touch screen and inbuilt navigation as well which is alright although it's the previous generation version yeah a nicer system in the very latest golf you wants to get a digital drivers display with sports stars and stuff like that and you even get interior ambient lighting although it's just one color but you can alter the intensity in the door and the footwell however if you want a small performance SUV with more interior ambient lighting options and a superior digital drivers display click on the pop-up banner up there to check out the Mercedes mg/dl a 35 and that brings on to five annoying things about this Volkswagen T Rock R we'd like a sporty starter button sporty car of course you would however you only get it if you pay 400-pound extra for the keyless go one of the views of the digital drivers display actually has three speedo displays there's the dial there's the digital number within the dial and then there's the digital number again in the middle you only get one free paint color as standard and that is white say if you don't want that you have to pay extra and if you want this blue which you probably do because it's the nicest color that's over 600 pounds it means this particular car I have here cost over 39,000 pounds however I put the details of it into the car configurator and I've got an offer back for just over thirty three and a half thousand pounds so saving of over four grand now if you want to try it the car configurator for yourself click on the pop out button up there give it a go just do with any car you won't really see what kind of savings you can get this our version of the T Rock has a rear differential for its four-wheel drive system and that eats into the space of the boot and as a result it's 50 liters smaller than the boot on the front-wheel drive versions of the T Rock the dual clutch automatic gearbox come a bit jerky at lower speeds yeah not smooth it's not all negative though here's five good things about this car when Volkswagens engineers we're developing the handling on this car they actually disengaged all the stability and safety systems come because they didn't want the massing any unruly handling characteristics like you might get with a tall vehicle such as this speaking of which you can actually disengage the stability control in this car completely off as well if you want to get it slightly layering a bit more sideways and only thinking it we're doing skids you can't really do that the forward drive system in this T rocker has been tuned over the Gulf ice you can actually send power from the front to the back quicker which just make it feel a little bit more real wheel drive e as well as the normal driving modes that you get with the T rock you get an extra one called race mode just makes everything a little bit more responsive in the tone system has some special or performance information such as g-force monitor oil temperature boost pressure and you can mix and match some lot so you can have them laid out just as you'd like it it's a little bit like a slot machine and I've got three bars of it let that part I'm already impressed with how this car can do the sporty stuff but what's it like it doing the normal daily boring commuting sensible driving stuff so I'm gonna put the gearbox into drive putting the stability control all the way on and go into comfort mode so that's going to reduce the throttle response the shift in the gearbox make the steering lighter and importantly on this car because it's got the adaptive suspension make it softer it's not bad it is a bit further than the standard T rock on its adaptive suspension but this is easily comfortably enough to live with everyday in fact it's quite an easy car to drive now it's just relaxing simple you get a decent view out as well because you've seen a bit higher than in a normal golf are I think people could just live with this every day not know the performance and then oh well I need to overtake someone floor it gearbox Kicks down pretty well even in comfort mode and off you go again and then at 17 when you're going quite quickly you do get the wind whistle from here that's it not much tire noise really considering you've got bigger wheels on this car the sanity Rock all in all very comfy and easy to live with but what about the economy because obviously got a high-performance engine it's gonna hurt economy right well this thing's averaging just over 28 miles per gallon which I guess I'll take considering the performance so then what's my final verdict on the box wagon tier aa car should you avoid it should you consider it should be shortlist it or should you just go right ahead and buy it well I reckon you should shortlist it it's not quite as cool or as fun as a normal hot hatch but because it's a family-friendly SUV sort of flies under the radar this is wicked got some proper air we've got the front tire responsible family car but it's also a coat it move the selector lever to position D thank you I'll ignore thatthis is a new Volkswagen T Rock all and it's a perfect car for this kind of situation hi honey I'm home hello darling I think it's new car time and I'd really really like to get a hot hatch oh no I don't think that's very sensible oh how about this then look a family friendly small SUV go on check it out oh yes that's much better what does o mean that stands for responsible that seems like a much better choice thank you very much for compromising we'll definitely be having sex tonight Oh awesome I'll just go get the car then why do I have paper towel let's start this review by talking about the cars engine so it's the same 2-liter turbocharged petrol that you get in the Golf R and of course ah doesn't stand for responsible quite the opposite really it stands for racing that's because you've got 300 horsepower and 400 Newton meters a talk box I can say this car should do not 60 in 4.8 seconds but ah not gonna believe them I'm gonna check you for myself see what the reality is here I have my specialist timing gear which I'm just gonna plug in see exactly how quick it is when I launch it so to put this kind of launch mode I have the stability control in sport got the cars driving mode in race the gearbox in sport as well left on the brake floor the throttle at least the brake let's do it normally gets off good this this is fast it's gonna be a good time I'm telling me up I reckon this is quicker than 4.8 seconds they tryna kid let's um look oh yes I am right nought to 60 4.2 seconds not bad for a school run car right there's upgraded brakes over the normal T Rock you've got three hundred thirty millimeter discs at the front you've got two eight eight millimeters at the back which interestingly are the same size as a standard t rocks at the front you've also got two piston sports calipers as well and then the ones off the old golf are performance so they're two kilograms lighter than on the normal Golf R we see how good this car is it going so now let's see what it's like at stopping so once again I'm going to use my specialist timing gear you know full emergency stop from 70 miles an hour see how long it takes let's do it ready there we go there's a 70 almost drop my special it's timing here so 72 not forty four point seven meters which is good really good actually not quite as good as an Audi RS q3 Sportback if you want to see just how good that car is at braking and its performance in the general review click up there on the pop-out banner to go check it out VW has fitted this R version of the T rock with upgraded aluminium front subframe which improves the stiffness between the front wheels you get upgraded sports suspension so you have stiffer springs and dampers and it slowed by 20 millimeters over the normal car also you can get an inductive setup which once again is more sporty than the standard adaptive setup and that cost an extra six hundred ninety five pounds but it's well worth having you get a 7-speed dual clutch automatic gearbox as standard and Volkswagens full motion system which is a four wheel drive system which mainly runs in two-wheel drive mode but it can send up to 50 percent of the engines power to the back wheels when you need some extra grip the car comes with a sports exhaust but it doesn't really sound that good and listen to this now you can upgrade in Akrapovic system and that sounds awesome the trouble is it costs 3000 pounds and also some people might make you say a crop of itch properly and that sounds weird innit a crap ovitch the cognate specially tuned variable ratio steering it's really really stable at high speeds but also highly maneuverable because you can go from lock all the way through to lock in just two turns while this car doesn't have a proper and mechanical limited slip differential it can mimic one sort off with its brakes so what it'll do is if it wheel starts to spin up the brake will grab it to send power to the wheel with the most grip let's see what these upgrades have done to how this car feels to drive when you encounter a twisty road put it into manual mode is it gonna be fun is it like a Golf R it should be well gosh fusee a Stickley to that corner my god it grips really well and it's quite responsive on the throttle it leans maybe a bit more than the Golf R just because it's taller but that doesn't mean that it moves around a bit and so it makes it quite good fun can I jump it can I jump it you bet your ass I can jump it oh she likes to get here this is wicked now this is a closed Road and I would not be driving like this on an open legally this is all you need this is a lot of fun that was great it's very precise you can feel what's going on beneath you even though you're sat up higher than in a Golf R it feels just like a Golf R Q to the smile on my face bogs are gonna has done a good job with this car it's a sense of workshopping mum car yeah it can hoon about like some kind of nutcase hooligan machine epic the Volvo interior car starts from thirty eight and a half thousand pounds though look here you can save an average of four thousand two hundred pounds have won through car Wow and if you click on the pop-up banner up there you can download our new app where you can do things such as compare offers on cars check out our reviews and even includes a special tool where you can use your phone's camera to scan a car's number plate and I'll give you the value of that car download it it's free see paying more money for this our version you're gonna want it to look a bit more special than the standard car and it does say it's got more aggressive from bumpers they're deeper there's also these huge air intakes to help feed air and to cool the radiators there's also LED daytime running lights there's normal fog lamps that you get on the standard car and of course the all-important our budge for those in the know at the side you get some unique 19-inch alloy wheels I like the design of these they look really good also there's some black wheel arch extensions and they merge into these slightly more pronounced side skirts you also get some satin door mirrors and the all budging on the side as well this pointless fake vent effect at the back you also get some more are budging so that means every angle is now covered you also get some redesigned rear bumpers which are more sporty locking and quad tailpipes which I'll illustrate with this car why twiglet of truth pokey poke it's a very important test pokey poke and yeah there we go all real what's not real though is this diffuser it's just there for show also these vents here totally fake totally pointless there you go here on the inside there's some upgrades over the standard T Rock as well such as the our sport seats so they're Park cloth hot Alcantara there's also an AR steering wheel which is sort of flat bottoms and obviously the all budging on it as well you get some aluminium pedals some are branded sill plates also you have gloss black trim pieces and they're normally on the dash as well and the doors but you can upgrade to this horrible scheme if you want to for a hundred and fifteen pounds yeah don't do that please fingers all these upgrades don't really do enough to make the car feel pretty enough on the inside because the quality of the materials inside the t rock just generally a really low rent it's actually pleasure inside the cheaper Golf R if you want a slightly posh a version of this car well get an Audi s q2 feels nicer inside here in the back you also get the off sport seats so rear passengers can enjoy that feature as well and that it's team Rock business as usual which means this in Headroom all right knee room more space than a golf but less than a tick one the bit on this car is okay you get 392 litres there's about a hundred litres less Sayre a ticker Cupra or should that be an attacker Cupra either way if you wanna watch my video of that car click on the pop-up banner up there to go check it out the t rock art comes in lots of standard equipment for instance you get the top-of-the-line infotainment system it's got a touch screen and inbuilt navigation as well which is alright although it's the previous generation version yeah a nicer system in the very latest golf you wants to get a digital drivers display with sports stars and stuff like that and you even get interior ambient lighting although it's just one color but you can alter the intensity in the door and the footwell however if you want a small performance SUV with more interior ambient lighting options and a superior digital drivers display click on the pop-up banner up there to check out the Mercedes mg/dl a 35 and that brings on to five annoying things about this Volkswagen T Rock R we'd like a sporty starter button sporty car of course you would however you only get it if you pay 400-pound extra for the keyless go one of the views of the digital drivers display actually has three speedo displays there's the dial there's the digital number within the dial and then there's the digital number again in the middle you only get one free paint color as standard and that is white say if you don't want that you have to pay extra and if you want this blue which you probably do because it's the nicest color that's over 600 pounds it means this particular car I have here cost over 39,000 pounds however I put the details of it into the car configurator and I've got an offer back for just over thirty three and a half thousand pounds so saving of over four grand now if you want to try it the car configurator for yourself click on the pop out button up there give it a go just do with any car you won't really see what kind of savings you can get this our version of the T Rock has a rear differential for its four-wheel drive system and that eats into the space of the boot and as a result it's 50 liters smaller than the boot on the front-wheel drive versions of the T Rock the dual clutch automatic gearbox come a bit jerky at lower speeds yeah not smooth it's not all negative though here's five good things about this car when Volkswagens engineers we're developing the handling on this car they actually disengaged all the stability and safety systems come because they didn't want the massing any unruly handling characteristics like you might get with a tall vehicle such as this speaking of which you can actually disengage the stability control in this car completely off as well if you want to get it slightly layering a bit more sideways and only thinking it we're doing skids you can't really do that the forward drive system in this T rocker has been tuned over the Gulf ice you can actually send power from the front to the back quicker which just make it feel a little bit more real wheel drive e as well as the normal driving modes that you get with the T rock you get an extra one called race mode just makes everything a little bit more responsive in the tone system has some special or performance information such as g-force monitor oil temperature boost pressure and you can mix and match some lot so you can have them laid out just as you'd like it it's a little bit like a slot machine and I've got three bars of it let that part I'm already impressed with how this car can do the sporty stuff but what's it like it doing the normal daily boring commuting sensible driving stuff so I'm gonna put the gearbox into drive putting the stability control all the way on and go into comfort mode so that's going to reduce the throttle response the shift in the gearbox make the steering lighter and importantly on this car because it's got the adaptive suspension make it softer it's not bad it is a bit further than the standard T rock on its adaptive suspension but this is easily comfortably enough to live with everyday in fact it's quite an easy car to drive now it's just relaxing simple you get a decent view out as well because you've seen a bit higher than in a normal golf are I think people could just live with this every day not know the performance and then oh well I need to overtake someone floor it gearbox Kicks down pretty well even in comfort mode and off you go again and then at 17 when you're going quite quickly you do get the wind whistle from here that's it not much tire noise really considering you've got bigger wheels on this car the sanity Rock all in all very comfy and easy to live with but what about the economy because obviously got a high-performance engine it's gonna hurt economy right well this thing's averaging just over 28 miles per gallon which I guess I'll take considering the performance so then what's my final verdict on the box wagon tier aa car should you avoid it should you consider it should be shortlist it or should you just go right ahead and buy it well I reckon you should shortlist it it's not quite as cool or as fun as a normal hot hatch but because it's a family-friendly SUV sort of flies under the radar this is wicked got some proper air we've got the front tire responsible family car but it's also a coat it move the selector lever to position D thank you I'll ignore that\n"