VW T-Roc

The T-Roc is in fact quite small and to many, therein lies its appeal. It is compact enough to be handy in the city while remaining classy and stylish enough to be hanging out with other upmarket cars in the office parking lot. It looks more like a lifestyle product along with the Beetle and Arteon in the VW range where form is more important than function.

- Vivek Venugopal

It’s small, not very spacious or that good value, but you still want one. That’s the appeal of the recently launched Volkswagen T-Roc. It is easily the most exciting product in the VW line up right now. Only a handful are coming to India this year under the homologation exempt scheme and they are all getting picked up quite quickly too. The T-Roc is a desirable compact crossover that VW thinks has a better market case here than their globally successful Golf hatchback on which it is based. In terms of size or pricing, it doesn’t fall into any particular class. Even its Czech cousin the Skoda Karoq, sits in a different market place in India, owing to its bigger size and pricing.

The T-Roc is in fact quite small and to many, therein lies its appeal. It is compact enough to be handy in the city while remaining classy and stylish enough to be hanging out with other upmarket cars in the office parking lot. It looks more like a lifestyle product along with the Beetle and Arteon in the VW range where the form is more important than function. While it is shorter than a Creta and not as tall, it is quite wide at 1819mm. That along with the stretched 2590mm wheelbase gives it a wide stance. The styling is typical VW at the front with elongated fascia holding the grille and the headlamps. The DRLs are set prominently on the bumper and they double up as indicators too. The overall shape is very sporty with a sharper rake to the rear windscreen. The contrasting roof and silver accent running along the sides merge into a minimalist looking boot. The fake exhaust tips on the bumper are part of the styling and VW isn’t the only one who does this. The 17-inch wheels are reasonably sized, but this car could surely benefit from an upgrade.