The small SUV market is rapidly growing and becoming popular among buyers. People love sitting a bit higher in cars and having a bit more space for their luggage. Volkswagen is looking at joining that market with the introduction of their new small SUV, the T-Cross. The Wolfsburg based manufacture even figures by the year 2025, every second VW sold will be an SUV, Interesting.

Based on the VW Polo, the design of the new is funky, yet still minimalistic. The front fascia of the facia shares some design elements with other VW SUVs such as the Touareg and Tiguan – with a bit of difference in order to emphasise the individuality of the model. The front is dominated by the grille and broad bumper design that gives the car a bit of a rugged look. It looks good. Viewed from the side, there are two character lines that aim to give the car a muscular look by forming a muscular shoulder and fool the eye by making the car look bigger than it is. At the back, there is what VW calls a “reflective band” that runs across the width of the car, that reflective band comes is black and aims to reinforce the width of the car.

The interior of a car is where you spend most of your time, and VW has thought about that. The interior is simple and typical VW: Minimalistic – though, it still has a very cool and sporty look due to the dash large pads matching with the colour of the seat material. The interior is very spacious, able to give occupants the impression that they are in a much larger vehicle, this is mainly due to the flexibility of the interior itself, able to adapt according to VW “to a range of requirements”. The rear seat can be moved forward and backwards by about 14cm – this, in turn, increases passenger space or boot space. Boot space can gobble up 377 litres and 455 litres with those seats pushed forward, folding the seats gives you 1 281 litres of space – the seats fold 60:40. The T-Cross can be optioned with ambient interior lighting which adds a cool ambience to the interior of the car and also gives the interior a premium feel when driving at night.

In South Africa. The T-Cross will be offered 1 engine until 2 more engines are introduced in the first quarter of 2020. It will use the 1,0 litre 3 cylinder engine, which produces 85kW and 200N.m of torque. The engine is mated to a 7-speed DSG gearbox and is claimed to return fuel consumption of just 4.9l/100km. From the first quarter of 2020, we will receive the 70kW 1,0 litre 3-cylinder, mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox and the top of the range 1.5-litre engine, which will produce 110kW, mated to a 7-speed DSG gearbox.

The T-Cross will come with a driver monitoring system as a standard. Various driver assistance systems will be offered as options. These systems will include: Lane-keeping assistant, blind spot detection, adaptive cruise control and park assistant.

The T-Cross will debut the VW Connect data plug for VW. This will allow the owner to receive vehicle data on their smartphone via Bluetooth. The data plug is plugged onto the Onboard Diagnostic Interface (ODI) and will then be able to send information such as service information, car data, fuel consumption, driving style analysis to the owner’s smartphone. In South Africa, this system will be a standard on the R line, Highline, and Comfortline.

There will be a choice of trim options which includes the Trendline, which offers LED daytime running lights, 16-inch wheels, tyre pressure monitor, height and lumbar support for the driver and passenger seats, and a 6,5-inch control display. Next up the line is the Comfortline, which offers different style (Belmont) 16-inch wheels, front fog lights, a multifunction steering wheel, cruise control system and a centre armrest for driver and passenger. In this trim, the R line, Beats sound system and Active Info Display can be optioned onto the car. The top specification for the T-Cross is the Highline, which comes with 18-inch wheels, LED headlights, Comfort seats, wireless phone charger pad, and dual climate zone control.

Competition for this car includes the Ford EcoSport, Suzuki Vitara, and Hyundai Creta. Though the market is booming and competition might seem tough, the VW T-Cross is expected to very well in South Africa when it arrives in September. We cannot wait to drive one!