New T-Roc offers the same high quality as Volkswagen’s larger Tiguan and Tayron SUVs
Good to know
- Noticeable progress – The new T-Roc breaks down conventional class boundaries with high quality, clean design and innovative technology
- Tangible quality – A fabric-clad dash panel, soft plastics and illuminated leatherette decor raise the bar in terms of quality
- Top-down - Head-up Display1, driving experience control, Digital Cockpit Pro, and infotainment with ChatGPT have been adapted from the Tiguan and Tayron
- Fully family-friendly – The extra length delivers noticeably more space in the rear of the five-seater and a significantly larger luggage compartment
A leap forwards in quality and technology
Cross-class quality. The new T-Roc also takes a big step forward in its interior, breaking the conventional class boundaries with its high-quality materials, progressively clean design and innovative technologies. A visual and tactile feature of this leap in quality is the newly developed fabric structure on the surface of the dash panel. The fabric creates a pleasant, lounge-like atmosphere and is a visible manifestation of the high quality of the T-Roc. At the same time, the stylishly clean interior design creates a particularly clear and cosy ambience. What’s more, the deliberate renunciation of traditional decorative elements creates a clean interior that emphasises the value of the details. An example of this is the background lighting, which illuminates the interior with perforated artificial leather surfaces for the first time in a Volkswagen. Another focus of the T-Roc’s development was optimal ergonomic operation. For example, the door openers have been redesigned: integrated into the door armrests, the driver and passengers automatically grasp the aesthetic silver-black handles and intuitively pull them upwards to open – “Form follows function” in the purest sense. The new T-Roc also adopts a number of details from the larger Tiguan and Tayron – including the latest evolution of the driving experience control for controlling driving profiles and volume levels. Another novelty in this class is the optional windscreen head-up display for the T-Roc. User-oriented technologies include features such as the new Digital Cockpit in a large rectangular format, which – in addition to the usual views – also offers a completely stripped-back display because the full range of information is not always required. A detailed look at the interior architecture and cockpit technology in the T-Roc:
Spacing
More space, more comfort. Anyone who sits in the driver or front passenger seat of the T-Roc and gazes across its elegant cockpit landscape and over the high bonnet will not necessarily imagine they are sitting in a SUV in the more compact class. This impression is reinforced by the space offered by the second-generation T-Roc, which is suitable for long-distance journeys and families. Even if people taller than 1.85 m are seated in the front, passengers of a similar stature can comfortably sit in the rear thanks to the extra 122 mm added to the length of the new T-Roc. In the top Style version, an electrically adjustable 14-way ergoActive seat with massage function will also be available for the first time in the T-Roc. Volkswagen has thus transferred a feature from the mid-range and luxury class to the T-Roc segment. Thanks Seating comfort in the new T-Roc is now in a comfort league of its own. In addition, the designers have also ensured that there is plenty of space for five passengers’ worth of luggage: thanks to the increase in length, the luggage compartment volume has now increased by 30 litres to 475 litres when loaded up to the height of the rear seat backrests, which fold down at a ratio of 1/3 to 2/3.
The cockpit landscape
New fabric structure on the surface: The structure of the new cockpit landscape of the T-Roc is crystal-clear. The design and architecture of the dash panel are consistently straight and horizontal. An example of the high quality in the T-Roc’s interior: the top of the dash panel. It is designed with a new, softly padded and high-quality fabric structure that reliably reduces glare in the windscreen. At the time of market entry, the lower part, which pulls into the doors like a ribbon, will be available in different materials and colours. The fabric-covered layer on the top is surrounded by a full border in an elegant metallic lacquer that highlights the geometry.
New hardware and software. In front of the driver, the digital instruments (Digital Cockpit) as well as the touchscreen for the infotainment system and air-conditioning controls extend across one viewing plane. A windscreen head-up display is available as an option. In the top-of-the-line equipment specifications, this means that the driver has access to a trio of displays, consisting of the Digital Cockpit, infotainment display and head-up display, putting the vehicle at the level of the Tiguan and Tayron. Another feature in the T-Roc that has been adapted from both larger SUVs is the enhanced driving experience control. In addition to the driving profiles and drive modes, the new generation of the elegantly illuminated rotary, touch and pushbutton switch also includes ability to control “atmospheres” (optional) and a second control for volume levels, offered for the first time in the T-Roc.
Cooling ducts for smartphones and Easter eggs. In front of the driving experience control are two USB-C ports and a stowage compartment for a smartphone – with optional inductive charging and an integrated cooling function. The inductive charging cradle is one of many examples of the perfection that extends down to the smallest detail: The cooling ducts in the rubberised non-slip cradle look the lanes in a miniature swimming pool. A tiny Easter egg surprise element has been added here: tiny floaters that appear when viewed from above. This attention to detail continues into the stowage compartments and cup holders in the centre console. Mini symbols added here include coffee cups, pretzels, ice cream cones or keys.
New Digital Cockpit Pro. Compared to the predecessor model’s Digital Cockpit, the new digital instruments in the second-generation T-Roc are much bigger due to the full use of the rectangular format with a diagonal of 25.4cm (10 inches). Using the “View” and “Ok” buttons in the right-hand bar of the standard multifunction steering wheel, the driver can choose between two different basic configurations (info profiles): Classic with round instruments and Progressive with display tiles. The area between the round instruments or tiles can be assigned freely – for example, with the navigation system’s route guidance or displays from the assist systems. The inner areas of the round instruments and tiles can also be filled with various information. There is also a new display mode that hides all information, except for the data required for driving, such as the current speed and notifications from the assistance systems. This allows the driver to concentrate even better on the road, for example during long night-time journeys. To activate this mode, simply press and hold the “View” button. Conversely, the long-press function also re-activates the displays again.
New windscreen head-up display. Up to now, no head-up display was available in the T-Roc. This feature was not found in the entire compact SUV segment. However, all this is changing with the new T-Roc. Volkswagen’s optional windscreen head-up display projects essential information for the driver onto the windscreen in the space in front of the T-Roc. The virtual projection distance from the driver’s point of view is approx. 2.1 metres. The status and warning indicators on the display include, for example, information from Travel Assist as well as information on the current and permitted speed (Road Sign Display) and navigation instructions. The windscreen system’s projection quality is significantly better than that of simple head-up displays that have their projection surface on the dash panel.
New infotainment systems. The infotainment systems of the new T-Roc are not enhancements of the predecessor, but completely newly developed modules with new hardware and software. They are based on the fourth-generation modular infotainment system (MIB4). Two different 16:9 display formats are on offer: the touchscreen of the basic version (without navigation function) measures 26.4 cm (10.4 inches) in the diagonal. The top-of-the-range version has a display diagonal of 32.8 cm (12.9 inches). Here, the navigation function can be ordered directly when configuring the vehicle or it can be activated later. The IDA online voice assistant is also available as optional equipment. Many vehicle and infotainment functions can be controlled using natural speech via IDA. In addition, IDA answers specific questions on all conceivable topics. To do this, the system accesses online databases and ChatGPT (artificial intelligence, AI). ChatGPT’s applications are almost endless, ranging from tips on restaurants or sights along the route to suitable music suggestions, business trends or even audio fairy stories for any kids on board. The menu structure of the infotainment systems:
- top bar, home screen, bottom bar. The touch interface of the infotainment systems has been divided into three levels in order to make operation as simple and intuitive as possible: the top bar (top), the home screen (middle) and the bottom bar (bottom). Favourite functions can be added as direct access panels in the top bar and home screen. The individually configured top bar and static bottom bar are permanently displayed while the driver opens various functions in the form of apps on the home screen. This makes the system particularly easy to use. Below the infotainment display are also the backlit touch sliders for functions such as setting the temperature and volume control. The latter can also be set using the driving experience control in the centre console.
- Top bar now with access to speed warnings. The top bar has a direct access button on the left that lets the driver open the main menu with an overview of all apps with just one click. Next to this is a button for the Car Control Centre, which offers direct access to the most important vehicle functions and can be configured individually by the driver. This now also includes the legally required speed warning, which can be adjusted here in a matter of moments. The main menu and Car Control Centre can be accessed at any time without having to close the active app, making the system easy to use. To the right of the Car Control Centre, there are additional direct access panels to which the available apps can be freely assigned.
- Home screen. The home screen in the middle combines the content of the most important apps on differently sized graphic tiles. For example, the apps for navigation, media, telephone or the IDA voice assistant can be stored on these tiles. If one of the menu options from the top or bottom bar is activated, this app is also displayed in the home screen.
- Bottom bar. The bottom bar gives the driver access to the air conditioning system and seat functions as well as the home button, which will take you back to the home screen at any time. These functions are thus always directly available.
New driving experience control. A central operating element of the new T-Roc is the second generation of the significantly enhanced driving experience control. It can be used to control the audio volume, the driving profiles and the preconfigured “atmospheres”. Pressing the display switches the driver between volume, driving profile and atmospheres control. Touching or swiping is used to switch from the driving profiles to the atmospheres. In parallel, the menus are shown as pop-ups on the infotainment display. Within the respective basic functions, the settings are configured simply by turning the easy-to-grip, illuminated thumbwheel. Particularly captivating is the appearance of the atmospheres, which are on board the T-Roc for the first time. Depending on the equipment, the settings for the 10- or 30-colour background lighting and the audio system (optional Harman Kardon sound system) merge to create a wide range of lighting and sound curtains. Playlists from the Spotify streaming service perfectly matched to the respective atmospheres can be additionally included. The Lounge, Energetic, Joy, Minimal and Me modes are available. Lounge is characterised by muted colours, quiet sounds and classical music, for example. Energetic is the opposite: the colours are more vibrant; the sounds are louder and the playlist more energetic. Depending on the mode selected, the screen illumination of the driving experience control also changes.
New steering column switches. Similar to the latest ID. models as well as the Golf, Passat, Tiguan and Tayron, a steering column switch is also used in the new T-Roc as a switch for the 7-speed direct shift gearbox (DSG). This creates space for stowage compartments in the centre console. It is easy to use: turn forwards to “D” to drive forwards, turn backwards to “R” to reverse, press sideways to activate the parking brake. A new multifunction steering column switch is also used for the turn signal and windscreen wiper functions.