Volkswagen T-Cross Review & Prices

The VW T-Cross is a small SUV that’s surprisingly spacious inside, and is equally generous with the amount of standard kit it comes with. So, as an easy-to-drive and practical family car with a high seating position, the VW T-Cross makes a great choice – so great, in fact, that it was highly commended in the Urban Living category of the 2024 Carwow Car of the Year Awards.

To help it stand out, the T-Cross gets plenty of chunky SUV-like elements and its taller body means you’ll easily spot it in a school car park among a sea of Ford Fiestas and VW Polos. This is especially true if you go for a VW T-Cross in R-Line trim, where it gets a few athletic additions such as sportier bumpers and bigger alloy wheels.

That said, alternatives such as the funky Citroen C3 Aircross or sporty SEAT Arona are more dramatic – the VW T-Cross is more grown-up; it's a bit like a dress-up dinner party rather than a takeaway and a few beers.

Climb inside, and the VW T-Cross’ cabin has a logical layout that’s sensible to the point of being a little plain – although you can get the centre console and dashboard finished in bright orange if you’re feeling brave. But, even this is outshone by the weird and wonderful Citroen C3 Aircross.

Unfortunately, many of the materials inside the T-Cross’s cabin don’t quite cut the mustard. Besides a padded cushion on the front-door armrests, most of the VW’s cabin feels hard, brittle and scratchy, especially in the back.

The infotainment system is better. It has more features than you’ll find in alternatives from Ford, Citroen or SEAT – plus it’s bright, responsive, and easy to use.

The VW T-Cross is also roomier than these other cars. There’s loads of space to stretch out in the front and the neat sliding rear seats mean there’s space for six-footers to get comfy in the back, too. Carrying three adults abreast is a bit of a tight squeeze but at least all their luggage fits in the VW T-Cross’s wide, square boot.

It’s not a particularly quick car when equipped with the two smaller engine options. Filled with luggage, the 95hp petrol will struggle to cope with the load. The more powerful 110hp petrol model is a little more capable, but you’ll want the 150hp version if you regularly travel on the motorway with a full complement of passengers.

You’ll be feeling pretty happy behind the wheel too, thanks to the VW T-Cross’s raised ride height which lets you tower over most conventional family hatchbacks and get a great view out. The controls are all nice and light, so your arms won’t tire of manoeuvring through tight city streets and you get plenty of advanced driver assistance systems as standard to help keep you safe.

Sure, it’s not quite as comfortable as the Citroen C3 Aircross and it’s a bit noisy at motorway speeds, but the VW T-Cross is still an excellent small SUV with one of the most practical interiors around.

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The VW T-Cross is priced at the higher end of the small SUV segment. It’s on par with the Renault Captur, but the SEAT Arona and Citroen C3 Aircross are a bit cheaper in base trim. The T-Cross offers plenty of standard kit for the extra outlay, and more interior space. If you want a posher interior and even more tech, then you’ll have to stretch to the Audi Q2 which is significantly more expensive.

We’d pick the Black Edition trim for the T-Cross, equipped with the perky 110hp engine. It’s practical, affordable and adds a bit of style to the straight-laced exterior.

The VW T-Cross is great around town and competent down a twisty road, although we’d avoid the underpowered base petrol engine 

In town

The T-Cross is compact and easy to drive, combining the benefits of a small family hatchback with the added advantage of a raised ride height. Forward visibility is further aided by large windows, although the thick rear pillars can obscure your view a bit when reversing. The T-Cross is small enough for this not to be much of an issue, and all but the entry-level SE trim get front and rear parking sensors.

Ride quality is good, too, especially on the 17-inch wheels offered on the lower three trims. The manual transmission is slick and easy to use, and while the DSG automatic is great in traffic, it can be a bit hesitant at parking speeds.

On the motorway

The VW T-Cross copes well on the motorway, offering a supple ride quality, great visibility and plenty of driver aids as standard. You get adaptive cruise control, lane assist and blind spot detection on every trim.

Like many small SUVs, there is a fair amount of wind noise at higher speeds, but overall refinement levels are good, and the seats are comfortable enough for long journeys. The base 95hp engine needs a lot of coaxing to get going, making the more powerful 110hp or 150hp motors the better choice at motorway speeds.

On a twisty road

Considering it was designed first and foremost to be a practical, city-friendly SUV, the VW T-Cross does a good job down a twisty road. It grips well and doesn’t lean much around corners so your passengers shouldn’t get queasy.

This is one of the more spacious small SUVs, capable of seating four adults in comfort. Squeezing three passengers in the rear will be a challenge, though

It may be small, but the VW T-Cross offers an impressive amount of interior space. The front seats have plenty of adjustment, including height and lumbar support. Leg and head room is good, too, and there’s a wide centre armrest that opens up to provide storage for items you prefer to keep out of sight. The door bins will accommodate 500ml bottles, and a pair of cupholders are placed behind the gear shifter. A spacious storage shelf at the base of the dashboard will easily take a phone or other loose items.

Space in the back seats

The rear seats offer a decent amount of head room thanks to a squared-off rear end. And leg room is good too, as long as the occupants up front don’t push their seats all the way back. The rear seats are adjustable, allowing you to choose between more leg room or boot space depending on their position.

The centre rear seat is narrow and the hump in the boot floor limits leg room, so is best suited for children. A set of ISOFIX anchor points are provided in the outer seats, getting your kids in and out is aided by the wide-opening rear doors.

There is a small shelf in the back of the centre console that can be used for storing smaller items. You also get front seatback pockets and decently-sized door bins. The centre seatback doesn’t fold down, though.

Boot space

With the rear seats in their standard position, the VW T-Cross offers a decent 385 litres of boot space. That’s just below the SEAT Arona and Skoda Kamiq, which both offer 400 litres.

However, with the rear seats pushed forward the load space increases to a more impressive 455 litres, and neither the Arona nor the Kamiq have that feature. The Renault Captur does, though, and it offers between 422 and 536 litres, depending on the setting.

The available space in the T-Cross is still impressive though, and you get an adjustable boot floor that can either minimise the load lip or maximise the load space. The rear seats fold down in a 60:40 split to provide 1,281 litres of flat load area. That’s up there with the Renault Captur (1,275 litres) and the spacious Citroen C3 Aircross (1,289 litres).

You get a logically laid out cabin with an impressive amount of standard kit, although it's not quite as posh as you might expect

The T-Cross’s interior has an angular design style that is echoed across the air vents, driver binnacle and door handles. Interior customisation options focus on black and grey tones, with the SEL trim available with a black-brown seat colour and the R-Line getting a slightly lighter grey fabric. The overall look and feel is all very grown-up and a bit sombre compared to the funky designs of the Citroen C3 Aircross or Renault Captur. That isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, but the cheap plastics found on the dash, doors and centre console are disappointing.

All T-Cross models come fitted with an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system, and SEL and R-Line trims also get a digital cockpit. This is an option on lower trims and offers impressive configurability.

The touchscreen is intuitive to use and has clear graphics with Bluetooth connectivity and DAB digital radio. SE and Black Edition trims don’t get sat nav, but wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is standard across the range which means you can use your smartphone’s navigation apps. 

SE and Black Edition trims get manual air conditioning controls, while the SEL and R-Line have a digital climate control unit. You get a regular USB and newer USB-C charging socket up front, with two more USB sockets provided for the rear seat passengers.

The VW T-Cross is available with either a 95hp or 110hp turbocharged 1.0-litre petrol engine or a 150hp 1.5-litre turbocharged unit. Front-wheel-drive is standard on all trims.

The 95hp version is paired solely with a five-speed manual transmission and goes from 0-62mph in 11.6 seconds. It will do an official 49.6mpg and emits 130g/km of CO2. These figures are nearly identical to the SEAT Arona and Skoda Kamiq, since they all share the same basic engine. 

The 110hp engine is available with a six-speed manual or seven-speed DSG automatic gearbox. In manual guise it will get to 62mph in a sprightly 10.8 seconds and consumes the same amount of fuel as the entry-level 95hp engine. Equipped with the automatic transmission, it accelerates to 62mph in a slightly slower 11.3 seconds and fuel economy drops to 45.6mpg. This is once again similar to both the Arona and Kamiq, as well as the similarly powerful petrol offered in the Citroen C3.

Unlike the Renault Captur which offers both self-charging and plug-in hybrids, the T-Cross is petrol only. But even when equipped with the most powerful 150hp engine (available on SEL and R-Line trims), it is still impressively frugal. Overall fuel economy works out at 47.1mpg with 137g/km of CO2. The seven-speed DSG automatic is standard with this engine. It is capable of a rather rapid 8.5-second 0-62mph time, which is quicker than any engine option found in the Renault Captur and Citroen C3 Aircross.

The VW T-Cross was awarded a full five-star Euro NCAP rating in 2019. It received a very impressive 97% for adult occupant safety and scored highly in every other category. 

Driver safety aids are comprehensive, with autonomous brake assist, adaptive cruise control, lane assist and blind spot detection all fitted as standard. Front and rear parking sensors are fitted from the Black Edition trim up, and park assist and a rearview camera are available as options.

The T-Cross shares the majority of its components with other VW Group vehicles, so it should prove to be a reliable vehicle, however, recent reliability surveys haven’t seen it performing as well as some alternatives. 

You get a three-year/60,000-mile warranty, extendable by another 12 months. This is pretty standard amongst most manufacturers but well behind Kia’s seven-year/100,000-mile offering. There have been two recalls for the T-Cross so far, one for an instrument cluster software issue and another for potentially incorrectly fitted curtain airbags.