Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review

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Fri 15 Nov 2019 19:20
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - csgmart

Picked up our new VW T-Cross earlier this week to replace a 4 year old Tiguan (which has given us sterling service over 43k miles, with zero faults).

We chose the T-Cross over all other similar models because it ticked all our boxes. One of the main requirements was a high seating position. The new shape Tiguan was too big for us and models such as those from SEAT, Skoda and Hyundai were OK but the seating position was just not quite right. The closest was the Hyundai Kona and had the T-Cross not been available at this time we may well have chosen that instead. We did try the T-Roc when that came out but the seating position just wasn't good enough - barely any difference from a 'standard' car.

I am completely in love with the 1.0 3 cylinder petrol engine, mated to the DSG box. For such a small engine it doesn't half go and the ecomony is good. Will improve as the miles are piled on I'm sure. Yes, I know the DSG box will probably explode in flames before too long but I'm not bothered because we will change it in about 3 years and don't expect any problems before then.

The boot space is pretty decent and with the seats folded down is more than enough for us as we no longer have to taxi our grown up children about these days.

I'll post an update every so often but for anyone looking for a not too big car with a high seating position I would recommend you take the T-Cross for a spin.

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Fri 15 Nov 2019 21:08
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - badbusdriver

My wife gets a Motability car, which is currently a Honda Jazz with the CVT auto. When we are due to order our next car (prob next April), depending on what deals are available at the time, the T-Cross could well be a contender as we have a local dealer. So i will be interested to hear how you find the driveability of the DSG over time as i have read reports of jerkiness (though not as much as the single clutch automated manuals), and being slow to react (the 'stepped' CVT in the Jazz reacts very quickly indeed!). The higher seating position of the T-Cross certainly appeals and while, ideally, i'd like something as slim as the Jazz, that really is not easy to do these days with the expanding waistline of pretty much all cars!. And the VW is the joint slimmest car in that class along with the Citroen C3 Aircross.

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Fri 15 Nov 2019 21:54
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - csgmart

So far so good. The gear changes are smooth and instant. No jerkiness whatsoever.

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Sat 16 Nov 2019 15:10
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - Manatee

So far so good. The gear changes are smooth and instant. No jerkiness whatsoever.

They're great once rolling, even blip the throttle for you on down changes.

I just can't stand the low speed behaviour. Crawling into our slightly uphill driveway, keeping the speed down to park carefully, the damned thing changes into second and slips the clutch. I usually knock it into manual so I can leave it in first.

Of course they must continually be tweaking the programming to make them behave like something they aren't. I wouldn't be surprised if yours is a bit more subtle than our 2014 Roomster.

It has to be said my wife is quite happy with it. She doesn't care what gear it's in and whether the clutch is slipping. That is the required attitude for a tranquil mind.

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Sat 16 Nov 2019 12:18
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - Avant

Many thanks for that, csgmart. Car reviews are always interesting, and particularly so for a model like this which as you say ticks a lot of boxes.

For many of us a 'holy grail' is a car where you don't have to climb up or down to get in/out. My Audi Q2 is one such: in fairness if I were a little taller (I'm 5' 7") the Volvo XC40 would also be just right. I expect the T-Cross is the same for you.

That 1.0 TSI engine is brilliant. I had it in an A1 courtesy car while mine was being serviced, and it coped excellently with the mixed run from dealer to home and back (Salisbury to north Dorset). Nippy in town but long-legged enough to pull well up and down the undulating A303.

The new Skoda Kamiq is in the same class of small SUV which is currently so popular. It should sell well, especially if it undercuts the T-Cross.

Interesting that you found the T-Roc was barely any different from a 'standard' car in terms of seat height: you'd have thought it would be higher up given that it's a bigger car than the T-Cross.

Edited by Avant on 16/11/2019 at 12:32

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Sat 16 Nov 2019 12:30
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - csgmart

Many thanks for that, csgmart. Car reviews are always interesting, and particularly so for a model like this which as you say ticks a lot of boxes.

For many of us a 'holy grail' is a car where you don't have to climb up or down to get in/out. My Audi Q2 is one such: in fairness if I were a little taller (I'm 5' 7") the Volvo XC40 would also be just right. I expect the T-Cross is the same for you.

That 1.0 TSI engine is brilliant. I had it in an A1 courtesy car while mine was being serviced, and it coped excellently with the mixed run from deaer to homa and back (Salisbury to north Dorset). Nippy in town but long-legged enough to pull well up and down the undulating A303.

The new Skoda Kamiq is in the same class of small SUV which is currently so popular. It should sell well, especially if it undercuts the T-Cross.

Interesting that you found the T-Roc was barely any different from a 'standard' car in terms of seat height: you'd have thought it would be higher up given that it's a bigger car than the T-Cross.

I'm 5' 7" too and it's great for me. My wife is a little shorter and as it's primarily her car it was of the utmost importance that she had a seating position that worked. We did try the Q2 as well but it wasn't quite right, although a very nice car and I would certainly have one myself for sure.

A few years ago I wouldn't have ever considered a 3 cylinder engine with only 1 litre capacity but I'm well and truly converted. Time will tell whether they are robust enough to cope with high mileage use.

I too was surprised about the T-Roc - I think the issue was the seat base which tips up towards the drivers legs. For my wife she found the front seat edge 'cut in' to the back of her legs when trying to reach the pedals and there was no way of adjusting this at all (unlike the Tiguan we had which had electrically adjustable seats and you could get it just right). The T-Roc also has a very shallow boot space compared to the T-Cross - I think the T-Cross has a slightly bigger boot than the T-Roc too.

As I said before, we did look at the Seat range and the Arona might have been OK for us but there is a limited amount of personalisation you can specify with Seat. Once you pick the trim level there's not much else you can add on top other than the colour. Having a reversing camera was a must for me and in order to get that on the Arona you had to choose the 'sporty' trim level which had stuff on it I didn't want.

Overall the T-Cross just ticked more boxes than anything else we tried.

Edited by csgmart on 16/11/2019 at 12:32

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Sat 16 Nov 2019 13:06
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - badbusdriver

Interesting that you found the T-Roc was barely any different from a 'standard' car in terms of seat height: you'd have thought it would be higher up given that it's a bigger car than the T-Cross.

I am surprised at this too, especially given the T-Roc is taller than the T-Cross. But as the T-Roc has a more 'sporty' roofline, maybe the seats are mounted lower to enhance the sensation of sportiness (as contradictory as that is for an SUV!). As for the boot, the T-Cross has sliding rear seats (not sure if that is every trim level) and the figures i have show that with the rear seat slid forward, it does indeed have an extra 10l over the T-Roc. But of course, the actual volume doesn't tell the whole story.

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Sat 16 Nov 2019 18:37
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - csgmart

Interesting that you found the T-Roc was barely any different from a 'standard' car in terms of seat height: you'd have thought it would be higher up given that it's a bigger car than the T-Cross.

I am surprised at this too, especially given the T-Roc is taller than the T-Cross. But as the T-Roc has a more 'sporty' roofline, maybe the seats are mounted lower to enhance the sensation of sportiness (as contradictory as that is for an SUV!). As for the boot, the T-Cross has sliding rear seats (not sure if that is every trim level) and the figures i have show that with the rear seat slid forward, it does indeed have an extra 10l over the T-Roc. But of course, the actual volume doesn't tell the whole story.

I think it's a combination of things. The door comes up quite high on the T-Roc meaning the window is high too, giving an impression to the driver that they are not seated that high, when in fact they probably are.

I had the T-Roc on a 24 hour test drive but it was rather boring and bland to be honest.

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Sat 16 Nov 2019 13:10
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - Dag Hammar

Thanks for your review and information regarding your T-Cross. It is refreshing to read a review from an actual owner and as such, real day to day experience of the vehicle.

Please keep us updated as you drive the car more and more, the good and ( hopefully not ) the bad.

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Tue 7 Jan 2020 17:40
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - Regdor

Yesterday we drove a new T-Cross DSG 1.0 petrol R_LINE. Salesman said it was now a FOUR cylinder engine and it had been upgraded from a three?? I had not heard this, anyone know the exact situation.

We liked the car in the showroom but out in daylight the internal plastics look and feel very cheap and nasty. As soon as the car got onto the road the drone from the tyres started. Big wheels of course and ridiculous on this class of car..Wind rustle started too.

On the open road the engine was fantastically quiet and very smooth the Dsg changed smoothly so that lifted my spirits. THEN the seat started to feel hollow and uncomfortable and my wife was trying to adjust hers as I drove along , a bad sign.

Next onto some scarred side road (North yorks have lots like this) oh dear the banging and crashing started. At slower speed the DSG seemed less certain which gear to be in and then we got to a roundabout near the dealership. I stopped, checked traffic and pulled out. The car just nose dived ,felt like it was in third gear, and almost stopped on the roundabout by which time a car pulled from my left and rammed his horn. The dsg then seemed to drop down and off we went, a close call with a car with 10 miles on the clock!

Told the salesman the car was not for us and he really took umbrage and asked "well what do you expect for this price?" and proceeded to rudely argue his case.

Sadly not unusual to meet such people in Harrogate, I think life is too easy for car dealers in this wealthy town and the ease of the PCP sale.

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Tue 7 Jan 2020 18:06
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - badbusdriver

It is a 3 cyl engine, no question. By and large, i have read nothing but positive reviews about this engine (certainly the higher power output 115PS version) in cars as diverse as the VW Up to the Skoda Octavia.

The ride quality, well i'm not surprised to hear your comments, but you'd need to try a lower spec version with smaller diameter tyres.The R-Line has a sporty appearance, so uses bigger wheels with ultra low profile tyres to emphasise this (to the obvious detriment of the ride quality and road noise!)

As to the build quality, yes i have read that on the T-Cross it isn't up to VW's usual standards.

The DSG gearbox?, well your comments reinforce my reluctance to go down that route if at all possible. Going by what i have read, dual clutch auto's should be less 'jerky' with the changes than the single clutch auto, but can certainly suffer from the same 'indecision' about which gear it should be in. But i should also point out that when we first got our Honda Jazz with the 'stepped' CVT, it did also seem to be pretty indecisive about which ratio to use. Over time though, this improved markedly and i'm sure i remember reading in the brochure, that the CVT transmission would 'learn' how it was being driven and react accordingly, maybe this aspect of the DSG would improve over time?.

Edited by badbusdriver on 07/01/2020 at 18:12

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Wed 8 Jan 2020 17:04
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - Regdor

Many thanks for those helpful replies. Firstly I should correct my mistake of saying the car on the roundabout came from my left, no it was my RIGHT which makes more sense to the problem. It is a small but not mini roundabout on a shopping estate so I judged I had clearance to get on and off before anyone came from my right, there is little room for misjudgement and the on-coming driver would of course not expect me to slow down after entering. His horn blast was fair!

My conundrum is this, I last bought a car in 2006! I am pretty sure AVANT was posting on HJ back then and with the advice from the smart folks in those early days of HJ I bought a Volvo S60,2.0TPetrol Auto. Possibly Avant had one??

Anyway after nearly 14 years and 107Kmiles it feels slightly worn! Perhaps time for a new vehicle. Trouble is we love it like an old family pet, but it is in all honesty feeling the passing years (likewise its driver) and not riding too well anymore. Nice as a classic runabout but not for 300 mile holidays.

What to buy? We do not want to go any bigger, eg latest Volvo S60 is longer , XC40 and XC60 have too much fashionable SUV bulk that is of no use to us and in general the mark is more about flash and style than common sense motoring as is was in the past. V40 too cramped. In general Volvos are not for us anymore.

Next i want auto and we hit the rise of the Dual Clutch gearbox, highly complex and reading the Forum expensive if they break, Mileage, now retired we only do 5K per annum so is diesel really silly even if i take it for a good burn-up each week? Good seats are very important too.

Hence the T-Cross was test driven, reasonable space inside , good petrol engine were plus points but the DGS was not good and it felt a step too far down the luxury scale. We sat in a Pre-reg Tiguan SEL diesel/DSG in the showroom and liked the space, seats and overall quality. If the salesman had been any good at all he could have had a crack at switch selling us to that! My wife was rather keen on it so he really did cock up, arguing with the customer is sales mistake no 1. Tiguan would be absolute maximum size for us,

Tried a Qashqui great drive with auto and 1.2 petrol on smooth roads but poor on rough roads and bouncy on undulating A roads. Seems to be downside of all the SUV class, BMW X1 and 2 Active not great either.

We have been around most makes and we are getting no where!

Anyway thanks again for the great input so far.

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Wed 8 Jan 2020 17:25
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - Regdor

T-roc is based on Golf platform and T=cross the Polo. oddly in the showroom they look and feel the other way around. Absolutely agree about being forced by nearly every manufacturer to buy a higher spec to get useful aids such as the camera. VW, BMW ,Audi Volvo are all the same , you want a petrol! Well of course is must be an M sport, R-design etc Oh you want full aircon that will be an extra £1800 for a package thanks very much. The £23 k new price is now £25k, oh you do not like grey paint well now add£750 for majestic peacock blue sir!

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Tue 7 Jan 2020 18:15
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - Avant

That salesman was clearly rubbish, Regdor!

You might like to try a Skoda Kamiq - same mechanicals as the T-Cross but cheaper and apparently better finished inside. As BBD says, avoid the DSG if you can: this is the dry-clutch version which as you've found can be jerky. If you have to have an automatic, maybe the new Peugeot 2008 is where to look if you want a small SUV.

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Tue 7 Jan 2020 20:25
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - Dag Hammar

Lots on here about the offerings from VAG group which is understandable as the thread was started as a new car review of the VW T Cross. For others that may be looking to change and obtain a new or nearly new vehicle similar to the T Cross perhaps they might take a look at the Hyundai Kona or the Kia Stonic. A little bit larger in size is the new Kia X Ceed. There does not seem to be ( as far as I’m aware ) the tide of complaints from users that have the Hyundai / Kia DCT transmissions compared to the number of complaints from users of the VAG DSG transmissions.

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Wed 8 Jan 2020 08:51
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - veloceman
My other half has an Arona 115bhp Fr manual. Two years and 20k miles trouble free (if you ignore the rear seatbelt debacle). The 3 cyl engine is a gem averaging well over 50mpg.
FR is only really a spec upgrade which lifts the cabin over the std SE. Rides exceptionally well on 17’’ wheels. Great car.
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Wed 8 Jan 2020 17:49
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - John F

Always good to read such reports - thanks, OP. Press reviews are mixed. Interesting how many reviews compare it to other similar sized SUVs, but not the Peugeot 2008 in the ones I've read. We considered the T-Cross amongst many others, but after much homework and pondering chose the 2008 powertrain. Slightly larger 1.2 Puretech 130hp rather than 115, mated to a TC 'tiptronic' type box (reliable Aisin) rather than VW's DSG.

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Thu 9 Jan 2020 13:57
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - Regdor

The new Peugeot 2008 is getting good reviews, we tried a 3008 and liked size, ride and the cockpit style interior.

I struggled with the steering. A very small wheel and sharp response made for pin sharp whizzing around mini-roundabouts and parking but in town and on A roads i felt I was constantly correcting may position on the road which was very stressful.

Does the 2008 have the same characteristic?

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Thu 9 Jan 2020 14:59
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - badbusdriver

The new Peugeot 2008 is getting good reviews, we tried a 3008 and liked size, ride and the cockpit style interior.

I struggled with the steering. A very small wheel and sharp response made for pin sharp whizzing around mini-roundabouts and parking but in town and on A roads i felt I was constantly correcting may position on the road which was very stressful.

Does the 2008 have the same characteristic?

Not 100% sure, but i suspect it would be the same. I'm not sure the steering is any quicker per se, just the effect of the very small steering wheel as part of Peugeot's i-cockpit design. From what i have read, you do get used to the steering wheel reactions after time.

You might want to consider the Citroen C3 Aircross or C4 Cactus. Both use the same drivetrain as the 2008 but with Citroen now making comfort and refinement a priority, you may find it a more relaxing steed. I'd be very interested in one of those two for our next new car for those very reasons (particularly the C4 Cactus due to it being quite slim, all the better for trying to remain scrape free on out narrow street!). but unfortunately the nearest dealer is over 70 miles away and i don't really fancy the hassle involved should any warranty issues need attending to!.

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Tue 14 Jan 2020 17:33
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - Regdor

Called into the Citroen Dealer to look at the 2 cars mentioned by badbusdriver.

Well the big C5 aircross was rather nice inside particularly the seats, plus electric hatch, a big plus. Strange huge storage bin in-between the front seats, the French seem to like the old centre console style it seems. Other bits somewhat quirky too. High spec and auto came to £32k. a bit pricey BUT salesman said we would get a £7k scrappage discount! Car a bit too big for our needs so did not test drive it. Autocar review not very positive by the way.

C3 and C4, Oh dear some bits are abysmal, try altering the seat back, impossible for my wife to turn the inaccessible hard adjustment wheel. The aircross hatch, probably the worst bit of design I have ever come across, one small slippery plastic recess to pull down a very heavy hatch! Seats wide and flat. Would not buyy either at any giveaway pricing.

Do not waste time traveling 7 miles to see them let alone 70!

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Fri 10 Jan 2020 09:41
Volkswagen T-Cross - 1.0 DSG - New Car Review - John F

I struggled with the steering. A very small wheel and sharp response made for pin sharp whizzing around mini-roundabouts and parking but in town and on A roads i felt I was constantly correcting may position on the road which was very stressful.

Does the 2008 have the same characteristic?

Our 2008 has your first characteristic but not your second. On A roads and motorways (went on one for the first time last week) it is a surprisingly relaxed quiet cruiser, loping along with the cruise control set at 2500 revs. Have you hit a curb and disturbed the tracking?

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