Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet practicality & boot space

• About as practical as a convertible car gets
• Roof stows away with no impact on boot space
• Room for adults in the rear seats – just

As well as a roof, the T-Roc has lost two doors, the practicality of a rear hatchback, 161 litres from its boot and the middle rear seat in its transition to a Cabriolet.

At the same time it has gained 40mm between the front and rear wheels, a more steeply sloping windscreen and a multi-layer fabric roof.

That roof’s really interesting, mainly for its simplicity. At the touch of a switch in the centre console it opens up in just nine seconds, and closes in 11. The roof simply folds back onto itself in a cubby behind the rear seats – there’s no additional panel to cover it up. This sort of simplicity is good news – complex convertible roofs aren’t necessarily the most reliable of items, and the simpler they are, the less likely things are to go wrong, not to mention the cheaper they will be to fix if they do.

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There’s one thing a convertible roof will always do, though, and that’s eat up space. The T-Roc Cabriolet’s rear seats are therefore far tighter than those of the standard T-Roc SUV, both in legroom and in shoulder space. Access is super-easy with the roof down, but when it’s up you do need to be a bit of a contortionist to get in.

However, that’s comparing the T-Roc Cabriolet to an SUV, and not to other four-seat convertibles. Taken that way, it’s perhaps the most practical drop-top four-seater around, with space for adults in the rear on short journeys – many rivals’ rear seats can barely be used for passengers at all. We’re looking at you, MINI Convertible.

Of course if you only want to use the rear bench as additional luggage space, it’s worth fitting the folding wind deflector, which pops up above the rear seats and makes life for the front occupants far less blustery.

In fact the T-Roc Cabriolet’s most practical aspect is its raised ride height – it makes access far easier than in low-set rivals.

Boot

Again, take the boot in comparison to other SUVs and it’s poor, but the T-Roc Cabriolet has one of the most useful boots we’ve seen on a four-seater convertible. With 284 litres of space – around the same as a Ford Fiesta - and a nice square, flat floor, there’s easily room for a couple of suitcases – plus the rear seats fold down to carry longer loads.

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You do have to feed your luggage through a fairly narrow hatch, but the boot lid opens wide and remains pretty well out of your way. Better yet, luggage space isn’t impeded if the roof is lowered.

Safety

• No Euro NCAP rating
• Standard T-Roc is a safe car
• Plenty of safety kit

Euro NCAP hasn’t tested the Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet on its own yet. However, it’s tested the standard T-Roc SUV and awarded it five stars.

As it’s a convertible, Volkswagen has fitted rollover protection hoops which pop out in the event of the car going onto its roof, and there’s plenty of safety equipment as standard – including adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, autonomous emergency braking and all-round parking sensors.