How much space is there?

• Lots of headroom
• Useful storage bins
• Big boot, but load lip is high

The VW T-Roc is relatively spacious for a car of this size. Although it’s slightly shorter than the current VW Golf hatchback, it has a similar amount of interior space and a much bigger boot. That means families – and young families in particular – will find it more than big enough for the clobber associated with daily life.

Not only is there plenty of space in the front, but the rear seats are also generous, with bags of headroom and perfectly acceptable legroom, too. Taller passengers might not find it especially roomy, but it’s adequate for the class. Add in a selection of useful cubbies, cupholders and storage bins and the T-Roc becomes a very practical family car.

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Boot space and storage

The T-Roc’s boot measures 445 litres, which makes it noticeably more spacious than a Toyota C-HR’s or a Nissan Qashqai’s. It’s so roomy, in fact, that even the larger Tiguan – Volkswagen’s answer to the Mazda CX-5 and Toyota RAV4 – is only slightly more capacious.

Fold the back seats down and bootspace expands to 1,237 litres, with the 60/40-split rear seats lying almost flat when they’re stowed away. However, while the boot floor may remain fairly level, there is quite a high loading lip over which you’ll need to haul heavier objects. If you’re regularly putting pushchairs or other bulky items in there, you’ll have to bear this in mind.

But while lugging heavy things in and out will not always be easy, there are some accessibility features that make life a little simpler. The VW T-Roc is available with a ski hatch in the centre rear seat, for example, allowing you to carry long and narrow items without folding down the back seats, and a power-operated tailgate is also available on certain trim levels. 

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Is it easy to park?

The Volkswagen T-Roc’s relatively compact dimensions make it quite an easy car to drive around crowded towns. It’ll slot neatly into a regular parking space, and there are sensors at the front and rear on every model, giving you that little extra peace of mind when guiding the car into a tight spot.

Optional extras include a rear-view camera that improves visibility greatly, and there’s also a Park Assist function, which takes control of the steering to guide the car into a space. It works for parallel or perpendicular spaces, and all you have to take care of is change gear, accelerate and brake. In truth, it’s much less faff to do it yourself, but the system will be a comfort blanket for those less confident in tight spaces or with certain manoeuvres.

Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP crash test score
• Lots of safety kit available
• Two Isofix seat mounting points

The VW T-Roc has a very impressive five-star Euro NCAP crash test rating, which it achieved with high scores in every area. Most commendable, however, was the 96% score for adult occupant protection, which should provide some peace of mind for drivers should the worst happen.

However, Volkswagen has fitted plenty of equipment to reduce the chances of things going that far in the first place. Autonomous emergency braking, which can stop the car automatically if the driver fails to respond to a hazard, is fitted as standard, along with adaptive cruise control that maintains a safe distance to the vehicle in front. Lane-keeping assistance is standard too, and there’s a traffic sign recognition system in the instrument display.

Two rear Isofix child seat points are also offered as standard making it easy to mount baby seats first time, every time, while the options list is full of handy safety systems. Not only is there a rear-view camera, but there’s a blind-spot monitoring system to alert the driver when another vehicle is lurking in the hard-to-see areas over their shoulders, and there’s an automatic high beam system to dip the headlights automatically when another car is coming.

Watch: Volkswagen T-Roc Euro NCAP crash test