2018 VW T-Roc Design – Video

Based on the T-Roc concept introduced at the 2014 Geneva show, the MQB-based production version, sadly, loses most of the romance of the original. The two-door pillarless hardtop configuration with a two-piece removable center roof section and the minimalist, angular, three-tone interior have all been sacrificed on the altar of production and market feasibility. It also looks taller and narrower, but most of the voluptuous body-side sculpting seems to have survived. Dimensionally, it is 7.9 inches shorter than the outgoing Tiguan on a wheelbase that’s only 0.3 inch shorter; it’s also wider and lower by 0.4 and 6.4 inches, respectively. Imagine a slightly stretched Mini Countryman or a chopped and channeled low-roof Buick Encore.

VW offers the T-Roc with three gas and two diesel engine options in Europe; we drove the smaller of the two gas engines that might have a prayer of coming to the U.S.—a 148-hp 1.5-liter turbo-four hooked to a six-speed DSG twin-clutch automatic and front-wheel drive. (4Motion AWD will be offered.) Credit goes to the DSG for making the most of the meager output of this 1.5.