The Ford Focus, the Opel Astra, the Peugeot 308 and the Renault Megane. Middle class cars which were available as convertibles...
ten years ago, but not anymore today. Volkswagen even had three of such convertibles in their range: the Eos, the Open Beetle and the Golf Cabrio.
But, just like the others, they have all vanished. Now however, there's an alternative. The T-Roc Cabrio.
A cabriolet based on an SUV, or a crossover. And it's not an entirely new idea, because we already had the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet...
and the Range Rover Evoque Cabrio, but it's new in this compact segment.
And sawing the top of a high car like this almost always guarantees it won't be the best looking cabriolet because of the short rear.
And this car gets mixed reactions as well, but I dare to go as far to say it's not as weird as an opened-up Evoque.
It's not as high and not as SUV-like, so it's much less in-your-face than for example that Evoque.
What helps as well is the fact that the car is slightly more stretched than the regular T-Roc. A weird given, because it only has two doors.
Despite that, the wheels are four centimetres farther apart. Also, even though it's hard to see, the car is longer.
At the rear, Volkswagen has pulled an optic trick by installing this spoiler. Something an Evoque Cabrio has too, which makes it look like it's a tad longer.
But let's be honest here, it's a very small hatch with a short bootlid, so you really haven't got much space to work with.
Just like the previous Golf Cabrio. You have to load things from the rear, so it's not really like a saloon or anything. Also, with only 280 litres...
it's much smaller than the regular T-Roc and too small for an SUV. However, for a cabriolet, it's pretty decent. It's more than the Golf 6...
Cabrio used to offer, by 30 litres even.
What goes for the luggage space, goes for the rear seat as well. It's pathetic for an SUV, but for a convertible it's not that bad at all.
As an adult, it's pretty good back here. You'll blow away when the car speeds up, but it's still not that bad.
The fabric roof is folded back behind me and it's always electrically controllable. It doesn't have a difficult plating system to fold it away,
and it opens and closes within ten seconds. That's very quick, and you can do it up to a speed of 30 km/h. So if the first drops of...
rain fall, you'll be dry within no-time.
When you've closed the roof, you'll hear more of your surroundings than in a regular T-Roc. It's just not insulated as well as a car with a fitted roof.
It doesn't really become annoying or anything. The wind noises stay low as well, even on motorways.
Other than that, the visibility to the rear is dreadful, but that's pretty much always the case with a fabric roof. A small rear window...
and big C-Pillars.
And that's everything I have to say about driving with the roof closed on a beautiful day as this.
They've hidden the button underneath the armrest, which isn't incredibly handy.
Only when you open the car up, the party starts. It doesn't matter if it's an SUV, every convertible offers this joy of open roof-driving.
And there's enough good news to report about the T-Roc as a convertible. When you fold down the roof, there's no whirling in the cabin,
or things rattling around you. Everything remains quiet, even at high speeds. It becomes even better with the windscreen...
up, even though that means you're not driving completely open.
Anyway, it's very comfortable on the motorway. What I like as well is that the windshield is pretty short.
That gives this car a very open feeling, and that's a big difference with the CC-cars I mentioned earlier. They used to have very big...
windshield which almost cowled you. That gave you less of a convertible-feeling than a traditional convertible offers with a fabric roof.
Besides the fact it's longer than the regular T-Roc, it's a lot heavier as well. More than 200 kg to be precise.
Not a small amount, and you can feel it as well. However, it's not annoying or anything, because it wasn't meant to be sporty to begin with.
It doesn't feel too heavy, it doesn't feel shaky like convertible from back in the day, it just feels like a proper Volkswagen.
A true allrounder. The steering is light, but direct enough. And when it comes to the chassis... Well, today we're driving with a sports chassis...
because this is an R-Line-trim. I'll admit it's pretty sturdy, but people won't think it's too hard.
It's still a car which is able to find a proper combination between comfort and some dynamic driving.
The R-Line-trim is only available with a 1.5-litre TSI petrol engine producing 150 horsepower and a 7-speed DSG automatic gearbox.
The only other option available is a 1.0-litre 116 horsepower with a manual gearbox. If you ask me, you should go for the 1.5...
if your budget allows it. Even if it's just for the automatic gearbox, which fits really well with the relaxed way of driving this car invites you to.
Also, the extra amount of power isn't too bad either. As I said, it's a tad heavier than the regular T-Roc,
which means it's still not incredibly fast even with 150 horsepower. It's rapid enough, but it won't become a racing monster.
What's identical to every other T-Roc except for the convertible-button, is the interior. And that's not good news.
The T-Roc-dashboard is infamous for the usage of hard plastics. On top, on the bottom, everything you touch. It just looks cheap,
especially when the sun falls on it. And guess what, when you're driving with the top down, the sun usually falls on it. So it stands out.
Having said that, I think it's a tad boring and straight for a fun leisure-car like this. On the other hand, it works very well and it's been...
put together very nicely. The controls are clear, so I don't really have anything to complain about.
In this R-Line-trim level, this color and this 1.5-litre TSI with 7-speed automatic gearbox, this T-Roc Cabrio will set you back €50.000.
And that means it isn't cheap in the slightest way. However, prices start at only €36.600, which makes it the cheapest four-seater...
convertible available behind the Fiat 500C and Mini Cabrio. And with that, I think this car has quite a sunny future.
Driving with the top down for a relatively low price, just like the old days.