Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet review

Or should that be ‘the outside’ ha-ha-ha. Sorry. First, you’ll have to gain entry, via the huge and heavy doors. These are not just tall because of the T-Roc’s lofty beltline, but long too, to provide access to the rear seats. Watch out in car parks, or you’ll be folding the roof down just to escape.

It’s better news once you’re settled in, with the bright colour-coded plastic dash panel of the pre-facelift model gone, your options now limited to foam-backed, soft-touch grey or black, as most people spec anyway. Fabric door trim replaces the previous hard, hollow mouldings, with leather optionally available. It’s a big uplift in quality, and addresses one of our biggest criticisms of the pre-facelift model.  

What's the tech like?

Digital dials are now standard, measuring 8.0 inches in the standard T-Roc Cabrio or 10.25 inches in upper spec models, while you also get an 8.0-inch central touchscreen as standard, or 9.2 inches in the upper variants. 

It’s reasonably user-friendly, though the glossy touch-sensitive surfaces are harder to read once daubed with fingerprints and exposed to direct sunlight with the roof stowed, and despite housing the latest grade of VW’s infotainment software it remains infuriatingly laggy, especially on start-up – the point when you’ll likely be looking to use it most. Nightmare.

VW has also replaced the physical heater controls with a touchscreen panel that isn’t much better, but at least the switchgear is there at all – it makes the T-Roc a heck of a lot easier to operate than a Mk8 Golf.

Will taller folk fit?

Headroom is generous both up front and acceptable in the back with the roof raised – and guess what, it’s even better with the roof down. The operation is completed electrically in 11 seconds at up to 19mph, and the boot space remains 284 litres (down from 445 litres in the standard T-Roc) in either configuration.

There’s not a huge amount of legroom in the rear mind, but the rearmost seats do fold down to accommodate all your outdoor pursuit sports equipment, or an impulse buy from the garden centre.