Volkswagen T-Roc R 2020 long-term review

Опубликованно 19.08.2020 21:05

Why we’re running it: To see if VW can succeed where rivals have failed and give us a fast crossover that’s as good to drive as a hot hatch

Month 1   -   Specs

Life with a VW T-Roc R: Month 1

Welcoming the T-Roc R to the fleet - 5 August 2020

Temporarily, at least, the T-Roc R represents the pinnacle of Volkswagen’s performance division output. From an enthusiast’s perspective, that might seem a somewhat strange mantle for a jacked-up compact crossover to assume, but with the Mk7 Golf R mega-hatch being withdrawn from sale shortly after the T-Roc R’s launch last year, that’s the situation in which we find ourselves.

For what it’s worth, I think the launch of a more hardcore version of Volkswagen’s second-smallest SUV is a pretty encouraging statement of intent. In fact, when the T-Roc R was first unveiled, Jost Capito – the man who heads up Volkswagen’s R division – told Autocar that the task he’d been given was to “make R to Volkswagen what M is to BMW”.

That’s by no means an aim lacking in ambition, but based on the news that has been emerging from Volkswagen over the past few weeks and months, it isn’t an idle one, either.

So there’ll be an R version of the Arteon four-door coup? in a few months’ time, as well as a shooting brake model. The recently facelifted Tiguan will join the R range in the autumn. We got a look at the plug-in hybrid V6-engined Touareg R earlier this year, and the Golf R will make its return in Mk8 guise before the year’s end. Capito and his team have certainly been busy.

Категория: Краш-тесты