Crossing over with the people’s car of the 21st century — The Volkswagen T-Cross

With the disconcertingly short life cycle of new car models, it’s flabbergasting to think that the iconic Volkswagen Beetle was produced virtually unchanged over a staggering 55 years. With over 21 million units produced in over 30 countries (including the Philippines), it was truly the first global model.  

Today, the template for a true global model is the crossover. So what is the contender of the world’s original “people’s car” brand? It’s the Volkswagen T-Cross. 

While the production numbers of the T-Cross are still a far cry from its legendary Beetle forefather, they’re still fairly impressive: over a million produced in three continents over just three years (most of which are during the pandemic).   

So it’s only fitting that we get a first-hand look — and drive — of the latest T-Cross model with a spirited round-trip jaunt down south to Tagaytay from the AC Motors Centrale showroom in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

From the spirited drive to the sumptuous snacks and lunch at Hillbarn and Kap’ean, respectively, to a fun and creative clay pottery session, participants of the T-Cross motoring lifestyle experience discovered more than one way to enjoy a trip to the popular ridge onboard VW’s crossover. The ride-and-drive activity was made to highlight the T-Cross’ advantage of it being “More Than One Thing” for its buyers.

The T-Cross, which was launched in the Philippines in 2021, is produced in four VW facilities worldwide—Brazil, China, Germany, and India. It was launched globally and simultaneously in Amsterdam, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai in 2018. 

The 2022 T-Cross SE that we drove for the 150-km day tour is virtually the same T-Cross that has been awarded multiple times: Best Compact SUV at BusinessCar Awards 2019 in United Kingdom, Compact SUV of the Year at the 2020 Continental Tyres Irish Car of the Year, Best “Exterior Volume Brand” at Frankfurt Motor Show 2019, Compact SUV of the Year by UOL Carros 2019 and L’Auto Preferita in Brazil, and the Compact Family Car in the 5th annual Cars.co.za Consumer Awards in South Africa.

The T-Cross stays true to the German automaker’s distinctive build and design qualities. Like all other Volkswagen models, it benefits from precise German engineering across the entire production process in all its global facilities. This is evident in every model’s fit and finish: laser-welding technology, forged steel door hinges, high-strength panels, and consistent door seals and panel gaps, all contributing to a strong and durable body structure. In other words, it feels like a typical German car—solid. 

Though the classic and signature Volkswagen minimalist look is still evident in the T-Cross, its “cool” factor grabs the attention of the younger generation of drivers with hip and trendy interior and exterior designs and colors bearing quirky names such as Tribu Yellow, Syringa Violet, Romance Red, Chinchilla Gray, and Polar White. The SE variant, in fact, even matches interior trims with its exterior color. The gauges and infotainment system are easy to read with the Active Info Display, while the large 9.2-inch infotainment monitor maximizes the Wireless Apple CarPlay connectivity.

 

Under the hood of the 2022 T-Cross SE is the fuel-efficient Euro 6-compliant BlueMotion 1.5-liter Multi Point Injection (MPI) gasoline engine (developing 113ps and 145Nm of torque) paired with a 6-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission. Despite having four adults on board, our climb from the lowlands of Metro Manila to the 700-meter elevation of Tagaytay was a breeze, made even more pleasurable because of the engine’s impressive quietness and smoothness. 

On a road trip with four people, the practical spaciousness of the T-Cross cabin was also highlighted. With the rear seatback folded, an already generous 329 liters of luggage space expands to a cavernous 1,319 liters—more than enough to take in camera equipment, tripods, and other tools of the media trade, along with the souvenirs of the pottery-making session and other personal items.

The T-Cross’ safety features include Electronic Stabilisation Program (ESP), Hill Hold Control, Anti-Slip Regulation, Rear Parking Distance Control, and a rear camera (exclusive to the SE variant). These all proved helpul and reassuring on our drive back to BGC, when a downpour of biblical proportions (compounded by Tagaytay’s thick fog) made the going very slippery and treacherous. Three o-clock looked like six o’clock. 

The T-Cross SE made short work of the fog, though, with its LED headlights, daytime running lights, front fog lamp with corner light function, and rear foglamp. When the mist cleared up, the SE variant’s panoramic sunroof made the drive even more delightful.

One of the timeless cornerstones of Volkswagen is its renowned ease of use and maintenance. True enough, the T-Cross’s aftersales support is founded on the campaign “Keep your Volkswagen running like a Volkswagen,” which offers painless aftersales services on all fronts, such as limiting periodic maintenance services (PMS) to just once a year, offering a 100,000km/3-year warranty, boasting 3-month stock on parts, enhancements in service quality via Express Service, free 24/7 Emergency Roadside Assistance, and ensuring that only technicians mentored by globally certified trainers, and backed by on-site and virtual diagnostic technical support, look after your T-Cross.

The T-Cross may never achieve the status of the seminal Beetle — even the recently discountinued New Beetle never did—but it brings forth so many values ingrained in every product from the people’s car brand — solid, dependable, easy to use, economical. You won’t need to be a Beetle lover to appreciate those often-taken-for-granted qualities. The wizards from Wolfsburg may not have positioned the T-Cross to be a throwback to the Beetle, but if you’ve ever experienced those air-cooled wonders in your youth (like I have), then this state-of-the-art crossover will certainly tug at your heartstrings.