Four years after making its market premiere at the Festival of the Motoring, the facelift Volkswagen T-Cross has officially been revealed. Images: Charl Bosch
Delayed from its stipulated second quarter reveal, Volkswagen officially unveiled the facelift T-Cross at the Kyalami Festival of Motoring on Thursday (29 August) in readiness for its market debut in early September.
Reportedly its first and final update in apparent still readiness for the all-electric ID.2 SUV replacing it in Europe next year, the Spanish-built T-Cross’ changes comprise restyled front and rear bumpers, a new grille with an illuminated LED light bar, new front and rear imitation skidplates and standard LED or optional Matrix I.Q. LED headlights with redesigned clusters.
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On the colour front, three new hues debut; Kings Red Metallic from the Golf 8 GTI, Clear Blue Metallic and the model unique Grape Yellow.
Adopting the same trim level structure as the Polo and now also the facelift Polo Vivo, the previous Comfortline and Highline names depart in favour of base, Life and Style, with the R-Line becoming a standalone variant rather than an option as has been until now.
At the same time, a two-tier product strategy has been applied in which the DSG-equipped Life, Style and R-Line variants debut first, followed by the base models and the manual Life in early 2025.
As for the interior, all T-Cross models feature upgraded materials and illuminated touch-sensitive sliders for the dual-zone climate control.
On the base and Life models, a new eight-inch Composition Media infotainment system and eight-inch Digital Cockpit instrument cluster come standard, the latter replaced on the Style and R-Line with a 10-inch display.
With the base still to be revealed, additional items on the Life consist of 16-inch Nottingham alloy wheels, a wireless smartphone charger, front and rear parking sensors, a wireless smartphone charger and cruise control.
For the Style, the Matrix I.Q. LEDs are included, along with dual-zone climate control, sport seats, roof rails and 17-inch Manilla alloy wheels.
Besides the R-Line exterior, the flagship T-Cross boasts 17-inch Valencia alloys and the R-Line seats trimmed in ArtVelour upholstery.
On the safety front, the optional I.Q. Drive system debuts bringing Adaptive Cruise Control, Cornering Assist, Lane Assist and the semi-autonomous Travel Assist that allows for hands-free driving at speeds up to 210 km/h.
Providing forward momentum, the T-Cross remains a petrol-only affair, but motivated solely by the 1.0 TSI in two states of tune as the range-topping 1.5 TSI has been left out for now.
As before, the three-cylinder unit develops either 70kW/175Nm or 85kW/200Nm mated to a five-speed manual box or a seven-speed DSG.
In terms of pricing, a three-year/120 000 km warranty and three-year/45 000 km service plan remains part of the T-Cross’ price, which, for the models launching first, have decreased from the now pre-facelift versions by between R300 to R6 200.
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