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Forget the new VW Golf hatch - this little tacker could be the most important addition to Volkswagen’s local range in decades.
It’s the 2020 VW T-Cross small SUV, a model that is here to take on the likes of the Kia Seltos, Mitsubishi ASX, Honda HR-V and Hyundai Kona.
The T-Cross small SUV has been around for a while in other markets - it launched back in late 2018 in Europe, but it’s new to us, and in this review we’ll cover all the essentials like pricing, practicality, ownership and, of course, how it drives.
Let’s get to it!
Like your favourite TV show from the ‘90s, MG’s high-definition re-boot in the last few years has proven to be full of surprises.
Not only has it earned itself a spot in the top 10 automakers in Australia (the first Chinese-backed brand to ever do so) but the automaker has also proven it has more than one trick up its sleeve.
It found astounding success with its budget MG3 hatch and ZS SUV, and has played an important role in bringing the cost of electrification down in Australia.
The latest offering, and the car we’re looking at for this review, is the now even cheaper plug-in hybrid HS mid-size SUV.
Question is, at a price which can compete with 'self-charging' hybrid tech, should you choose an option you can plug-in? Stay with us to find out.
The Volkswagen T-Cross might be late to the small SUV party, but it’s not so much tardy, as making a fashionable entrance.
It’s a very impressive compact SUV - big on space, style and comfort, well priced, decently specified and a smart option for customers who aspire to a German badge being shown off in their driveway.
MG is quietly establishing itself as a champion of the electric space, with this HS mid-sizer offering a compelling list of specs with a long electric range in an attractive package.
It is still lacking in a few obvious areas, from driving dynamics to charging speed, but it’s doing its part at the asking price to at least make a plug-in hybrid alternative worth considering.
It’s not to be confused with the slightly larger T-Roc model, which has just arrived here too. The T-Roc is bigger, based on the Golf. But that model isn’t quite as clever when it comes to its design as this one.
Despite being smaller, the T-Cross is super smart when it comes to overall packaging. It’s based on the Polo city car, and isn’t much bigger in terms of nose-to-tail length (T-Cross: 4108mm; Polo: 4053mm). However the T-Cross is a taller, boxier design, and that means added practicality. It is 1760mm wide and 1583mm tall, whereas the Polo is 1751mm wide and 1446mm tall.
It still has the rugged SUV styling cues you’d expect, albeit in a bit more of an urban-focused design. There are still chunky bumpers and off road inspired bits to separate it from a standard city hatchback, and it has 180mm of ground clearance - ideal for jumping the occasional gutter.
And because it’s a VW sold in Australia, there are option packs to add on if you want them. The test car you see in these images has the R-Line pack optioned up, which adds a number of body design changes and 18-inch wheels on the outside, and some nice bits inside, too. More on that in the next section.
Disappointingly, VW has launched the T-Cross with a base model that still has halogen headlamps, where the mid-spec car you see here has LED lighting all around. I’ll break down the specs for you in the pricing section.
MG’s success is not just in being one of the most affordable but making affordability so damn good looking.
Taking cues from Mazda’s successful glitzy design formula, the HS impresses with a chrome-embossed grille, chiselled light clusters, combining with a curvaceous bonnet for an eye-catching face.
Down the side the curvy lines continue, undulating over the wheelarches, to a well resolved rear-end, complete with tidy light clusters and even dual-exhaust pipes.
Look at this car a little too long, though, and you start to find more than a few flaws with its design.
Sure, it’s eye catching, but the 17-inch alloys do a pretty ordinary job of filling those big wheelarches, and there’s something a little off about the ride height.
You can also see the rear suspension control arms sitting well below the base of the rear, a reminder the HS is an SUV based on the MG6 sedan.
Suffice it to say, while it looks great at a few paces, up close it misses out on some of the nuance and poise of its rivals.
Inside follows the same formula of the outside, with attractive curvy lines, a sporty-looking steering wheel and a pair of dazzling screens.
Again, though, look closer and you’ll see this otherwise modern-looking interior is not as impressive beneath the surface.
The seats look plush but feel cheap with vinyl trim, and the same goes for the door cards and centre console. All have soft-touch surfaces which, in reality, are paper thin. It still beats having hard plastic in the doors, though, so context is everything.
The plastic trims throughout are also hit-and-miss, with some looking great, and others hard and nasty.
The +EV versions of the HS ditch the mechanical shifter in the centre console for an electronic one, which combines nicely with the digital dash to make the cabin feel more modern than even some more upmarket rivals.
There are some SUVs in this segment of the market that pack more in than you think is physically possible. The Honda HR-V comes to mind first and foremost, and the T-Cross is very close to that benchmark-setter when it comes to interior practicality.
That’s because the T-Cross has a clever sliding second-row seat that allows you to either prioritise back seat room, or boot capacity. Depending on what you’re doing, you can adjust the space ratio to suit.
The sliding second-row means the boot capacity can either be 385 litres (seat all the way back) or 455L (seat forward), and that increases to 1281L with the seats folded flat, too. Under the boot floor is a space saver spare wheel, and those rear seats fold 60:40 as well.
With that back seat in its most passenger-focused setting, and with the driver’s seat set for myself (182cm), I had easily enough knee room, toe space and headroom to be comfortable for hours in the back. With it slid forward, that wasn’t the case - but it’s arguably only going to be used like that if you have younger children in boosters or baby capsules, anyway.
Either way, it’s a good compromise, one that many competitors can’t offer. Not even the HR-V (though it has Magic Seats which are amazing in their own right).
The back seat amenities are a mixed bag. There are two USB ports for keeping devices charged up, as well as a pair of map pockets on the seat backs, and a pair of large door pockets. Unlike some more expensive VW models, those pockets aren’t lined, though, and that’s a bit annoying as things will move around in them, as they’re not shaped for bottles.
There are no cup holders, no fold-down armrest, and no rear ceiling-mount grab handles. So it really depends what you prioritise when it comes to the back seat experience.
The front cabin is very familiar to those who have sat in a VW over, say, the past five years. It’s a well designed and very ergonomically smart space, with everything falling to hand just as you’d expect.
The media screen is excellent - an 8.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android auto, but not sat nav as standard (optional). There are knobs and buttons on either side, so it’s easy to find your way around the screen, and the menus are logical, too.
Storage includes a pair of small cup holders between the front seats, a covered centre bin, a decent glovebox, and a storage tray on the dash top. There’s also a storage caddy in front of the gear selector, which houses a wireless phone charger pad, and also two more USB ports. And just like the rear, the front door pockets are large but unlined, though at least up front you get padded elbow pads on the doors.
The steering wheel is lovely, and the optional pack with the upgraded sound system and digital driver info screen is worth the money, if you ask me. It adds to that technical, Teutonic feeling that you get in VW products, and helps align the interior nicely to the already excellent standard of perceived quality - even if there are plenty of hard plastics used.
There are some particularly strange things about the HS’s cabin when it comes to practicality.
The seats are perhaps the biggest issue. Not only are they clad in a cheap feeling vinyl, but the seating position is very high, and you hardly sink into the seat base, leaving you with the impression you’re sitting on the car rather than in it. Weird.
Visibility is great out the sides of this car, but with the seating position the way it is, I feel like my head is close to the roof and the windscreen has a narrow letterbox aspect. This is complicated further by the rear vision mirror, which sticks a fair way down into your field of view.
The front of the cabin feels plenty wide enough, though, and there are some other practicality wins, like the multimedia screen which is easily within reach.
Its limited resolution is a benefit here, with the touch elements being big and easy to reach while you’re concentrating on the road, but the stock software is clumsily laid out and slow, taking a full second or two to react to some interactions.
This is especially notable as the entire climate system is operated via the touchscreen.
The cabin offers up decent storage. There are big bottle holders in the doors as part of a larger bin, and there are a further two large bottle holders in the centre console with a removable divider.
The armrest box opens to reveal a small storage area, which also has an internal vent for the air-conditioning.
Under the shortcut buttons up front there’s a flip-open tray with two USB outlets and a 12V port, but this little opening is so tiny it’s no good to store any kind of object. It’s also impossible to close the flip cover if you have something plugged in.
The rear seat is one of the HS’s best attributes. Compared to even the front seats, the rear passenger space is enormous, with ample width, headroom, and legroom.
The seats can recline slightly, and amenities are even impressive with two pockets on the backs of the front seats, large bottle holders in the doors, dual adjustable air vents, and two USB ports for rear passengers.
Of special note is the strangely lavish drop-down centre armrest, which is clad in soft trim and has a flip-open tray and dual bottle holders.
Rear seat space comes at a bit of a cost to boot capacity, though. The HS offers 451 litres, which is a little off-the-pace for the mid-size SUV segment. The rear seats intrude into the space a fair bit, and the floor is quite high.
It fit our three-piece CarsGuide luggage set, but only just, and it required removing the retractable luggage cover. Unlike the top-spec Essence, the Excite does not have a power tailgate.
No spare wheel in +EV versions of the HS, with the underfloor space housing a repair kit and a small cutaway for charging paraphernalia.
With a starting price of $27,990 MSRP (before on-road costs), the VW T-Cross is priced close to a number of key competitors in the small SUV segment.
It’s up against the likes of the Honda HR-V (from $24,990, VTi auto) Mitsubishi ASX (from $25,990, ES auto), Nissan Qashqai (from $29,990, ST auto), so if brand cache is what you’re after in your small SUV, this compact semi-premium branded model is going to appeal.
It also has plenty of boast about when it comes to standard specs, with a comprehensive equipment list offered on all models.
Starting at the base model 85TSI Life, the list includes 16-inch alloy wheels, halogen headlights with LED daytime running lights, manual air-conditioning, wireless smartphone charger (Qi), four USB ports (2x front, 2x rear), black roof rails, a leather multi-function steering wheel, front fog-lights, automatic headlights and 8.0-inch multimedia system with app-connect functionality (Apple CarPlay and Android Auto phone mirroring), as well as Bluetooth connectivity.
The safety spec list is decent, as well. All T-Cross models come with a reversing camera, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, driver fatigue detection, parking sensors and low-pressure tyre indicator.
If you step up the budget a bit to the T-Cross 85TSI Style ($30,990 MSRP), you see the addition of 17-inch wheels, LED headlights, dual-zone climate control, keyless entry, push-button start, steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters, front sports seats and chrome exterior highlights.
The list price of the 110TSI Style model is yet to be determined (we’re expecting about $36K). But as well as a bigger engine, it’ll add some extra gear, such as 18-inch alloy wheels, dark tinted rear windows, gloss black door mirrors and model-specific interior trim finishes.
The Style grade additionally gains safety items such as adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, automatic high beams and rear cross-traffic alert. That gear can be added to the Life model for $1200.
There are two other packs available, both of which are fitted to the model you see in these pictures.
The ‘Sound and Vision’ pack ($1900) is available on all grades, and sees the addition of the brand’s excellent digital cockpit, plus onboard GPS sat nav, and a 300-watt premium sound system by Beats.
The ‘R-Line’ package (only on Style grades - $2500 for the 85TSI and $1900 for the 110TSI) upsizes the rims to 18-inches, plus adds gloss black body accents, aluminium pedals, a flat-bottom steering wheel, tinted rear windows, unique cloth upholstery, dark headlining and R-Line door scuff plates.
Curious about colours (or colors, depending on where you’re reading this)? There are a few to choose from, including: Pure White and Dark Petrol (dark blue) at no cost, then there are the metallic finishes ($600) including Energetic Orange, Limestone Grey, Reflex Silver and Reef Blue, and then there’s this “special colour”, Makena Turquoise Metallic ($800).
Curious about T-Cross accessories? There are several to choose from, including load sill protection plates, door sill protectors, tailgate garnish, roof rack bars, a roof cargo box, a bicycle carrier, ski/snowboard carrier, mudflaps, side steps, floor mats (rubber), cargo mat, cargo tray, weathershields and different rims.
MG now calls its plug-in hybrid cars +EV. It says this is to help demystify the technology, by showing it’s essentially a combustion vehicle, plus an electric vehicle component.
If you ask me, ‘plus EV’ is actually more confusing, but the point is this new version brings the price down once again.
This is because the plug-in version of the HS originally launched in 2021, only as the top-spec Essence. The Essence is still one of the most affordable plug-in hybrids you can buy in Australia, but the new mid-grade Excite trim we’re looking at for this review brings it down further.
Wearing a drive-away price-tag of $46,990, the strategy here is to offer the more expensive plug-in hybrid technology at the cost of a mid-grade self-charging hybrid RAV4.
Elsewhere the HS Excite competes with higher grades of the currently combustion-only Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage, but the big threat for this car will likely emerge in the form of the self-charging hybrid Haval H6 which launces in the coming months.
The HS is immediately impressive in terms of its raw numbers, though, with a massive 16.6kWh battery pack granting it a relatively long 63km purely electric driving range (although this is to the more lenient NEDC standard).
Aside from its electric features, there’s an appealing list of spec items included, with 17-inch alloy wheels, a 10.1-inch multimedia touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support, a 12.3-inch digital dash cluster, keyless entry with push-start ignition, six-way power seat adjust for the driver, heated front seats, dual-zone climate control, and a pretty good reversing camera.
What do you miss out on picking the more affordable Excite PHEV over the top-spec Essence? 18-inch alloys, a panoramic sunroof, improved seat trim, and, disappointingly, LED headlights. The Excite only ships with old-school halogen bulbs.
It’s also worth noting the hybrid RAV4s can be all-wheel drive at this price, while the +EV variants of the HS are front-drive only. Still, this mid-size SUV is one of the most affordable PHEVs on the market.
Powering the VW T-Cross will be two different engines.
At launch, and in our test car, is the 85TSI petrol engine, a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo unit with 85kW of power (at 5000rpm) and 200Nm of torque (from 2000-3500rpm). It is teamed exclusively to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, and only comes in front-wheel drive. It’s hardly fast, but can manage 0-100km/h in 9.9 seconds.
There’ll be a more powerful 110TSI motor soon. It has a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol-turbo with 110kW of power and 250Nm of torque. It also comes with a seven-speed dual-clutch auto and 2WD. It’s hardly a horsepower hero, but VW claims a 0-100km/h time of just 7.8sec for this variant.
So that means there’s no diesel, no four-wheel drive (4WD or 4Motion), nor all-wheel drive (AWD), and no hybrid, plug-in hybrid or electric variant, either.
The kerb weight for the 85TSI model is just 1240 kilograms, which is very light for a small SUV. The towing capacity is also a bit light, with an unbraked towing capacity of 630kg and a braked towing capacity of 1100kg.
This is where plug-in hybrids tend to get a bit complicated, so bear with us.
The MG HS +EV pairs a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine with an electric motor on the front axle. The two drive the front wheels via a new 10-speed traditional torque converter automatic transmission, instead of the dual-clutch which features in the combustion-only versions of this car.
The engine produces 119kW/250Nm on its own, while the electric motor produces 90kW/230Nm. The two combined produce 189kW/370Nm, making the +EV by far the most powerful HS on the market, capable of accelerating from 0-100km/h in 6.9 seconds.
Claimed fuel consumption for the T-Cross 85TSI is 5.4 litres per 100 kilometres - the claim is perhaps a little ambitious, as is often the case with Euro three-cylinder petrol engines.
But it does have start-stop technology and brake energy recuperation, and during my time in the T-Cross I’ve seen a return of 6.4L/100km across a mix of urban and country driving, as well as some long highway stints.
The HS +EV backs its electric features with a relatively large 16.6kWh battery pack, allowing it a purely electric driving range rated at 63km.
This is on the more lenient NEDC standard, though, and our car was reporting between 40–45km on a full charge. Still pretty good for a plug-in hybrid mid-size SUV.
As a result of this well-supported system, +EV versions of the HS have an official/combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 1.7L/100km, but as with all plug-in hybrids this will depend on how you use it.
On my week-long test, the car returned a figure of 3.9L/100km, with the caveat I did run it out of charge on more than one occasion. The HS’s turbocharged engine requires mid-grade 95RON unleaded.
Take a moment to appreciate this mid-sizer still used less fuel than a tiny hatchback, but charging is a less impressive story.
MG says the +EV will charge to 100 per cent from the reserve level in five ours on a 7.0kW charging connection, the only problem is the numbers don’t add up.
If you divide 16.6 by five you get 3.3kW, which is the actual charging rate. For a battery this big, that’s too slow. To put it in perspective, it’s only slightly faster than if you were to charge it up from a wall socket, and makes this car best for those who can trickle charge it at home.
Even dragging out your grocery shop to, say, 2.5 hours, will only net you half this car’s battery, making it inconvenient if you need to rely on public charging to get by.
The T-Cross drives like a Volkswagen. That might sound like a pretty obvious assertion, but the fact of the matter is that the German brand has a certain feel to the way its cars drive, and this little teeny weeny SUV drives rather similarly to some of the other members of the VW family, including much larger models.
That's one of the things I like most about the T-Cross. It drives bigger than it is. That means it feels substantial and considered on the road, not light (even though it is, at 1240kg) or small (though it is) and it doesn't feel like it'll get pushed around on the open road either.
Truly - I did more than 600 kilometres in the T-Cross, including a lot of highway and open road testing, and it feels substantial, refined and well resolved, which is something you can't necessarily say about a lot of its small SUV competitors.
It's impressive, but it isn't perfect.
The engine is good and offers a nice whoosh of midrange pulling power, but in stop-start traffic the throttle response - in combination with the dual-clutch auto and start-stop engine tech - can make for some frustratingly slow take-offs.
As speeds rise, it's a more enjoyable drive. The transmission shifts smoothly and smartly, and the engine response is ample, though up steeper hills you might wish for a touch more grunt, and the good news is the 110TSI model coming soon is bound to appease that desire.
The steering is nicely weighted and offers decent feel to the driver's hands, and you're never left second-guessing what will happen next.
The suspension is quite well sorted, though my test car's 18-inch alloy wheels and low profile tyres (Hankook Ventus Prime 215/45/18s) were a little sharp over less-than-perfect urban streets. It still rides well and copes with big lumps and bumps decently, but it can be a little jittery - though arguably any small SUV on 18s will have a similar criticism levelled at it.
Okay, so once you get past the weird seating position we mentioned earlier, it's immediately apparent this hybrid version of the HS is the best to drive in the range.
The powerful electric motor in this car makes it so much smoother and easier to drive than the combustion car. It’s got quiet, smooth acceleration and a nice gentle regen braking, and you never even need to worry about what the transmission is doing.
This 10-speed automatic is so smooth it’s hard to tell what it’s doing at any given time, an out-of-sight improvement over the dual-clutch automatics which appear elsewhere in the range.
Where the HS isn’t as impressive is in the steering. It’s nicely weighted but a bit vague when it comes to feeling. I’m not super confident of what the front wheels are doing, and I feel like it doesn’t handle the additional weight from the big battery pack particularly well.
It feels comparatively top-heavy with a tendency towards mild understeer when you push it, missing some of the confidence its more established rivals have.
The ride is mixed. It’s generally soft, so it’s comfortable over smaller bumps, but when you hit big ones, it is evident the ride lacks a bit of control, because it will bounce around, and feel a little unsettled.
This imbalanced ride and handling is one of MG’s weak spots generally, which is why I’m surprised the electric drivetrain is so sleek, even comparable to Toyota systems.
When it comes to controlling those electric driving functions the HS defaults to a hybrid mode, where it seems to use primarily electric drive at lower speeds, activating the engine automatically at higher speeds, or when the accelerator is more heavily applied.
The only issue I have with this mode is I’m not sure at times how or why it decides to run the engine. With rival systems you’ll get some kind of ‘eco’ indicator which gives you an idea of when the engine will activate, but in this car there’s just a percentage indicator on the dash, which isn’t too helpful.
Your only other drive mode option is to stick it in EV mode, which you can do via a button on the centre console. In this mode it will only use the electric motor, and it’s able to do this at quite high speeds, so even if you’ve got a bit of an expressway or something on your drive it won’t necessarily need combustion support. Meaning you can have genuinely fully electric driving if you’ve got somewhere to charge it up at either end.
There’s no combustion or charge mode like some plug-ins have, and there is also no way to control the regen braking, so it’s not as customisable as we’d like. And the regen tune is relatively mild, so it’s probably not as energy efficient as it could be, either.
Still, the hybrid systems are impressively smooth and as a result the +EV versions of the HS are simply the best in the range to drive by a solid margin.
The VW T-Cross scored a high five from ANCAP, with the maximum five-star crash test rating - confusingly, awarded in April 2020, but under 2019 criteria.
Even so it was seemingly very impressive in its performance when it came to front occupant protection (97 per cent), and it comes very well equipped on the safety front.
All models have auto emergency braking (AEB) that works at speeds from 5-250km/h, and it includes pedestrian and cyclist detection (4-80km/h), plus there’s a lane departure warning and lane keeping system that works at speeds of 60-200km/h. There’s also a reversing camera and parking sensors all around, and those sensors incorporate “Manoeuvre Braking”, which will auto-brake if a low speed impact is predicted (rear AEB).
The extra stuff you get in the optional pack for the Life (but standard on Style variants) includes blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, adaptive cruise control and automatic high-beam lights. It’s 2020, and in this writer’s opinion, additional safety spec shouldn’t be an optional extra - but at least it’s available, which is more than you can say for some others in this part of the market.
It also has the usual electronic nannies you’d expect, such as ABS, EBD, ESC, driver fatigue detection and even VW’s multi-collision brake system, which will slam the brakes on after an impact to lessen the potential for further damage.
It’s missing items such as speed sign recognition, driver facial detection, and rear seat reminder.
The T-Cross has six airbags (dual front, front side, full-length curtain) as standard, and there are dual ISOFIX child seat points in the back outer seats, as well as three top-tether baby seat attachment points.
Although the Excite is the more affordable of the two +EV variants, it doesn’t miss out on any of MG’s active ‘Pilot’ safety suite.
This means it scores all the key items, from auto emergency braking (detects pedestrians at up to 64km/h and vehicles at up to 150km/h), plus lane keep assist with lane departure warning, to the rear-facing items including blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.
It also scores adaptive cruise control, which late last year received an update making it a bit less twitchy than in launch form.
Six airbags and the expected array of electronic braking, stability, and traction aids appear, but while combustion-only versions of the HS wear a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating to the 2019 standards, the +EV versions are excluded from this rating as they arrived later.
VW Australia backs its models with a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty plan, which is equal to the majority of mainstream players in the market.
There’s also a couple of new service plans available, aimed at lowering the cost of ownership.
At the time of writing, the pricing for the brand’s “Care Plans” were pegged at $990 for three years/45,000km, or $1800 for five years/75,000km cover (VW says the first service is free).
If you compare that to the brand’s pay as you go offer (Assured Price Service), you’ll save $256 for three years, or $645 if you get the five-year plan. It’s well worth considering rolling into your finance plan.
There’s one year of roadside assist cover included for new VW products, but if you maintain your car with the brand, it renews up to nine further times, allowing 10 years of roadside cover.
MG has tweaked its ownership promise for its electrified models recently. While the brand generally follows in the footsteps of challenger brands like Kia by offering an ahead-of-the curve seven-year warranty, this has only just been extended to the +EV variants.
Strangely, there’s also a seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty for the high-voltage battery components, which is a bit different from the industry standard eight-year/160,000km warranty.
Capped price servicing has also been added covering the duration of the warranty. Each visit at 12 monthly or 10,000km intervals costs between $265 and $968, for a yearly average of $403.14.
Not expensive, but also not at the cheap end of the spectrum.