Volkswagen is teasing its subcompact T-Roc crossover yet again in a video that takes us behind the scenes of the new model’s design process. In addition to giving us another glimpse at the upcoming crossover, the video reveals that the T-Roc will debut August 23.
The video starts with designers sketching the T-Roc by hand. We then see computer-generated renderings of the interior, and the VW designers walk us through its various styling cues and themes before cutting to shots of the full-scale clay model and miniatures. You can make out many of the new B-segment crossover’s details in this video, including a full LCD Virtual Cockpit instrument cluster borrowed from sister brand Audi. This is our most revealing official look at the Volkswagen T-Roc yet, but then again we’ve already seen it fully uncovered in spy shots.
As we’ve previously reported, the T-Roc will ride on Volkswagen’s MQB platform and offer a range of turbocharged gasoline and diesel engines in Europe. We still don’t know if the T-Roc will be offered in the U.S., but given this market’s insatiable appetite for crossovers, it seems like a strong possibility.
The Volkswagen T-Roc makes its official debut August 23, so stay tuned for more details on VW’s new small CUV.
I have made a terrible mistake. To understand what, we have to back up a couple of months, before my now 4-month-old son, Richard, was born. Executive editor Mark Rechtin was trying to assign me a new long-term vehicle. In an email subjected “Durango Dad” Mark wrote: “Figured you might need something a bit more kid-friendly than the long-term Hellcat you’re getting out of. Arriving this week is the new Durango. Seems like that might make a good fit for your situation, yes?” Mark was thinking very logically, but of course I’ve made a career out of being an obstinate weirdo. So no thank you, I’m not going to be a Durango Dad. I elected instead to wait until our 2017 Truck of the Year long-termer showed up, a two-tone Ford F-250 King Ranch 4×4. Call me Super Duty Dad!
I like having slightly left-of-center long-term vehicles. Helps me think of interesting things to do with them. My first was a Cadillac CTS-V Wagon with a six-speed manual. I drove that dreamboat across 11 States, plus Germany and Holland. After that I had a Jaguar F-Type R—the 2015 model, the only year that the 550-horsepower monster was rear-wheel drive—and I can still show you where some tire marks are. The Charger Hellcat, well, a 707-hp family sedan speaks for itself, doesn’t it? I also had a Volvo S60 T5, but all I can remember about that car are the seats. They were exceptional. The point is, I figured that a 4-ton (8,020 pounds on our scales), 21-foot behemoth with 925 lb-ft of torque would make the perfect late-night diaper runner. You know what? I was right. For about three weeks.
When Richard was not quite 2 months old, we moved into our new home. At our old house I could have easily parked a fleet of Super Duties, no problem. That old dump was parking Nirvana, so to speak. The new pad? Well, the listing read: “At the end of a cul-de-sac on a private street.” It turns out that’s relator speak for: “At the narrow dead end of a street not maintained by the city of Los Angeles.” Although the whole family loves the new digs, I am slightly less in love with the big Ford. About 100 of its 250 inches sticks out onto said “private street” when the F-250 is in our tiny driveway. Did I mention that this is the short wheelbase Super Duty Crew Cab? The long wheelbase version is 16 inches longer! True, I can park it in front of the house, but then I have to back it all the way down a kinked, narrow hill and then roll out half-blind and backwards onto a busy, four-lane street. What I’ve been doing is parking it at the bottom of the hill and walking up. Did I mention that today was a record high temperature for downtown L.A.?
Obviously, none of the above is the truck’s fault. After all, part of the reason we unanimously voted it our 2017 Truck of the Year was because of its mighty capabilities, such as being able to carry 7,630 pounds in its bed. That’s more than many trucks and SUVs can tow! Those big ole capabilities are strongly correlated to the Super Duty’s bulk, its mass, and its sheer supertruck scale. There’s nothing wrong with the F250. The problem is all me. Well, it’s all my house, but you get what I’m trying to say.
Parking woes aside, I dig everything else about “my” new ride. At $78,355 I’m riding around in the ludicrously decadent King Ranch version sitting up high above it all. That’s $19,405 in options! Yes, everything’s wrapped in leather. Really nice leather, I should add. Can I get enough of the giant, panorama sunroof? Hell no! What’s that? Your truck doesn’t have heated, cooled, and massaging seats? Are you sure it’s really a truck? As for what I’m going to be doing with my big, difficult but not-too-difficult-to-park, yearlong rolling brute squad, stay tuned. But I’m thinking a road trip is definitely in order.
Ford is celebrating 100 years in the truck business. Its Model TT (Model T Truck?) began production on July 27, 1917. It was the company’s first mass-produced, dedicated 1-ton truck chassis (a lighter-duty Model T roadster pickup body had been available, and aftermarket entrepreneurs had been making heavier trucks out of Model Ts for years). Powered by the same 2.9-liter 20-hp four-banger/two-speed manual planetary transmission powertrain, it shouldered heavier loads by using far lower gearing that trimmed top speed to 18 mph. The company learned plenty during the 10 years spent building 1.3 million TTs. Those learnings informed its successors, the Model AA 1.5-ton truck (1927-1932), Model BB (’32-’34), and others leading up to World War II. By 1941 Ford had sold over 4 million trucks, but it was the post-war suburban expansion boom that really revved up Ford’s truck business and led to the introduction of the F-series, starting with 1948’s F-1. On the occasion of Ford Trucking’s centennial birthday, the company offered rides in a pristine 1950 F-1 that amply illustrated how incredibly far Ford F-Series trucks have come.
Regular Five Star Cab!
Today it is likely possible to build several million F-150 trucks, each featuring a unique combination of bed and cab lengths, trim levels, powertrains, and option loading. But in the F-1 days, a single bench-seat cab design served all Ford trucks, including the 3-ton-rated F-8 cab-over model. This first-gen F didn’t get a second, more deluxe trim level offering until 1951 when the standard Five Star Cab was joined by a Deluxe Five Star Extra Cab. The Extra didn’t add length, only sybaritic spiffs such as foam seat padding, extra sound-deadening material, bright metal trim around the windshield and vent windows, an argent-finished grille bar, locks and armrests on both doors, two-toned seat upholstery, a dome light, and twin horns. That gigantic steering wheel lowers steering effort but demands zillions of turns to negotiate a tight corner or U-turn.
Heater, Radio, and Turn Signals were Options
Ford’s little red F-1 features a Yankee turn signal and an auxiliary cab heater that we believe Firestone manufactured. (The Ford and Firestone families were intermarried, so why not?).
Art Deco Dash
For such a basic interior, the remarkably complete gauge cluster (speedometer, odometer, fuel, oil pressure, coolant temperature, and charging-system voltage meters) is beautifully designed, and it looks a bit like a small radio of the period.
Flatty V-8
Open the big hood (by pulling on the chrome bar in its left air intake hole) to reveal the 239-cubic-inch flat-head Ford V-8. That puny two-barrel carb and heady 6.4:1 compression were good for a hot 100 horses and 176 lb-ft of torque. They’re routed to the rear wheels via a three-on-the-floor transmission with a nonsynchronized first gear and a clutch that engages right at the top of its lengthy travel and with considerable chatter these days. But once engaged, the little V-8 pulls reasonably strongly with a low, quiet rumble. It’s no EcoBoost twin-turbo, but it feels up to the task of whisking your Larson boat up to the lake.
Who Needs Jumper Cables?
Should the battery die or the starter fail, the venerable flathead V-8 was apparently still capable of being crank started. Stare down the silver hole in the lowest bar of the grille, and you’ll notice it lines up with a similar hole in the radiator support and points right at a bolt in the center of the main fan pulley. Righty-tighty should start it—just don’t close your thumb over the crank in case it backfires.
Wooden Bed Floor
That’s no over-restoration flourish, they came with wooden beds, and a glance under the truck confirms that it’s not just mounted inside a steel box. Be sure to keep up with the periodic varnishing maintenance (and termite treatments?).
Analogue Tailgate “Latches”
We take opening a tailgate for granted these days, expecting single-latch releases and dampers to slow the gate’s descent and/or assist raising it. In the F-1 era, you removed a hook, slid the large chain link out of the way and reinserted the hook, and then repeated the same on the other side before lowering the gate. Don’t forget to rehook the chains, or the nicely painted tailgate will bang into the bumper and become dented and scratched.
Easy-Dent Single-Wall Bed
Every pickup these days is either made of composite material or offers inner and outer sheetmetal panels so that dimples on the inside don’t look like pimples from the outside. But in the F-1 era, you got single-wall steel construction. Oh, and forget about cargo management systems. There were no tie-down hooks (unless you drilled and screwed them eyelets into the wood floor yourself). There were four stake holes, though, if you wanted to raise the sides of the bed a bit.
Ford Truck fun facts
Ferrari named an F1 car F150 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian reunification. Ford objected
First 4×4 factory offering was 1959
The Ford F-Series truck from 1961-1963 had unibody construction! It required fewer stampings, fewer welds, and was less complicated to paint. It also increase load space by 16 percent.
Ranger was the King Ranch of F-100s in 1965
Fifth- gen F-series (’67-’72) was produced in Brazil from ’71-’92!
F-150 name inspired by increasing GVWR to 6,000 pounds as a dodge of catalytic converter requirements
First factory-assembled pickup truck was built on April 15, 1925.
The longest-running component that was constantly used on every single pickup and remained unchanged during the F-Series era was the front bumper – from 1959 to 1979.
Sam Walton, founder of Walmart and one of the richest men in America, drove a 1964 Ford Pickup until approximately 1988, and then he bought a 1979 F-150 Custom 4×4 to drive to work every day until he died in 1992.
When introduced for 1948, The F-1 was built at all 16 U.S. assembly plants that also built Ford cars. In 1956, with trucks becoming more specialized and the opening of the Detroit Truck Plant, Ford started consolidating truck production to fewer plants. Beginning in the late 1970s, Ford split its North American assembly groups into car and truck. Today, only two plants build all F-150’s globally—the Kansas City Assembly Plant in suburban Claycomo, Missouri, and the Dearborn Truck Plant near Dearborn, Michigan.
