Comfort glider in the test: VW Passat Alltrack 2.0 TDI SCR 4Motion
It’s a new record. 6.300.000 vehicles were sold by Volkswagen last year. Contrary to the general industry trend, an increase of half a percent was achieved. If only that were also true for the VW Passat Alltrack 2.0 TDI SCR 4Motion would apply.
Because against all the Tiguan, Touareg, T-Roc and T-Cross, the venerable Passat is fighting a bit of a losing battle. Whereas it used to account for a good quarter of all sales, its importance is dwindling – most recently it accounted for just 10 percent of sales.
One wonders: What else should a car be able to do than a Passat Variant?? To make it easier for customers to answer this question, VW launched the Alltrack in the last model series. A kind of high-legged station wagon, designed to combine the benefits of top seating with a dash of off-road looks and better comfort. With the facelift of the current model series, the Alltrack is now entering its third generation – time for evocars to take a closer look at the jacked-up version of the old bestseller.
More comfortable than Comfort
The best thing about the mode button next to the DSG lever is not the pre-set Comfort, Normal, Sport or Offroad variants, no, it’s the individual setting, which is quite something. For the DCC adaptive chassis control system, the setting slider still extends beyond the Comfort position. Softer than soft. And so it is exactly the right setup for the green big station wagon.
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In the long seventh gear, even the two-liter TDI whispers only slightly audibly through the double-glazed side windows, the music plays wonderfully powerful from the Dynaudio surcharge sound system, and the ErgoComfort seat massages the tension out of the driver’s back. This is the way to travel in the VW Passat Alltrack 2.0 TDI SCR 4Motion describe well.
Its name is just as bulky as the luggage that the Alltrack patiently loads when required. 1769 liters with the rear seat folded down, with five people in the car, it is still a mighty 639 liters, which brings the raised Alltrack just like his brother, the Passat Variant, behind the tailgate.
But it was all like this even before the facelift. So what has really changed aside from the subtle front and rear changes?
Light falls directly on the eye. At the rear, the LED taillights are more streamlined and feature a finer light graphic. At the front, there was even a new name: IQ.Light – a gentle reminder of the new clever all-electric from Wolfsburg. The matrix LED headlight system has also been restyled a bit, the 44 individual LEDs per headlight have also been given better software and a new arrangement once again.
The IQ.Light can be taken as a reference
And so the Alltrack then also leaves nothing to burn at night. The light carpet in front of the car is really impressive and the fading out of drivers ahead as well as oncoming vehicles works excellently and over the entire test period without a single flash of other road users. Particularly inspiring again and again: when the Passat on the highway still lights up in front of the vehicle in front.
Although the surcharge in the driver assistance package is steep at 2750 EUR, but here is now also the Travel Assist with the full assistance sensors included and which represents an extension of the previous traffic jam assistant. Supported the latter just once up to 60 km/h are it with the Travel Assist in the VW Passat Alltrack 2.0 TDI SCR 4Motion now a maximum of 210 kilometers per hour, which it can drive “autonomously. Officially, the assistant is considered autonomy level 2 of 5. But overall it works very well, the competition from Munich, Stuttgart and Ingolstadt can’t do any better in their respective price segments.
Also higher in price level
Which brings us to the biggest criticism of the VW Passat Alltrack 2.0 TDI SCR 4Motion would be: the dear money. 71.645 EUR costs the admittedly fully equipped test car. But even the 47.800 EUR base price is not exactly a special offer. At the end of the day it’s a four-cylinder diesel Passat – say some people.
The others, however, who say that it does not need more. The 190hp pushes the big station wagon confidently through everyday life and if necessary intermediate sprints on the highway or high cruising speeds are easily doable. So you don’t really have to understand why everyone goes for the SUV. The elegance and sovereignty of the large station wagon cannot be matched by the pseudo SUVs. Especially in terms of ride comfort and general handling, the VW Passat Alltrack 2.0 TDI SCR 4Motion in any situation that a lower center of gravity and a clever combination of soft damping and large tire sidewall can provide a ride comfort almost forgotten.
This is why the Alltrack is a real insider tip. It can do everything and do it very well. Therefore you should always have it on your mind.
Model: VW Passat Alltrack 2.0 TDI SCR 4Motion
Engine: four-cylinder series diesel, 1.968 cc
Power: 190HP (140kW)
Torque: 400 Nm at 1.900-3.300rpm
Drive: All-wheel drive, seven-speed dual-clutch transmission
Consumption (NEDC): 5.1 l diesel/100km
Test consumption: 7.1 l diesel/100km
Acceleration (0 – 100km/h): 7,7s
Top speed: 223km/h
Dimensions (L/W/H): 4,88m/1,85m/1,53m
Weight: 1.725kg
Base price: 47.800 Euro