Volkswagen's Golf Alltrack is more rugged for outdoorsy folks
Cars
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These days, if you wanna sell a sporty wagon to an American driver, you've first gotta dress it up in a little SUV drag.
That's the lesson that Subaru learned years ago and one that Volkswagen is only just starting to understand with, this, its Subie slayer.
It's the 2017 Volkswagen Golf All Track.
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So you take a reasonably sporty wagon, raise the ride height by a bit, add some body colliding and roof rails Maybe make all wheel drive standard and charge a little bit more for the whole affairs, and the active lifestyle types will come running.
That's why all of my friends that wrinkle their nose at wagons and hatchbacks like Subaru's Impreza keep coming at me, telling me how interested they are in Subaru's cute little crosstrack SUV.
It's the same car.
And so the vehicle formerly known as the Jetta Sportwagen has become the Golf Alltrack after an iteration or two.
And Volkswagen will probably sell quite a few more of them as a result.
Now, the changes from Sportwagon to All Track start with an increase in ride height of 0.6 inches, bringing the overall ground clearance to 6.9 inches.
Now, that's not a whole lot of lift but the body colliding makes it look like a bit more and I think a lot of people are really just interested in the image.
They've also made the 4MOTION all-wheel drive system standard which is technically an all time all-wheel drive system because its default split is 90 to the front and 10% power to the rear.
However, if it detects slip or if you put it in its offroad program with the drive selector here, you can get up to a 50-50 split up toward front to rear.
Now under the hood we've got the same 1.8 liter turbo making 170 horsepower and 199 pound bead of torque.
That's the same engine that you'll find in pretty much every base model Golf of this generation.
And it's a pretty good engine, with really good power.
And it's made it here with a 6 speed dual clutch automatic transmission or an optional 6 speed manual
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Now the tech is also proving that borrowed from the rest of the Golf line up.
And there's not a whole to talk about in this base S model here but with standard [INAUDIBLE] and apple car play, this system is better than a lot of it's competitions upgraded systems, we'll talk more about that In a separate video.
On the road, the golf ball track doesn't lose a step in the transition to the taller ride height and still feels as fun to drive as the standard golf sport wagon.
The turbo charged engine has a really good responsive throttle feel and the steering has an excellent feel to it.
To it.
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Now the off road performance didn't really impress me, I find that it's a pretty good trail car, but not much more than that.
It'll get you down that rutted dirt road towards your favorite beach or maybe up a snowy slope to your favorite skiing spot, but I wouldn't really do much more off roading than that.
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And relative to its natural enemy, the Subaru Crosstrek, the Golf actually comes out looking pretty good.
It's got better power, better tech in it, it's a lot more fun to drive on the road, even though I think the Subaru has a bit of an off road advantage.
However, Subaru did just unveil a new generation Crosstrek that I think might level the playing field That'll be interesting to watch.
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The 2017 Volkswagen Golf Alltrack is available in S, SE, and SEL trim levels.
Ranging from around $31,000 to $33,000 before options.
And it's a cruise missile, aimed squarely at Subaru's surfboard and mountain biking set.
Should Subaru be scared?
Well, maybe not.
The newly unveiled Crosstrek looks like a more than worthy adversary for this one right here, but we won't know for sure.
And so we can pit that new Crosstrek head to head with the Alltrack.
Until then, Subaru's definitely gonna wanna keep a close eye on the Germans, and so should you.
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