There’s grand irony that the best part about the now locally launched 2016 Volkswagen Golf Alltrack, the small wagon so obviously aping sport utility vehicle appeal, is that it’s not at all like an SUV. At least, that is, on the balance of the user experience.
It’s the risk you run when you ‘crossover’ multiple themes in a single vehicle: one theme may dominate the other. And in engineering what Volkswagen Australia calls the “appeal of SUV attributes†blended with “wagon body style practicalityâ€, the Alltrack couldn’t escape its small-estate roots.
The 20mm ride height hike, the plastic exterior garnish, the underbody bash guards, the 4Motion all-wheel drive with dedicated off-road drive mode trickery â€" few stones were left unturned trying to make a Golf as SUV-like as possible. But as backhanded failures go, it’s turned out to be a stunning win.
Not only does that Alltrack drive, handle and ride better than most small SUVs, it’s as utilitarian in moving families as many medium SUVs, especially when swallowing cargo.
There’s a lot to love, even though that, at $37,990, it’s a pricey Golf â€" supplanting the 2.0-litre 110TDI Highline by $1000 as the most expensive small VW wagon you can buy short of the mega-performance R Wolfsburg Edition flagship.
Suitably, then, the goodness starts under the bonnet, the newly introduced EA888 1.8-litre turbo petrol four which, at 132kW, is the most powerful engine fitted to a non-performance Golf. With peak power arriving at just 4500rpm, and its dual (port and direct) injection conspiring to a maximum 280Nm torque spread that clocks on at 1350rpm and holds steady until 4500rpm, its characteristically diesel-like in delivery, but sans the terrible rattle the afflicts most four-cylinder oilers. Very car-like, then.
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