Volkswagen's Outback Competitor – The One We Won't Get

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

In North America, the Golf Alltrack will be Volkswagen’s sole offering in the “raised up station wagon” segment of pseudo-CUVs. Europe will get this Passat based version – but we got it first. Sort of.

Back in 2012, VW previewed a Passat Alltrack in New York of all places. While the concept wasn’t as rugged looking, it followed the same formula; an Outback competitor with German engineering (namely a diesel and a DSG gearbox as well as Haldex AWD).

A range of gasoline and diesel engines will be available, and a 6-speed manual can be had on lower trim levels. Otherwise, a 6-speed DSG is standard. Haldex AWD with an “offroad” mode is also mandatory – though it’s hard to imagine that it will be terribly effective on anything more rugged than a gravel driveway.





Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Izzy Izzy on Feb 20, 2015

    I must say, VW design is very appealing to me. Especially, compare to Infinity's on the previous post. Enough with the cartoonish looking cars already!

  • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Feb 20, 2015

    I mean we don't REALLY need this here. If you want a Euro AWD wagon thing with less than stellar reliability, the XC70 has you covered, and it's available in brown. It will cost the same or less to maintain than this VW, and will have a better interior. If you want smaller, get an A4 Allroad.

    • See 1 previous
    • TrailerTrash TrailerTrash on Feb 20, 2015

      @Sigivald just asking...but what was the final price for the Volvo?

  • Fahrvergnugen cannot remember the last time i cared about a new bmw.
  • Analoggrotto More useless articles.
  • Spamvw Did clears to my '02 Jetta front markers in '02. Had to change the lamps to Amber. Looked a lot better on the grey wagon.I'm guessing smoked is illegal as it won't reflect anymore. But don't say anything about my E-codes, and I won't say anything about your smoked markers.
  • Theflyersfan OK, I'm going to stretch the words "positive change" to the breaking point here, but there might be some positive change going on with the beaver grille here. This picture was at Car and Driver. You'll notice that the grille now dives into a larger lower air intake instead of really standing out in a sea of plastic. In darker colors like this blue, it somewhat conceals the absolute obscene amount of real estate this unneeded monstrosity of a failed styling attempt takes up. The Euro front plate might be hiding some sins as well. You be the judge.
  • Theflyersfan I know given the body style they'll sell dozens, but for those of us who grew up wanting a nice Prelude Si with 4WS but our student budgets said no way, it'd be interesting to see if Honda can persuade GenX-ers to open their wallets for one. Civic Type-R powertrain in a coupe body style? Mild hybrid if they have to? The holy grail will still be if Honda gives the ultimate middle finger towards all things EV and hybrid, hides a few engineers in the basement away from spy cameras and leaks, comes up with a limited run of 9,000 rpm engines and gives us the last gasp of the S2000 once again. A send off to remind us of when once they screamed before everything sounds like a whirring appliance.
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