Passat Alltrack availability in Australia?

[Guest001]

Just to make you all jealous NZ has had them for a while I was over there last month and looked at them in Christchurch.

Personally I wouldnt buy one for a tow car for two reasons.

1 I would never tow anything that weighed more than the tow vehicle

2 The allowable ball weight which cuts out most Aussie designed vans or heavy trailers

European vans are designed differently and have much lower ball weights than Aussie vans.

I realise you want to tow a horse float but same applies

They are still just a Passat with wider mudguard rolls and the extras. Hardly look higher than mine so wouldnt class it as an offroad vehicle in any way as far as body is concerned.

Recently I took mine over a large badly angled driveway and it creaked and now have a rattle in the dashboard.

Would hate to take it to Birdsville ROFL

[Marakai]

Well, I'd have to partially agree: anybody getting this with the idea of doing seriously off-roading without having to shell out for a full-bore SUV is deluding themselves.

However, with the atrocious decay of roads here in Victoria thanks to years of govt inaction (both Lib and Lab), the vehicle should be coming into its own as "basic unsealed surface and bad quality sealed surface" vehicle.

I'm aware of the ball weight, though not an issue in this case, as I'm also looking at a German trailer who are far more balanced than the towable-tanks you get made here (as you mentioned). Even so, I've decided a while ago that for serious towing I'll just buy an old used Landcruiser for just that purpose (i.e. towing 2 big horses). For single horse trailing (that midnight emergency trip to the vet with a colicking horse) I have no concerns about weight (that Alltrack is a massive bugger).

Just to make you all jealous NZ has had them for a while I was over there last month and looked at them in Christchurch.

Personally I wouldnt buy one for a tow car for two reasons.

1 I would never tow anything that weighed more than the tow vehicle

2 The allowable ball weight which cuts out most Aussie designed vans or heavy trailers

European vans are designed differently and have much lower ball weights than Aussie vans.

I realise you want to tow a horse float but same applies

They are still just a Passat with wider mudguard rolls and the extras. Hardly look higher than mine so wouldnt class it as an offroad vehicle in any way as far as body is concerned.

Recently I took mine over a large badly angled driveway and it creaked and now have a rattle in the dashboard.

Would hate to take it to Birdsville ROFL

[drad81]

I don't plan on towing anything more than a tonne or taking it off road. My thinking is more that with our first baby on the way, the higher clearance would make it easier to load/unload the kid from the back seat without having to bend to much.

For those of you who have had kids, am I wasting my money on the Alltrack? will the standard Wagon suffice?

[brad]

We had "normal" vehicles like U13 Bluebird, Commodore S, Camry Wagon plus taller stuff like Avensis Verso, Captiva, etc when the 2x kids were in capsules / babyseats.

If it's just 1 child it will be in the middle of the back seat, so you generally have to climb in & kneel on the seat anyway.

When we had the "normal" cars I didn't keep wishing for something taller. The main reason we went to small people movers / 7 seat SUVs was because we had a need to transport more people around occassionally.

NB: Our current family truckster is a Gen5 Outback wagon & I find the high seats a bit of a pain. It would be nice if it squatted down about 100mm when it was stationary (or belting along the motorway).

[Guest001]

I don't plan on towing anything more than a tonne or taking it off road. My thinking is more that with our first baby on the way, the higher clearance would make it easier to load/unload the kid from the back seat without having to bend to much.

For those of you who have had kids, am I wasting my money on the Alltrack? will the standard Wagon suffice?

There is only about 30mm extra in the height

Hardly noticeable I would think

[Inego]

NB: Our current family truckster is a Gen5 Outback wagon & I find the high seats a bit of a pain. It would be nice if it squatted down about 100mm when it was stationary (or belting along the motorway).

Over the Gen4 they took ground clearance up by 30mm and also raised the roof height, which gave it a similar road presence to a CX-7.

And, to me, was also pretty stupid, and turned me towards a vehicle which stayed true to the "wagon with more ground clearance" ethos, rather than the "not quite an SUV" one....

[brad]

Over the Gen4 they took ground clearance up by 30mm and also raised the roof height, which gave it a similar road presence to a CX-7.

And, to me, was also pretty stupid, and turned me towards a vehicle which stayed true to the "wagon with more ground clearance" ethos, rather than the "not quite an SUV" one....

I'll take your word for it.
The Gen5, which I think is the ugliest mofo of a car to grace our roads, is the wifes company supplied drive. She inherited it off her predessor & had no choice in the purchase.

Having said all that, when you are sitting in it, you don't have to look at it & it's a pretty good drive on dirt roads with family on board & bikes hanging off the back. The 2.5 delivers good usable power.

[Inego]

I'll take your word for it.

?

The CX-7 thing was something I noticed in a carpark, not something that has been promoted. But, as a Gen4 owner, it was hard to see who was asking for the extra clearance - surely they'd buy a proper SUV? They did increase the track so, supposedly, the centre of gravity is similar for Gen4 and 5.

Admittedly, headroom wasn't the Gen4's strong point, so was increased across the range.

For me, the 2.5 was OK (certainly better than the bloody awful gearshift to row it with), but my 2.0TDI is much better.

[FSI 220]

[EDIT]

I may sound like a moron but this all just went WHOOSH over my head! Probably because the novated leasing structure is new to me here in Australia (I'd only ever leased a car twice in my life before, once in Germany, once in the US).

Could you rephrase that in terms that I understand? ("Marakai go dealer! Marakai no hit on cute sales lady! Marakai get paper! Marakai go home, click button on funny computer thing!")

Basically you can simulate roughly what you are going to have to pay on the leaseplan system (which i assume you have access to)... Pick a Highline diesel and in "retail" (normal pricing) option it up to what the Alltrack is going to be... then in the leaseplan system, pick the Highline diesel and load in the same options, it will give you the rough discounts (in capital costs) and simulate the running costs (tyres and diesel will be similar) etc, you will get back the monthly pre and post tax contributions etc.

Once you have a "quote" go see a dealer and ask them to blind quote in the leaseplan format then you can see if they are hungrier than the default leaseplan quote (all the items will line up so you can compare). I have built a relationship with my fleet manager, as it is a multi dealer I can pick out of five brands (same fleet manager). Oh, and if you do see my fleet manager ... hands off... I need her around in a year or so, last thing I need is her on Maternity leave

And as for the 30mm, it will make all the difference if it is your only car...my V6 barely made it through to the farm [I]on two week old graded tracks[I] one "rains" and forget it. And fully loaded it was landing hard on the mudflaps and the spats (they were polishing up at the inner lip) at 100+ km an hour. The four motion traction was good, but the 30mm will allow you to go touring through national parks etc. As we have the big ol toyota for towing and touring we could get away with it...

If I am looking at the Passat in a year or two's time, it will likely be the Alltrack.

Good luck with it

[Marakai]

Basically you can simulate roughly what you are going to have to pay on the leaseplan system (which i assume you have access to)... Pick a Highline diesel and in "retail" (normal pricing) option it up to what the Alltrack is going to be... then in the leaseplan system, pick the Highline diesel and load in the same options, it will give you the rough discounts (in capital costs) and simulate the running costs (tyres and diesel will be similar) etc, you will get back the monthly pre and post tax contributions etc.

Gotcha - that's actually precisely what I had some months back to use as baseline with my accountant for her number crunching, comparing to flat payoff or financing.

Once you have a "quote" go see a dealer and ask them to blind quote in the leaseplan format then you can see if they are hungrier than the default leaseplan quote (all the items will line up so you can compare). I have built a relationship with my fleet manager, as it is a multi dealer I can pick out of five brands (same fleet manager).

Is this "game" worth it with any of the regular dealers? I would never expect to get a deal better than a novated lease, due to their fleet purchase power. And so far I've not dealt with any other fleet managing dealers. Does your "regular dealer have a fleet manager who works there, generally?

Oh, and if you do see my fleet manager ... hands off... I need her around in a year or so, last thing I need is her on Maternity leave

Hottie, eh? It's important to have good relationships with people you do business with, but probably not THAT good. The other half would likely disapprove.

And as for the 30mm, it will make all the difference if it is your only car...my V6 barely made it through to the farm [I]on two week old graded tracks[I] one "rains" and forget it. And fully loaded it was landing hard on the mudflaps and the spats (they were polishing up at the inner lip) at 100+ km an hour. The four motion traction was good, but the 30mm will allow you to go touring through national parks etc. As we have the big ol toyota for towing and touring we could get away with it...

Yep. I'll also harp on the declining quality of Australian (at least Victorian) *sealed* roads.