Passat Alltrack vs Subaru Liberty X

[aware]

To the OP, you haven't exactly specified what you need in a car. only then can you start actually working out which is better for your needs. Also, Subaru quick in responding to VW? Might want to check a vehicle called the Outback. Been on sale for a just a year or 15+

My wife drives a 2 year old Outback Premium 2.5 CVT. I think it's the most under-appointed, overpriced eyesore to grace our roads. The only thing it's got going for it is the drivetrain & a fantastic ability on dirt roads (not offroad just country dirt roads. That's when the GeoSquealers finally stop screaming & aquaplaning.

The sound system is rubbish, the projector headlights are just halogens (and pretty lousy), the seats are uncomfortable.

Renowned Subaru reliability? Oh please! I had a Gen2 2.5DOHC. What a piece of underpowered, unreliable rubbish. I know more than a a couple of handfuls of Gen4 owners too. So many engine rebuilds in both 4cyl & 6cyl types. Faffed out LCAs, unfixable creaky back windows, dampers like marshmallows, not enough cogs in the gearbox, sound systems that stop working & no aftermarket available, etc

. C&I - The authoritative source of car ownership information.

[drad81]

The market they are targeting, IMHO, is on those people who wants a luxury car, but wants a bit of extra height for ease of getting in and out of the car and loading kids, a higher driving height to have that bit of extra security. ie. the majority of SUV buyers.

Exactly the reason why I purchased one.

We're expecting our first kid in May and my wife has always liked the thought of an SUV because it would make loading kids in and out a lot easier. I've always like the wagon because the boot space is bigger than most SUV's in the same price range (see CX5 GT as an example). So it was a good compromise for us.

Not the only reason why we chose the Alltrack

Having owned an A4 quattro with a bit of work done to it, I was originally considering an R36 or even the B7 Passat V6 (AWD+powa!= ) but after reminding myself that I won't be zooming around with a kid in the back we had settled for the Passat Wagon 125 highline.

So while I was looking for the right colour and price for the highline, I heard about the Alltrack (and the fact that it's only $1800 more than the normal wagon) and ordered that. Subaru was an option at one stage but you can't compare the two in terms of interior quality and badge snobbery.

[VAG newbie]

To the OP, you haven't exactly specified what you need in a car. only then can you start actually working out which is better for your needs. Also, Subaru quick in responding to VW? Might want to check a vehicle called the Outback. Been on sale for a just a year or 15+

What we need, like most young families, is just a safe transport that meet our needs. The problem is our priority is very strange.

1. For my wife, she needs the city emergency brake ("eye sight" in Subaru). GPS, RVC, parking sensors, Xenon, plus 5 star NCAP safety rating. Basically, we won't compromise safety. For me, City EB is non essential, but my wife definitely wants it. Both Alltrack and Liberty X offers it. But Alltrack will be $8000 more than Liberty X if all these are optioned. For Outback, only the top of the range offers eye sight, it will be >$60k on road, way too expensive for a Subaru. That's Audi Q5 and BMW X3 range.

2. She wants something with raised height for ease of loading the kids. SUV is ideal, but Tourag is too expensive and Tiguan is too small. Alltrack and Liberty X meet the need. Many of you don't agree, but many average mums buy SUV simply because of the raised height. None of them will ever go off road. They just use SUV to pick up kids from school! In fact, this is one of the market that Alltrack is aim at according to a VW salesman.

3. I want beige interior. This has slashed every Japanese SUV at the $50k price range. Liberty X and Alltrack both come in beige. In QLD, when you park the car under the sun during summer, I can tell you, the black interior will make the cabin a microwave.

Few things that are desirable but not essential:
- Diesel: we love the torque and fuel efficiency. This Alltrack wins. But for $8000? Hmm...that will buy us a lot of fuel.
- Keyless start. This Liberty X wins.
- Power tailgate. Alltrack wins!
- RVC with guideline: Subaru claims they have it, but I suspect it's gonna be a fixed type not responding to steering. Alltrack wins.

It will be nice to have all that extra cargo space with the Alltrack, but at the same time we are not moving house everyday, if Liberty X's boot space will meet our need, then we might not need a wagon.

I am still waiting to test drive the Liberty X. Went to 3 dealers and neither has one in stock! One of the dealer has been trying to get me to sign the contract "subject to test drive of the car", and the other has never heard of Liberty X! Talk about bad service with VW/Skoda dealers, I don't think Subaru is any better!

[BAD WOG]

We have had in our family alone 2 outbacks, forester xs ( currently ) , sti , svx and everyone of them turn to **** after 100k.

My gf has a 2002 passat that puts all of them to shame with 165k on the clock and over 10yrs old.

If you plan to keep the car longer then 100k.... Go passat.

The interior starts off good then the plastic-ness comes out in it when bits rattle and bits come off.

No offense to Subaru fan boys ( why are you here if there are any here )

[brad]

What we need, like most young families, is just a safe transport that meet our needs. The problem is our priority is very strange.

1. For my wife, she needs the city emergency brake ("eye sight" in Subaru).

Had city emergency brake in the Mondeo. Saved us a few times but made the wife complacent, so she still ran up the arse of a HiAce in the rain while putting on make-up/eating breakfast/doing something else totally unrelated to the task of driving - as 99% of women tend to do. HiAce was undamaged, Mondeo had $1800 in damage - yay!!!

5 star NCAP safety rating

The difference between 5 star NCAP & 4 star NCAP may be as little as a seatbelt reminder light. You are far better off having a look at the daigrams of the dummies & seeing which parts of the body are green/orange/red.

2. She wants something with raised height for ease of loading the kids.

This is simply BS unless she is an amazon. I've been Mr.Mom for extended periods when both my kids were little. SUV is not a requirement & is a bit of a pain to be honest. I didn't experience any back issues or access issues with our various traditional sedans/wagons. The biggest aid was when we had the Avensis Verso with the sliding door. That was unreal in tight carparks (observe fat-arsed people trying to bolt their kids in place if the gap between the cars is a bit narrow). I'd suggest your wife do pilates or yoga & strengthen the core (will help the pelvic floor muscles too). Also, sit on the seat while you bolt them in.

Many of you don't agree, but many average mums buy SUV simply because of the raised height

. No, they buy them to look the same as all the other Mums. The first bloke that bought his missus a 4WD for the school run should be shot.3.

I want beige interior. This has slashed every Japanese SUV at the $50k price range. Liberty X and Alltrack both come in beige. In QLD, when you park the car under the sun during summer, I can tell you, the black interior will make the cabin a microwave.

What colour exterior are you looking at?

Few things that are desirable but not essential:
- Diesel: we love the torque and fuel efficiency. This Alltrack wins. But for $8000? Hmm...that will buy us a lot of fuel.
- Keyless start. This Liberty X wins.
- Power tailgate. Alltrack wins!
- RVC with guideline: Subaru claims they have it, but I suspect it's gonna be a fixed type not responding to steering. Alltrack wins.

Does not the Alltrack come with KESSY?
Reverse sensors? Rear camera? Guidelines that respond to steering inputs? How many aids do you need to carry out a simple reverse park?

It will be nice to have all that extra cargo space with the Alltrack, but at the same time we are not moving house everyday, if Liberty X's boot space will meet our need, then we might not need a wagon.

Wagons + Kids work really well together. Have you looked at a Skoda Superb (wagon or hatch) with 4-motion?

[FSI 220]

No offense to Subaru fan boys ( why are you here if there are any here )

Because when we grew up and needed the big SUV - Subaru offered the Tribeca...

and then, when the second car was due and thought that Liberty GT wagon would be the perfect step after the my98 WRX and 05FXT... they gave us something so hideous that even makes the Tribeca look like a bikini model

[Inego]

Because when we grew up and needed the big SUV - Subaru offered the Tribeca...

and then, when the second car was due and thought that Liberty GT wagon would be the perfect step after the my98 WRX and 05FXT... they gave us something so hideous that even makes the Tribeca look like a bikini model

Where's the nodding smilie? Although I never even considered a Tribeca.

[VAG newbie]

Had city emergency brake in the Mondeo. Saved us a few times but made the wife complacent, so she still ran up the arse of a HiAce in the rain while putting on make-up/eating breakfast/doing something else totally unrelated to the task of driving - as 99% of women tend to do. HiAce was undamaged, Mondeo had $1800 in damage - yay!!!

Fully agreed. I think it is useless. Sometimes the alarm beep will make you (or wife) panic, and step on the accelerator rather than brake causing bigger damage. It will be useful, though, for those that turn into a stunned mullet when they panic.

The difference between 5 star NCAP & 4 star NCAP may be as little as a seatbelt reminder light. You are far better off having a look at the daigrams of the dummies & seeing which parts of the body are green/orange/red.

True. We went and saw the new Outlander yesterday (they have the FCM, similar city safety stuff), but the panels feels like tin can. Even though it has 5 start ANCAP, it didn't offer a lot of reassurance.

This is simply BS unless she is an amazon. I've been Mr.Mom for extended periods when both my kids were little. SUV is not a requirement & is a bit of a pain to be honest. I didn't experience any back issues or access issues with our various traditional sedans/wagons. The biggest aid was when we had the Avensis Verso with the sliding door. That was unreal in tight carparks (observe fat-arsed people trying to bolt their kids in place if the gap between the cars is a bit narrow). I'd suggest your wife do pilates or yoga & strengthen the core (will help the pelvic floor muscles too). Also, sit on the seat while you bolt them in.

Again, I fully agree with you. But I can't convince my wife. We were trying on the B-class once (which is also higher than normal cars), and she actually fell and got herself stuck between the sits while trying to buckle the kids seatbelt. I had to pull her out! (She is only 55kg, 164cm tall, so she is not fat, in case you wonder how she got stuck)

What colour exterior are you looking at?

Don't really care, as long as the interior is beige. However, my wife is leaning towards a more female color like red, which unfortunately Passat doesn't offer. they only offer funeral colors = grey, dark, grey, silver, dark, silver, black and white! Autumn brown is the color we'd pick if we go with alltrack. Liberty X do offer more color though.

Does not the Alltrack come with KESSY?

No they don't. VW reserved it for Skoda. That's the only way Skoda will survive in OZ with the pricing they have for VW and Skoda.

Reverse sensors? Rear camera? Guidelines that respond to steering inputs? How many aids do you need to carry out a simple reverse park?

Park assist 2! It's not for me, for my wife. She really can't reverse/parallel park. The space has to be 10m wide for her to park it confidently.

Wagons + Kids work really well together. Have you looked at a Skoda Superb (wagon or hatch) with 4-motion?

I already own a Superb, so my wife doesn't want another one. Besides Skoda doesn't have RVC and third party one is too expensive and unreliable. I personally am leaning towards a standard FWD passat wagon as we don't really go off road and the raise height is a bulls**t anyway. This will save me $1800 and with a higher grade leather.

[VAG newbie]

Going on what you've said my pick would be a Diesel XC60 (I think you said you had one already). Has all the safety requirements and diesel and is a SUV. I wasn't trying to be an idiot by asking that question, just more along the lines that I personally wouldn't consider the Liberty X to be comparable.

Exactly! My wife is very happy with her current XC60, so I think most of our requirement is based on her current need. We thought of extending the the lease for an extra 2 years, but this will take out my joy of buying a new car, so I told her the maintenance cost will be too expensive as the car will approach 100,000km soon.

Because of the change in FBT, XC60 is becoming too expensive for us now, (Roughly extra $3-400/month out of pocket!) and the dealer is very reluctant to negotiate on factory order cars. Unfortunately with beige interior, we have to factory order, so we'd be expect to pay RRP, which I hate! Apparently Volvo don't do corporate discount either. They just offer 5 years free service.

After all these researches, we have come to an conclusion. If we want to save money, we have to sacrifice on some of our preferences and based on need. A budget SUV that comes with everything has to be Japanese or Korean. If we want something European, we have to pay the price, or give-up on the SUV and get a Wagon.

Now even looking into the New Santa Fe. With corporate pricing, i can have the top of the range Highlander for less than $50k on road!

[brad]

[QUOTE=VAG newbie;886270]True. We went and saw the new Outlander yesterday (they have the FCM, similar city safety stuff), but the panels feels like tin can. Even though it has 5 start ANCAP, it didn't offer a lot of reassurance. [quote]
We had an Outlander at one point. 2.4 CVT. CVT was very noisy by 40,000km. 3rd row implementation was very Heath Robinson.

Again, I fully agree with you. But I can't convince my wife. We were trying on the B-class once (which is also higher than normal cars), and she actually fell and got herself stuck between the sits while trying to buckle the kids seatbelt. I had to pull her out! (She is only 55kg, 164cm tall, so she is not fat, in case you wonder how she got stuck)

LOL
Mine is 164cm / 49kg. They get stuck in some funny places.

I would also like to say that the Avensis Verso doesn't have sliding doors. Obviuosly I was so sleep deprived at the time that I imagined it.

Don't really care, as long as the interior is beige. However, my wife is leaning towards a more female color like red, which unfortunately Passat doesn't offer. they only offer funeral colors = grey, dark, grey, silver, dark, silver, black and white! Autumn brown is the color we'd pick if we go with alltrack. Liberty X do offer more color though.

Wouldn't outside colour have more effect than inside colour? You learn something new every day.

Oh well, if your wife isn't a confident parker then I can understand you wanting to assist as much as possible. I live near Hurstville. There are some very interesting parking techniques in the Westfield there - mainly they rely on hearing a "bang".