It’s the battle of the anti-crossovers
CAN THE ALL-NEW VOLKSWAGEN GOLF ALLTRACK GIVE SUBARU’S TRIED-AND-TRUE OUTBACK A RUN FOR ITS MONEY?
Nick Tragianis and Brian Harper ring in the New Year with two anti- CUVs: Volkswagen’s all-new Golf Alltrack and the Subaru Outback 3.6R Premier.
❚ Brian Harper: Kid, you’re way too young to remember when station wagons were almost as ubiquitous in suburban driveways as the sport ute/crossover is now. Even the term “station wagon” has all but disappeared from most automakers’ vocabulary.
Subaru calls its venerated Outback an “SUV alternative,” while the brand- new all- wheeldrive Volkswagen Golf Alltrack is left bereft of designation. Volkswagen merely states it is an addition to the Golf SportWagen lineup. No matter what they’re called, their attraction is as family vehicles with four- season drivetrains. But which one turns your crank?
❚ Nick Tragianis: I might be too young to remember the glory days of wagons, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a soft spot for them. Driving dynamics of a car packaged with the practicality of a crossover? C’mon, what’s not to love? Wagons are great!
That probably explains why I really, really wanted to like the Golf Alltrack. It’s a great allaround package; the 1.8- litre turbo-four pumps out 170 horsepower and 188 pound- feet of torque, and it’s hooked up to a six-speed dual-clutch automatic. Despite what the numbers suggest, the Alltrack is quite peppy and drives exceptionally well.
There’s one problem: As tested, the Golf Alltrack tops out at $ 38,215. I just can’t wrap my head around the value — or lack thereof. Everything the Alltrack has to offer in terms of performance, technology and practicality, is offered on the fully loaded Golf SportWagen Highline, yet the “regular” Golf wagon costs about $2,000 less than the Alltrack.
With t he Alltrack, you’re pretty much paying f or t he body cladding, an i nsignificant bump in ride height and a couple of off-road-oriented driving modes. It just isn’t worth it — and that’s before you start thinking about what the Outback has to offer.
❚ BH: I hear ya, kid. Buying into the Alltrack as a pricier, more adventuresome take on the SportWagen takes a certain suspension of logic. Except … around the time you were in diapers, Subaru took a Legacy wagon, added a bunch of body cladding, jacked it up a bit and called it the Outback. And guess what? It sold! Subaru is now on its fifth- generation Outback, and it is second only to the Forester in terms of popularity in Canada. Now, it helps that Subaru no longer sells the Legacy in wagon form, but the Outback is certainly a prime business model for the popularity of style over substance. You can’t fault Volkswagen for taking a page from that playbook.
Dollar for dollar and spec for spec, the significantly larger Outback makes a far more practical family vehicle than the Alltrack. And since I’m confident you go to bed at night wearing Subaru pyjamas, you’re not going to disagree.
❚ NT: Hey, my PJs are none of your beeswax! Still, you’re not wrong, at least about the Outback being the better buy. While it carries over mostly unchanged since it was first redesigned two years ago, Outback gets a new trim for 2017. It’s called the Premier and it’s as fully loaded as fully loaded gets, topping out at $ 38,595 with the 2.5-L flat-four under the hood.
So, what does that extra $ 380 get you over the VW? The Outback and Alltrack are pretty well matched in terms of equipment; both anti- SUVs have goodies such as adaptive cruise control and f orward- collision alert, but unlike the Subie, the VeeDub lacks a blind- spot monitor ( yet, to be fair, lane- departure warning is standard). Moreover, while the Alltrack has one- touch power windows all the way around and a lovely panoramic sunroof, it makes do with a chintzy- looking dot- matrix display in the instrument cluster that looks like it’s out of the late 2000s, and it doesn’t have a power liftgate. To me, that seems like a weird way to cut costs.
The Outback doesn’t make such sacrifices. You get a regular- size sunroof and only the front windows are auto up and down, but a power liftgate is standard and you get a slicklooking and colour TFT display between the gauges. Little differences, but this could sway some buyers.
Those aren’t the only things that sway me toward the Outback. The Alltrack’s engine and transmission are well matched, but the lower- profile tires lead to a harsher ride. On the flip side, the Outback comes standard with a 2.5 - L f l at- f our with 175 hp and a CVT. OK, that doesn’t excite me either, so do yourself a favour and opt for the 3.6- L flat- six engine. It might bring the price up to just over $ 41,000, but with 256 hp and 247 lb- ft of torque on tap, it’s $ 3,000 well spent. The CVT sucks the fun out of the drive, but it just underscores the Alltrack’s need for a more powerful engine. How about the GTI’s 2.0L engine as an option?
❚ BH: I like your thinking. The 210- hp turbo- four would give Alltrack some solid performance credentials as well as make it more distinctive against the SportWagen. But, even as it’s now equipped, t he Alltrack leaves the four-cylinder Outback in the dust — being nearly 200 kilograms lighter will do that. The VW’s time of 8.2 seconds to 100 km/ h is some 2.5 seconds quicker than the l umbering f our- c yl i nder Outback. So, you’re correct, the 3.6- L six is the better option for the Subaru.
My point is that if you don’t need the Outback’s size and cargo capacity — 35.5 cubic feet ( 1,005 L) behind the back seats versus the Alltrack’s 30.4 ( 860 L) — the off-road Golf drives and handles much better.
As to some of your other comments, you’re getting nitpicky. The Alltrack doesn’t require a power liftgate; you can close it with one hand. And the instrumentation is just fine — bright, clear and easy to read. Same for the primary controls, though I do think the centre console screen is a little small. And I was particularly impressed by the Outback’s cabin. Subaru does a lot of things well, but luxury isn’t one of its strengths, and yet the Premier interior is quite fancy.
Thinking in terms of my own needs as a suburban dweller with a small family and no grandkids in sight, I’d take the Alltrack in a heartbeat. It looks stylish, it’s reasonably fuel efficient, it handles great whether the road is dry or wet, and it’s more nimble in traffic. If I needed the interior room or lived in a particularly snowy part of the country, the six- cylinder Outback and its renowned permanent all- wheel- drive system would seal the deal. You?
❚ NT: The truth is, I’m not sold on the Alltrack. Sure, it handles better, it’ s quicker than the four- cylinder Outback, it looks pretty cool and I prefer VW’s dual- clutch automatic over Subaru’s CVT. But I just can’t get over the Alltrack’s lack of value. The slightly raised suspension, body cladding and extra driving modes for its AWD system just aren’t worth the $ 2,000 price bump over the loaded Golf Sportwagen.
If you forced me to pick an anti- crossover, I’d go for the Outback. Even if doesn’t drive as well as the Alltrack and you have to pay a little extra for the flat- six engine, the Outback is far roomier inside and it has the arguably superior all- wheeldrive system. But you know what? The Outback might win this round for me, but with the changes the Golf lineup is due to receive next year, I might change my answer if Subaru doesn’t give the Outback a serious freshening.