BEHEMOTH BUILT FOR SPEED REFINED WAGON HAS PLENTY TO OFFER
With components from the Camaro ZL1, this special edition vehicle is the most powerful Tahoe ever, says Lesley Wimbush. Sick of sport utes and crossovers? Volkswagen’s Golf Alltrack is the right kind of medicine, writes Peter Bleakney.
Enormous size, stump-pulling power and comfortable trappings used to be enough for fans of these rolling behemoths. Who knew that a full-size SUV that sprints from zero-to-100 kilometres per hour in 5.7 seconds while still maintaining the ability to tow up to 8,400 pounds was what they really wanted?
Introduced at the New York Auto Show this year, the Chevrolet Tahoe RST — which stands for Rally Sport Truck — starts with an appearance package and builds all the way up to a bad-ass performance truck with powertrain and suspension components borrowed from the Camaro ZL1.
With 49.3 per cent of the market Before the minivan, before the SUV, before the crossover, the station wagon ruled as the go-to vehicle for domestic hauling. For better or worse, family road trips in the “wagon” were a rite of passage for both kids and parents. A rather colourful chapter of my youth involved a summer odyssey from Nova Scotia to Vancouver and back in a 1962 Mercury Comet wagon, wherein my parents thought it would be a good idea to camp the whole way. Bless them.
Being only five years old at the time, my hazy memories include fighting with my sister in the back seat, barfing in the ditch, Dad holding the tent pole all night in a valiant attempt to keep us from being blown away during a biblical lightning storm, and Mom driving him to the hospital in Vancouver after he suffered a nervous breakdown. Oh, and seeing a real cowboy.
So, what does this have to do with the super-slick 2018 Volkswagen Golf Alltrack? Not much. You won’t see hordes of these Vee-Dubs traversing the continent share, the full-size SUV segment is an important market for GM: one out of every two sold is either a Tahoe or Suburban. A three-row, eight-passenger, body-on-frame vehicle available in either rear- or all-wheel drive, the Tahoe competes against the Nissan Armada, Toyota Sequoia, sister vehicle GMC Yukon and its biggest rival, the Ford Expedition. Tahoe sales are nearly double that of the Expedition’s in the U.S., but in Canada it trails the Ford by a few hundred vehicles. While the rest of the segment is powered by big V-8 engines, the Expedition has a twin-turbo V-6, and nearpremium luxury features.
For 2017, the Tahoe lineup received more equipment and interior features, and a Premier — leave that to the threerow crossovers — but for those who appreciate the attributes of a tidy Euro wagon, this slightly jacked-up, all-wheel-drive Golf with the de-rigeur plastic body cladding hits the mark.
Dimensionally, the Alltrack nestles right in between the Subaru Outback and Crosstrek, both of which could be considered the VW’s closest competitors, although the Alltrack exists on a higher plane when it comes to refinement, standard kit and interior quality. This is reflected in its price; the Alltrack is $34,345 with six-speed manual, while the Outback and Crosstrek start at $29,295 and $23,695, respectively.
The VW Golf Alltrack comes in only one, well-equipped trim that includes 18-inch alloy wheels, leather seating and heated front seats, a Fender audio system, a rear-view camera, a panoramic sunroof and interior ambient lighting, plus an eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system with a proximity sensor, GPS navigation, satellite radio and USB, model to replace the LTZ as the top trim level. New standard equipment includes the Teen Driver System (allowing parents to monitor their youngster’s driving habits), back-seat reminder, active grille shutters and an updated MyLink infotainment system. The options list was also expanded, with an upgraded rear entertainment system, more USB ports, automated emergency braking, the illuminated bow-tie grille emblem from its pickup siblings, new 22-inch rims and a Midnight Edition appearance package.
And now the most powerful Tahoe ever: the RST. While the base RST starts as a de-chromed appearance package available on mid-level LT trims, retaining the standard 5.3-L V-8 and six-speed powertrain and adding blackedout grille and 22-inch rims, the top-spec Premier model can add the 6.2-L Performance Package, available on both rear- and allwheel-drive Tahoes. The package Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity — and much more. Add $1,400 for the six-speed dualclutch automatic transmission with paddle shifters.
There are two option packages available, both of which this Blue Silk Metallic tester had: the $795 Light Package, adding adaptive LED headlights with cornering lights, and the Driver Assistant Package that adds adaptive cruise, forward-collision mitigation, automatic high beams, lane and park assists, and pedestrian detection. What you can’t get on the Alltrack are a blind-spot monitor and a heated steering wheel. Tsk tsk.
Ah, but this little wagon with the premium disposition is a joy to drive. Under the hood is VW’s ubiquitous 1.8-litre turbo-four that churns out a smooth and mostly lag-free 170 horsepower and 199 pound-feet of torque from a usable 1,600 r.p.m. It works happily in concert with the dual-clutch automatic, and while the optioned-out Alltrack with 4Motion all-wheel drive weighs about 188 kilograms more than a front-drive Golf SportWagen, it’s still quite fleet and displays the classic VW dynamic consists of the L86 6.2-L V-8 with 420 horsepower and 460 poundfeet of torque mated to the same 10-speed automatic transmission found in the Camaro ZL1. Available are six-piston Brembo brakes, and the Magnetic Ride Control adaptive suspension system, which can assess road conditions and respond within milliseconds.
A 30-mile loop of not-veryinspiring Fort Worth suburban landscape is all we’ve got to evaluate our fully loaded Tahoe RST. There’s no RST badging anywhere on the vehicle; a glimpse of red Brembo calipers peeping from behind the spokes of the blacked out, 22-inch wheels, and two steely black tips from the optional Borla exhaust (which reportedly offers a 28 per cent improvement in flow) are the biggest visual clues.
Inside is a low-key leather interior: functional, comfortable but not particularly memorable. There are other colours available that are more striking than our tester’s black. The infotainment screen is somewhat small in these days of panoramic display.
Seating is comfy, with room for seven or eight, depending on whether you opt for a secondrow bench or available captain’s chairs. Our tester features the optional power release that easily cocktail we love: excellent body control, sharp steering and eager handling. Ride quality is firm, but never uncomfortable.
Its elevated ride height — up 3.5 centimetres — hasn’t adversely affected handling too much. Yeah, it’s a bit tippy, but still very happy to get up on its toes and eat up a winding back road. Put it in Sport mode and the steering firms up, throttle response sharpens and the transmission gets a more aggressive program. Response to shift-paddle inputs is immediate, too.
The Golf Alltrack borrows its 4Motion all-wheel-drive system from the Golf R, here running in a default 90 front/10 rear torque split, with the ability to send 50 per cent to the rear wheels. There’s a brake-based torquevectoring system for both front and rear axles that helps with cornering, and will also laterally “lock” in Off-Road mode.
The Alltrack has a beautifully tailored interior, here in optional Shetland Beige that lends brightness and an extra degree of sophistication. No complaints with VW’s fresh Discover Media infotainment system; it’s relatively easy to negotiate and drops the second-row seat for easier access to the third row, a rather cramped but admittedly useful space. In all, there is a maximum of 2,681 L of cargo space.
Despite its bulk, the Tahoe has very good road manners. It is quiet and composed over bumps, without allowing any disturbances to enter the cabin. It’s fairly quiet until you tromp the gas pedal, when the small-block EcoTec3 V8 roars to life and the Borla exhaust answers with a deep-throated rumble. This is the first time this engine has been available in the Tahoe, and if it doesn’t quite offer Corvettestyle performance, it does move the nearly 6,000-lb (2,720-kg) vehicle along with surprising swiftness.
We weren’t able to confirm the sub-six second zero-to-100 km/ hr sprint time, but suffice it to say the RST is pretty quick.
The Brembo brakes do a great job of reining it back in. Once off the freeway, we travelled over some rather ratty pavement. Although the big rims were wrapped in performance rubber, the suspension absorbed most of it without any harshness, yet at the same time the vehicle felt nicely planted without exhibiting any wallow.
Our U.S.-spec vehicles were rated at 17 mpg city/22 highway (13.8 L/100 km city/10.7 highway) but featured active cylinder management, shutting down half the cylinders when not under heavy load and effectively converting it into a more efficient four-cylinder.
So, is there really a demand for such special-edition, highperformance utility vehicles? Well, in addition to the Tahoe RST we just tested, and its sibling the Suburban RST, Mercedes has been relentlessly churning out new AMG-badged crossovers, Chrysler has a 700-hp Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk powered by a Hellcat engine, and its new Dodge Durango boasts 475 hp, launch control — and a towing capacity of 8,600 lbs. Suddenly the Tahoe RST sounds almost reasonable.
Available now in Canadian dealerships, the 2018 Tahoe starts at $64,045 for the LT 2WD, $67,345 for LT 4WD and $75,070 for the Premier 4WD ($1,795 destination/freight charge included). The RST appearance package is $2,995. The RST 6.2-L Performance Package is an additional $3,395, for a total of $6,390. Add $4,130 for the Brembo Brake Package, and $1,620 for the Borla Exhaust. features clear graphics. The 400watt Fender audio system, with eight speakers plus a subwoofer, gets a thumbs up, too.
When it comes to utility, the Alltrack is an impressive little hauler. Load space behind the rear seats is a generous and wellproportioned 861 L, opening to cavernous 1,883 L with the 60/40-split rear bench folded. There’s also a ski pass-through and some extra space under the floor above the space-saver spare. I put the VW to work, helping my daughter move furniture and boxes into her new apartment. And transporting a hairy dog to the park, too.
If the Golf Alltrack’s bottom line and quasi-premium position is a tad rich for some budgets, the same utility and mechanical goodness (without the frills and elevated ride height) can be found in the Golf SportWagen 4Motion that starts at $25,695 for the entry Trendline with six-speed manual transmission. As an alternative to the default compact crossover, Volkswagen is certainly offering plenty of ways to get into this intriguing little wagon. Road trip!