Originally Posted by equ
2220 miles today in just about a month. Cara's car history has been Focus hatch, Impreza wagon, Civic Si hatch, e39 528i, Golf TDI and finally GTI. She never ached for luxury or power, she likes a manual transmission, good mpg's, low running costs and the hatch/wagon form factor (dislikes sedans and SUV's). Beyond that she's never commented on 130hp in the Impreza, or RWD vs. FWD, or the 290hp in the GTI that she liked but rarely used. She thinks about cars about as much as I think about our washing machine.
The Alltrack is a good utilitarian machine for her commute and for driving the dog around. It's really just a normal car, how good cars used to be 10-15 years ago. It would compare with an e46 325xiT if you could buy one new. It's a bit retro in that you have to drive it to extract performance, so I'm not sure you'd like it after 240i's or boxsters, just not in the same category. Think a better, German, Corolla wagon. Or a quirky option to getting a RAV4. Compared to SUVs, CUVs... It's no Macan, but it's dramatically cheaper, simpler, lighter without losing space, perhaps gaining some. If you are interested in effortless A-to-B speed or the feeling of being coddled in BMW-luxury, look elsewhere.
The steering is good enough; perhaps better than the f30 3-series. Two assist levels available. Suspension is firm and yet has some lean, definitely prefers slow-in to corners, the chassis is easy to feel though and doesn't introduce unpredictable slop (I'm looking at you Jeep GC). The clutch is light, catches low and reasonably progressive. I will complain about throttle response, the usual VAG crap, I'm kinda used to it since my 2010 a4, doesn't make it good though. Might be worse than BMW's, which is not great to begin with. Not sure why only Porsche seem to be able to make a modern direct injection engine with great throttle/fueling. Perhaps they care about mpg's less. The awd system is imperceptible. I did a hill start on ice and while I didn't hammer it, I also didn't notice power shuffling around or even a hint of wheelspin. The car just went.
Ours is the bottom S spec, sure it kept the msrp low but the real reason was to avoid the dreaded sunroof (leaked on our GTI and had an even worse reputation on the Alltrack/Sportwagen). Unfortunately, this meant forgoing the better stereo, headlights and keyless entry. Cara doesn't mind at all, she still loves it.
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