Volkswagen Passat Alltrack

The Alltrack is a worthy flagship for the Passat estate range. It’s a good-looking choice that adds four-wheel-drive security to the estate’s talents as a roomy family car. However, you need to ask yourself if you really need 4WD. And if that’s the case, you’d be better off with a more conventional crossover like the CX-5.

The off-road estate isn’t a new concept, and this is far from the first Volkswagen Passat to get the 4x4 treatment. The company built Syncro versions of its family car back in the eighties, although these were always an extremely rare sight on UK roads.

With the new Passat Alltrack, VW has followed the lead of the Audi A4 allroad and Skoda Octavia Scout by making the off-road version the flagship of the range. While the standard Passat estate is a handsome, if rather plain-looking, family car, the Alltrack gets enough enhancements to stand out.

The car’s ride height has been raised by 30mm, while 18-inch alloys are standard. There are matt silver wing mirrors, roof rails and bumper guards front and rear, plus black wheelarch extensions and a honeycomb mesh grille under the front bumper. Our car’s bright Tornado Red paint won’t be to all tastes, but it certainly helped the Alltrack stand out further – the Mazda trailed the Volkswagen for visual impact.

Inside, there’s brushed aluminium trim on the dash and doors, while part-Alcantara seat trim is standard. Apart from an off-road button, plus Alltrack and 4MOTION logos by the gearlever, everything else is standard Passat. That’s no bad thing, as the interior has a logical layout and on the whole feels well built – although there was an uncharacteristic rattle from our test car’s instrument cluster.

You’ll be able to find a comfortable driving position, but the VW has a strange mix of manual adjustment for the seatbase and electrical for the seatback – as opposed to the CX-5’s fully powered arrangement.

Like the standard Passat, the Alltrack is spacious. There’s plenty of passenger room, while the 603-litre boot has a clear 100-litre advantage over the Mazda’s. That jumps to 1,731 and 111 litres when the seats are folded, although the CX-5 has a more useful three-way split in its seats, compared to the VW’s 60:40.

Both cars have flat floors and their load lips are flush with the boot floor. One niggle is the Passat’s parcel shelf: you need to retract it for decent access to the boot, but the action is jerky and it slips out of its runners too easily.

The 2.0-litre diesel is VW’s proven 138bhp engine, and it’s just as quiet and refined as the newer 2.2 in the Mazda. However, as our figures show, the more powerful CX-5 has a distinct performance advantage. And in our 0-60mph acceleration test, there was an annoying shunt in the Passat’s gearbox, too. The six-speed manual doesn’t like being rushed, which sums up the Alltrack’s character.

There’s less body roll in corners than in the CX-5, but the Passat is heavy – nearly 200kg more than the Mazda. As a result, it isn’t as keen to change direction as its rival.

In spite of the Alltrack’s longer-travel suspension, the ride is firm. It copes with most small bumps, and it’s comfortable on the motorway, but big potholes can send shudders through the cabin. However, it’s no worse than the CX-5 in this regard.

The Alltrack comes with 4MOTION four-wheel drive and hill descent control, so it can cope with light off-road work. There’s no mechanical diff lock, but the car’s electronics manage braking and power distribution to find grip. Yet despite the raised ride height, it still has less ground clearance than the CX-5, while the longer rear overhang limits its ultimate ability when you head off-road.

The entry-level Alltrack costs £28,480, and as it’s the flagship of the Passat range, there’s plenty of standard kit. Dual-zone climate control, a multifunction steering wheel, Bluetooth and cruise control are included, but then the CX-5 has all this, too. And while sat-nav is standard on the VW, you have to spend around £2,000 to match the Mazda’s heated and leather seats. Plus, if you want your Alltrack with an automatic gearbox, your only option is to go for the more powerful 168bhp DSG-equipped car, which costs £31,030.

Official figures put the Passat behind the CX-5 for fuel economy, but in our test the VW came out on top, returning 41.3mpg to the Mazda’s 35.9mpg. Private buyers face identical annual road tax bills with these cars, although company car drivers will pay more in Benefit in Kind tax if they pick the Passat.

It’s a mixed bag for VW’s off-road estate, then – so has it done enough to be a viable alternative to our crossover champion?