Volkswagen Passat Alltrack: The VW Allroad arrives

The VW Passat Alltrack - debuts in Tokyo

Volkswagen has jumped on to the Allroad bandwagon with its own take on Audi’s faux off-roader, with the reveal of the 2012 VW Passat Alltrack.

As you would expect, the Passat Alltrack is a butched-up Passat Estate with a raised ride height, extra bits of plastic round the bumpers, skid plates, flared side sills and 4WD – VW’s 4MOTION – for more traction in boot sale car parks.

But when you don’t need the 4WD, around 90 poer cent of the drive is through the front wheels – saving fuel – with the rear wheel drive only coming in to play when you start to slip and slide.

The Alltrack also gets the off-road driving programme from the Tiguan which can be called on with the push of a button. It teases the ABD and EDS so they work better on the loose stuff and you also get hill descent so you can get down a slipper slope without pain.

Starting point for the Passat Alltrack is the 138bhp 2.0 litre TDI with a manula ‘box, but you can opt for a 168bhp version with a six speed DSG ‘box. We would.

Standard stuff includes Alcantara upholstery (that’ll be good when you get in your new Alltrack after a muddy hike), Climate, Cruise, tyre pressure monitoring, iPod connectivity and 18″ alloys.

With the Passat Alltrack not due to go on sale in the UK until April 2012 – and first deliveries in July – we don’t have full specs or prices, but we’d expect the starting point to be the right side of £30k.

(11 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK