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Long-Term Test: 2017 Volkswagen Alltrack S

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Philpug

Philpug

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Phil,
Does the Alltrack come with a rear cargo cover? As most crossovers and SUVs?
Hmmmm, I wonder... my brother and friend installed lift kits in their Jeeps for off roading. I wonder if there is one for the Golf? Not talking about off road, but maybe adding an inch or two, for a higher seating. My buddy has the old Audi Allroad, with the air suspension to go up and down. What a more comfortable seating, and getting in and out, when raised.
Thanks again,
Ed
Yes it comes with a cargo cover. @Dadskier answered the other questions.
 

Sibhusky

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There's a bunch of guys in our Facebook group who have lowered, bagged, whatever, to adjust ride height to be always low, sometimes low, etc. Why they don't buy it low to begin with is beyond me. But anyway, there's an adjustable contingent.
 

Eddie

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I see you car came with 17" alloy wheels, and your snows are on 16" wheels. Pardon my ignorance: do you lose the inch of ground clearance doing this? Similarly, the SEL comes with the 18" wheels, therefor, would this be an extra inch clearance than your S trim?
 
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I see you car came with 17" alloy wheels, and your snows are on 16" wheels. Pardon my ignorance: do you lose the inch of ground clearance doing this? Similarly, the SEL comes with the 18" wheels, therefor, would this be an extra inch clearance than your S trim?
No, the 16" is a taller sidewall and rolling circumference is the same.
 

Eddie

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No, the 16" is a taller sidewall and rolling circumference is the same.
Ok. Thanks. Yet if I go with the upgraded 17" alloys over the 18" Canyon wheels, will this be the case too? Sorry, but I am confused. Not an auto guy, I just drive.
 

Snowfan

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Here and there.
Leaving tires out of this example, A 16" wheel loses 1/2" ground clearance to a 17, not 1", 1/2 the difference in diameter increase.
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/infoPlusSizing.do
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...40309&ef_id=WUG0GAAAAIFY_Ujg:20170716182646:s


Generally, the speedometer gears are the same regardless of the wheel diameter. Usually, the bigger the wheel, the smaller the tire sidewall and stiffer the ride, thus better cornering, even though the total height remains the same. Bigger tires fill out wheelwells nice for a better stance, or look, but will require a speedometer gear change to read correctly.

This is a calculator to compare tire sizes and see speedometer error with bigger/smaller rubber.
http://www.dakota-truck.net/TIRECALC/tirecalc.html
 
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Thread Starter
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Ok. Thanks. Yet if I go with the upgraded 17" alloys over the 18" Canyon wheels, will this be the case too? Sorry, but I am confused. Not an auto guy, I just drive.
I will say, whenw e looked last year, the selection for 16" snows was greater than the options for 17".
 

tch

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A good tire source will help you choose tires that match your car's designed rolling circumference, regardless of interior (rim) diameter. Think of same size bagels and doughnuts: same size on the outside, but probably different size holes in the middle.

As for down-sizing snow tires, it's often cheaper to choose a smaller rim size with a taller sidewall tire, both for rims and tires. And... a taller sidewall tire will often have a narrower footprint, which makes going through snow easier. Go to TireRack.com and read about "-1" snow tire decisions.
 

Sibhusky

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Not knowing any better, I got 18" rims for the snow tires, too. I know a bit better now. But already own the rims.. The biggest issue to me is if you're driving on potholed ice, you are REALLY going to feel those relative to a set up with more sidewall (think more air). So, I feel a huge difference on my driveway between my Audi and the Alltrack SEL. Granted, there's an 18 year suspension difference as well, but I'm sure it's the sidewall. Since I'm fairly sure I had about a grand of suspension work done on the Audi in the fall (dirt roads are hell on your suspension everyday, it's those washboard surfaces), I don't think I need new shocks on the Audi.
 

Bill Miles

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The larger diameter wheels usually have lower profile tires. If you put higher profile snows on them, you may have problems with wheelwell clearance and such. Hence the trend to go -1 with snows and dedicated wheels.
 

Sibhusky

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Well, I get that we're trying to keep the circumference the same and you need smaller wheels to get more sidewall --> more air. But I didn't get at the time that this was going to make a difference to me. I wasn't suggesting someone buys tires that won't fit. There was an option of various sizes. I elected to stick with equivalent snows to what came with the car. Now that my seat has felt the effect of chopped up ice road, I'm realizing what that means. Oddly, washboard dirt isn't as bad.
 

johnnyvw

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Has anyone else had leakage from their sunroof? We thought ours was OK until recent heavy rains, now there is staining all over the headliner. Car goes to the dealer Monday to hopefully fix it...
 
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Has anyone else had leakage from their sunroof? We thought ours was OK until recent heavy rains, now there is staining all over the headliner. Car goes to the dealer Monday to hopefully fix it...

I hear it is a problem, there is much discussion in the Facebook group. @Sibhusky has a sunroof, I don't think she has had an issue.
 

Sibhusky

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I haven't had an issue, yet, but the frequency of this problem has me really worried. However, one guy did get a fix and he's gone two months with no issues. That's what concerns me the most -- is there a fix?

My car is garaged. However, I have been using a car wash to wash the car and you'd think that would cause a problem. So far, so good.
 

johnnyvw

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So apparently the main issue with most sunroof has been the drains get closed up, so they have a procedure where they open them wider and then do some type sealing with silicone. On ours, there was actually a piece of the mechanism that broke and clogged up one drain, which is why it started to leak all of a sudden. The fix is to replace the entire sunroof assembly :eek:. At some point, they will also replace the headliner, since it is stained.
Sheesh....

If your car is garaged, then at least you don't have additional dirt and debris to make the problem worse. We don't have a garage available, and have large maple trees overhanging the driveway. They drop a huge amount of crap in the spring, so we figured that since we got past that, we were in good shape.

Most likely, if you haven;t had a problem in rain or car washes, you're OK. But if you have your car serviced at the dealer, you may want to check to see if they would do the "fix" anyway.
 

johnnyvw

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So to update the sunroof situation...they had the car for 4 days, replacing the entire sunroof assembly and the head liner (since it was stained badly). Two heavy rainstorms since we got it back, so far so good. Only downside is the odor of either the head liner or some adhesives used in the process is quite strong, but it is dissipating). My wife got a free loaner, a base model Passat which was quite impressive in ride and handling for it's size, but she said it didn't compare to the Alltrack. Well, for 10K difference, it better not! But I would love to have the ability to buy a Passat Alltrack, especially if it could be had with the V6.
Pretty happy how it was handled. We are lucky we have an excellent dealer.
 

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