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The not-Subaru crossover wagon | 2017 Volkswagen Alltrack First Drive

Funnily enough, in light of dieselgate, Volkswagen is one of the few brands (along with Volvo and Subaru) to preserve the notion that you don't need a fuel-sucking SUV to meet your life-carrying needs. And, yes, VW's history of addressing off-road desires with all-wheel-drive dates to the mid-1980s with the Quantum Syncro (a.k.a. Passat) and Golf Country – the latter, sadly, never came stateside. The latest offering toward this effort is the 2017 Volkswagen Alltrack. What's an Alltrack? It's a slightly lifted, cladded, and butched-out version of the Golf Sportwagen (yes, formerly known as a Jetta). Not to steal Alltrack's thunder, but starting in 2017 you can also get the standard Sportwagen with 4Motion AWD, which is basically the same running gear for less money. The Alltrack starts at $26,950; the 4Motion Sportwagen starts at $24,930, both with the dual-clutch automatic available at launch. Any discussion of tall wagons brings Subaru immediately to mind, both with the Outback and the Impreza-based Crosstrek. The Volkswagen Alltrack sits between the two in size at 180.2 inches long – 5 more than the Crosstrek and 9.4 inches shorter than the Outback. The 2017 Subaru Outback starts at $25,645, and VW's comparisons focus on the Outback, which is understandable given the similar starting price. A bare-bones Crosstrek starts at $22,245, but quickly gets into Golf price overlap. The Alltrack and the 4Motion Golf Sportwagen are superior daily drivers to the Subaru, whether you're doing an emergency lane change or just trying to merge onto the interstate. Meanwhile, the Crosstrek doesn't have the refinement of the VW. Can we fault Subaru though? It's set a sales record every year in a row since 2010 and is looking at about triple the sales volume of VW's Golf for 2016. So we'll stick to telling you what we think of the Alltrack and let the dealers fight for your dollars. First thing's first. Yes, you can have the Golf Sportwagen and even the Alltrack with a manual six-speed gearbox. The seven-speed DSG automatic is very good, but it's worth noting that any manual gearbox is a rarity these days, especially when we're not talking about a two-seat sports car. You will have to wait until early 2017 for that option, but it also saves you $1,100 off both models. Second, the Alltrack and 4Motion Sportwagens get identical engines. Whether manual or DSG, VW's EA888 turbocharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder is under the hood.

VW confirms Golf GTD diesel coming to US for 2016

Part of the Volkswagen Golf recipe that has helped the car sell more than 30 million units in just under 40 years is the number of variants in which the hatchback is offered. Building on that range here in the US, Automotive News is reporting that we will finally be getting the sporty Golf GTD, likely as a 2016 model. It's the GTD, you'll recall, that crosses the performance abilities of the venerable GTI with a powerful and fuel-efficient diesel engine.
After speaking with Andreas Valbuena, Volkswagen product manager for the Golf, AN not only says that the GTD will for sale in the US in a couple years, it also estimates a baseline price of around $27,000, which would place it between the current pricing for the GTI and the Golf R. The GTD is launching in Europe this summer, but we won't be getting the seventh-generation Golf in the US for another year. The news about the performance diesel model isn't entirely unexpected - VW officials have been hinting at it for at least a year now, going so far as to import a sixth-generation model for media test drives on US soil, a task we happily took them up on last year.
The Mk VII GTD uses VW's 2.0-liter TDI engine with output increased to 184 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque, allowing the car to sprint to 60 miles per hour in about seven seconds while returning more than 40 mpg in highway driving. We can't wait.

Kia EV6, Nissan Frontier, Range Rover and VW Taos | Autoblog Podcast #738

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined byYahoo Finance Senior Reporter Pras Subramanian. First, they discuss the cars they've been driving, including the Kia EV6, Nissan Frontier, Land Rover Range Rover and Volkswagen Taos. Then they discuss the state of certain brands like Bentley, Ferrari and Polestar. They also talk about the most recent quarterly sales updates, including what's going on with Tesla in China. Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com. Autoblog Podcast #738 Get The Podcast Apple Podcasts – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes Spotify – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast on Spotify RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving: 2022 Kia EV6 2022 Nissan Frontier 2022 Land Rover Range Rover 2022 Volkswagen Taos The state of Bentley, Ferrari and Polestar Q2 sales trends Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related video: 2022 Kia EV6 walkaround at the 2021 Chicago Auto Show