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Friday, April 13, 2018
BMW 11-28-7-618-848 | RIBBED V-BELT | #1 On Picture
2018 Volkswagen Passat
The Volkswagen Passat never quite stands out in a highly competitive segment that includes both the best-selling mid-size sedan in the United States and a perennial 10Best award winner; but it still does its job extremely well. Eschewing flashy design in favor of considered creases and a squared-off stance, the Passat looks like the grown-up of its group. A controlled ride, reliable handling, impressive efficiency, and huge interior make it a smart choice, while the sub-6.0-second zero-to-60-mph times that come with an available V-6 engine can entice speed demons (although the Ford Fusion Sport is still quicker). The Passat is a solid choice—especially if rear-seat space is of crucial importance—but despite its many charms, it isn’t our favorite in this class of giants.What’s New for 2018?
The Passat saw several changes for 2018. A new turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four replaces the outgoing turbocharged 1.8-liter four in entry-level models, and a new limited-run GT trim borrows design cues from Volkswagen’s vaunted Golf GTI to lend a sporty aura to the Passat. Volkswagen has also upgraded its warranty this year, with longer coverage periods in virtually every category. Those changes are by no means small, but none meaningfully alter the Passat’s infotainment systems or design language—interior or exterior. And the performance advantages of the new four-cylinder engine are slight; in fact, in our testing, the outgoing engine was the quicker and more efficient of the two.
What Was New for 2017?
Fresh off a 2016 update, which brought all-new sheetmetal forward of the windshield, a new four-bar grille, and redesigned front and rear bumpers, the Passat was largely unchanged for 2017. Most of the updates were inside the vehicle, where driver-assistance and connectivity features were newly included in lower trim levels. Automated emergency braking is a standard feature, while blind-spot monitoring is standard in R-Line models and beyond. There’s also a new keyless-access feature, which allows owners of SE and SEL models to open the trunk by swiping their foot beneath the rear bumper if the key is within three feet of the vehicle.
Trims and Options We’d Choose
We prefer the power of the Passat’s smooth, quick V-6 engine, and the new limited-edition GT trim will offer that engine for $29,940—a much more reasonable proposition than the $35,500 asking price for the V6’s other SEL Premium trim. The GT offers all the impressive performance of the Passat’s V-6 engine and is well paired with a six-speed automatic transmission. That model is outfitted with the following standard features:
• Heated front seats with an eight-way power-adjustable driver’s seat
• LED headlights and daytime running lights
• 19-inch wheels
• LED headlights and daytime running lights
• 19-inch wheels
If the GT is still out of your price range, the Passat’s SE trim, which comes with the entry-level turbocharged 2.0-liter and a few upmarket features such as blind-spot monitoring and keyless entry, is a good choice. That model starts at $27,145.
2018 Volkswagen Golf Alltrack
Aside from perhaps Volvo, no car company has championed station wagons in the United States as consistently and as ardently as Volkswagen. While other automakers abandoned the body style as SUVs and crossovers rose to dominance, VW has persisted in selling wagons in America for more than 50 years now. But over the past few decades, a charge led by the Subaru Outback has caused even the niche wagon market in America to skew toward a preference for all-wheel drive, raised ride height, and SUV styling cues, and VW responded by introducing the Alltrack variant of the Golf SportWagen for 2017.
Ardent champions of the station wagon that we are, we’ve just welcomed a Golf Alltrack into our long-term stable. It follows a 2015 Golf GTI and a 2015 Golf SEL as the third version of the 10Best Cars–winning Mark 7 Golf to go through our 40,000-mile test regimen. Our Alltrack, like almost all 2018 Golfs, is the beneficiary of a mild visual refresh and an updated infotainment system, and it now also sees wider availability of some active-safety features.
Choose Your Own Wagon Adventure
For our long-term car, we decided to take advantage of the 2018 Alltrack’s new paint-color option, the attractive Great Falls Green Metallic, which looks natty with our Marrakesh Brown leatherette interior. Every Alltrack comes standard with 4Motion all-wheel drive and a turbocharged 1.8-liter inline-four making 170 horsepower. We chose the mid-level SE trim so that we could row our own gears courtesy of the six-speed manual transmission (the top-trim Alltrack SEL comes only with a six-speed dual-clutch automatic). Compared with the base S model, the SE adds a panoramic sunroof, proximity-key entry, forward-collision warning and automated emergency braking, and an 8.0-inch touchscreen with SiriusXM satellite radio.
Volkswagen no longer offers any option packages for the Alltrack, but we did shell out $235 for rubberized floor mats to help protect the car’s interior during the winter months and $546 for a roof-mounted bicycle-attachment kit. The total came out to a reasonable $31,396, some $6000 less than the better-equipped SEL.
Manuals FTW
This was the first time we’ve strapped our test equipment to a stick-shift Alltrack, and we were surprised to find that it’s significantly quicker than the automatic version. Zero to 60 mph happened in just 6.7 seconds, which is 0.8 second ahead of a 2017 Alltrack SEL automatic we tested. After a quarter-mile, the manual has a 0.6 second lead. This despite the 15 lb-ft of additional torque in the automatic cars.
Our Alltrack SE’s different wheel-and-tire package also turned in better results than the SEL, with the 205/55R-17 Falken Sincera SN250A all-season tires pulling 0.86 g on the skidpad and helping the car stop from 70 mph in just 162 feet—that’s compared with 0.84 g and 172 feet for the wider, lower-profile 225/45R-18 Continental ProContact TX rubber installed on the SEL.
That tire size is a little odd, or at least not very popular, because the only winter-tire option available at our usual source, Tire Rack, was a Pirelli run-flat. Instead, we looked at Nokian’s line of Hakkapeliitta winter rubber and found that the R2, a tire that won our last winter-tire test, was available in that size. Nokian sent us a set, but online retailers sell them for about $200 apiece.
What We Think So Far
Spoiler alert: We’re loving the Alltrack already. It’s a manual-transmission station wagon, but beyond that novelty—and the aesthetic appeal of the green-on-brown color combo—there’s also plenty of substance: the generous 30 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats, for instance, and the plush ride quality, the strong and refined engine, and the smooth-shifting manual.
As with any long-term test, the topic of reliability will be on our minds throughout our time with the Alltrack, even though neither of the most recent Golfs presented any major mechanical issues during their long-term tests. But notably, our car, along with almost all other 2018-model-year VWs, now comes with vastly superior warranty coverage as part of the company’s new People First Warranty, which increases both bumper-to-bumper and powertrain coverage to six years or 72,000 miles.
We won’t be keeping our VW for that long, but we are looking forward to spending 40,000 miles behind the wheel of this attractive and well-rounded wagon, the first longroof in our long-term fleet since our 2014 BMW 328d finished its tenure.
Months in Fleet: 1 month Current Mileage: 1851 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 25 mpg Fuel Tank Size: 14.5 gal Fuel Range: 360 miles
Service: $0 Normal Wear: $0 Repair: $0
Average Fuel Economy: 25 mpg Fuel Tank Size: 14.5 gal Fuel Range: 360 miles
Service: $0 Normal Wear: $0 Repair: $0
2018 Volkswagen Tiguan
It can be hard to explain America and Americans to Europeans. “What is a Big Gulp?” they’ll ask. Or, “You know American cheese isn’t cheese, right?” And always, inexplicably: “Have you ever been to Texas?” But the brass at Volkswagen’s Virginia offices seem to have finally succeeded in communicating at least one of our national beliefs to their German overlords: Bigger is better. And so, as the Volkswagen Tiguan enters its second generation, it has been stretched by nearly a foot so that it can accommodate either a lot more cargo or a third row, depending on your needs. It also has been redesigned to match the brawny, squarish look of Volkswagen’s new halo SUV, the monstrous Atlas, which was designed to match the brawny, squarish look of red-blooded American SUVs. All that’s missing is a powertrain to match; despite inflating the Tiguan’s body, VW has implanted a new, less powerful heart in its engine bay, which can’t match the refinement or acceleration we enjoyed in the last generation. Ah, well. Even in America, you can’t have it all.
What’s New for 2018?
The Tiguan is fresh from the ground up for 2018, with a stretched body, a new powertrain, and a compelling new design. The refresh is hit or miss, with a new face, a well-executed interior, and a pillowy ride marking the high points and an unenthusiastic powertrain representing the major fumble. Volkswagen hasn’t quite gone all in with this new Tiguan yet; the previous generation lives on, unchanged, through at least the 2018 model year as the Tiguan Limited. That being the case, we don’t devote any space to that model in this review, but it’s still available to drivers who prefer things the way they were. For a review of the previous Tiguan, which magically transformed into the Tiguan Limited, click here.
Trims and Options We’d Choose
Every Tiguan comes with the same 184-hp turbocharged inline-four and eight-speed automatic transmission. We’d choose the all-wheel-drive model because it feels marginally more stable driving over rough pavement and didn’t give up any ground to the front-drive model in our real-world fuel-economy test. Be advised, however, that it does give up a significant amount of acceleration to its front-drive sibling. The base Tiguan S feels a little empty and misses out on upgrades such as the attractive new infotainment system, so we’d step up to the SE trim with 4Motion all-wheel drive, starting at $28,950. That model includes:
• An 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Ten-way power-adjustable driver’s seat with lumbar support
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Ten-way power-adjustable driver’s seat with lumbar support
We’d skip the available third row because it decreases cargo space, but if extra seating is imperative, it can be had for $500.
2018 Volkswagen Atlas 2.0T FWD
MARCH 2018 BY GREG FINK PHOTOS BY CHRIS AMOS
According to the ancient Greeks, the Olympian god Zeus forced the titan Atlas to carry the weight of the heavens on his shoulders for all eternity. Much like the Greek deity it’s named after, the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas is tasked with carrying a heavy burden: attracting more North American consumers to VW showrooms.
Targeting the heart of the three-row, mid-size-crossover market, the Tennessee-built Atlas is available with either a 235-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four or a 276-hp naturally aspirated 3.6-liter V-6. Both engines are paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission and route torque to the front wheels; all-wheel drive is optional only with the six.
Little Big Four
Despite being down 41 horsepower to the V-6, the Atlas 2.0T SE tested here was surprisingly quick at the track. The little forced-induction four pushed the hulking Atlas from zero to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 15.6 at 91 mph. Both figures bettered the results we recorded for an all-wheel-drive Atlas V-6, which needed 7.9 seconds to hit the mile-a-minute mark and 16.0 seconds to cross the quarter-mile at 89 mph.
Credit the Atlas 2.0T’s peppy performance to its comparatively low mass, which, at 4268 pounds, was 460 pounds lighter than the all-wheel-drive Atlas V-6. Additional accelerative assistance comes courtesy of the Atlas 2.0T’s wealth of low-end torque. With 258 lb-ft available from 1600 rpm, the 2.0T offers similar punch to the optional V-6, which produces 266 lb-ft at 2750 rpm. This Atlas 2.0T’s passing times were similar to those of the all-wheel-drive V-6 model. The four-cylinder needed 4.1 seconds to accelerate from 30 to 50 mph and 4.9 to get from 50 to 70 mph, whereas the AWD V-6 performed those tasks in 3.9 and 5.2 seconds. In other words, the story has a much happier ending this time than when Ford tried stuffing a 2.0T in its portly Explorer, where buyers were forced to pay extra to opt for its terminal lagginess.
With less weight to haul around and two fewer cylinders to feed, the Atlas 2.0T was notably thriftier than its V-6 stablemate at the pump. The 2.0T’s EPA estimates of 22 mpg city and 26 mpg highway better the V-6’s 18/25 mpg city/highway ratings (17/23 with all-wheel drive). In our hands, the Atlas 2.0T returned 23 mpg over nearly 2000 miles of driving, while the V-6 managed only 19 mpg. It also sipped fuel at a rate of 27 mpg on our 75-mph real-world highway fuel-economy test, as opposed to 24 mpg for the AWD V-6.
Biggie Smalls
The Atlas 2.0T also changes direction more spiritedly than the V-6 model, and our test car’s 18-inch Continental CrossContact LX Sport all-season tires helped the crossover achieve an impressive 0.86 g around our 300-foot skidpad—0.02 g better than the understeer-prone all-wheel-drive Atlas V-6 SEL Premium on 20-inch examples of the same rubber. Both models ate up 174 feet of tarmac on their way to a halt from 70 mph.
Although the Atlas 2.0T is more enjoyable to drive than its more powerful sibling, it still falls short of the standard set by the Mazda CX-9. The Volkswagen’s steering is well weighted but lifeless, and the capable chassis exudes little of the verve of the Mazda’s, translating to lower driver engagement. Regardless, the Atlas’s smooth and compliant ride is sure to please passengers, as will the crossover’s plentiful interior space, which offers second- and third-row legroom that is significantly larger than the Mazda’s and on par with class giants such as the Chevrolet Traverse and the Honda Pilot.
Slim Trims
The Volkswagen Atlas 2.0T starts at $31,675 for the base S model, which includes LED headlights, separate front and rear climate controls, and a 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system. Moving up to the $34,765 SE trim adds niceties such as a proximity key with push-button start, rain-sensing windshield wipers, automatic headlights, heated front seats, a power driver’s seat, an 8.0-inch infotainment touchscreen, and a blind-spot monitoring system.
Our SE test car also came with the $2100 Technology package, which added dual-zone automatic front climate control (three zones in total), a power liftgate, adaptive cruise control, automated emergency braking, and lane-keeping assist. Luxuries such as a panoramic sunroof, a power passenger seat, front and rear parking sensors, and a low-speed reverse automated-braking system are confined to the $40,335 SEL, while a navigation system and a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster are exclusive to the all-wheel-drive $49,665 Atlas V-6 SEL Premium. A second-row bench seat with room for three is standard across the board, although a pair of individual captain’s chairs can be swapped in for $625 on all but the base S.
With a base price between $1400 and $1730 less than the equivalent front-wheel-drive Atlas V-6, the Atlas 2.0T offers competitively punchy performance with additional fuel efficiency. If you can live without all-wheel drive (and the exclusive features of the flagship, AWD-only Atlas SEL Premium), there’s little reason to pass up the Atlas 2.0T in favor of the V-6.
2017 Volkswagen e-Golf
It’s hard out there for an electric car. Enthusiasts tend to doubt the driving chops, consumers are unsure about the ability of EVs to serve the diverse needs of the American driver, and, to make kicking the fossil-fuel habit even harder, electric powertrains still command a significant premium—they can put a lightly equipped compact car on the same price tier as a loaded entry-luxury sedan. Volkswagen hasn’t solved all those problems with its newly updated—and 10Best Cars–winning—e-Golf, but it has taken several steps in the right direction. For one thing, the e-Golf looks essentially the same as a regular Golf, so it doesn’t require the social sacrifices demanded by, say, a Toyota Prius Prime. For another, it retains virtually all the dynamic prowess that makes the Golf family the Mountbatten-Windsors of the compact-car segment. The e-Golf would need a battery upgrade to compete with the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Tesla Model 3 for range, but for drivers with a small travel radius or room for more than one car in the stable, the e-Golf will serve well.
What’s New for 2017?
The e-Golf sees significant upgrades for 2017, the most important of which is an updated battery with an EPA-rated 125 miles of EV range, compared with the outgoing model’s 83 miles. The electric motor also receives updates and now puts out more horsepower and more torque, good for significantly quicker off-the-line acceleration in our testing. A 7.2-kW onboard charger is newly standard this year, too. The car’s front end gets styling updates, and several pieces of active safety equipment, including adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, and blind-spot monitoring, are now available in the upper trim level.
Trims and Options We’d Choose
It’s easy to spend quite a bit of money on an e-Golf (not taking the available $7500 federal tax credit into account), and the differences in standard equipment between the base SE trim and uplevel SEL Premium trim don’t even begin to account for the $6500 difference in price. We’d stick with the base model, which starts at $31,345. Standard equipment includes:
• Dual-zone automatic climate control
• Six-way partially power-adjustable front seats
• An 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Six-way partially power-adjustable front seats
• An 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
2018 Volkswagen Golf R Manual
Few vehicles in Volkswagen’s current lineup are as divisive among the Car and Driver staff as the Golf R. Even a casual mention risks stirring the office pundits, triggering impromptu sermons dissecting the Golf R’s price-versus-performance statistics and quoting heavily from the holy book of the Golf GTI, a deity around these parts. It’s not that the R’s detractors don’t recognize its sublime blend of performance, comfort, and utility—after all, collectively, these same folks continue to vote the Golf R onto our 10Best Cars list along with the rest of the Golf lineup—but at $40,635 ($41,735 with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic), its critics say the Golf R simply doesn’t offer the same bang for the buck as the GTI, which starts at $27,265. Equally concerning to some is that it basically looks like a regular old Golf; if you’re going to cross the $40K threshold, they reason, why not move into a badge that carries more cachet? (The $44,625 Audi S3 has the same engine, for instance.)
Speak Softly and Carry 292 Horsepower
What these office-cubicle crusaders fail to grasp is that a certain type of individual is willing to pay for the elevated level of confidence that comes with flying under the radar. Speak softly and carry a big stick, as Theodore Roosevelt used to say.
Aficionados of bewinged extroverts such as the Honda Civic Type R and the Subaru WRX STI will never cotton to the Golf R, which in terms of exterior braggadocio barely manages a whisper. Sure, it sits 0.2 inch lower than the GTI and sports a small roundup of R-exclusive signifiers (R-specific front bumper, side skirts, rear diffuser, and spoiler; quad chrome exhaust tips; R badges on the front fenders; black-painted mirror caps; and standard 19-inch Englishtown wheels), but none of these details shout for attention. The punk kid sitting next to you at the light in the Civic with a fart-can exhaust will never know what happened.
The metaphorical big stick here is the Golf R’s turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four and standard all-wheel drive. Rated at 292 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque, the Golf R engine outguns the GTI’s by 72 ponies and 22 lb-ft. A six-speed manual transmission dispenses torque via Volkswagen’s 4Motion all-wheel-drive system. Although essentially the same EA888 2.0-liter that is fitted to the GTI, the version in the Golf R has been thoroughly massaged and features reworked or entirely new components including the cylinder head, exhaust valves, valve seats and springs, pistons, fuel-injection system, and turbocharger.
Track Take
A trip to our testing facility confirmed what we already suspected: The Golf R is one of the quickest hatches on the market. Switching to Race on the driving-mode selector (Normal, Individual, and Eco are the other choices) for more aggressive throttle response, we found the most effective launch method is to catch the engine revs as they ascended to around 6000 rpm and then dump the clutch. This produced a 4.8-second zero-to-60-mph sprint and a quarter-mile time of 13.4 seconds with a trap speed of 104 mph. For those keeping score, the 2018 Golf R is 1.2 and 1.1 seconds quicker in these measures than the Golf GTI with a six-speed manual. Looking beyond sibling rivalry, the Golf R also eked out a tiny drag-strip win over the Civic Type R, bettering it in both tests by 0.1 second. The WRX STI is a tad pokier, trailing the Golf R by 0.5 and 0.4 second, respectively. Of its close competitors, only the raucous Ford Focus RS’s 4.6-second blast to 60 mph can knock the Golf R off its perch, and the quarter-mile contest between the two is a dead heat.
Human interaction with the Golf R is instinctive. While the shifter may lack some of the tactile nuance of the best of the breed, it moves from gate to gate with the same exacting confidence found in the GTI. The clutch-pedal action is light to a fault, though, and while it is progressively weighted, takeup starts abruptly at the top of pedal travel. The brake pedal is a veritable rock by comparison, and pressure rather than travel dictates the amount of stopping action. Requiring 159 feet to stop from 70 mph (previous tests of the Golf R produced 157-foot stops), it easily bests the 174-foot figure recorded by the GTI but simply can’t approach the supercar-like binders—and lighter weight—of the Honda Civic Type R, which stopped in 142 feet. The WRX STI and the Focus RS come in at 158 and 159 feet. Numbers aside, the Golf R’s braking action in traffic is smooth, progressive, and predictable, the trifecta of desirable braking attributes.
Handling It
At just 2.1 turns lock to lock—compared with 2.8 for lesser Golfs—the Golf R’s steering amplifies the point-and-shoot characteristics that make the entire Golf lineup so endearing. The Golf R builds on the inherent goodness of the Golf’s stiff, rattle-free structure with modified lower control arms in front and specific tuning for the multilink rear suspension. The Golf R loves a good winding back road, flowing from corner to corner with a sense of grace and confidence that makes average drivers look better than they really are. With the help of 235/35R-19 Continental ContiSportContact 5P tires, grip maxed out at 0.95 g, significantly lower than the 1.02 g and 1.01 g generated by the Civic Type R and the Focus RS.
But what neither of those can match—although the Civic Type R comes closer than the Focus—is the state of gentlemanly repose the Golf R can assume on a moment’s notice. Select Eco mode—or, our preference, choose Individual and place the Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) in its mellowest setting while retaining more aggressive steering and throttle calibrations—and the result is a smooth and quiet transportation device for those times when the conversation or soundtrack takes precedence over hitting apexes. (Track rats take note, however: Drivers are prevented from fully defeating the Golf R’s stability control from the factory. A quick internet search will provide you with the info needed to do so at your own risk.)
Another factor its critics seem to forget is that with the Golf R there’s very little guesswork in terms of the options sheet. The $40,635 price of our test example includes not only the DCC adaptive suspension and VW’s new, top-tier MIB II infotainment system with navigation and an 8.0-inch touchscreen display, but also a six-year/72,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty. And that’s on top of the model’s feature-rich, all-in packaging strategy, which essentially makes the R the burrito supreme of Golfs.
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