GSW/Alltrack 1.8T TSI EA888 - Prospective Buyer Discussion Thread

PlaneCrazy

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 3, 2000
Location
Province of Quebec, Canada
TDI
Gone...
I agree the 1.8 is impressive. My wife just got her new '17 GSW two days ago, 5-mt. Base Trendline with connectivity+ package. I couldn't ask for more car! I have yet to drive it but my wife says in back and forth commuting to work Tuesday and yesterday, she's seeing 6.0 L/100 km on the MFD which is probably 6.4 true. It's only a 12 km drive, on 16" tires and the car isn't anywhere near broken in.

My own Golf 1.8 TSI has been averaging 5.5 indicated, about 5.9 true, since I took off the snow tires. Mine is also manual. I drove my sister-in-law's '15 Golf TSI automatic quite extensively when we visited her out west a while back, and the non-DSG automatic didn't do as well as my TSI, maybe as much as 1 L/100 km more.
Interestingly, the MFD on my wife's wagon seems to be very accurate. I compared MFD to hand-calculated and they came within 0.1 L/100 km of each other. But that's only one tank, I shall need an average to be sure. On my hatch, MFD is consistently optimistic by 0.4 L/100 km on an average of around 6. So I dusted off the old VCDS and adjusted the scaling factor on my Golf. I set it to 107% and it is now much closer to reality, and matches my wife's fuel consumption exactly. My wife is away and I did a few drives on the same circuit to compare the cars.
 

SkiWell

Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2013
Location
MN
TDI
2017 golf Alltrack S manual Gey/Brown
Thanks KJ! I just looked the allow 18' cost a lot! so I probably drive it for a while, and see how it will perform on the snow...
 

boomer1

Well-known member
Joined
May 5, 2013
Location
State College, PA
TDI
2013 TDI Passat
This may, if there are different transmission ratios, change the revolutions per mile to a lower number when you put on the larger tires. Does anyone know if the gear ratios are the same or different for the models with different tire sizes as supplied by the factory??
 

3fordasho

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 15, 2012
Location
Southern MN
TDI
15 Passat 6M
The S is only coming with 17" tires- do any of you know if it is safe to replace them with 18"? the alltrack is sitting 1" higher than Sportwagen, but it would be nice to lift in up one more inch. i ppreciate any of the advises!
I doubt very much that the factory 18" wheel set up is going to give you 1" lift. That would be a 2" increase in rolling diameter which is huge. Typically factory wheel set ups be it 17 or 18" have about the same rolling diameter. The 18" wheel itself if 1" larger but the tire is usually a lower profile resulting in about the same rolling diameter.

You could select a non-factory wheel and tire size that could give you some amount of lift, but now you need to change other things to get your speedometer/odometer to read correctly, not to mention how it might affect shift points (DSG equipped)
 

Max Period

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Location
Toronto Ontario Canada
TDI
2011 Jetta Comfortline
Our family (particularly my mom) is looking forward to a car that has:

-Hatchback
-Sunroof
-Cheap to insure

So we plan to go for a buyback of our TDI when the Canadian settlement eventually gets approved.
One of our candidinates for our replacement would be:

GSW FWD Comfortline with automatic transmission and convenience package
... And 2 day ago was the buyback day for our TDI (Buyback with trade-in)! Our TDI had a MIL on, tailpipe full of carbon, DPF likely cracked.

We just got a 2018 4motion DSG Comfortline as the replacement/ It has leatherette seats and a panoramic sunroof (Not available in USA). We didn't get the lights and driver assistance package though (no inventory for these for our desired color, and these are lots of fragile electronics!).

With our insurance with Allstate, after replacing our TDI, our annual insurance premiums dropped by around $89, mainly due to Accident Benefits rate group decreased from 35 to 27. That's after adding OPCF 43 ($63 / yr) - removal of depreciation deduction, on the new car, which is available for first 36 months of the new car's life.
 
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meerschm

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 18, 2009
Location
Fairfax county VA
TDI
2009 Jetta wagon DSG 08/08 205k buyback 1/8/18; replaced with 2017 Golf Wagon 4mo 1.8l CXBB
I picked up a 2017 GSW with 4mo.

looked at the alltrack, and also a chevy equinox, considering a diesel. my sweetie did not like the right hand seat in the chevy, so back to the VW wagons.

Tires for the larger wheels in the alltrack seem to have limited sources, (a little tire rack research) part of the increased alltrack clearance is in larger diameter tires.

I was happy the local dealer had the wagon in S trim with 4mo in stock. they had quite a few alltracks sitting around in various trim levels.

the same size tire was a good point, I pulled a set of wheels with Michelin tires off my 09 wagon which is still sitting in the dealer parking lot, (since 15 august for the"fix")

the extra ground clearance was a nice idea, but after 205,000 miles in the JSW, I am not too worried..

even with the 4mo, the wagon lets me keep the tire chains I picked up for the Jetta. still expect most of the contribution to be as balast, but can imagine a few weather events which would make them useful

could have been my imagination, but the golf wagon seemed peppier than the alltrack on my test drive.
 

PlaneCrazy

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 3, 2000
Location
Province of Quebec, Canada
TDI
Gone...
Speaking of 4mo wagons, I just pulled the trigger on a 2018 GSW 4mo Trendline, 6-sp manual. It's in the dealer pipeline, scheduled to arrive at the end of January. I'm sure the fuel economy will suck... however dead is for a long time so I'm treating myself. I never saw the "need" for AWD. Still don't, but do get the "want" for it and it would have come in handy with todays weather, my wife was barely able to make it up our icy driveway and had to scrub a mission due to an icy road. Mostly though I want it for the 6-speed box and the increased torque over the FWD (199 lb-ft vs 185).

It will be silk blue, same colour as my wife's 2017 Trendline manual (non-4mo)...

Now the hard parts: 1) waiting. 2) springing the news on my wife; she knows a wagon was in my future but expected 2 years from now; I'm not convinced manual wagons will be available 2 years from now.

I like my Golf hatch just fine, but we need a second wagon for "operational reasons".
 

RabbitGTI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 20, 1997
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
B4 Passat Sedan
^^^ I'm really torn between the GSW 4mo and a Tiguan S 4mo. Tig is really fun to drive and has a LOTS of room. Thoughts?
 

KrisA

Active member
Joined
Mar 4, 2016
Location
Regina, SK
TDI
2010 Golf SportWagen
^^^ I'm really torn between the GSW 4mo and a Tiguan S 4mo. Tig is really fun to drive and has a LOTS of room. Thoughts?
Room, yup, lots. Fun to drive?!? Compared to a GSW I found nothing fun about it. I did the same debate, have an Alltrack 6MT on order. I find the Alltrack to be superior in EVERY way other than cargo space. I survived the last 8 years with my GSW TDI so I'm sure the Alltrack will keep my family going until the kids are on their own. Tig also felt really cheap and not as well put together than the GSW. The Tig's I drove had subtle creeks in the b pillars. I'm not sure the MQB is stiff enough to stay rigid at Tig size.

The only plus of the Tig was that it was easier for me to envision family trips with my bike(s) stuffed in the car rather than on the rack. In the end the fun to drive, better looks, manual box and 6k savings had me swinging in favour of the Alltrack.
 

RabbitGTI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 20, 1997
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
B4 Passat Sedan
^^^ I guess I should clarify that a little. I didn't mean fun like a GTI, but fun in that I sit up high and can just throw stuff in for a trip instead of cramming it in the trunk. Reminded me of the old hippie vans...sort of. I agree the Tig and Atlas look kinda cheap inside, probably because VAG does not want them poaching Audi SUV sales.
 

meerschm

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 18, 2009
Location
Fairfax county VA
TDI
2009 Jetta wagon DSG 08/08 205k buyback 1/8/18; replaced with 2017 Golf Wagon 4mo 1.8l CXBB
I picked up a 2017 GSW with 4mo.

looked at the alltrack, and also a chevy equinox, considering a diesel. my sweetie did not like the right hand seat in the chevy, so back to the VW wagons.

Tires for the larger wheels in the alltrack seem to have limited sources, (a little tire rack research) part of the increased alltrack clearance is in larger diameter tires.

I was happy the local dealer had the wagon in S trim with 4mo in stock. they had quite a few alltracks sitting around in various trim levels.

the same size tire was a good point, I pulled a set of wheels with Michelin tires off my 09 wagon which is still sitting in the dealer parking lot, (since 15 august for the"fix")

the extra ground clearance was a nice idea, but after 205,000 miles in the JSW, I am not too worried..

even with the 4mo, the wagon lets me keep the tire chains I picked up for the Jetta. still expect most of the contribution to be as balast, but can imagine a few weather events which would make them useful

could have been my imagination, but the golf wagon seemed peppier than the alltrack on my test drive.

The car seems to be doing well. did just fine on the snow, so I sold the snow tires, and let the wheels and tires go. (would have been too old to use much by the time the ones that are on the car wear out anyway.


high 30s mpg most of the time. a Thousand miles with a bike rack and two bikes on the back got closer to 30 mpg.



Getting close to 40,000 miles, and have the car in my garage up and leveled to service the DSG. (I took care of the haldex service at 30,000.)




the battery came out fine. but the battery tray seems like it is attached to everything under the hood.


Update:
there seem to be three locations at the front of the battery tray where various wires are attached, with different kinds of clips, a control box on the side, and one more harness clipped close to the firewall stud/bolt. the tray does come out.


I was able to loosen the filter cap with the tray in place, but not enough room to get the cap between the coolant hose and brake master cylinder


Now for the spark plugs (which they want changed at 40,000 miles)
 
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PlaneCrazy

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 3, 2000
Location
Province of Quebec, Canada
TDI
Gone...
I've got 52k mostly trouble-free km on my '18 GSW 4MO wagon with 6-speed manual. Summer fuel economy averages around 6.3-6.4 L/100 km in mostly rural driving. Winter it's closer to 7-7.5. It's actually way better than advertised by NR Canada. Only issue I've had so far is the tailgate rubbing against the bumper cover on the right side. The bumper cover is gouged, and some paint flaked off the tailgate. It will be fixed under warranty. Really enjoy the car. Paid cash for it, so hope it lasts a long time. Last of a fast-disappearing species, the manual wagon.

My wife has a '17 GSW, a TDI buyback and trade in result. She's got fewer kms, just under 40k. She's had some brake issues with a seized front caliper fixed under warranty and now the handbrake isn't working right due to a defective rear caliper. To be fixed under warranty.

She gets even better FE, around 5.8-6.0 average in the summer, sometimes less.

To be honest neither of us miss our TDIs now.
 
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