Who's driving a VW AllTrack?

[uglymoney]

The sunroofs are still garbage. It is the number one complaint with these things. Love me some S...but they can leak too, other ways, just less common and generally fixable.

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[AK47bp]

The sunroofs are still garbage. It is the number one complaint with these things. Love me some S...but they can leak too, other ways, just less common and generally fixable.

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Strange that hasn’t been addressed by VW since it’s been a thing for a decade or two at least.

Wondering if that is somehow related to the excessive condensation, bad seals or something.


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[alpinevibes]

Strange that hasn’t been addressed by VW since it’s been a thing for a decade or two at least.

Wondering if that is somehow related to the excessive condensation, bad seals or something.


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The issue with Golf/Alltracks relates to the sunroof drains tubes that drop vertically from the corners. For years VW put drip plugs at the bottom of the drain tubes to keep moisture/bugs from coming up the tubes. Unfortunately the plugs eventually let sediment build up, blocking drainage and causing water to fill up the tube and leak from the sunroof tray into the headliner.

VW issued a recall for Golf/Alltrack this year to remove the plugs and clear the drain tubes. I would guess that some part of this system causes the condensation issues, pre or post plugs.

FWIW we love the sunroof, glad we got the SE and have had a drain tube leak a year before the recall. It was an inconvenience (dealer is an hour away), but they did the same fix as the recall and no issues since.


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[Choucas]

Agreed. Common but fixable problem. If you've got condensation in your car, that's the problem. Also love the sunroof. Mine's in a garage most nights, but when I left it in a parking lot for a couple of weeks, I came back to dankness.

[whyturn]

So why do I have condensation and no sunroof? Will look in spare area but seems worse this winter than last?


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[HankScorpio]

Funny, we had an Alltrack for 3 years and the sunroof never leaked - most everything else needed repairing - but the sunroof was never an issue.

[alpinevibes]

Funny, we had an Alltrack for 3 years and the sunroof never leaked - most everything else needed repairing - but the sunroof was never an issue.

Curious what else you had go wrong?

[skithewest]

The issue with Golf/Alltracks relates to the sunroof drains tubes that drop vertically from the corners.

This is the problem with sunroofs in cars in general. I was set on getting a fully loaded SEL, downgraded to the S when I found out anything above the base model had to include a sunroof. Knew I dodged a bullet.

Has anyone else had their windshield spontaneously crack?


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[whyturn]

This is the problem with sunroofs in cars in general. I was set on getting a fully loaded SEL, downgraded to the S when I found out anything above the base model had to include a sunroof. Knew I dodged a bullet.

Has anyone else had their windshield spontaneously crack?


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Only when I used warm water on it in winter. Will never do that again. It was really ice caked and seemed like a good idea at the time. Nope


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[Bobcat Sig]

The issue with Golf/Alltracks relates to the sunroof drains tubes that drop vertically from the corners. For years VW put drip plugs at the bottom of the drain tubes to keep moisture/bugs from coming up the tubes. Unfortunately the plugs eventually let sediment build up, blocking drainage and causing water to fill up the tube and leak from the sunroof tray into the headliner.

VW issued a recall for Golf/Alltrack this year to remove the plugs and clear the drain tubes. I would guess that some part of this system causes the condensation issues, pre or post plugs.

FWIW we love the sunroof, glad we got the SE and have had a drain tube leak a year before the recall. It was an inconvenience (dealer is an hour away), but they did the same fix as the recall and no issues since.


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Yup. Wife's Alltrack had the same issue and like yours, fixed under the TSB. We never had an issue until it was stolen. We're still fighting with State Farm. I miss that car, so does she.

[HankScorpio]

Curious what else you had go wrong?

It was lots of small annoying things - a front wheel bearing needed replacing early, the right rear tire wore unevenly and the dealer couldn't figure out why (?), suspension bolts would came loose randomly, it leaked coolant at one point. I can't recall the rest but it was at the dealer once every couple of months for something. It didn't help that the local VW dealer sucks and would nickel and dime me every time something needed attention. One time the service manager told me "if we fixed your car we have to charge you something." Really? Because that's not how warranties work.

I ended up getting rid of it after they offered to buy it back due to their need for used cars. They gave me over KBB value so I wanted to just get rid of the damn thing. I then immediately bought a new Volvo V60 XC.

I've owned many VW/Audis over the years and you can usually drive them for 70-80k before shit starts going wrong but this Alltrack was a mess. Great car, loved the way it drove - great steering, DSG was surprisingly fun, plowed through snow with ease, torquey little engine - but a reliability nightmare.

[3PinGrin]

The issue with Golf/Alltracks relates to the sunroof drains tubes that drop vertically from the corners. For years VW put drip plugs at the bottom of the drain tubes to keep moisture/bugs from coming up the tubes. Unfortunately the plugs eventually let sediment build up, blocking drainage and causing water to fill up the tube and leak from the sunroof tray into the headliner.

VW issued a recall for Golf/Alltrack this year to remove the plugs and clear the drain tubes. I would guess that some part of this system causes the condensation issues, pre or post plugs.

FWIW we love the sunroof, glad we got the SE and have had a drain tube leak a year before the recall. It was an inconvenience (dealer is an hour away), but they did the same fix as the recall and no issues since.


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I also recall reports of the glass shattering if the car had been sitting in very hot weather with the sun beating down and the driver attempted to open the sliding sunroof. Apparently the glass can bind along the rail mechanism under these conditions

[alpinevibes]

It was lots of small annoying things - a front wheel bearing needed replacing early, the right rear tire wore unevenly and the dealer couldn't figure out why (?), suspension bolts would came loose randomly, it leaked coolant at one point. I can't recall the rest but it was at the dealer once every couple of months for something. It didn't help that the local VW dealer sucks and would nickel and dime me every time something needed attention. One time the service manager told me "if we fixed your car we have to charge you something." Really? Because that's not how warranties work.

I ended up getting rid of it after they offered to buy it back due to their need for used cars. They gave me over KBB value so I wanted to just get rid of the damn thing. I then immediately bought a new Volvo V60 XC.

I've owned many VW/Audis over the years and you can usually drive them for 70-80k before shit starts going wrong but this Alltrack was a mess. Great car, loved the way it drove - great steering, DSG was surprisingly fun, plowed through snow with ease, torquey little engine - but a reliability nightmare.

Wild, glad you got a good deal in the end; V60/V90 are lust worthy.

I guess we've been lucky with minor things, thus far. Wife wants to keep the Alltrack for 20yrs... We'll see how things look in a couple years when the warranty disappears, let alone once we hit 100k.

[Flexon Phil]

I just hit 70K on our 2017

[jacob_dbu]

It was lots of small annoying things - a front wheel bearing needed replacing early, the right rear tire wore unevenly and the dealer couldn't figure out why (?), suspension bolts would came loose randomly, it leaked coolant at one point. I can't recall the rest but it was at the dealer once every couple of months for something. It didn't help that the local VW dealer sucks and would nickel and dime me every time something needed attention. One time the service manager told me "if we fixed your car we have to charge you something." Really? Because that's not how warranties work.

I ended up getting rid of it after they offered to buy it back due to their need for used cars. They gave me over KBB value so I wanted to just get rid of the damn thing. I then immediately bought a new Volvo V60 XC.

I've owned many VW/Audis over the years and you can usually drive them for 70-80k before shit starts going wrong but this Alltrack was a mess. Great car, loved the way it drove - great steering, DSG was surprisingly fun, plowed through snow with ease, torquey little engine - but a reliability nightmare.

I almost bought a V60 XC, but couldn't stomach the premium. It was much nicer though. Felt like a real cockpit in the drivers seat. I do wonder how the self-driving features compared. One of my favorite things about my Alltrack SEL. So far loving the car, knock on wood....

[uglymoney]

They've always been garbage? The Golf is VW's top performer in Consumer Reports. It does pretty well. VW over all was 24 of 26 though this year. Dragged down by the Atlas. Golf's body leaks are the biggest issue.

35k on my18. My intermittent wipers don't work properly. Need to get that module fixed under warranty but really not in a hurry so I'll wait till after I get my vaccine to have what is an unnecessary human contact. It maybe uses a tiny bit of water. I bought a gallon of VW premix just to keep it exactly on the lines so I can monitor the level because of the known leaky water pump issue that develops on some of them.. If I wasn't watching it closely it wouldn't have needed to be filled since new.

Otherwise. It is has been great. Uses no oil. No interior fogging or leaks.

I'm most likely a long hauler. Will be bolting parts on it till it rusts to shit and beyond unless I move to electric for cost/environmental/regulatory reasons. Long after all of you guys have moved on I'll be pissing and moaning about it. Give me ten years and I'll know more about VW's than I want to. Like Subies now.

These are from my brand new CR for 2021 model predictions, but they base on past years performance. They are no Toyota, and more so as they age, but my 18 has been more reliable than my 02 Outback to this point. The Subie with 250k on it has proven easy to wrench and cost effective to keep running Our 12 Prius with 180k still hasn't had anything break though, except for the deer that went through the front end wrecking the evap and radiator. Much more complicated to work on, but nothing out of hand.



More specific to Alltrack

[FJ62]

So why do I have condensation and no sunroof? Will look in spare area but seems worse this winter than last?


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Same here... no sunroof!!

[frorider]

No sunroof, no condensation issues but I live in Tahoe. 26k miles, zero issues.

There’s an outfit in UK that does exhaustive data mining on repair rates and this generation Golf scored well.

[whyturn]

Really impressed with the off-road mode downhill assist on snowy roads


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[Flexon Phil]

I put 150K on our 10 TDI and so far 70K on the Alltrack. Quality has been pretty good. We have 170K on the 08 Yukon. IMHO, Asian cars aren't as good as they used ot be and Euro and American cars are better than they used to be...the playing field has leveled.

[uglymoney]

Really impressed with the off-road mode downhill assist on snowy roads


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I agree the downhill assist is really cool and works really well even with the manual. Had a blast with it in Montana. So cool just to focus on steering...which a lot is required because it really isn't very capable off road. Our 03 4R has it but it has never worked properly but you kind of just point and forget most of the time anyway.

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[skivan]

Not sure I follow — will it go faster than a slow controlled creep? I have a manual alltrack.

Also, what racks are people running? Both yakima and Thule seem to be sold out because COVID.

[whyturn]

Not sure I follow — will it go faster than a slow controlled creep? I have a manual alltrack.

Also, what racks are people running? Both yakima and Thule seem to be sold out because COVID.

It helps with engine braking when set on off-road driving mode. If you come to a complete stop on way down it drags. But otherwise is awesome. Just be sure when you get to bottom of hill you set back to normal driving mode.

I’m running Thule aeroblade flush mount and it is awesome. Was not cheap but no road noise at 75 is priceless. Not sure on exact part number but looks like this




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[uglymoney]

Not sure I follow — will it go faster than a slow controlled creep? I have a manual alltrack.

Also, what racks are people running? Both yakima and Thule seem to be sold out because COVID.

Yak timberline with the slim line metal bars (what those are called I dunno). I have timberline towers with my old round bars.

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[skivan]

Yak timberline with the slim line metal bars (what those are called I dunno). I have timberline towers with my old round bars.

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Thanks to you both. The timberline is what I was looking at, just out of stock still. And yes, need something aero so no wind noise. Will look forward to getting the AT wet, so to speak, soon. Snow tires any day now and will play with the off-road mode.