GRR Garage: VW Passat Alltrack - Preparing for the road to Rally GB
We’re just about to set off for yet another long journey in our long-term Volkswagen Passat Alltrack. Since it arrived we’ve taken it to Le Mans, to the iconic remains of the old circuit at Reims, down to the very base of Burgundy and back up and trawled it up the country until it nearly developed a nosebleed.
But this time we’re taking it to the Welsh mountains to lug us to the British round of the World Rally Championship, a journey from Goodwood to the north of Wales that should take somewhere in the region of five hours of solid driving.
A journey like this in the Passat Alltrack presents something of a first world problem – not one that many have to suffer through – do we travel with the Passat set in “Comfort”, “Sport” or “Eco” mode?
The obvious thought before this would be to stick it in comfort. Come on, we’ve got hours of non-stop motorway ahead of us, why make it any more stressful? And yes, the Passat’s Comfort mode is exceptionally, er, comforting. Select this mode and everything suddenly becomes much smoother. Those motorway bumps that once caused a minor irritation are no longer even the most trifling of issues. Now the Alltrack is ready to waft you to the other end of the country with consummate ease.
But wait, it’s a long journey, 269 miles to be precise, that’s going to burn a LOT of diesel… so maybe it’s time to re-engage Eco mode, use all those extra fuel-saving features we’ve spoken about and save a little bit of Goodwood’s cash? The Passat’s Eco mode is very capable, increasing our MPG from a usual c.38mpg to an impressive 44 (and once even up to 52 as we mentioned last week). So maybe we can live with the odd motorway distortion to save some fuel (269 miles / 38mpg = seven gallons of fuel or 269 miles / 44 mpg = six gallons).
Oh, but hold on, when we get to Wales there are some pretty special roads before we get to our hotel in Dolgellau. So maybe we need to be using sport mode, it would be a crime not to enjoy those roads properly, right..?
Mpg this week: 43.2
GRR Garage
VW
Passat
Alltrack
