UnclePK

When VW announced their diesel problem we knew there was a new car in our future. Our daily drivers were a 2013 Jetta TDI Sportwagon and a 2014 Porsche Boxster. For a variety of reasons (one car garage) we decided to go back to one car and it had to be a wagon. Didn't take long to settle on the AllRoad. We ordered ours before Christmas and took delivery the first week of May. The following week, with 190 miles on the clock we headed out on a 7-week road trip out to the western national parks. The car is Floret Silver Prestige with the sport package, painted cladding and just about everything checked.

I have posted in a separate thread about having replaced the OEM Continental tires. They were unacceptable. All my comments on ride and handling relate to our experience on Michelin Premier A/S.

Overall Impressions

This is a wonderful road car. The sport seats are very comfortable even after a 650 mile day. It's quiet, powerful enough, and a pleasure to drive. It's not an autocross car but it's very competent. We never tired of driving it and the adaptive cruise really does make long highway driving easier. Our log showed 10,000 miles @ 55 mph average and 34.2 mpg average. We had no problems with the car and it is still squeak/rattle free.

We live in Florida so AWD was not important to us. We would have been just as happy getting an A4 Avant. That said, there were times in the national parks where the ground clearance was nice.

It takes a while to get used to all the sensors and systems and it can be distracting at times. Once you learn them they (mostly) make things easier and safer. I have finally gotten used to the shifter but I'm still not sure what problem it solved.

Driver Assistance

I find the Lane Assist system to be intrusive and do not use it. It makes me feel less in control than more no matter how I set the sensitivity. It makes me feel like I'm fighting the car. I suspect that it will make texting easier though and that's not a good thing

Blind spot warning is wonderful and appears to consider rate of approach in its warning which is pretty cool.

All of the sensors and cameras work well although a smashed bug can give you some interesting distortions. We have had the car hit the brakes once backing out of a parking space and once on a left turn across heavy traffic. In each case, it was justified – if startling.

Adaptive Cruise works really well and make driving in traffic a lot easier.

Auto-dimming headlight work very well on two lane roads. I never felt like we blinded anybody, even over hills. Low beams are adequate and high beams are quite good.

MMI/Nav/Sound

The Virtual Cockpit is a very well done piece of technology and I love the widescreen nav display for the driver. I find the Google Earth view cool but ultimately not helpful. Over the course of weeks I found that I mostly pay attention to the heads-up display.

Phone connectivity worked great and handled two phones well. Two USB ports in the center armrest is a really nice touch.

We have not tried the Android Auto or CarPlay interface.

The nav system generally worked well but on two occasions it way overestimated our ETA and really wound it down in the last hour. I have seen a few other reports of this. We had a number of occasions where Google Search turned up what we wanted and the nav database did not. That's not a surprise but I'm not sure it's enough to make we want the MMI Connect. We can always use our phone for the search. One oddity is that only the driver can initiate a voice search. Why can't the passenger? The passenger has full access to the nav system but not this feature?

We have tried only a few of the MMI Connect app functions but they all worked pretty intuitively. You can search via Google in the app, upload the destination to the car and then select it in the nav system. The oddity is that the destination will never appear in “recent destinations”. You always have to go through a menu tree to find it again.

The WiFi hotspot worked well and was easy to set up. It's not really a feature we care about but it would be great for kids in the back seat.

The B&O sound system worked well for us. It easily overcomes road noise (minimal) with no distortion. On a couple of occasions after listening to some loud music, I found my ears ringing. That's my fault, not the car's. We listen to a lot of podcasts on the road as well as music. We found that it's easier to navigate if you keep the music and the podcasts on separate storage.

Interior

We have not had passengers in the back so I can't report too much on the experience. Once we removed the screen behind the rear seat we found we could stand a mid-size (26”) roll-around bag under the luggage screen. We carried 2-26” bags as well as two 12”x18” bags of hiking gear and a small cooler in the trunk. It worked well except for the foot-activated release for the tailgate. It's not hard to operate and is quite convenient but I found that it also triggered when I was leaning into the car unloading things. Another time I was sitting in the trunk putting on hiking boots and it started to come down. Not dangerous, just annoying.

We have the perforated sports seats and we love them. We are tall and thin. I love the extendable thigh support. I wish the seat bolsters were adjustable as I find them too “loose”.

If you wear polarized sunglasses it makes seeing the heads-up display harder. You'll learn to tilt your head a bit. At least I do.

The interior lighting is very subtle and elegant but I wish there was an overhead light that came on automatically. If I'm looking for something in the car when it's in the garage I feel like I need to bring a flashlight. Turns out I was wrong on this one - read on.

A bottle in the cupholder blocks some less-used controls. Don''t plan on a big cup.

Conclusion

We love the car despite my nit-picking.

Charlie271

Thanks UnclePK,
Your detailed description is very helpful in my considerations in buying an Allroad and in what options to include.

bob m

UnclePK,

Very thorough and well stated review and I concur with most of what you have said. And that mileage is impressive and I was scratching my head until I saw that your average speed was 55 and yours is a FWD, not quattro. What are your thoughts on the Michelins?

UnclePK

Ours is AWD using the new "non-quattro" system. It's FWD unless you really need the rear wheels involved. As to the Michelins, the difference is night and day. No hydroplaning or tramlining and they are just as quiet as the OEM Contis. Also, turn-in is much better. With the old tires it always felt like the sidewalls gave a bit on turn-in so I found I was always correcting a bit after taking a line. Now I take a line and go. I have recommended this car to others but only with the proviso that the tires be changed.

Versprechen

The Allroad doesn't have overhead lighting? In the sedan at least you have to set the button in the overhead console to have that lighting automatically come on when you open a door.

FLkiwi

Ditto on Versprechen's comment; my Allroad has this I think, it looks like a picture of a car with two doors open, on the overhead console next to the sunroof control. The image upload button seems to be broken at the moment or I'd paste a shot from the manual, but I think it should be easy to find.

Nice writeup!

Dan in St. Louis

Yes, and the reading lights also have variable brightness.

UnclePK

Thanks for the tip. That took care of it. Don't know how I missed that in the manual. God love this forum.