Passat Alltrack availability in Australia?

[Inego]

KMs have always been the problem for us under the old rules. Deals will prob come down to the lease company rather than employer, so we need to do our research. Thanks for your help again.

[Marakai]

You're very welcome. I hope to actually get the order out in the next week or two (life is crazy due to the upcoming move and even a car I've been waiting for so long is taking a bit of a backseat) and then I'll pass along some final figures with specs.

KMs have always been the problem for us under the old rules. Deals will prob come down to the lease company rather than employer, so we need to do our research. Thanks for your help again.

[Marakai]

Well, the missus and I finally got around to a test drive at a nearby dealer. We are in love (apart from in each other, natch! )!

Of course, after suffering with our miserable Magna wagon for 8 years (first car we bought after coming to Aus and it did serve us well as a cheap&dirty hauler) there was only one way: up!

Still, the Alltrack is an absolute beauty to drive. Bound to get us lots of speeding tickets, because you can tell, this baby *wants* to be driven on a proper Autobahn! I took a tightly curved freeway exit (limit: 60) at 100 and didn't even notice until I glanced at the speedometer, because it felt so solid and firm on the road. Whoa...

Like most of the models currently at the dealers, this one had the sports package and sunroof. We will definitely pass on the latter, but found that the slightly longer seats, the nappa leather and the feeling of being properly framed in the seats if worth it for us two slim yet very tall people. The window tinting should also offer some thermal insulation.

The other features we've only been able to test in a regular Passat wagon, but that's good enough. Confirmed our previous decisions to go with the visibility package, the ACC (auto cruise control), but also add the memory/electric front seats (YOLO! ). Plus the towbar.

We also fell in lust with the Iceland Grey which looked stunning both when it was cloudy and even more so when the sun came out. The Reflex Silver was a actually a bit boring and it didn't allow for a nice contrast between the chrome on other parts of the car. Hope we don't regret the darker colour on a hot day. Almost went with Night Blue, which looks utterly awesome but reconsidered: that may work for your urban/suburban commute vehicle, but you'll never get it out of the car wash if you're actually going to hit unsealed country roads a lot. Plus the heat factor.

The dealer wasn't one of work's leasing/fleet partners preferred dealers, yet they asked us for a couple of days to match the original quote I had brought along. We'll see if they beat the already very attractive pricing. As it seems folks rarely post prices here, I thought it may be frowned upon, so I won't actually post numbers.

Delivery will be around 5 months, as feared/expected. This will be a loooooong 5 months...

[Amalgam]

Delivery will be around 5 months, as feared/expected. This will be a loooooong 5 months...

Congrats on your new toy. Santa came early ( or is that late ) to your house.

[phaeton]

Congrats, I knew you would be one of the first

[Amalgam]

NEWS FLASH

Via BBC.

The car carrier Baltic Ace collided with the container ship Corvus J in the North Sea off the coast of Belgium at 1815GMT.

The Baltic Ace is sinking. 13 crew have been rescued with 11 unaccounted for.

[Marakai]

Saw that on another news site, which mentioned the B.I. was on its way via Belgium to Finland.

Let's hope the 11 sailors are OK - this is not a time of year you want to be ditched into the drink in the northern hemisphere.

NEWS FLASH

Via BBC.

The car carrier Baltic Ace collided with the container ship Corvus J in the North Sea off the coast of Belgium at 1815GMT.

The Baltic Ace is sinking. 13 crew have been rescued with 11 unaccounted for.

[Amalgam]

Is anyone expecting a car on the Baltic Ace ??

[booba]

Baltic ace doesn't sound like a WW boat.

*edit*, yes it is a WW boat and attempting to track it will give this message "For more information contact your local Wallenius Wilhelmsen Customer Service Representative."

[drad81]

Passat Alltrack availability in Australia?

Mine is somewhere between Brisbane and Sydney


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Marakai]

Seeing as the ship was on its way to Finland (as I wrote), I can't see it then going on to Australia with some further cars.

Is anyone expecting a car on the Baltic Ace ??

[Marakai]

Eeep!

Still, I suppose the question is not so much as whether a Finland bound ship was also going to continue on to Australia afterwards, but whether the loss of such a ship in a fleet will have an impact on delivery times.

Baltic ace doesn't sound like a WW boat.

*edit*, yes it is a WW boat and attempting to track it will give this message "For more information contact your local Wallenius Wilhelmsen Customer Service Representative."

[iDrive]

Just on leases, although you may get a low qoute on the purchase cost of the vehicle the money you save will be eaten up by fees and charges.

As well insurance will be unbelievably expensive. I am leasing my current Golf, and paying $1500 per year insurance. This is because it has been passed through two (maybe three) brokers, who all add their commission, plus GST plus stamp duty plus GST on the stamp duty. Always check if you can arrange your own insurance.

Have ordered my Alltrack, and will be paying cash - no more leases for me. Much the same specificaions as Marakai, which shows that great minds think alike: Tungsten Silver, Sports package, electric seats, towbar; June/July delivery

[Marakai]

Ouch, on the insurance. Leaseplan quoted $1,000 for the Alltrack.

I would normally agree that if you can cash is always the best way. But as we just bought a country property, need to spend $$$ in cash for the horse infrastructure *and* are currently in the process of buying the equines as well, you could say it's a cash flow thing.

So, the alternative really was financing or novated. The latter, at least through Leaseplan with the deal they have with my employer will end up saving me about 3 grand/year versus financing and paying for all the other items myself. Spent weeks doing research and comparisons. Got the spreadsheets to prove it. For others it may come out differently.

And to repeat my basic agreement: if you *can* just pay cash and buy outright! Not like you're going to make a fortune on investing that money instead right now, the way the markets, real estate or interest rates are.

As they say: YMMV!

Just on leases, although you may get a low qoute on the purchase cost of the vehicle the money you save will be eaten up by fees and charges.

As well insurance will be unbelievably expensive. I am leasing my current Golf, and paying $1500 per year insurance. This is because it has been passed through two (maybe three) brokers, who all add their commission, plus GST plus stamp duty plus GST on the stamp duty. Always check if you can arrange your own insurance.

Have ordered my Alltrack, and will be paying cash - no more leases for me. Much the same specificaions as Marakai, which shows that great minds think alike: Tungsten Silver, Sports package, electric seats, towbar; June/July delivery

[booba]

I'm paying about 870/yr for the Wagon with all options + more.