Flawed review of VW Passat Alltrack

[Buzy_Robot]

Is this guy a rookie or what?

Volkswagen Passat Alltrack Review : Car Review : Road Test : Motoring

He claims that with the Start-Stop system "The engine starts again when the brake pedal is depressed." This is blatantly wrong. The engine starts again when the brake pedal is released! Furthermore, he claims the system will "lurch" and that "There is no smooth progression". Later in the piece he continues to describe the system as "rough", "clumsy", "quite jerky" and concludes that is it "graceless." This is incorrect as most of the time, the Passat / Alltrack Start-Stop system does actually work smoothly.

He goes on to claim that Park Assist is "practically useless", but in what way? Most Passat / Alltrack owners actually find it useful. Furthermore, Tristan claims the parking sensors "give off a warning beep", but there is also an Optical Parking System working simultaneously with the audible alerts providing a graphical proximity alert of the vehicle on the RNS510 head unit - not to mention a reversing camera as well.

He then takes issue with iPod integration and claims "the VW media system failed to sync with any iPod that we connected to the USB port." One cannot simply connect an iPod with the standard USB cable, rather that cable has to be removed and an iPod specific cable from VW needs to be inserted. I'm also not sure why he had difficulty with the Bluetooth system as my Samsung Galaxy SII can be used via the RNS510 display when the head unit is actually turned on! Otherwise, it is limited to steering wheel control only. Furthermore, deleting phones is not as difficult as suggested by him.

Although he does make various positive comments about the Alltrack throughout his review, his negativity towards the Start-Stop system suggest it makes the vehicle quite unpleasant to drive, which is erroneous and he's also passing off his own lack of knowledge with various other systems of the Alltrack as though they are indicative of its perceived shortcomings. There's something called user error and it would be a smart move to consult the user manual.

Shoddy journalism to say the least!

P.S. Have just filled in the feedback form over at Web Wombat with my list of concerns. Let's see if the review is amended and/or I receive a response.

[nyc863]

I actually did the same thing, gave them some feedback.
Park Assist is indeed useless, it is just those pop-up functions on the rear view camera.
Park Assist 2 is useful, and an option, but he didn't mention it.
He also didn't mention Panorama roof or Sports Pack options (whether or not they are worth it)
He complained about bluetooth, when it works just fine. My car came with 4 phones paired so I deleted one. While I was driving!
He got the MFD cable thing wrong thinking everything should work via USB
I can sort of see his point on the stop/start but it isn't anything real specific to the alltrack almost all stop start systems can annoy some people who aren't prepared to adjust to them. If I want to leave the line smartly, I take my foot off the brake a second before the lights change, so the engine is not required to accelerate the very instant it starts.

I came to the conclusion webwombat as a car review place is sort of waning as a site which is a shame they did a lot of good reviews in the old days.

[team_v]

Park assist technology is a gimmick that most people would rarely use so i can see his point.
The jerkyness may have been a combination of the DSG gearbox and start stop tech as a lot of people have mentioned it and wanted to turn it off.



Bear in mind that automotive journalists are not normally car people rather they are non car peoplethat get lumped witha car review to perform.

Also topgear get it wrong about 50% of the time when they review cars so you can't expect a non car person to do much better.

[Guest001]

Is this guy a rookie or what?

Volkswagen Passat Alltrack Review : Car Review : Road Test : Motoring

He claims that with the Start-Stop system "The engine starts again when the brake pedal is depressed." This is blatantly wrong. The engine starts again when the brake pedal is released! Furthermore, he claims the system will "lurch" and that "There is no smooth progression". Later in the piece he continues to describe the system as "rough", "clumsy", "quite jerky" and concludes that is it "graceless." This is incorrect as most of the time, the Passat / Alltrack Start-Stop system does actually work smoothly.

He goes on to claim that Park Assist is "practically useless", but in what way? Most Passat / Alltrack owners actually find it useful. Furthermore, Tristan claims the parking sensors "give off a warning beep", but there is also an Optical Parking System working simultaneously with the audible alerts providing a graphical proximity alert of the vehicle on the RNS510 head unit - not to mention a reversing camera as well.

He then takes issue with iPod integration and claims "the VW media system failed to sync with any iPod that we connected to the USB port." One cannot simply connect an iPod with the standard USB cable, rather that cable has to be removed and an iPod specific cable from VW needs to be inserted. I'm also not sure why he had difficulty with the Bluetooth system as my Samsung Galaxy SII can be used via the RNS510 display when the head unit is actually turned on! Otherwise, it is limited to steering wheel control only. Furthermore, deleting phones is not as difficult as suggested by him.

Although he does make various positive comments about the Alltrack throughout his review, his negativity towards the Start-Stop system suggest it makes the vehicle quite unpleasant to drive, which is erroneous and he's also passing off his own lack of knowledge with various other systems of the Alltrack as though they are indicative of its perceived shortcomings. There's something called user error and it would be a smart move to consult the user manual.

Shoddy journalism to say the least!

P.S. Have just filled in the feedback form over at Web Wombat with my list of concerns. Let's see if the review is amended and/or I receive a response.

You are pushing s*** up hill with a rake I sent a scathing message to them Months and months ago when they reviewed the original Passat with the similar specs. Was exactly about what you are talking about and it hasnt been changed so thats how much notice they take.
I think his take on DEPRESS is to lift your foot as in Unpress when most people would think it was push it down.

I have learned to lift foot off the brake about when I think lights will change and then it kicks in usually at the right time.
Isnt jerky but would be if you took foot off the brake and mashed the loud pedal before the engine fired up and clutch kicked in.

[Transporter]

...and then after all we are in the Holden and Ford country, so yes, they are biased towards many EU brands. I find the Advertiser very biased towards anything VW and they always favour Hyundai and Kia, since they may have some ties with Hyundai Australia, that's just my observation and of course my opinion.

[CaseySP]

I found that turning the auto hold function off makes the start/stop much smoother - it's only needed when nose-high on a steep hill. Relaxing brake pressure slightly just before the light turn green give sure restarts and smooth get-aways.

Edit - also no problems deleting an old telephone.

[Guest001]

I found that turning the auto hold function makes the start/stop much smoother - it's only needed when nose-high on a steep hill. Relaxing brake pressure slightly just before the light turn green give sure restarts and smooth get-aways.

Edit - also no problems deleting an old telephone.

Do you mean turning it on or off
I have found that if you use it and lift foot off the brake the engine starts(as its supposed to) so never use it except as you say on a hill and then if you are using stop start you dont really need it as I just lift my foot a bit and brake still holding and engine starts and away you go.

[CaseySP]

Do you mean turning it on or off
I have found that if you use it and lift foot off the brake the engine starts(as its supposed to) so never use it except as you say on a hill and then if you are using stop start you dont really need it as I just lift my foot a bit and brake still holding and engine starts and away you go.

Thanks - I meant turn it (or leave it) off. Missing word added to post above

[Guest001]

Thanks - I meant turn it (or leave it) off. Missing word added to post above

LOL

Fully agree Use one or the other but not both

[Guest001]

Update Have received an email from Tristan saying he has updated the review after receiving my "Valuable" feedback. LOL

Hasnt addressed everything but made it better.

[Buzy_Robot]

Same here Hillbilly. Agree he hasn't addressed all aspects as accurately as we would like; however, it is good to see he has adopted a professional approach to the matter and amended his review accordingly.

[Guest001]

Same here Hillbilly. Agree he hasn't addressed all aspects as accurately as we would like; however, it is good to see he has adopted a professional approach to the matter and amended his review accordingly.

I have replied about the Depressing the brakes which is a cut and paste from the review of the original Passat.
Also pointed out that if he had brake hold on it would make the takeoff jerky.
Sounds like the Satnav needed a reset if it lost the map.

[brenno]

I
He then takes issue with iPod integration and claims "the VW media system failed to sync with any iPod that we connected to the USB port." One cannot simply connect an iPod with the standard USB cable, rather that cable has to be removed and an iPod specific cable from VW needs to be inserted.

It's reasonable to expect a USB port will work as every other USB port on the planet. The criticism is valid.

[Guest001]

It's reasonable to expect a USB port will work as every other USB port on the planet. The criticism is valid.

The thing is that it is not like every USB connector on the planet It is a Patch cable that plugs into the MDI port in the car and has a USB socket on the end.

It Requires a cable with the APPLE connector on the end to give full operation of Apple products.

This was explained to me when I bought my car.

He could have plugged it into the AUX socket in the centre console and it would have played.

Not every USB cable is fully functional either

[brenno]

Yes, we all know *now* that it doesn't work. Truth is, most people would reasonably expect a USB port to work as a USB port. The fact that it doesn't is just pure poor design. The fact it doesn't even supply power is just retarded.

Plug an iOS device into a multitude of other manufacturers USB ports and it works fine.

BTW, it's MDI. Not MIDI.