The past few years have seen a growing trend towards estate cars that can tackle a bit of light off-roading.
The Golf Alltrack is among the latest of these models. Essentially a Golf Estate, its ride height has been jacked up by 20mm and it has four-wheel drive.
It’s never going to win a game of follow-my-lead with a Toyota Land Cruiser but you can drive with confidence through whatever Scotland’s winter weather throws at you.
Essentially, Volkswagen is riffing on the success its sister company Audi has had with its A4 and A6 Allroad models.
The Passat and Golf Alltrack are VW’s attempt to emulate these cars.
Both are cheaper than the comparative Audi while offering similar levels of equipment.
For those who still can’t stretch to VW prices, no less than two other sister companies – Seat and Skoda – do something similar, in the Leon X- Perience and Octavia Scout, both of which knock a little off the Golf Alltrack’s price tag.
The Alltrack is offered with a choice of three engines, all diesel. There’s a 1.6 litre TDI with 109bhp, and a 2.0 litre with either 148 or 184bhp.
Prices start at just under £27,000 for the 1.6 litre model, rising to just over £28,000 for the 148bhp car.
The 184bhp version I spent a week with comes with a six speed DSG automatic gearbox and a price tag of just over £31,000.
Volkswagen has resisted the urge to go too Rambo with the Alltrack. There are plastic wheel arch extensions to protect from minor scuffs and knocks, along with low profile roof rails. Other than that and the 20mm raised ride height, it looks pretty much like a regular Golf Estate, which is to say very pleasant but hardly radical.
The current Golf has been praised to the high heavens for its quality and refinement and the Alltrack lives up to those plaudits.
It really is lovely to drive. I had it all over Perthshire and up the Angus coastline to Lunan Bay.
Comfort at 70mph is better than anything else in its class with barely a whisper of noise from the outside world.
That extra ride height makes the suspension even more accomplished: potholes and speed bumps do nothing to affect its composure.
At the same time, it hasn’t been lifted high enough for handling to be spoiled and the Alltrack grips doggedly through corners.
The 184bhp 2.0 litre engine packs plenty of punch, with the 0-62mph dash being knocked off in 7.8 seconds.
While there’s a big difference in power, there’s not much to separate the three engines when it comes to economy. All are fairly efficient, with the 109bhp model returning 58.9mpg, the 148bhp car 57.6 and the 184bhp version 56.5mpg.
When the Mk7 estate was introduced, Volkswagen really upped the ante on load space, boosting it from the 505 litres of the Mk6 to 605 litres when loaded up to the parcel shelf. Flip the rear seats down and you get a full 1,620 litres, which is a big improvement on the 1,495 litres you got before.
It’s well equipped, with Bluetooth, sat nav, adaptive cruise control, parking sensors, battery regeneration, automatic lights and wipers, tyre pressure monitoring, and a driver profile selector with off road mode among the highlights.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Alltrack. It’s as easy to drive as they come, incredibly refined and capable of carrying huge loads.
While it won’t tackle the Gobi Desert it can easily cope with a grassy field, muddy track or a snowy Courier Country winter.
Price: £31,055
0-62mph: 7.8 seconds
Top speed: 136mph
Economy: 56.5mpg
CO2 emissions: 132g/km