All,
I am a field scientist who sometimes has to travel down unpaved, uneven terrain to get to spots that I have to either collect samples at or provide oversight for. I currently own a 2012 GTI with Drivergear springs, Bilstein shocks, a unibrace underbody brace, tyrolsport subframe washers and a stage one chip from GIAC. The car cannot make these treks reliably due to ground clearance and only FWD. Also, the car is creeping up to 70k, which means timing belt, suspension component replacements, carbon cleaning and a DSG service right around the corner after that. The work will probably cost 1/4 of what the car is worth.
I love the way my car feels, so I am concerned if I jump to this wagon, I won't enjoy it. Yes, I understand there will be some give and take, as it is a higher center of gravity than the GTI, and longer, but I still want it to be fun and carve corners. However, I am unsure how to do that without lowering it, which defeats the purpose of the purchase. I have seen that eibach puts out a spring kit, but it dumps the car about 2", making ground clearance and issue again.
I did test drive an SEL last week, and I knew there was a lot more car behind me. Braking was diminished, I felt the back end pivot during sharp turns, and the acceleration was less than the GTI. I know it's a 1.8 up front, and with a little tuning and possibly a MK7 GTI turbo swap as per APR, I could be fine with it. Same for brakes, which I could hopefully swap over some GTI or R setup. However handling still has me worried.
I talked to Bruce Levin, who owns Unibrace, and he said the XB and UB for the MQB platform should fit, which should have some of the issue alleviated. BUt I imagine I sould need to throw a set of long travel Bilsteins on all corners to make sure I get a similar feeling to my GTI.
So, who has fiddled around with an Alltrack and has some advice? I think this is the car for me
I am a field scientist who sometimes has to travel down unpaved, uneven terrain to get to spots that I have to either collect samples at or provide oversight for. I currently own a 2012 GTI with Drivergear springs, Bilstein shocks, a unibrace underbody brace, tyrolsport subframe washers and a stage one chip from GIAC. The car cannot make these treks reliably due to ground clearance and only FWD. Also, the car is creeping up to 70k, which means timing belt, suspension component replacements, carbon cleaning and a DSG service right around the corner after that. The work will probably cost 1/4 of what the car is worth.
I love the way my car feels, so I am concerned if I jump to this wagon, I won't enjoy it. Yes, I understand there will be some give and take, as it is a higher center of gravity than the GTI, and longer, but I still want it to be fun and carve corners. However, I am unsure how to do that without lowering it, which defeats the purpose of the purchase. I have seen that eibach puts out a spring kit, but it dumps the car about 2", making ground clearance and issue again.
I did test drive an SEL last week, and I knew there was a lot more car behind me. Braking was diminished, I felt the back end pivot during sharp turns, and the acceleration was less than the GTI. I know it's a 1.8 up front, and with a little tuning and possibly a MK7 GTI turbo swap as per APR, I could be fine with it. Same for brakes, which I could hopefully swap over some GTI or R setup. However handling still has me worried.
I talked to Bruce Levin, who owns Unibrace, and he said the XB and UB for the MQB platform should fit, which should have some of the issue alleviated. BUt I imagine I sould need to throw a set of long travel Bilsteins on all corners to make sure I get a similar feeling to my GTI.
So, who has fiddled around with an Alltrack and has some advice? I think this is the car for me