My VW Passat Alltrack

[drad81]

Finally took delivery of my Alltrack.
It's Icelandic Grey with the Sports package and Sunroof. Also got the roof racks, bike holder and luggage net. It's beautiful to drive and looks great.
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/01/7emapyte-1.jpg




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[drad81]

And here it is ready for the wife to find
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/01/qeqyryra-1.jpg


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[team_v]

Wow that grey has some deep blue pop in it.
Really nice colour.

Not sure how i feel about the silver mirror caps but it is definitely going to be a useful beast.

[Marakai]

Just fell in lust with the colour all over again. Amazing how it changes apparent hue with lighting and angle!

Grats to your wife, lucky girl she is! :)

[Inego]

Finally took delivery of my Alltrack.
It's Icelandic Grey with the Sports package and Sunroof. Also got the roof racks, bike holder and luggage net. It's beautiful to drive and looks great.

Would you mind if I borrowed it for a lengthy period? :)

[phaeton]

What did the wife think?

[Marakai]

What did the wife think?


Sssh! They haven't come up for air yet! ;)

[drad81]

She loves it. Especially happy with the sports seats. They're so comfortable.

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/01/y6umusu4-1.jpg

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/01/9amazypa-1.jpg




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[Spaceman]

You bought that for your wife's 30th! Damn, wish I could do something like that! Nice one.

[drad81]

We're expecting our first kid (it's going to be a boy) in May so we went looking for cars late last year and put a deposit down for this. I told the wife that the car would arrive in April but surprised her by taking delivery a few months earlier and personalised plates. So I guess you could call me a tight arse because I gave her a gift that we were always going to get...

[CaseySP]

My wife would have swotted me if I gave her a gift like this - she would see it as the equivalent of getting a new clothes iron or vacuum cleaner. Now a nice little sports car on the other hand......

[Marakai]

My wife would have swotted me if I gave her a gift like this - she would see it as the equivalent of getting a new clothes iron or vacuum cleaner. Now a nice little sports car on the other hand......

Your wife would look at a gift of a $50+K import car as if it were a vacuum cleaner?!

You must have more money than god... Shouldn't you be hanging out on the Mercedes S-class or maybe the Bentley forum? ;)

[CaseySP]

Your wife would look at a gift of a $50+K import car as if it were a vacuum cleaner?!

You must have more money than god... Shouldn't you be hanging out on the Mercedes S-class or maybe the Bentley forum? ;)

No - she would/does look at a family station wagon as an appliance. Sadly we just had to give up our sports car for the family wagon with three children under 5 - it was never going to driven as we used to enjoy so much. Once the kids are all grown up I can almost guarantee another one will be on the cards - if they aren't outlawed by then :facepalm:

But, yes. In the meantime our $50k+ wagon is the best car for us, and I don't think Bently do wagons??

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/07/a50449234729072012002-1.jpg

[WestOiler125]

She loves it. Especially happy with the sports seats. They're so comfortable.


Glad to hear that, I've been waiting for a local VW dealer to get a sports pack in so I can see it and try out the seats.

Did it come with paddle shift and what is the ride like on the 18's? Privacy glass looks good also.

[drad81]

Yes it has paddle shift :)

I don't think the ride is at all harsh with the 18's. Of course it would be smoother with the 17s but I tested the ride by intentionally driving on the uneven sections of the road (I'm from Sydney so that's every road) and don't find it at all bumpy.
My daily ride is a 2005 C Class with sports suspension and 17s and apart from the Alltrack being smoother it has much less body roll too which surprised me.

I was a bit unsure of the privacy glass at first thinking that the contrast from front windows compared to the rear would be too great but it looks perfect. You don't really notice too much of a difference.

Drove the car down to the South Coast (Jarvis Bay) for the long weekend and it was so beautiful to drive. Up hills it just kept powering with little effort and it handle great. Even in the rain it felt so sure footed. I'm absolutely over the moon with the car.
Car now has just over 600kms and I can feel it's loosened up a little and a little more powerful.

Only downside i've found is the Stop/start function. Been caught out twice already where the car comes to a brief stop, shuts off and doesn't start straight away. I've had to reapply the brake for a sec for it to register and start up again. Luckily it can be turned off.

This can be quite dangerous if the auto-hold function isn't on. I was turning onto Mona Vale Rd (3 lane main road) from a side street on a decline and came to a brief stop. As the car shut down I took my foot off the brake and it didn't start straight away and rolled into the first lane while I tried to comprehend what was going on. Luckily there was no on coming traffic. I reapplied the brake for a sec then the car started up again. Had the auto-hold been on the car wouldn't have rolled so I highly recommend using the auto-hold if you use the Start/Stop.

[Spaceman]

We're expecting our first kid (it's going to be a boy) in May so we went looking for cars late last year and put a deposit down for this. I told the wife that the car would arrive in April but surprised her by taking delivery a few months earlier and personalised plates. So I guess you could call me a tight arse because I gave her a gift that we were always going to get...

Nothing tight arsed about that buddy. Tight arsed is like buying her a scooter, with side pram attachment!

[Marakai]

Dear diary... it has now been 2 months.

There is no news and depression is setting in.

The dealer is silent and will no longer take my calls. VW Australia has put me on ignore. My wife questions whether the car actually exists or is merely a chimera and has been longingly eying the tradies with their shiny XR6s.

When will it all end?

[drad81]

Doesn't sound good.

Ask your dealer for the VIN. That's what I did when I placed my order. I then found a site that tracks the cars whereabouts when it's on the container ship.

[drad81]

On a positive note I think I've finally got the hand of driving with the auto start/stop.

I still think that the start/stop MUST be used with the auto hold though.

Come to a set of red light or traffic that's not going anywhere soon that place the foot on the brake and keep it there until it's time to move off.

When you want to stop for a brief moment, e.g stop sign or crawling traffic. Bring the car to a complete stop and then take the foot off the brake (I know this sounds weird). The auto hold keeps the brakes on but by taking the foot off the brake the engine keeps running.

I've also noticed an improvement with the speed of which the engine fires up again in those cases when the engine shuts off as your just about ready to start moving.

[Marakai]

Doesn't sound good.

Ask your dealer for the VIN. That's what I did when I placed my order. I then found a site that tracks the cars whereabouts when it's on the container ship.

Yeah, I've pestered them for this info 3 times now. Every time they say "don't have one yet, will let you know."

If they even want to have a prayer of making the agreed upon delivery date (advantage that you get one when going through a leasing company - you can put a "no later than" date in), the vehicle would have to exist NOW and be on it way on to the vessel, assuming a 2 month voyage plus all the other stuff that needs to be done (local towbar installation, "delivery" aka glorified car wash, etc).

[Marakai]

On a positive note I think I've finally got the hand of driving with the auto start/stop.

I still think that the start/stop MUST be used with the auto hold though.

Come to a set of red light or traffic that's not going anywhere soon that place the foot on the brake and keep it there until it's time to move off.

When you want to stop for a brief moment, e.g stop sign or crawling traffic. Bring the car to a complete stop and then take the foot off the brake (I know this sounds weird). The auto hold keeps the brakes on but by taking the foot off the brake the engine keeps running.

I've also noticed an improvement with the speed of which the engine fires up again in those cases when the engine shuts off as your just about ready to start moving.

I had a chance to drive a car with S/S during a trip to Germany in 2011 and it took a day to get used to it, but after that I really appreciated it.

[drad81]

My advice is to get all this in emails if not done so yet just incase there are problems later.

Just remember absence makes the heart grow fonder...

[Marakai]

Well after calling the leasing company and the dealer I seem to have somewhat managed to set the fox among the chooks. All was aflutter with uhms and ahs and covering of behinds and excuses of "sales guy in charge is out after surgery" and "will get back to you Monday" and what not.

Turns out that by now I should definitely have had a production date for a while and almost certainly also a VIN. So someone somewhere dropped the ball - and if that means the order wasn't actually put into the system there will be hell to pay. :mad::facepalm: In fact, due to the European market slowdown, deliveries have normally been weeks ahead of schedule. So said the guy at VW Essendon - who also could not find any records of my order.

They better make ready to have heads roll if they screwed this up...

[Riker]

Hmmmm, memories come flooding back....

I had a similar situation with a well known 3rd party facilitator & dealership. The crux was that after 9 weeks of misleading me into believing the order had been placed & I would receive particulars soon re build date & arrival they infact had not done anything but sit on the order. I missed a production slot that I would have otherwise easily had. Story cut short, I pulled the plug with much vigor & got every cent back I had exchanged. Fortunately I found a Passat at another dealer the next day that had almost identical spec options to my original order (diff colour). It was a cancelled order that had arrived at the dealer off the dock two days previous & wasn't on the sales floor yet...... Lucky lucky....

You really do need to stay on top of everything yourself.


Well after calling the leasing company and the dealer I seem to have somewhat managed to set the fox among the chooks. All was aflutter with uhms and ahs and covering of behinds and excuses of "sales guy in charge is out after surgery" and "will get back to you Monday" and what not.

Turns out that by now I should definitely have had a production date for a while and almost certainly also a VIN. So someone somewhere dropped the ball - and if that means the order wasn't actually put into the system there will be hell to pay. :mad::facepalm: In fact, due to the European market slowdown, deliveries have normally been weeks ahead of schedule. So said the guy at VW Essendon - who also could not find any records of my order.

They better make ready to have heads roll if they screwed this up...

[Marakai]

I had a similar situation with a well known 3rd party facilitator & dealership. The crux was that after 9 weeks of misleading me into believing the order had been placed & I would receive particulars soon re build date & arrival they infact had not done anything but sit on the order.

Did you ever ask *why* they hell they would not have ordered the car? Slowdown due to excessive accumulation of wealth or something?!

Going to call them again late today if I don't hear from them first (which I fully expect because customer service seems to either be an extinct species or a 4-letter word in Australia :mad:)

[Riker]

Well, the old saleman retoric used by some (not all) questionable sales people was employed & in large amounts. The dealer always came back to saying one of a few things, 'why are you asking us this', 'where is your proof we haven't placed the order' & '*********eet haven't passed funds to us yet'... Surprising that last comment considering I had received a receipt for payment of the large deposit from the dealership weeks earlier... Even to this last point they continued to spin & mislead just like what is coming from our Fed Govt..... The real dis-heartening thing was you coud tell the dealer really didn't care like they should have & *********eet didn't do any chasing up at all with weeks going by without contact with me.

Enough BS was enough & as soon as I mentioned further action the whole discussion changed to can we refund your credit card today. As I mentioned earlier, you really do have to stay on top of it all yourself......


Did you ever ask *why* they hell they would not have ordered the car? Slowdown due to excessive accumulation of wealth or something?!

Going to call them again late today if I don't hear from them first (which I fully expect because customer service seems to either be an extinct species or a 4-letter word in Australia :mad:)

[Marakai]

The real dis-heartening thing was you coud tell the dealer really didn't care like they should have & *********eet didn't do any chasing up at all with weeks going by without contact with me.

Enough BS was enough & as soon as I mentioned further action the whole discussion changed to can we refund your credit card today. As I mentioned earlier, you really do have to stay on top of it all yourself......

Just bizarre, as if they didn't want to make a sale?!

Well, I got a call from the dealer today and was told vehicle is entering production KW9. I.e. next week. To then expect 3 months or so until I take delivery. So way late.

Called up the leasing company and was told they have not been informed of any change to delivery date and if the dealer does change it they must provide good reason. Gave them the task to light a fire under the mongrels. Together with an early raising of the "I want a loaner for every day that you miss the delivery date until the car arrives". Not that I have the slightest hope that they'd agree to that. Gotta try though.

[drad81]

Marakai costs nothing to try.

I agree with your comment about customer service being non-existent.

I must say I've been disappointed with the service received from my VW dealership apart from my experienced in collecting the car. I spoke to a sales guy not long after collecting the car to thank them for helping me surprise my wife. I also mentioned that my father-in-law is very interested in also purchasing a Passat and gave him the specs that he was after.

Now, my in-laws currently have a 2004 320 2 door BMW and are finding it increasingly difficult to get in and out of the car and squeeze their 70yo+ friends in the back. They're extremely keen to change over so a sale could be quite easily made. It's now been 3 weeks since that call and I haven't heard a thing. On top of this at the time of purchasing the Alltrack I told them that my dad was looking at the Amarok to replace his Rodeo and that my brother has a Jetta that he was considering in taking to them for servicing. I also mentioned that I was a member to a number of Aust. VW and Audi forums hoping they would look after me (knowing that I could advertise the dealership) but it seems to have had an adverse effect. I guess business is going that well they don't wan to make any more sale???

I'm really hoping that I have some positive experience come time for servicing otherwise I may forfeit the additional 3yrs of warranty and take the car elsewhere.


In addition to this, I finally got my welcome pack (I think) A small handout with my login details for YouVW. It's quite comical. Not even personalised. Where the car model was supposed to be "mail merged" into the document, it read Model Name.

I think I'll have to send an email to VWAust with some feedback. When you're spending $50k+ on their vehicles you just expect to feel like they respect you, not like they don't care anymore because they have taken your money and run. I get better service from Mercedes even with my 9year old C180


Luckily VW's products on the most part are great. My wife and I both love driving the Alltrack

[booba]

you guys must have really **** dealers.. the one i have in brisbane is excellent - not austral.

[Marakai]

I have to say the service from Leaseplan has been exemplary. They've called the dealership on my behalf, kept me informed and so far I have nothing to complain about. I'm hoping that stays that way once I have the vehicle, in which case I no longer care about the dealership. Leaseplan has a full range service all the way, including loaner cars when ours is in service. I call them, tell them I have a repair or service to be done, they tell to drop the car off, loaner will be waiting - and if the dealership/service centre does a crappy job they deal with them.

And booba, things actually started out very well with the dealer. VW Essendon was supposed to have a pretty good rep. As so often it goes a bit pearshaped when some of the good people leave and the others either aren't quite up to par or at least not quite up to speed in learning the ropes. Once I put the hard word on them they sure changed their behaviour quickly and at no time did I have the impression that they just didn't care or ignored me.

[Riker]

First dealer was very dissapointing & very disinterested, the second were very accomodating & continue to be.


you guys must have really **** dealers.. the one i have in brisbane is excellent - not austral.

[FSI 220]

Marakai

Could be worse... heck, Took a year for my V6 to arrive... then i had it for four months!

Drad... Time for more of a post...

[OilBurna]

Nice alltracks guys i wouldnt touch essendon vw with a 10ft bargepole go to Epping Bayford VW it is worth the drive they have a white alltrack there with sunroof at the moment

[Marakai]

Nice alltracks guys i wouldnt touch essendon vw with a 10ft bargepole go to Epping Bayford VW it is worth the drive they have a white alltrack there with sunroof at the moment

Bayford in Epping actually *sent* me to Essendon - because they couldn't get any demonstrators in fast enough. Not high enough on the VW pecking order, I'm guessing? Essendon was also willing to give me another nice discount on top of the already discounted price that Leaseplan quoted.

That said, Essendon is not, but Bayford *is* in the Leaseplan service network, so I may end up having more to do with them anyway.

[drad81]

You may get lucky and get one of the new diesel engines with 130kw and 380Nm.


I've been thinking about getting rid of the bike rack on the car for a one of those Thule OutRide 561 where the front wheel comes off and fork clips in.
Anyone ride and have a bike rack?

[Marakai]

You may get lucky and get one of the new diesel engines with 130kw and 380Nm.


Yeah, I'd been wondering about that and even started a thread about it, after asking the dealers. According to the latter it will still be a 125kW/350NM engine. Which led me to muse about production runs and whether they would really downgrade a vehicle on the assembly line based on its destination when all around have a different engine strength.

That said, as we are really only talking a bit of "chipping", I could totally see them making distinctions: if they do a whole vehicle mirrored for RHD, then a little chip is nothing.

[davo]

Yeah, I'd been wondering about that and even started a thread about it, after asking the dealers. According to the latter it will still be a 125kW/350NM engine.

Have you seen the latest thread on the CC forum (http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/f206/125tdi-gone-enter-130tdi-82742.html)? Apparently the CC is going to have 130kW/380Nm engine, so if we're lucky maybe the Alltrack will too.

(P.S, I'm a new member here, but also waiting for delivery of a new Alltrack -- due in May.)

[Marakai]

Have you seen the latest thread on the CC forum (http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/f206/125tdi-gone-enter-130tdi-82742.html)? Apparently the CC is going to have 130kW/380Nm engine, so if we're lucky maybe the Alltrack will too.

(P.S, I'm a new member here, but also waiting for delivery of a new Alltrack -- due in May.)

Thanks for the link, don't normally check over there! Yeah, I'll be waiting with bated breath as to what actually comes on the ship eventually. I have a healthy suspicion of what a dealer may tell me - whether it's about a car having or having not received an engine upgrade or whether the car actually is yet to go into a production run, or really has been built yonks ago and they just don't have their act together enough to tell me.

Well let's hope I do find out next week.

Booba, apart from tracking info, does info like VIN and engine number let you find out anything like stats and specs of a car?

[Marakai]

Got email that car entered production yesterday (Tuesday) and that VIN and engine no. should be transmitted "within 2 or 3 days".

ETA is very tentatively listed as "end of April". Heck of a long time to hold my breath so I guess I won't! ;)

[docjames]

I just wish the alltrack came with a higher-po motor (think modern version of the original Audi Allroad 2.7TT V6).

[drad81]

That would be nice.

I've been looking into performance programing. I think the 125tdi and 130tdi engines might be the same. with aftermarket tuning they boot end up with the same power output. approx 143-150kw and 380nm for dsg (405-420Nm for manual)

[Marakai]

Dealer just emailed and confirmed that our Alltrack will be a 130kW/380NM model, so it seems true: if you vehicle is produced Jan'13 and after it gets the upgrade.

[davo]

Dealer just emailed and confirmed that our Alltrack will be a 130kW/380NM model, so it seems true: if you vehicle is produced Jan'13 and after it gets the upgrade.

That's good news. Thanks for letting us know.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

[robbie]

Customer service at Volkswagen is not their strongest point. We have all had our fair share of run ins with Volkswagen right? :mad:

Congratulations on the Alltrack, Marakai. Such a great deed in surprising your wife with a new car, enjoy it in good health.

[Marakai]

Halle-FREAKING-luyah!

We have a VIN, ladies and gentlemen!

Now to glue my eyes daily to the tracking sites Booba posted some time ago!

Actually, how do I know which vessel my car is on?! There's a number of dates for varying vessels with a range of departures and arrivals that would match.

[booba]

Once it is entered into ww site then you can enter the vin and it will tell you the ship. it will most likely go around south Africa and not through panama I think.



Halle-FREAKING-luyah!

We have a VIN, ladies and gentlemen!

Now to glue my eyes daily to the tracking sites Booba posted some time ago!

Actually, how do I know which vessel my car is on?! There's a number of dates for varying vessels with a range of departures and arrivals that would match.

[Marakai]

Once it is entered into ww site then you can enter the vin and it will tell you the ship. it will most likely go around south Africa and not through panama I think.

Err, which site? vw.com? vw.com.au? I'd never noticed a menu or link for tracking before. Am I blind?

URL, my man, give me a URL, I beg of thee!

[Inego]

Walenius Wilhelmsen I assume

[Marakai]

Walenius Wilhelmsen I assume

Well that's the shipping company and I didn't think they themselves would allow tracking by VIN, however I found this on a forum:



Track your car, if shipped by Wallenius Wilhelmsen, using [your VIN]:

Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics - worldwide ocean transport, inland services, supply chain solutions, terminal services (http://www.2wglobal.com/www/wep/index.jsp)
• Go to "track and trace" cargo section on the homepage, at the bottom right.
(as displayed June 2009, this function has changed location over the months)
• Enter the VIN in the "Cargo ID" field of the form
• Hit "Track"
• Status will be displayed once Wallenius has taken taken possession of the car and selected it for shipment.
• You will then know the ships name.
• If "no records are available" is displayed, Wallenius Wilhelmsen does not yet have your car in their possession, your car is not being
transported by their fleet, or the tracking system is lagging behind actual status - which is quite common.


So, I guess they don't have it yet. That said, same post also said WWL will not always have a VIN linked to the Cargo ID, so you can only guess which vessel your car is on.

Gawds my fingernails are going to be chewed up to my elbows by the time this is done! :banana:

[wind]

Halle-FREAKING-luyah!

We have a VIN, ladies and gentlemen!

Now to glue my eyes daily to the tracking sites Booba posted some time ago!

Actually, how do I know which vessel my car is on?! There's a number of dates for varying vessels with a range of departures and arrivals that would match.

The VIN will be the shipping reference ONCE the car is on the car carrier/ship/boat (/bl--dy slow thing!). You will not be able to track it until the car is loaded and in transit. So if the VIN has been assigned BUT the car is not out of production then you will not see anything on the tracking pages.

With my car, could only track it while on the ship. If not on the ship then you just need to wait a little . . . if you are anything like me, I checked several times a day when I got my VIN until it was on the ship then followed the world tour it took on its was to here (went via USA, Panama, etc.)

[Marakai]

The VIN will be the shipping reference ONCE the car is on the car carrier/ship/boat (/bl--dy slow thing!). You will not be able to track it until the car is loaded and in transit. So if the VIN has been assigned BUT the car is not out of production then you will not see anything on the tracking pages.

With my car, could only track it while on the ship. If not on the ship then you just need to wait a little . . . if you are anything like me, I checked several times a day when I got my VIN until it was on the ship then followed the world tour it took on its was to here (went via USA, Panama, etc.)

How fast are those tubs anyway? I take it we're not talking nuclear aircraft carrier flank speed here (35kts+), alas! More like geriatric whale here... ;)

Looks like there's 2 ships, one going via Panama, the other via CoGH/ZA. They're really avoiding the Suez Canal and the Horn aren't they?

[wind]

How fast are those tubs anyway? I take it we're not talking nuclear aircraft carrier flank speed here (35kts+), alas! More like geriatric whale here... ;)

Looks like there's 2 ships, one going via Panama, the other via CoGH/ZA. They're really avoiding the Suez Canal and the Horn aren't they?

Mine took about 4-6 weeks (from memory) - vent via Panama canal. At the time it seemed to me that the state of the art car transport (i.e. tub :rolleyes:) was almost as fast as if the crew was dragging the ship with a row-boat!

Seriously though - those things do move at a fair pace (i.e. most cost efficient one for them, definitely not the fastest they can do).


Re Suez/Horn . . .:pirate: ??

[Marakai]

Hilarity ensues!

So, assuming that WWL is the sole shipper of VWs from Germany to Aus (or elsewhere) and with the info given to me by the dealer, such as departure and arrival info (VIN search doesn't return anything yet), I narrowed down the likely vessels to 2:

Sunshine Ace, departing Bremerhaven on 11-03 and Tiranna leaving 09-03. The latter via Panama it seems, the former via Cape.

Tiranna is currently in port being loaded. However, after a straightforward journey, this is what happened to Sunshine Ace:

Vessel route Sunshine Ace as of 09-03-13 (http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?mmsi=311015100&centerx=7.335217&centery=54.3152&zoom=10&type_color=7#)

(obviously anybody looking at this link in the far future wont see what the weirdness is)

So, drunk captain? Overcrowding in the harbour? Hijacking in the North Sea? Holding pattern over Heathrow? :D

[davo]

I was informed yesterday that my Alltrack has now been built and will be on a ship on its way to Melbourne within the next week. Looks like there is a good chance that it may be in the same ship as yours, Marakai.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

[Marakai]

I was informed yesterday that my Alltrack has now been built and will be on a ship on its way to Melbourne within the next week. Looks like there is a good chance that it may be in the same ship as yours, Marakai.


Check here: http://sagaweb.2wglobal.com/AppSchedules/tradeRouteSearch.do?routeId=OCEUI&actionType=generatePDF

Page 2 will be your likely schedule. If you don't have a VIN yet then you might be on a vessel after mine. Unless of course mine is delayed again and bumped to "your ship".

[davo]

Thanks Marakai. Haven't had a chance to ask about the VIN yet. Got a voice mail from the dealer on Friday, but have not had a chance to phone them back yet.

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[Marakai]

Don't know how often WWL updates their tracking system. Tirranna is on its way but not with "my" VIN. Sunshine Ace is still in harbour, schedule for departure today, though I wonder if that's delayed by a day due to her day-late arrival. Also no VIN. In fact no Passat VINs at all so far (as a wildcard search showed me).

The wait is killing me. ;) I shall start counting cars instead of sheep to go to sleep! :D

[Marakai]

My fingernails cannot get any shorted than I've chewed them now. ;)

Booba, any idea when WWL updates their tracking service, from experience of hitting the refresh button yourself? So far it seems way way behind, with vehicles loaded Feb 26! At least when searching for Passat related VINs. Mine doesn't show up at all yet, even though they really should be loading "my" car right about now.

EDIT: vessel is en route now, but according to tracking there's not a single VW on it (nor the prior one for that matter). Looks like WWL only updates occasionally. :(

[Marakai]

Hooray, VIN now on list, Sunshine Ace as hoped (so no trip via Panama!). Light at end of tunnel.

<prays for calm seas>

[davo]

Just got notified that my Alltrack is on the Tosca, due in Melbourne in 26th April.

[Marakai]

Just got notified that my Alltrack is on the Tosca, due in Melbourne in 26th April.

Nice. She left 8 days after the Sunshine Ace but seems to skip Zeebrugge, so arrives only 6 days later. Assuming on time travel. After watching "my" ship, it seems like there are frequently traffic jams in the harbours resulting in the vessels just cruising around a few hours outside of ports, like some plains in holding patterns. When they finally dock, the schedules seem to get surreptitiously adjusted. Yeah, I probably need a life because I even noticed that. ;)

I wouldn't be surprised if we end up picking our Alltracks on the same day, despite the supposed week difference. :rolleyes: Which dealer did you go through?

[davo]

I wouldn't be surprised if we end up picking our Alltracks on the same day, despite the supposed week difference. :rolleyes: Which dealer did you go through?

Bayford Camberwell

[Marakai]

Bayford Camberwell

Ah, was going to go through those guys (Epping branch) originally, not the least because they are a preferred dealer for my novated leasing company. Howeverer, they couldn't get a demo vehicle for a test drive in time when we were pushing to order and they actually sent us to Essendon VW, which is where ours now will come from.

[Inego]

Great to hear your cars are on the way - I dread to think when my wife will finally get around to pulling the trigger. That said, maybe I'll wait and see if I can get something close to what I want ex-stock, as neighbours around the corner did last month. Not sure about the white though.

The sports pack seems to be a must have though. Had a look at another member's V6 AWD yesterday, and those seats are really good. Might be able to sell the wife on those seats alone, as even she commented that the Scout rear ones (in particular) aren't all that comfortable.

[Vas87]

Has anyone taken theirs offroad, namely beach/ dunes?