SUVs are all the range at the moment but Volkswagen has an estate that offers a bit more than the normal load-lugger in the shape of the Passat Alltrack.

Being a VW its well screwed together, offers loads of space for passengers and gear and is also ideal for towing and helping you when the going gets rough.

It comes with a tough off-road look and is an independent model within the Passat estate series.

This can be seen in exterior features such as the modified bumpers, rugged wheel arch and side sill moulding covers in and sill extensions.

Its 27.5 mm higher ground clearance also makes it ready for any difficult driving situation.

To give it standout looks it comes with anodised silver roof rails, "Alltrack" badges on the radiator grille and tailgate, and custom 17-inch alloy wheels with 18 and 19-inch wheel options available.

The Passat Alltrack comes with a fair amount of helpful kit including 4MOTION permanent all-wheel drive making it a perfect all-round vehicle for both the on-road and off-road worlds.

In addition, the Alltrack is an excellent towing vehicle. A towing load of 2,200 kg braked can be hitched to it on a twelve per cent gradient.

It also comes with a large range of driver assistance and infotainment systems. They include a head-up display, emergency assist, traffic jam assist, rear traffic alert and trailer assist.

A stop-start system and recover of braking energy with battery regeneration are also included as standard.

Infotainment has a high priority in the Passat Alltrack with a total of five radio and radio-navigation units available for which enable a maximum degree of connectivity. The various interfaces include connecting to smartphones via App Connect.

App Connect consists of applications like Mirror Link, Car Play (Apple) and Android Auto (Google), which permit integration of nearly all smartphones and an enormous bandwidth of apps

The Alltracks are powered by VW's TDI turbocharged diesel engines offering 150bhp and 190bhp.

There's a choice of six-speed manual or six-speed dual-clutch automatic and combined fuel consumption for the manual comes in at 57.6mpg with the auto returning a claimed 54.3mpg.

Despite its size the Alltrack can hit 62mpg in just 9.2 seconds in the manual and 8 seconds in the auto with CO2 emissions coming in at 130 and 137g/km respectively.

Prices come in at £31,915 for the manual 4MOTION and £34,905 for the DSG 4MOTION.