If you like driving but life has inconveniently filled up with children, dogs and outdoor kit, this is the sort of car you quietly Google at midnight. The Passat Alltrack is Volkswagen’s answer to the question: “What if we took the sensible Passat wagon, gave it some ground clearance and a proper turbo motor, but didn’t ruin it with a jelly-suspension SUV body?”

Under the fairly modest brown paint is a very German bit of engineering. A 2.0-litre turbo four drives all four wheels through a DSG dual-clutch gearbox and VW’s 4Motion system. It’s not a GTI in disguise, but 210-ish horsepower and a healthy slug of torque means this thing hustles – particularly on a wet, twisty road where the Haldex rear axle quietly does its thing. Compared with the average crossover it feels lower-slung, more tied down and more honest: MacPherson struts up front, multi-link rear, decent damping and that familiar VW steering which, while not dripping with feel, places the nose exactly where you want it.

This particular Alltrack is a one-owner Japanese dealer car, in the rather lovely Deep Brown metallic with matching dark leather and a panoramic glass roof. It’s loaded with the good contemporary toys – Front Assist, cornering (“bend”) lights, driver-alert system, dual-zone climate, heated electric seats – but the overall vibe is still restrained, more “continental express” than lifestyle cliché. It’ll calmly tow, haul bikes, ski gear and dogs, then sit at a cruise all day feeling solid and unflustered.

So no, it isn’t an icon like an E30 M3. But as a grown-up enthusiast’s daily – something that can cover distance quickly and confidently, still make you faintly pleased when you arrive, and swallow real-world life without complaint – this Alltrack quietly makes a lot of sense.