4motion van on the beach at double island point qld

[coas tfire safety]

Hi Van Fans,

Apart from the occasional ground clearance issue, my 2008 Transporter 4MOTION 128kw(ECU tuned to approx. 152kw) performed strongly in all beach driving scenarios!
Tyres let down to 20psi, 10x empty sandbags & shovel & a snatch strap for recovery & plenty of rpm in the soft sand!
Certainly gets plenty of looks from the 4x4 drivers.

[Franco]

Sweet. I'm trying to get some courage to do the same thing. Can i ask what the sand bags are for, what tyres and do you have a diff lock? Have u taken the van on really dry slopy sand near the dunes? I'm teeing up with a 4wd mate to come with me on a couple of runs just in case i get stuck and I bought an exhaust jack as part of my recovery gear.

Cheers frank

[Kiels3927]

I'm teeing up with a 4wd mate to come with me on a couple of runs just in case i get stuck and I bought an exhaust jack as part of my recovery gear.

Nothing worse than having the remains posted on social media.

[jonathan_k]

Love it! Will have mine out on the beach soon.

I'll be doing the same as Franco and taking a recovery vehicle first time, but by most accounts it's all good in most scenarios.

Auto or manual?

[Transporter]

Your T5s limitations are, the ground clearance and limited suspension travel. Don't go straight for the soft sand, even your mates tough 4x4 could struggle in the soft sand, majority of them rely on the momentum and when your T5 gets bogged you both can get stuck, when he stops to pull you out.

With the caution and a skilled/sensible driver the 4Motions are quite capable.

[Franco]

I couldn't wait for my mate, but i have him on speed dial.. friday arv i headed down, i left the tyres at 42psi and headed 5km down the beach. I kept esc on, slowing down and speeding up and getting a feel for the traction, a big sweeping turn towards the dunes and back to the beginning, another turn, turn off esc and and the same again. It seemed to handle better so I'd slow right down come to a stop and head into dryer softer sand ( not too soft! ). I have the dsg and left it in auto, if I had gotten stuck i would have let the tyres down to 20 psi, as i read somewhere that you can get out of 90 % of sand bogs by letting the tryes down.
Thanks for the inspiration.

[jonathan_k]

Sound advice as always Transporter.

I've just switched from a Patrol to the T5 which I see as a soft roader.

Really wanted one with a diff lock but reckon I was lucky to find a 4motion at all, they're pretty rare (at least on carsales). I had to get the DSG auto for my wife so I'm a bit constrained for off road anyway. Absolutely love it so far, have taken it down some roughish camping tracks and driven it up some funky dirt mounds to test it out, fairly impressed even without a lift and set of AT's which I intend to do at some point.

[Sunny43.5]

I wonder how the DSG will stand up to sandy conditions , from reports on the Amarok when it was first released they did not fit the DSG due to the fact that when the DSG senses wheel spin it will burn out the clutches over time . If you look at all the early Amaroks they were all manuals .When they got the demand for the auto in the Amarok it was amore conventional torque converter auto .

[jonathan_k]

That's awesome Franco. Great to hear that you're doing it in a DSG, auto's are usually superior in sand but I am glad to hear first hand experience.

Boambee isn't a super soft beach but just by looking at the photo, the fact that your T5 was on it with road pressures is impressive.

Are they your tracks on the left hand side in the photo??

Having done heaps of sand driving throughout Australia -- airing down is just a matter of course for sand (and other types of terrain). Primarily for increased traction but also because it's way better for your vehicle and waaaaaaay better for the tracks.

There are also times where you'll get bogged with high pressures and deflating won't get you out, but running low pressures you wouldn't have gotten bogged in the first place.

Some reasons you might not air down:
* Worried about exposing the side walls to punctures (highly unlikely on beaches)
* Reduced clearance (might be relevant for soft roaders like ours)
* Only going a few k's and feeling too lazy to re-inflate (most common reason!)

On an unknown beach that looks good I start with 30psi but if the vehicle is straining at all I air down. Previously I would do so progressively (26 -> 24, etc.) but now if 30psi isn't suitable I just go straight to 18psi (fully laden 4x4). I've been as low as 12psi to get up the mountainous dunes from Warren Beach in SW WA.

Invest in a decent compressor and experiment with the difference. It's an exponential curve... very noticeable even going from 20psi to 18psi.

Super excited to get mine out there now!

[jonathan_k]

I wonder how the DSG will stand up to sandy conditions , from reports on the Amarok when it was first released they did not fit the DSG due to the fact that when the DSG senses wheel spin it will burn out the clutches over time . If you look at all the early Amaroks they were all manuals .When they got the demand for the auto in the Amarok it was amore conventional torque converter auto .

Also interested in this. I'm guessing that the combination of airing down as low as practical and driving in manual mode will keep loss of traction to a minimum to begin with and at least reduce the possibility of the problems you've described.

Turning off ESC is a good choice for sand in a real 4x4 like a Landcruiser or Patrol as it does more harm than good, in fact we jokingly refer to it as "adventure mode". Thinking that it would be similar for the T5?

The way the DSG will override manual mode is annoying, I have the idea of the DSG reprogram that Harding Performance does in the back of my head.