Membership of 4WD clubs

[bobzed57]

Hi Greg

Tailgate all sorted. I bought the US maintenance manual for the LHD Touaregs and gave a copy of the relevant pages to my insurance company. All fixed in a couple of hours.

Cheers

bob

[Treggie]

Hi Guys

I had some fun with the Land Rover club a couple of months back. My wife is a member with her Disco and as it was in for some work, we took my Treg on one of their recent day trips. Copped a bit of light bantering about the Treg, including one wag who kept wanting to remind me that Britain won the wars and the Germans never did too well. Still it was all light hearted and being kind I played tail end charlie for most of the day. After a nice lunch at a little place in Gippsland we did some gentle off roading, following some power lines through some light bush. Everyone handled it well, as you would expect. There was one section with a water run that was dry, but genuinely tested the suspension articulation of most vehicles. Most took 2-3 goes to climb up, watching their tyre track widths and the water course between. I have to say the Treg was the widest wheelbase of the day, and with the rear diff lock engaged (via the centre console dial ;-D) I was up and over in one go. That seemed to make more than a few people stop and think.

At the afternoon tea break, quite a few blokes were taking a more serious look at the Treg and under the bonnet. One bloke loved the driving position and remarked how comfortable it would be for a long drive.

Definately good value to help change peoples minds.

On the point about the Range Rover Sport, my wife has just ordered herself a new V8TDI. Should arrive in Feb, and seriously looking forward to playing with that. Given the vw german website talking about a V8TDI Treg, I think that will be my next one. No rush here.

[dmm_au]

I'm going to go to the Victorian Land Rover Club's next meeting on Thursday 1/5/08. Have a look, and think about joining it. If there are any Victorian Touareg owners about, perhaps you'd like to come along.

Club meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month at 8pm, except January. Meetings are held at the Manningham Function Centre on Doncaster Hill (known as the MFC) 699 Doncaster Road Doncaster (Melways 33, F12) . Visitors are very welcome. If you wish to join or know more about the Club, come along to one of the Meetings, or talk to any Club Member or a Committee Member for more details.

[dmm_au]

Unfortunately, the meeting got moved to the 8th. A fact I didcovered after driving to Doncaster.

I'll try again next Thursday. Anyone else interested?

[dmm_au]

Erin and I went to a LROCV meeting last night.
Everyone was very friendly, but the meeting seemed quite bureaucratic, with proposals, seconding, motions etc. At one stage someone read out the subject of every e-mail the club had received in the last month!

One thing that was impressive was a trip that was about to depart to drive accross Russia. They were putting the cars into shipping containers and planning to return next October.

I think I want a club to provide some physical assistance (ie Snatch strap) and experience in leading trips.

For all the vehicle related stuff there are these excellent online forums.

Maybe we do need a Touareg Club after all.

[bobzed57]

Hi David

I just had a look at the LROVC's website and they seem to have a driver education program that should give you the skills that you need. Snatching is just a part of the driver ed. I've done a couple of accredited courses arranged by my club and they were very good covering snatching, winching (both hand and electric) etc, but also some really useful stuff like wheel positioning and how diffs work etc. If you check the link at the their website, which takes to the website for the 4X4 proving grounds there's a bunch of photos of Touaregs doing the course.

I've been on quite a few trips with my club and I'm slowly working up the experience where I'll feel confident and competent to lead a trip. My club does run a leader program and about every three months or so, the more experienced trip leaders share their experience with budding leaders. My recent trip to the Flinders was part of skilling myself up, but I suspect there's a fair bit of difference between running a trip where you're responsible for only yourself and one on which you're responsible for a group of others.

That said, most of the clubs in Canberra welcome visitors and offer opportunities for prospective members to join in club activities to suck it and see. It's probably the same down your way. Maybe you should check out what else is about, after all, you've got to be comfortable with the group especially if you're going to be travelling all over the place with them. It'd probably good if you could get a few other local Touareg owners signed up as well. Safety in numbers I suppose you'd call it

Cheers

Bob

[dmm_au]

It'd probably good if you could get a few other local Touareg owners signed up as well. Safety in numbers I suppose you'd call it

I'd love to get a few other Victoria drivers involved. One of the reasons I opened this thread. The other option might be to join the Victorian VW Club and then form a sub group interested in VWs and FWDs.

I did a accredited 4wd course 6 months ago. Covered all the basics I expect a club course would cover. You're right it was helpful. I'd recommend the approach to anyone.

[T Rex]

Just like to support David's comments. We had Range Rovers from '86 - '02 and had many great camping trips - including several long outback trips solo. We would not have had the confidence to make some of those trips if we hadn't joined the Range Rover Club (NSW) and learned just what a capable 4WD can do - this learning took place by going on club trips and by participating in their courses. Considering the outstanding abilities of the Touareg I would recommend any owner who doesn't have 4WD experience either join a club or attend a course - you will be amazed what your car can do and enjoy it even more. Cheers. Geoff

[dmm_au]

We've joined the range rover club of victoria.
Smaller club than the Land rover club, and quite a few trips planned that we'd like to participate in.

We did our driver training (theory and practical) and I learn a few things I didn't know. Also it was a great opportunity to compare the capability of the touareg to a late and new model prado. In high level summary, I'd say a little less clearance and approach angles, with superior traction control.

We were the only ones to get stuck on a particularly muddy hill, but after dropping the tyre pressure a bit more, and getting a some more momentum, we got everywhere the other guys did.

[bobzed57]

Guys

Made the front cover of my club's monthly mag. 'twas the good lady wife driving as well. She's well-chuffed.

Check out http://www.lrc.org.au/magazines/200806_webversion.pdf

That'll have the die hard LR owners in a tizz.

Cheers