Driving a softroader in sand article

[NZTiguan]

Hopefully JJJ from south Africa will give you the answers you need as he did a lot of sand work in a Tiguan before going to a Freelander 2. I haven't done sand work but I've done a fair bit of farm track and rough back country track work and I've found the Tig superb (though I do have the Track and Field version). Your main limit on sand will be clearance, the 4motion is definitely up to the task.

Regarding the ESP, no it does not switch itself off (as there ARE times you'd want it on) BUT personally I always switch it OFF when I switch the off-road ON. As soon as you go above a given speed they both switch back on again automatically anyway (well they do on my 2008 anyway). ESP off just gives you a bit less chance of the Tig "taking over" when you least expect it or want it to !!

Have a search through the forum. JJJ wrote a lot about sand work a year or two back and even developed spacers to lift the Tig a little.

Overall I'm certain you'll find the Tig excellent for what you've described here.

Cheers

[team_v]

Overall I'm certain you'll find the Tig excellent for what you've described here.

Cheers

Also let down your tyres to a respectable level and you should be fine.

[Arctra]

...According to the following article: 2008 Volkswagen Tiguan TDI offroad review | Car Advice | Reviews...

That article is a crock. Having taken the Tig on the beach with 3 large adult passengers. I drove on some very soft sand on the beach specifically to test the Tig I can tell you first hand that it is fine. Drop your tyre pressures nice and low (13psi or so) and don't drive like an idiot. Although I have the offroad pack, I don't think it is all that necessary unless you are in very soft sand and doing lots of turning, stopping and starting. I reckon the clowns that wrote that article had their pressures too high and were driving like tossers. Just my opinion though.

My main concern would be the under car protection which this article mentions, do you think thats a major issue?

I think this is a fair concern, and I would strongly advocate getting a nice solid bash plate like the one I had made up. With the realtively poor clearance of the Tig I did notice the back plate acted as something of a bulldozer blade smoothing out the lumps in the sand so the rest of the underbody didn't cop a beating.

Also, does the offroad pack turn off the ESP that the article mentions? or is ESP always on?

No. You have an offroad button and an ESP button. You can turn ESP on or off whether the offroad button is activated or not. And when you activate offroad it does nothing to ESP.

Incidentally, even when you turn ESP off, it doesn't ever really disable it - it just seems to push the limits at which it kicks in out a bit further. When on my brothers farm I did some testing with the ESP on and off, and even with the ESP off when I tried to do a 4 wheel drift around a corner the ESP kicked in.

Basically Im trying to choose between a current model forester and a tiguan. Everyone says the forester offroad ability is much better, but im not so sure and would like advice from people that have actually taken the tiguan offroad on the beach.

I cannot comment on the offroad ability of the Subie, but I can tell you that the Tig is a capable offroader. Its main problem is the poor ground clearnace. It's second major problem is that if you damage it (which is a distinct possibility when offroading) it is more expensive to fix than a Jap vehicle simply because in Australia spare parts for Euro cars are very overpriced.

PS. I have posted up several threads about me taking the Tig offroad, including pics and video's. So do a search through my threads if you want to get some comfort. As Derek pointed out, jjj on the MyTiguan forums has also posted some decent threads and advice on offroading with the Tig. The only other forum member I can point to as being an active offroader with the Tig is jimbomort.

[kaanage]

hippyhippy, have you read this thread?

[hippyhippy]

thanks for the replies... yeah i've read that thread

are there much loose stuff below the car?

would it be a good idea to get some tape and backup anything that is loose looking under the car?

Ideally I would like a TDI automatic model, would this be ok for the offroading? compared to say the manual?

my idea for stockton beach is that because i would only really drive on top of existing tracks that I "should" be ok.

[team_v]

thanks for the replies... yeah i've read that thread

are there much loose stuff below the car?

would it be a good idea to get some tape and backup anything that is loose looking under the car?

Ideally I would like a TDI automatic model, would this be ok for the offroading? compared to say the manual?

my idea for stockton beach is that because i would only really drive on top of existing tracks that I "should" be ok.

There isn't much loose under the car at all.
Most of the engine has a "protective" piece of ABS plastic covering it held in by several torx head screws.

A TDI Auto would be ideal for softroading.

[NZTiguan]

thanks for the replies... yeah i've read that thread

Ideally I would like a TDI automatic model, would this be ok for the offroading? compared to say the manual?

The auto is actually preferred by a lot of light off-road drivers now because you can't get into trouble with stalling on hills and you can crawl along at very low speed without having to juggle with the clutch (and possible clutch burn-out). I don't have any knowledge of the DSG box in these circumstances however and have heard that it "m ay" not be quite as tractable as it's either "in gear" or "out of gear" rather than having a torque converter that can effectively "slip the clutch" for you. As I say, this is only what I've heard and not from experience and we all know that the DSG in the Tig is the latest and best out there. Will be interested to hear from somebody when a DSG finally gets used off-road.

Cheers

[jcubed]

That article is a crock. Having taken the Tig on the beach with 3 large adult passengers. I drove on some very soft sand on the beach specifically to test the Tig I can tell you first hand that it is fine. Drop your tyre pressures nice and low (13psi or so) and don't drive like an idiot. Although I have the offroad pack, I don't think it is all that necessary unless you are in very soft sand and doing lots of turning, stopping and starting. I reckon the clowns that wrote that article had their pressures too high and were driving like tossers. Just my opinion though.

I think this is a fair concern, and I would strongly advocate getting a nice solid bash plate like the one I had made up. With the realtively poor clearance of the Tig I did notice the back plate acted as something of a bulldozer blade smoothing out the lumps in the sand so the rest of the underbody didn't cop a beating.

No. You have an offroad button and an ESP button. You can turn ESP on or off whether the offroad button is activated or not. And when you activate offroad it does nothing to ESP.

I cannot comment on the offroad ability of the Subie, but I can tell you that the Tig is a capable offroader. Its main problem is the poor ground clearnace. It's second major problem is that if you damage it (which is a distinct possibility when offroading) it is more expensive to fix than a Jap vehicle simply because in Australia spare parts for Euro cars are very overpriced.

PS. I have posted up several threads about me taking the Tig offroad, including pics and video's. So do a search through my threads if you want to get some comfort. As Derek pointed out, jjj on the MyTiguan forums has also posted some decent threads and advice on offroading with the Tig. The only other forum member I can point to as being an active offroader with the Tig is jimbomort.

What he said.

I can perhaps add something in terms of the Forester, seeing as I now have two in the family - 2001 and 2004 models.

Funnily enough, I went for a test drive in the Diesel Boxer equivalent only yesterday. It pulls well, but comes only with a manual 6-speed transmission. It is quite easy to stall it when pulling off - probably the turbo lag - but one can adjust your driving style to compensate.

It is SUPER quiet inside - not like the Tiguan - although outside, it clatters with the best of them.

You mention somewhere that you've had success with light cars on sand. This is what makes the Forester so capable - it just bounces along. Compared to the previous generation Foresters, the Tiguan is 250kg heavier. This counts against it.

The new Forester has decent ground clearance - claimed 225 mm - but I guess that is also NOT under the sump, but at the break-over point. The previous gen has 210mm minimum under the sump. By comparison the Tiguan has only 170mm clearance here.

What makes up for this somewhat in sand, is the stiff suspension, so the nose does not dive as much as with a Forester (what the heck, MOST other SUVs!). But a decent bash plate as recommended by Arctra will spread the impact, and prevent damage.

The Forester locally is overpriced - equivalent of > AUD k52 for the basic model - but this may be different your end. Also, it remains quite basic inside. VW wrote the book in terms of seat comfort - the leather versions anyway - so pretty much anything else will be worse.

If you want auto - recommended if you have no low range - go Tiguan Tiptronic. Locally you still only get the 4-speed tranny on the Forester, and no auto on the diesel. With no low range, that torque converter helps a lot to get moving from standstill by allowing slip to get the revs into the torque band. You'll smoke a manual clutch some time or other.

But a bit of lift makes a big difference. Soon you should be able to get a local report on exactly this aspect.

[jimbomort]

local report just arrived!

have installed jcubed's spacers and while I haven't measured yet, the increase is quite significant. Haven't driven heaps yet but pushed through a few corners etc on way home and see no obvious impact on handling. I haven't tested off road, but another trip to Moreton later this year perhaps. I also hope to have one of Arctra's bashplates installed in the not too distant future. Pics to come.

There is my report on my trip to Moreton Island on the offroad thread and some pics. Personally I felt the Tig blitzed it, so shouldn't be a problem on Stockton. However the sand was wet which helps (had been raining a lot) and there is no doubt more clearance and a bash plate is needed to do it comfortably. Hence my additions.

I had a 2000 model Sube Outback previously. I must first say its similar BUT NOT the same as the Forester. However for the outback at least I doubt it would have coped with Moreton well at all. I have no doubt I would have been revving the engine much harder to stop the engine from bogging down and it's a lighter car with a bigger motor than the Tig!

Because of the torque converter, as jcubed said, auto better, but I still maintain the TSI with APR upgrade even in manual form (ours is) is going to eat anything you throw at it here, because there is just so much torque from low in the rev range. By way of example I towed over 450kg of trailer up a decent hill on a dirt road the other day at 55klm/hr in 5th (1300rpm) and it handled that without a problem.

By the way I also averaged 5.8l/100 on the way back from getting the spacers fitted in Brisbane. Sure I stuck to a 100 and no air con, but except for the 110 sections I was doing the same as the rest of the traffic, and the trip included about 10% city driving.

[jcubed]

Hi All,

Due to being embarrassed at the time for driving like a muppet, I only posted this video clip today: YouTube - Tiguan Stuck.

Moral of the story, if you are going up a winding dune, use manual mode - or at the very least SPORT, because as soon as you tap off, the Tiptronic transmission is going to shift up, and the same is going to happen to you. Jimbomort, you can ignore this advice . No harm done though, except to your ego.

This clip also demonstrates that the Tiguan is a tough old bird, and can survive an attack by a Defender, still living to fight another day.