Took the Tig offroad today (sort of)

**Kyeema** · 29-11-2009, 06:16 PM

We went to McLaren Vale today to visit some wineries and soon found out that if you take the roads that are signed "no through road" or are no through roads on the Nav, they often are connected to other roads, but by sand, not bitumen or dirt. We found a few that were really fun, and 1 I would actually consider 4wd: narrow, sand, obstacles like roots and branches, deep tracks and hilly.

We didn't have to use the "off road" option, the Tig did very well. Unfortunately because of some deep holes in the track, I did damage one of the side steps. Ah well, I would have felt worse if it would have been a major scratch.
I will definitely do it again, it is fun and a good way of getting to know the car.

Dented side step

**AlanTig** · 29-11-2009, 06:41 PM

Nice pics

Looked like you had fun,shame about the bit of damage

**mickofoz** · 29-11-2009, 08:25 PM

Can you be more specific about the location of this treck? Maybe coordinates etc?

**Arctra** · 29-11-2009, 09:27 PM

Nice! She is quite a capable little offroader hey?

I'm yet to try her on sand, but the sort of sand you were on probably wasn't deep soft sand like beaches, just a layer of soft sand on top of firmer pack. Is that correct, or was it deeper stuff you could get bogged down in? If it was deeper stuff, did you let your tyres down at all?

Just something, with roots and rocks, watch out with your tyre sidewalls. They aren't heavy duty multi-ply sidewalls that All Terrain tyres have... that makes them a little more prone to damage. That being said, they certainly aren't weak tyres and can handle a fair amount of punishment.

I'm really glad to see there are others willing to take their babies off the sealed roads. I'm planning on doing a little more over the festive period.

Thanks again for sharing!

**Sanman** · 29-11-2009, 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by Kyeema

Dented side step

Gives the Tig a little cred to have a small dent underneath - wear it with pride.
I'm impressed that the Tiguan can walk through that slippery mud. I've slid off the apex of a slippery muddy dirt track into the drains at the side more than once before. Not a fun recovery.

**Kyeema** · 01-12-2009, 09:28 PM

I have no coordinates, but it was somewhere around Maximus Wines. After you pass Maximus wines, there is a sandy track on the left with a sign that says 'inaccessible in summer'. We took that one, came on a bitumen road, turned left into Settlement road and I think it was somewhere on the right where the real 4wd track was. Sorry for the vague description, but I'm not from around there.

It was quite loose sand on some parts, but packed because of the recent rain. There was no need to deflate the tires but had to keep the momentum going to get through the sand.

I read about a route near Tintinara suitable for a small SUV (not Ngarkat) which we will be checking out, I guess it's mainly sand as well.
We're taking the Tig to the red centre this summer and although we won't be doing any real 4wd tracks, we want to know what she can do. Because you never know what you'll come across

**Kyeema** · 06-12-2009, 05:39 PM

Took the Tig to Messent Conservation park and Boothby Conservation Park near Tintinara. (If anyone is interested, you can pick up a map from the local info store or bring your own (I forgot mine). The Nav in the tig doesn't show the tracks in the parks.
Messent CP is sandy and the Tig does very well in sand, only problem here was the clearance. The growth on the median strip makes a lot of noise when it hits the bottom of the car. But the driving is effortlessly.
Mt Boothby CP is said to be open to conventional vehicles, but it is very rocky, has millions of tree roots and here again in some parts, the clearance is a bit of a challenge. You only can go slooooow, and I can't see how any normal cars would be able to go over these tracks. Because of recent rain there was some mud and even a water (mud) crossing. Tig did great in itself, but again, going through the water there was a little dip, and then clearance is only just sufficient (or maybe not, because we could here it hit the ground). No damage or anything. The car seems well protected on the bottom.
We did deflate our tires a bit (only till 30), because we didn't want to loose too much height. Brought our compressor to pump them back up afterwards.
At least we have a pretty good idea of what she can do and we are happy with the results so far.

**Arctra** · 06-12-2009, 06:59 PM

Brilliant! Good effort. Looks like it was quite nice and dry? I reckon in the dry I would have a lot of faith in the Tig. It's only ground clearance and the non-all-terrain tyres I currently have fitted that would concern me. Would love some video and more pics if you have em.

Anything in particular you found with the behaviour? I found in a gravel pit when opposing front and back wheels were in the air I couldn't move, but was later told I should just give more throttle and the ABS would transfer the power to the grounded wheels. Anything else like that you learned from your outing? Did you use hill-decent control at all?

Very exciting to have some more offroading feedback!

**Kyeema** · 06-12-2009, 07:53 PM

The car is very light (compared to a full size 4WD) which makes it very easy to drive in sand. No off road used, I tried it, but it didn't break enough for what I needed for the track. The track wasn't steep, but quite bad with lots of rocks so I needed to go slower. We checked the tires afterwards and there was no visible damage from the rocks. I have more pics and a little movie from the mud crossing (not very spectacular), but I'd rather not have my rego out there. I'll upload some more pics on photobucket.

When we went through the mud the wheels started to slide, and like you wrote, keep speed and traction control kicks in (ESP). The car is very steady and it drives great, it really has surprised us in it's off road abilities. It never felt unsafe or uncapable.

Don't have any experience yet with wheels in the air, that sound very cool! Got any pics?

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See http://s634.photobucket.com/albums/uu64/kyeematiguan/ for more pics.

**Arctra** · 06-12-2009, 09:30 PM

Originally Posted by Kyeema

I have more pics and a little movie from the mud crossing (not very spectacular), but I'd rather not have my rego out there. I'll upload some more pics on photobucket.

...Don't have any experience yet with wheels in the air, that sound very cool! Got any pics?

If you want me to blank out your plates in your video I can do so. I did it on a few of my video's as I had the same concern. (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2HGyFlT58U)

The video of me playing in the gravel pit where 2 opposite wheels lost traction is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIKlbgCk9lA
It's not a great up-close video, but you can hear me gently accelerating and the un-weighted tyres scrabbling for traction. I'm actually quite keen to go out again and try get myself into the 2 wheel situation (where I can easily recover like I did by rolling backwards on the slope in the video) just so I can try see if the "fake" diff-lock using ABS works.