[atoprani]

hey guys

Recently i took my touareg v6 2009 on the sand dunes in Oman for the first time. had a great experience... was worried it might get suck but had no problems... drove it for two hours up and down huge hills... only problem i had was climbing steep slopes wasn't able to get good speed....
all i did was shift the nob to low range, turn off the esp and started driving.... yup didn't even reduce the air.... (wanted to try it without it and if necessary, i would reduce it to 14psi)... but never needed to..... cause i never got stuck...
Any advice on when i climb slops how do i get more speed.... the thing is that in low gear i wasn't able to get more speed .... should i shift the nob back to high range and drive????
any advice is always welcome....
here are some pics ... i will be adding the video soon on you tube ....

 

[gjaroudi]

HI
It's better to reduce the air to 15 psi especially when it's very soft sand and for climbing.
No need to shift the nob to low range , only off the ESP.
When you feel your car going to stuck or loosing speed, move your steering left and right many times.
Regards,

 

[atoprani]

HI
It's better to reduce the air to 15 psi especially when it's very soft sand and for climbing.
No need to shift the nob to low range , only off the ESP.
When you feel your car going to stuck or loosing speed, move your steering left and right many times.
Regards,

sweet thanx .... ya i asked around and they said the same .... not to shift to low range .... only if i get stuck.... i am going to try again....

 

[wvicary]

Were you driving in a garbage tip or is there almost that much rubbish in the sand?

 

[atoprani]

Were you driving in a garbage tip or is there almost that much rubbish in the sand?

ya i know it was sad too see ... most of the people just left their trash around ... its actually not that bad .... it was the only spot on top without soft sand where i could take the risk of stopping and not getting stuck.... the all the dunes in the back were clean... yup sad

 

[AndrieK]

I drop my pressures to 14.5psi max and keep it in High with ESP off. On the rare occasion that I did get stuck, I switched to Low with centre and rear diff locks on and reversed back out in my tracks.

Trick is to stop before you dig yourself in too deep.

Even 14psi is still too high sometimes. You really start seeing results at below 10psi. During December we went playing on some dunes near my parent's beach house. There was one dune that I must've tried 6 or 7 times, but I just couldn't get to the top. I dropped the pressures from 0.8bar to 0.7bar (11.6psi to 10.1psi) and it drove up the dune as if it was a tar road.

Amazing what difference that tiny adjustment made. We had two cars there. My Treg and a '96-ish Range Rover V8. Same result on both cars.

 

[atoprani]

I drop my pressures to 14.5psi max and keep it in High with ESP off. On the rare occasion that I did get stuck, I switched to Low with centre and rear diff locks on and reversed back out in my tracks.

Trick is to stop before you dig yourself in too deep.

Even 14psi is still too high sometimes. You really start seeing results at below 10psi. During December we went playing on some dunes near my parent's beach house. There was one dune that I must've tried 6 or 7 times, but I just couldn't get to the top. I dropped the pressures from 0.8bar to 0.7bar (11.6psi to 10.1psi) and it drove up the dune as if it was a tar road.

Amazing what difference that tiny adjustment made. We had two cars there. My Treg and a '96-ish Range Rover V8. Same result on both cars.

Thanks a lot Andriek... i am going there tomorrow .... will try 14 first.... is your a 3.6 or more.... and also if you drive on low gears too long is it bad for the car???.... when i come down the slopes i shift to low gear... it makes a lot of engine noise .... i really don't want to ruff-use my car so soon ... its only a year old so worries me sometimes... and right after i do some off roading i wash her well... even from the bottom... ill be posting the new pics too and the videos soon from youtube

 

[AndrieK]

Mine is an R5 TDI, which is an In-Line 5 cylider turbo diesel. I also have a manual gearbox. The manual tranny won't allow me to shift from high to low (or low to high) without first coming to a complete stop, shifting to neutral and keeping my foot on the brake, so I can't shift from high to low going over a dune. I have to stay with the pre-selected ratio. My 1st gear is very low though, so I get more than enough engine braking going downhill in 1st gear High range. The fact that it's a diesel also helps a lot.

I wouldn't be too concerned with the engine rpm when going downhill, as long as it stays below the redline. In the old days, they said you need to take it easy for the first 1,000miles (1,500km). In my experience, the petrol engines take around 4,000 to 5,000 km to loosen up. I always treated them with kid gloves up to that point.

But threre are as many theories on running in procedures as there are drivers in the world, so don't take my word as gospel. It's 100% my own personal opinion...

BTW, I think your wheels are 18"...? I assume you have the standard 255/55R18 tyre size on...? Not sure what they'll do at extreme low pressures, so if you go below 14psi, I'd do it in small steps. I've got 265/65R17's which are much better suited to low pressure sand driving.

 

[atoprani]

Mine is an R5 TDI, which is an In-Line 5 cylider turbo diesel. I also have a manual gearbox. The manual tranny won't allow me to shift from high to low (or low to high) without first coming to a complete stop, shifting to neutral and keeping my foot on the brake, so I can't shift from high to low going over a dune. I have to stay with the pre-selected ratio. My 1st gear is very low though, so I get more than enough engine braking going downhill in 1st gear High range. The fact that it's a diesel also helps a lot.

I wouldn't be too concerned with the engine rpm when going downhill, as long as it stays below the redline. In the old days, they said you need to take it easy for the first 1,000miles (1,500km). In my experience, the petrol engines take around 4,000 to 5,000 km to loosen up. I always treated them with kid gloves up to that point.

But threre are as many theories on running in procedures as there are drivers in the world, so don't take my word as gospel. It's 100% my own personal opinion...

BTW, I think your wheels are 18"...? I assume you have the standard 255/55R18 tyre size on...? Not sure what they'll do at extreme low pressures, so if you go below 14psi, I'd do it in small steps. I've got 265/65R17's which are much better suited to low pressure sand driving.

yup my wheels are 18 standard from the company...yup ill take baby steps....and my dad said the same ...he used to have a range rover .... take it easy the first 5000km so i did .... actually i went easy the first 10000km.... it has already 34000 km on it now..... so enjoying it a bit now .... thanx for the advice .... i saw your pics off-roading .... pritty sweet.....some day ...some day ill have the same... thanx again

 

[volkswagendude]

Man o man I love that pic for some reason! I so much wish we had something like that "in our back yard!" I honestly think that I would be up+down that thing at least 20 times a day, 5 days a week! Even on my 20in mags

 

[atoprani]

Man o man I love that pic for some reason! I so much wish we had something like that "in our back yard!" I honestly think that I would be up+down that thing at least 20 times a day, 5 days a week! Even on my 20in mags

lol wouldn't blame you ... the slope is really tempting ... i am adding a link of me driving on sand.... noting extreme its was my first time so [-X and this crazy guy with a buddy showing off ... wish it was me.... will be going again and taking more videos ....

Enjoy guy

 

[volkswagendude]

Ok atoprani, that 1st vid would be what we call here in these parts.. a let down. A bomb at the box office.

The 2nd vid says something , but it still ain't no Egg as the star of the show. I wanna see a vid of how the hell you got up there, just like the second picture of your very first post suggests.

I now feel like a kid that you offered some candy to, but you then hid it all, and offered me the lousy black lollipop instead. God I hated those.

 

[pazzo]

I have a question regarding driving in snow (but I'm sure can be transferred over to sand).

The other day I was driving up a gravel road which was covered in very wet/dense coastal snow. I took a lowsy pic from my iPhone (below) to show you guys - it is significantly steeper than it looks.

I left the Touareg in high and ESP off.

When I got running starts, the tires would spin and throw up snow everywhere, then would all of a sudden cut all power and the revs would drop. After the revs dropped, there was a 2 second hesitation before I could floor it again!?

Why does the computer electronically control the throttle like this? If it were a life/death situation where I HAD to gas it up a snowy hill to get away from something, I would have lost power and died (worst case scenario).

Can somebody please explain this? It happen while driving in both "drive" and while manual shifting.

**The bright side was that there were LOTS of 4x4 tracks which stopped further down the hill once it got steep. I was able, with a few runs, to punch through to the top and give the road the first tire tracks

 

[AndrieK]

When I got running starts, the tires would spin and throw up snow everywhere, then would all of a sudden cut all power and the revs would drop. After the revs dropped, there was a 2 second hesitation before I could floor it again!?

Where was the tacho needle when this happened? Weren't you just over revving it? I've only ever experienced this with ESP on, never off. But then again, I normally stop when the wheels start spinning as I'm always scared of digging myself in so deep that I can't get out again.

Oh, and BTW, in my (very limited snow driving) experience, sand and snow are like day and night...

 

[pazzo]

Hi AndreiK,

I thought snow/sand would share similar characteristics but I guess I was wrong

The tach was definitely NOT over-revving. I think the absolute max it revved was around 5k, but that was only for a second and was not the problem. It was cutting out while holding the revs lower down in the power band, while spinning the tires trying to make progress. It was as if the ESP was on, but it clearly wasn't (not only because I turned it off and the dash light was on, but because I was still able to spin for several seconds at a time before bogging).

I will let the dealership know on Friday when I drop it off to get some repairs done...

 

[AndrieK]

Good Luck with the dealer... I bet you'll get nothing more than the usual "sorry, we couldn't replicate the problem" BS... :anger:

You'd have a lot more experience with snow than me, but from what I've seen on here, it seems like in snow, you'd rather have a narrower tyre running normal pressures so that you can "step through" the snow, while on sand you want as big a footprint as possible (wide tyre at low pressure) to "float over" the sand.

I've been in sand a couple of times where I forgot to switch the ESP off. If I give it plenty extra right foot, I can cook the brakes before I bog down. ESP in sand makes it really difficult to get going, which means you're not getting the very important momentum, but once the wheels are turning, it won't bog the car down.

I'm still in two minds whether ESP should be on or off in snow. In my experience, it worked better with ESP off, but I wouldn't be surprised if ESP on in snow is better with the more powerful Tregs.

 

[atoprani]

Ok atoprani, that 1st vid would be what we call here in these parts.. a let down. A bomb at the box office.

The 2nd vid says something , but it still ain't no Egg as the star of the show. I wanna see a vid of how the hell you got up there, just like the second picture of your very first post suggests.

I now feel like a kid that you offered some candy to, but you then hid it all, and offered me the lousy black lollipop instead. God I hated those.

lol sorry buddy... wont let you down on the next video... planning to go there this weekend and recording the it from the start.... it was my first time so wanted to take it easy... but dont worry u will get your candy

 

[atoprani]

Hi AndreiK,

I thought snow/sand would share similar characteristics but I guess I was wrong

The tach was definitely NOT over-revving. I think the absolute max it revved was around 5k, but that was only for a second and was not the problem. It was cutting out while holding the revs lower down in the power band, while spinning the tires trying to make progress. It was as if the ESP was on, but it clearly wasn't (not only because I turned it off and the dash light was on, but because I was still able to spin for several seconds at a time before bogging).

I will let the dealership know on Friday when I drop it off to get some repairs done...

i personally have no exprience with snow... but when i was in ohio ... i was in my friends suv... was a jeep... in snow he would make sure his tires were filled up and he would drive in low gear to get a momentum going and then shift to high... not sure about the ESP.... in sand i have to let down the tire pressure for a larger foot print ... like Andriek said... sand and snow are complete opposites.... but my bet would be with ESP off

 

[volkswagendude]

In deep snow you want the ESP off. With it on, you are asking for it with my experience.

On hard packed snow highway on the other hand, at a good healthy speed, ESP can be a God send for the subconsciously untrained driver..

 

[pazzo]

vwdude,

I always have ESP off in the snow unless I am travelling at speed on a road/highway, in which case the ESP can be a valuable tool

On another note, this problem I'm having also happens on steep loose gravel logging roads which are too steep to "crawl" up in low gear, and a little wheel spin in required.
I drive up, spin the tires a bit and boom, it electronically cuts out and screws up my momentum. WTF.

Land Rover?