If you push down on the knob, it will pop up. Then you turn from hi to low. You should be in neutral when you change. I don't know where in the US you are, but you will prolly never need to use it unless you are climbing an extreme grade of forging deep snow. Remember, you can't go very fast when you are in low range. To change back, just reverse the procedure.

 

I still don't understand

 

How to use 4 wheel drive?

To use it, drive Touareg :mrgreen:

To not use it, leave the Touareg in garage


Touareg is fulltime mechanical 4x4.

Stalker refering to HIGH and LOW is the transfercase function.

On normal driving, it's on high.

For off-road and other low / crawling speed situations, switch it to low and move on.

 

Should button be pressed down or up for ON?

 

To operate the button you need to press it once and it pops up.

Once it's up, you can turn it to change from high to low and back.

Once you are done with off-roading and return to highway (high range), press it once again and it will stay down.

Just remember what Stalker said, transmission shifter needs to be on neutral while you fiddle the high-low knob.

 

Up or down doesn't matter. It only makes it easier to select low range, or to lock diff(s). Touaregs are all wheel drive all the time. Do not lock diff(s) on pavement, as damage may occur. Leave in high, button up or down is your preference. The Treg will adapt as much as possible, in high. The awd system is one of the best out there. Drive, and enjoy! Just remember to use common sense, physics will always win..... Usually right when you feel invincible.

 

The button only pops up so that you can turn it. Otherwise up or down does not operate any functions.
When in Hi you are in four wheel drive with the centre diff "open" thereby allowing the front and rear wheels to turn at different speeds. This is necessary on a hard surface. Turn to low and you select a lower range of gear ratios for slow, rough or steep tracks. One more click to lock the centre diff so the front and back will turn together. This is useful on a loose or slippery surface, otherwise you could spin the wheels on one axle and the other axle will remain stationary. Some Touaregs have a further setting which also locks the rear diff. From this you can see that you need to be in low range before you can lock the centre diff.
In addition the Touareg has lots of clever computers and electronic tricks which mean that 99% of the time you can forget everything I just said.

 

And people wonder why low range was dropped in North America in the T3....

 

while most drive on sunny pavement

 

Thanks Everyone for clarifying this!
I got my Treg detailed last month and they turned it on by mistake and I couldn't figure out what to do(yes after reading the manual).

I Wondered why it was driving weird, like I could hear wheel noise/rub(tight turns)

 

You should have saw it was in low range with looking at the cluster before you ever took off. It lets you know via a message and display of the system in the MFI. Hopefully you did not drive far like that on dry pavement.

 

You should have saw it was in low range with looking at the cluster before you ever took off. It lets you know via a message and display of the system in the MFI. Hopefully you did not drive far like that on dry pavement.

I was just confused, and they don't make it easy to understand for us ladies

 

I was just confused, and they don't make it easy to understand for us ladies

Leave the knob in high and pushed down. Low range will more then likely never be something you ever use/need.

 

It has been mentioned in passing above but I'll make a big thing of it:

NEVER EVER LOCK THE DIFF WHEN THE CAR IS ON A HARD, DRY SURFACE.

The diff should only be locked when the wheels can slip to accommodate any transmission wind-up such as when negotiating a slippery slipway, wet grass, snow, gravel, etc..

Don't even lock it up to try it out for a few yards.

Otherwise, as mentioned previously, you can damage an expensive transmission.

My 2003 is off road every day and to date I have never used either Low or the diff lock - I just point and squirt and the electronics sort it all out underneath me.

Given that 99% of these cars never see anything other than asphalt, VW probably did the right thing for the standard cars.

 

Just remember what Stalker said, transmission shifter needs to be on neutral while you fiddle the high-low knob

This is really a pain and dangerous. It's a shame they don't have an on the fly shift like the Durango does, amongst others. After all if you feel you are starting to get stuck but are still moving, having to have it in neutral by the time you do all that, you're going to be stuck for those of us who don't drive on "sunny pavements"

siberian

 

+1

I hate to say it, but this is an area where the Chrysler/Jeep products do shine.

 

Yep, again for those who don't drive on sunny pavements of course

siberian

 

I go off the sunny pavement often but the Touareg's 4.56 gears on HIGH setting seem to be low enough to get through some slippery situations.

I use LOW setting when going up steep hills where the lower gearing is needed and I know in advance when this is going to happen.

 

This is really a pain and dangerous. It's a shame they don't have an on the fly shift like the Durango does, amongst others. After all if you feel you are starting to get stuck but are still moving, having to have it in neutral by the time you do all that, you're going to be stuck for those of us who don't drive on "sunny pavements"

siberian

One word:

Anticipate.

 

By placing a car in neutral?????????

siberian

 

By placing a car in neutral?????????

siberian

You wouldn't plow into an unknown stream without first checking depth, right?

Similarly, if you keep your eye on the trail, you can anticipate situations where you might want to be in low range, or be locked up.

From my perspective, if I'm rock crawling I will almost always want to be in low range. And I've only gotten stuck due to operator error. My two Range Rovers didn't have manual lockers, so I don't have direct experience there. But I understand that unless you are pretty well stuck, as witching on the locker will allow you to drive out of a situation. And watching the trail will also allow you to use momentum to avoid getting stuck in the first place.

But you probably see more snow and mud than we do in New England.

 

So if I understand the logic, here I am driving in 2nd or most likely 3rd gear (Tiptronic), I've got the ESP disabled and I feel (or see) some tricky either soft or deep snow that may pose a problem, I need to disengage the Tiptronic, move it into Neutral and then fiddle with the knob to get it into Low and by then...

Come break-up time, I would be over the embankment and down the forrest...

siberian

 

If that's the limitation of your equipment, you should probably count on seeing rather than feeling the problem area.

I can't remember the details of the diff control on my '95 Range Rover...it's been too long. I do remember that I could shift from high to low range below 5 mph...but don't remember whether the diff locks were automatic or manual, and if manual, what limitations they had.

Is there an issue with extended driving (at low speeds, on soft ground) with the diff locks engaged?

Lee

 

On the Durango it was below 45mph. As a matter of fact the vehicle HAD to be in motion before you could set it into LOW or whatever.

As to the Treg having to be in Neutral it's inane, sorry, but for someone who is constantly "off road" whether in break-up (heavy mud), gravel, deep snow (on occasion) etc. having to have the vehicle in neutral prior to switching is nonsensical. But that's just my take.

There is no issue with extended driving as long as the vehicle is in the appropriate road conditions for that "state".

siberian

 

LOW range is for climbing steep hills or going over rocky or deep rutted surfaces where the lower gearing is benificial.

Driving the Touareg in deep snow or mud in HIGH with ESP disabled should be all you need. The Touareg already has 4.56 gears and putting it in LOW will not give you more traction.

 

Oh trust me it does give you more traction... putting it in LOW pulling up a 7,200 pound trailer up a 30 degree mud slope... it's there for a reason.

siberian

 

Oh trust me it does give you more traction... putting it in LOW pulling up a 7,200 pound trailer up a 30 degree mud slope... it's there for a reason.

siberian

I'll vouch for that, if only because it allows you to also lock your center diff (which isn't an option in high range).

But back to the larger issue, there definitely are offroad conditions where high range (and momentum) is one's first choice. Siberian mentioned snow and mud, and sand is another. If we had our druthers, we wouldn't have to wait until we were stuck (or nearly so), to call out the cavalry of LR & diff locks.

But I sense the good engineers at VW/Porsche were more concerned with the welfare of their drivetrain in these situations than whether we maintained progress...

 

Thanx Schubie you expressed it better than I did

siberian