I’ve often been bemused by motoring journalists dismissing European 4 wheel drives because of the rubber they come with as the answer seems obvious: get another set. Over time the only expense is a set of rims, and you can still enjoy autobahn style speed and handling for the 90% of the time that you’re stuck on the blacktop. This certainly worked fine on my last 4X4 (an ML320).
However, I’ve recently had to eat my words. After becoming the proud owner of a VW Touareg V8 with air & nav, I went bush in the Victorian High Country. The car was superb offroad. Much better than the ML 320 and two Discoveries I had before that. That is until I hit some rocky roadworks. Two slashed sidewalls in ten minutes left me with a problem: Two wheels into one spacesaver doesn’t go. With no mobile coverage the only option is a 15k trek to the nearest phone. To be told by VW Premium Assist that 2 punctures is an “accident” and basically get lost. After hiring a towtruck and support car ($600) to get my wife and kids out, my troubles continued.
It took VW two days to find replacement tyres (Pirelli P Zero Rossos, the same one developed for the Lamborghini Countach, rated for 250 km/hour for 3 hours continuously). They finally found 3 and could fit them for only $1,120 each !
To their credit, VW finally came to the party and fitted them for the price of Michellins that would have done the job ($400 each).
Why VW would fit such tyres is beyond me. Perhaps to compete with Porsche. But when 90% of your marketing shows the VW offroad (including closeups of serious offroad tyres), I feel they’ve got an obligation to not fit tyres that are manifestly unfit for this purpose.
However, I’ve recently had to eat my words. After becoming the proud owner of a VW Touareg V8 with air & nav, I went bush in the Victorian High Country. The car was superb offroad. Much better than the ML 320 and two Discoveries I had before that. That is until I hit some rocky roadworks. Two slashed sidewalls in ten minutes left me with a problem: Two wheels into one spacesaver doesn’t go. With no mobile coverage the only option is a 15k trek to the nearest phone. To be told by VW Premium Assist that 2 punctures is an “accident” and basically get lost. After hiring a towtruck and support car ($600) to get my wife and kids out, my troubles continued.
It took VW two days to find replacement tyres (Pirelli P Zero Rossos, the same one developed for the Lamborghini Countach, rated for 250 km/hour for 3 hours continuously). They finally found 3 and could fit them for only $1,120 each !
To their credit, VW finally came to the party and fitted them for the price of Michellins that would have done the job ($400 each).
Why VW would fit such tyres is beyond me. Perhaps to compete with Porsche. But when 90% of your marketing shows the VW offroad (including closeups of serious offroad tyres), I feel they’ve got an obligation to not fit tyres that are manifestly unfit for this purpose.
