Pulled out a v10 TDI
Interesting happening today. Friend was out in his VW V10 TDI Touareg and attempted to pull out a car abandoned on the beach in front of our house. With his difflocks on it very quickly dug itself down to the chassis and in doing so the electronics shut the engine down so it lost the ability to power out. I bought my G down and attached a rope and without much effort was able to pull it out. Are the newer electronically controlled 4Wd SUVs too clever for their own good or was it just the tyres they come with.
? just relieved I was there as it is high tide now and the VW would be quite wet now.
The tyres they come with are perfectly unsuitable for off-road driving but I read that same story the other day in a magazine test.
Actaully, the Tuareg is a remarkably capable SUV, but....
The diff locks are electronic so the way they work is that they use the ABS sensors to detect a wheel that is spinning and apply the brake to that wheel so that in theory the available torque goes to all other threee wheels. The trouble is when all four wheels are in contact with the same slippery surface: when the system detects that is actually braking all four wheels it shuts down.
Welcome to the world of SUVs or "soccer mom offroaders"
Thank goodness we have the G.
They are not really diff locks.
isnt that similar to the mercedes 4-matic system found on a whole range of cars?
Exactly: Yes, they are NOT diff locks -though the marketing guys at Mercedes and all car mags love to call them that way- and yes it is similar to the mercedes 4-matic system found on a whole range of cars.
The problem of all these SUVs is of definition. They could be very capable off roaders if only they were fitted with MT tyres. But then they would be unable to be driven at 140 mph which is one of their strongest selling point. In the end, thay are a bit useless offroading and a bit useless to compete with the likes of a Porsche Carrera