4x4 Action Group

Thanks Shane

KurtG wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 23, 2021 7:12 pm

We drove the mighty Touran to Wales today. We drove about 300km and the economy was 4.6L/100km. Not one speed hump.

This one’s a keeper

Who knew a turd is that economical?

Only because there were no speed humps

Right, I did a quick 960km trip yesterday - took the kids to grandma and grandpa on the farm where they will be visiting for a few weeks (I miss them already.

Anyway, got up at 3am, had a few coffees, carried sleeping children to the car - its a bit of a faf getting a sleeping kid fastened in a booster seat- and set off.

As before, the Ford did the job brilliantly. To the farm I averaged 98km/h doing 125km/h on the cruise control and got 11,6km/l according to the OBC. I must again commend Ford for the headlights - its just at another level. It is wide enough to light up both sides of the road reserves and long enough for me to comfortably spot cattle resting next to the road.

The cabin is well insolated with virtually no wind or road noise and the climate control, which was set at 22 degrees Celsius, worked a charm. It took a while for me to get a comfortable seating position with so many adjustments one can make to the seats and I finally got the correct angles a few weeks back. The adjustable lumbar support is also a treat on the open road.

I dropped off the kids, had a quick coffee and drove back, this time with the cruise control set at 135km/h. The North Eastern started to blow (which usually means rain) so I had the wind hitting the vehicle at an angle of about 10 o'clock the whole way. Despite this, I still averaged 10,4km/l on the return. I filled up when I did about 690km and still had 14lt in the tank.

The gearbox remains a gem. Once you understand how it operates, the mechanics thereof is truly a wonder.

Now for the bad:

1) The sound system is a bit disappointing. One would assume that a vehicle with that price tag would have a good sound system. It has a sort of hollow sound to it despite me fiddling with the audio settings.

2) The auto wipers seem to be somewhat inconsistent. With a light drip, it activates and does the job, but during the drive the heaviness of the rainfall changed constantly and it seemed to be the wipers struggled to cope.

3) I had the gps on for fun. It's sh1t. It doesn't even recognise a road that has been tarred for the past 10 years. I need to update it.

4) Unladen, the ride quality does not come near, not even close, to the comfort of my D23. Its not bad, but gosh that D23 drove like a SUV.

So far I have done 5300km. So far so good.

Now that you're slowly getting used to the autobox and enjoying the vehicle - maybe time to start considering a drawer system?

But seriously though - will you be taking it offroad any time soon?

Shane wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 14, 2021 9:53 am

Now that you're slowly getting used to the autobox and enjoying the vehicle - maybe time to start considering a drawer system?

But seriously though - will you be taking it offroad any time soon?

Soon Padawan. Soon.

Mad Manny wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 14, 2021 10:41 am

So, assuming the OBD is accurate (you are clearly a better Lawyer than Matgematician) the consumption you got on the wat TO the Farm can be considered a 'best' possible figure.
It is good - but for an unmodified 2.0 tt with 10 speeds driven on the open road with a light load at reasonable speeds it is to be expected.

Wait till you load it, mod, it and work it....

My arithmetic may be poor, but not as nearly as poor as your spelling

Granted, it was basically unladen and un-modified. But its a damn sight better than what my D23 used to give. I am fiddling with the notion of building a canopy for it. I just hope Chas is available to fabricate it.

You sexy beast you...

The kind of truck that goes with a pink shirt...???

The first victim of the 2022 Dakar. Problem during the first 19km stage 1A.

An update:

The Ford did a total of 2699km this festive season which consisted of:

1) 1020km of tarmac

2) 1595km of gravel/salt road

3) 84km of beach driving.

The whole trip I averaged 10,3km/l according to the OBC.

We set off on the 26th of December 2021 and although packed to the rafters, the vehicle wasn't really burdened with a heavy load. I had the tyres at 2.5bar all a round, even for the gravel roads. It fared well on the gravel and dealt with corrugations better than the Navara - I found it to be a bit more stable. On gravel, I averaged between 80kph and 100kph.

One thing I noticed with the autobox is that it isn't really much lighter on fuel than it is on tarmac, even at a reduced speed. On tarmac, the cruise control was set at 125kph for the whole trip and I only exceeded that speed on circumstances when I had to overtake. If memory serves me correctly, I got about 10.8km/l and on gravel 11,2km/l.

The Ford is really well insulated against dust in the cabin, much better than my D23. However, the D23's fuel consumption on gravel was much better, but I reckon that is because I could use the manual gearbox to my advantage.

Now for the [part I was somewhat concerned about - beach driving. And folks, the guys that designed that autobox really knew what they were doing! I was afraid the autobox would constantly search for gears in the beach sand, but it didn't. It was as easy as engaging 4x4, disengaging the TC and putting it into D. It kept gears well and was ready to give all available torque when needed. For most of the time, I had the tyres deflated to 1.4bar. The day I went fishing with Nys at Horingbaai, the high tide started to catch up with us and I had to move the Ford from the low water mark, up a slight hill and then make a sharp right hand turn to get back into the spoor on the high water mark. I could reverse about 15m backwards to try and gain enough momentum to do it, and with Nys's advice to ignore the limiter and give it the beans, I got up quite easily. I cannot complain about that 2lt engine.

From Henties, I did the following route: Henties - Uis - Khorixas - Kamanjab - Omakange - Okahao - Oshakati. In total this was 711km and I easily did it with one tank and (according to the OBC) had 80km range left. When I filled up, it took 69lt to fill up to the brim. I am chuffed.

Ricoffy wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:47 am

An update:

I had the tyres at 2.5bar all a round, even for the gravel roads.

Now for the part I was somewhat concerned about - beach driving. I had the tyres deflated to 1.4bar.

You run your tyres as hard as an Arsetrailian...

Mad Manny wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 10, 2022 11:25 am

Ricoffy wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:47 am

An update:

I had the tyres at 2.5bar all a round, even for the gravel roads.

Now for the part I was somewhat concerned about - beach driving. I had the tyres deflated to 1.4bar.

You run your tyres as hard as an Arsetrailian...

I know, and I get a lot of flack for it from time to time.

But here are the reasons why:

1) You have to drive on the salt roads, sometimes in excess of 50km, to get to a preferred fishing spot. From there you drive on the high water mark. I am too lazy to inflate and deflate every time. So 1.4 bar is an easy compromise.

2) Most of the time the beach sand is compacted due to the mist. It drives relatively easy at 1.4 bar. When it does get dry and hot, 1.4 bar still works but the car has to work a bit harder to keep momentum. I only got stuck once, and that was when I had to recover a VW. All I had to do was to put the Ford in LR and it got itself (and the VW) out.

3) Dune driving is a whole different kettle of fish and not to be confused with beach driving. There you go 0.8bar.

On the way back I did deflate to 2.1 bar. Granted, the gravel corrugations were much more tolerable at that pressure.