4motion corner take two

[KernowLad]

This didn't really catch on last time I tried but I will have another go!

Any tales of 4motion usefullness??

Just breezed up a very wet, steep field that got two of my mates in fwd cars stuck!

Even my Mums rav4 spun a wee bit.

I wonder how many Californias are 4motion? It really does turn them into a sort of SUV without the image baggage!

 

[JockMacMad]

+1 for 4motion. Not had to use the diff look yet do I cannot say it has helped at any point yet apart from negative fuel economy impact probably lol

 

[KernowLad]

Cheers for the single reply Jock!

Not quite sure why there's not more enthusiasm for 4motion. Maybe because the regular posters don't have them? Who knows? It was a big reason for us getting a California and comes in handy very often. Except at the pumps...

 

[KernowLad]

I'll carry on regardless:

Modded suspension but check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cccg1ifsJlE

A surfer mate of mine from 1:20ish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbhYgA7Lcvw

 

[Duckling68]

Cheers for the single reply Jock!

Not quite sure why there's not more enthusiasm for 4motion. Maybe because the regular posters don't have them? Who knows? It was a big reason for us getting a California and comes in handy very often. Except at the pumps...

On Saturday we will also join the 4 Motion club and before making our choice we looked at all options, the Berghaus looks the part with all the accessories but no DSG this was an option we realy required, secondly with all the bad weather we have suffered this year we had seen many vehicles get stuck in muddy fields at various shows we have attended so we chose the 4 Motion so hopefully we will not be one of the above but only time and a muddy field will tell if we have made the right choice.

 

[KernowLad]

Cheers for the single reply Jock!

Not quite sure why there's not more enthusiasm for 4motion. Maybe because the regular posters don't have them? Who knows? It was a big reason for us getting a California and comes in handy very often. Except at the pumps...

On Saturday we will also join the 4 Motion club and before making our choice we looked at all options, the Berghaus looks the part with all the accessories but no DSG this was an option we realy required, secondly with all the bad weather we have suffered this year we had seen many vehicles get stuck in muddy fields at various shows we have attended so we chose the 4 Motion so hopefully we will not be one of the above but only time and a muddy field will tell if we have made the right choice.

Nice one!! It works far better than we expected. If the clearance was better, they'd make quite a good proper off roader. You'll love it!

 

[NZgypsy]

I use my 4motion cali as a daily driver, family taxi (2 kids), tow vehicle for a trailer of trail bikes regularly transversing muddy fields and all good.

I think it is the most versatile, practical family SUV there is. No question.

Came to this from a Nissan Patrol 4.2 TD which was a fantastic car also, but the cali is bigger, more powerful, better equipped and more fun.
I do get a few odd looks though as I'm a city corporate parking the van in a car park next to Audi RS4s, BMW M3s, Jaguars, Range Rovers and the odd Aston Marton and Maserati.... a hippy campervan gets a comment or two!

 

[JockMacMad]

Well after a 580 mile trek back south I have new findings. Bringing my 86 year old mother home limited me to < 60 mph on the grounds she does not allow more than 60 lol

At a steady 56 I managed 34.2 mpg. After dropping her off I returned to my usual speed and got the usual 29.4 mpg

6 weeks in 4,000 miles done with only 2 nights of camping. Not how I originally imaged it working out. Looking at 6,000 by the 8 week mark as I have to go back and collect the missus in 2 weeks DOH.

 

[KernowLad]

Wow! Big mileage! Think we are on 7.5k since January with 25 nightsk in the van.

 

[stephen]

Up until now we've found the 4 motion very useful indeed.
And has not even gone through its first winter yet,

We've just come back from the outer Hebrides, and have gone places that I wouldn't of attempted in a two wheel drive vehicle, up sand dunes and on the beaches, ect ect, for instance, up a track on the Harris, in the mud, that the farmer, was bewildered why we didn't sliver all over the place, without a run-up, as he's four wheel drive Toyota normally needs a run-up, with a great amount of wheelspin? Even though the standard tires on the California are not what I would class as off road

And on the way down south, we stopped in at the lake district where it's been raining for weeks! where everyone else has trenched out the poor farmers campsites, and our California has hardly damage the surface at all, I think our Cali has very reasonable fuel consumption, judging by other peoples postings, so up to now I'm very pleased with the 4 motion choice over the two wheel drive version myself. For the type of camping we tend to do. (Wild).

 

[sidepod]

I'm a big fan of all wheel drive. To date I've owned 5 Audi Quattro's and everyone of them got me out of many a sticky situation. Snow and ice is dispatched as if it were dry tarmac.

Even on the motorway in torrential rain a 4x4 just feels more planted than a normal car.

I've not driven a Cali 4Motion. Do they understeer like crazy with the dif locked?

At Busfest last weekend I watched in amazement as the Syncro type 25's climbed up and over stuff I'd think twice about in a Land Rover.

S.

 

[symcro]

We have now done 20k miles in our 2010 4motion.
No real (mechanical problems at all). We got ours mainly for towing (we take other vehicles on a trailer on the back of it to motoring events) & also tow a lot of other stuff as well. The 4motion Cali is an Ideal vehicle for this as it also gives us comfortable accommadation when we get to the event as well. It has has done 2 big trips to our sister event in Germany (Berlin Bus Festival).
It is fairly good off road, but even I had to give up with it at this years Camperjam event & go & get one of our "normal" T25 Syncro's to tow it out. It is now due a set of tyres & we may also get it a set of winter tyres as well (but we still won't be putting it through our Syncro course at Busfest (or the off road Syncro Trail)

 

[KernowLad]

We have now done 20k miles in our 2010 4motion.
No real (mechanical problems at all). We got ours mainly for towing (we take other vehicles on a trailer on the back of it to motoring events) & also tow a lot of other stuff as well. The 4motion Cali is an Ideal vehicle for this as it also gives us comfortable accommadation when we get to the event as well. It has has done 2 big trips to our sister event in Germany (Berlin Bus Festival).
It is fairly good off road, but even I had to give up with it at this years Camperjam event & go & get one of our "normal" T25 Syncro's to tow it out. It is now due a set of tyres & we may also get it a set of winter tyres as well (but we still won't be putting it through our Syncro course at Busfest (or the off road Syncro Trail)

The Syncro is definitely a more out and out 4x4 but it's a lot cruder, less comfortable and more obvious. I think VW tried to keep the 4Motion subtle - shown by the fact that the only giveaway is the little 4Motion badge! Not for offroading properly but it gets you out of trouble, feels more secure on the roads and is great in very wet conditions (and snow judging by the vids on YouTube!)

 

[muttley]

I am very jealous of those with 4 motion. I would have loved that, but had to reign myself in.

I wondered if anyone has any experience of fitting 'grippier' tyres on their two wheel drive Cali?

A friend has all weather tyres fitted as standard on his new T5 van and these have a much deeper tread pattern - they look more like winter tyres. I would have thought it would make sense for these to be standard on the Cali, which is much more likely to be found in a field than a standard T5. It would useful to know if these would give you a chance of getting off wet grass or a bit of mud.

Simon

 

[KernowLad]

I am very jealous of those with 4 motion. I would have loved that, but had to reign myself in.

I wondered if anyone has any experience of fitting 'grippier' tyres on their two wheel drive Cali?

A friend has all weather tyres fitted as standard on his new T5 van and these have a much deeper tread pattern - they look more like winter tyres. I would have thought it would make sense for these to be standard on the Cali, which is much more likely to be found in a field than a standard T5. It would useful to know if these would give you a chance of getting off wet grass or a bit of mud.

Simon

I know of someone who has fitted General Grabber tyres to his 4Motion and they look great! We had GGs on our Defender so clearly they are proven. I'm considering some on ours once the Dunlops wear out.

They would make a difference in wet conditions on a FWD Cali - but the main thing is how you drive it and where you go with it. The Cali's main issue is that it's very heavy but also fairly torquey so it's easy to spin the front wheels, especially up hills. Consider the slope (make sure the weight is on the front wheels - so reverse up tricky off road hills if you can), be very easy on the throttle and try and avoid braking or basically any change in speed when doing tricky bits.

 

[symcro]

Yes, the ideal situation is to have a T5 (or T4) 4motion for comfort & speed & a Syncro (or 2! ) for playing "real" off road games.

Or get a T5 ROCKTON with a Camper conversion in it if you want/need to do a bit of both.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cccg1ifsJlE

(A T25 Syncro with right gear on it will/still/always be/is a lot better on "severe" off road than a T4/5).

 

[James]

VW actually do a dedicated offroad T5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VW_T5 ... celift.JPG

The T5 Pan Americana is a multivan (could be converted). It's basically designed to be an offroad T5 and comes with unique interior and various other 4 wheel drive bits.

Check out the interior - the design I believe is called Cricket Leather and notice the flooring

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... AQ&dur=879



As ever, not sold in the UK but you should have a look.

I believe it has all the skid pan and underside protection.

James

 

[BMVS-Camper-Hire]

VW actually do a dedicated offroad T5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VW_T5 ... celift.JPG

The T5 Pan Americana is a multivan (could be converted). It's basically designed to be an offroad T5 and comes with unique interior and various other 4 wheel drive bits.

Check out the interior - the design I believe is called Cricket Leather and notice the flooring

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... AQ&dur=879



As ever, not sold in the UK but you should have a look.

I believe it has all the skid pan and underside protection.

James

The bodywork has got a bit of an 'Audi all road' look to it. I like it

 

[BMVS-Camper-Hire]

And we are still wondering whether or not to add a 4 motion to the rental fleet, purely for re-sale as there are so few of them. I suppose we might also get people who specifically want to hire the 4 motion as well

 

[James]

And we are still wondering whether or not to add a 4 motion to the rental fleet, purely for re-sale as there are so few of them. I suppose we might also get people who specifically want to hire the 4 motion as well

Oli


I think that's exactly how it's meant to be. Similar to the Allroad or Passat Alltrack





James

 

[KernowLad]

That is very cool indeed!

 

[stephen]

It's rather bewilders me why there isn't more interest in these types of vehicles, especially since when you get to your final destination it inevitably has some off-road aspects, where getting stuck is a real possibility!
Considering the all up weight of these vehicles is over three tons, and also considering in some of the more remote sites in; Let's say the Lake District, in heavy rain, tends to be more than a little evidence of previous people with camper vans, trenching out the site, to the extent that some of them look like ploughed fields, in one of our recent escapades, up there in the rainy season, it was only to evident.

Also there's just a few true van type vehicles, with four-wheel-drive capability, the Volkswagen type 5 being just one of the examples , and you could be almost be certain, that the myriad of other SUV type vehicles out there, that frequent today's roads, will have nowhere near the opportunity to actually 'go off tarmac', then what a Californian would do every single day of its intended usage, which is camping off road at the end of the day.

So for me considering the fuel economy is almost the same as its two wheel drive counterpart, it's the 4-motion every time.

I don't know any other true campervan that's made today with four-wheel-drive capability. precisely the same mechanical system that's in the Landrover Freelander 2,
But with a far superior ride quality then the Landrover product... Unless anyone else knows better?

 

[James]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRjnZtz1kfQ

James

 

[KernowLad]

Stephen - excellent post!!

 

[stephen]

A little more information on the effectiveness of the all wheel drive Volkswagen type 5, or
4 motion van.
though this wouldn't worry a Land Rover defender in any way, I think you would agree the 2 wheel drive version, wouldn't be very useful here;

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cccg1ifsJlE[/youtube]

This is a more realistic trip to Iceland, whereby if one was venturing into the interior of the region, a 4motion version of the Volkswagen type 5 or indeed the Californian variants, would come into their own, especially with all-terrain tyres, I don't think the two wheel drive version would be very successful, especially over the river crossings, where inevitably they would get stuck with disastrous consequences.

That's indeed if anyone had the nerve to do that in their shiny new California 4 motion, but no doubt plenty have though... The video is 12 minutes long:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMXQ_Xrj4fA[/youtube]