off road exploring with 2wd

[TripleBee]

What is the heaviest off roading you have done with a standard 2wd California?

Mine is standard, 2wd, manual, 140hp, standard road tyres.
But from time to time I go off road for nice picnic spots, or to get to a nice scenery.

Quite off road, but wouldn't have done it when wet.

I can post a video of the track if anyone is interested.
Place: Peyriac-de-Mer, going for a picnic spot here: 43.083190, 2.973433 (coördinates).

 

[Vagophile]

What is the heaviest off roading you have done with a standard 2wd California?

Mine is standard, 2wd, manual, 140hp, standard road tyres.
But from time to time I go off road for nice picnic spots, or to get to a nice scenery.

Quite off road, but wouldn't have done it when wet.
View attachment 65232
I can post a video of the track if anyone is interested.
Place: Peyriac-de-Mer, going for a picnic spot here: 43.083190, 2.973433 (coördinates).

Call that off road?
That's a good quality farm track in my part of the world. If it's all like that I would have no hesitation in taking even my daily driver car (Skoda Fabia) along there. It doesn't look as if it would be any worse in the wet unless there is the possibility of deep pools of water.

 

[TripleBee]

Ok, can someone close this thread then? And delet it.

 

[GrannyJen]

@TripleBee Sadly I think calling it "heaviest" is going to promote the "mine is bigger than yours" response,

Perhaps most attractive, as what you have posted looks to be a very attractive location.

For me perhaps, (and why I did not take a shed load of photo's I'm not sure), was in February 2015 when the track to the Mull of Kintyre was badly damaged by heavy rain and was declared "closed" but the very nice man from the council supervising reconstruction allowed me to carry on, thus spending the most amazing, isolated and gorgeous evening all on my own at the Mull of Kintyre. Heaven.

 

[Hotel California]

@Vagophile , ok in your part of the world ....
But general speaking for 9/10 California owners off-road is where the tarmac/concrete ends.
This part of the world(Belgium) most roads are paved/concrete/tarmac

 

[TripleBee]

Video:

Never mind the music.

And I would not have taken my Golf 4 on this road. Would have scraped the bottom a few times, if not got stuck there.

 

[Velma's Dad]

Pics and videos tend to make roads look a bit better than they do from the driving seat. But (and just to reassure anyone worried about taking their Cali down rubbish roads anywhere), the road in the video would be regarded as a good one in many parts of the world, dry or wet.

In developing countries people get themselves around on some really shocking roads quite happily with bog-standard 2WD cars and vans. Of course if done every day it takes its toll on the vehicle. A driver in an African country (I forget which) once quizzed me on how many sets of shock absorbers I'd expect to get through each year back at home. He didn't really believe my answer until his eyes lit up and he said "Oh, I get it, so the roads in England are finished, yes?" (he meant, surfaced).

 

[Vagophile]

@Vagophile , ok in your part of the world ....
But general speaking for 9/10 California owners off-road is where the tarmac/concrete ends.
This part of the world(Belgium) most roads are paved/concrete/tarmac

Yes, I get that there is a difference in interpretation and I didn't intend to be rude.
As a farm boy, I probably take a different view of some surfaces.
I had a @GrannyJen experience in Greece a long time ago; same result, a fantastic night under a sky full of stars, followed by a day where you could hardly hear yourself speak because of the buzzing of the bees.
This was pre Cali days and still not really off road by my definition.

"Normal" surface


Getting worse


Past the worst part

 

[Calimili]

With my 4motion I decided, after watching a few offroad videos on youtube and offroad T6 conversions that it would be cool, to go offroad , i got a 4motion afterall.
So I took a similar road as in the video above and realised at every pothole how much slow i should drive and how many unpleasent noises where coming from the inside of the van. Than I started thinking how good all the shaking and rattling could be to the interior furniture of my Ocean, let alone suspensions and tires Inflated at 3.7 bars.
Never took an offroad path ever again and reminded me of the reasons why i bought a 4motion: rain and snow, not offroad!

 

[Wesel]

Corsica
"Normal" car, normal tyres



Romania
Peugeot 806, normal tyres
The previous day the road was not as bad, but it rained "torrentially" all night, and the next day there was no more road. As there was no other path, we bypassed by the meadow above, putting gravel under the wheels which skated all along to the top of the hill. If we have had our California 4motion at this time, with our Michelin Latitude Cross it would have been useful.

 

[kave]

Clearly this is a road after all. Many times people miss the ”off” in ”offroad”. The Transporter based vehicles is in fact really great on bad maintained roads. This is mainly due to great ground clearance. If you like to go serious offroad you need much more before you need 4wd. Wet or not, that kind of gravel, stones and sand is no problem. Dakar is raced with 2wd vehicles.

 

[Velma's Dad]

Dakar is raced with 2wd vehicles.

Very true, although not all of them are 2WD (I think the 2020 season Toyota is 4WD). For the Dakar cars, rear wheel drive allows them to have much greater suspension travel on the front, which is needed for the speeds they're going over extreme terrain.

But another example is the Peking-Paris classic rally, which runs every two years. Very few of those cars are 4WD, but they get across the worst 'roads' in Mongolia.

 

[NickE]

.... ground clearance ....... you need much more before you need 4wd.

Agree with this. Having been off road in Australia and NZ, driving rear wheel drive vans, it was usually ground clearance not grip that stopped you.
In Europe, Romanian roads have given my Cali the worst battering. Wet grass and a slight incline defeated my 2wd cali.

 

[Wildcamper]

That road really does not look like a big problem. There is many a car park in the UK with a poorer surface, pot holes stones etc. Surely the way to navigate these types of road is "carefully". I reckon any modern vehicle driven with consideration would manage that road with ease.

 

[Eber123]

Good afternoon,

4motion and differental lock was always on my wish list (dream list). By now I got several times stuck, mainly on wed grass or mud on the side of the road (making room for oncoming traffic).

The change to Michelin CrossClimate tyres made already a good improvement. Next year I will, more than likley, get the Michelin Latitude Cross.

I believe with this setup it will get me through 99.5% of roads I want to go through. Off roading might be possible, but it is a kind of hobby that is costly, because there is always something that breaks and need to get repaired.

If finaly Covid-19 allows us to travel freely again we want to go to Scandinavia and if everything is going well to Romania the following year. Also I am very interested in Northern Spain / Pyrinaen. I am more confident now (as 2x years ago) that my California will bring me there and back (gosh, reading this again it sounds like a sentence from the Hobbits).

Happy California,
Eberhard

 

[kave]

Please keep in mind that going on smaller roads in Scandinavia usually involves trees and bushes scratching up the sides of the van so get some protection for the sides as well.

 

[California4x4]

What is the heaviest off roading you have done with a standard 2wd California?

Mine is standard, 2wd, manual, 140hp, standard road tyres.
But from time to time I go off road for nice picnic spots, or to get to a nice scenery.

Quite off road, but wouldn't have done it when wet.
View attachment 65232
I can post a video of the track if anyone is interested.
Place: Peyriac-de-Mer, going for a picnic spot here: 43.083190, 2.973433 (coördinates).

Woooooah hold on, surely this is impossible without 4Motion, KMC Holeshots and BFGoodrichs slightly too big for the wheel arches? If not what did I spend all of my money for?

 

[CaliJack]

My experience in Cali 2wd “off-roading” (and a bit of advice). Off-roading in a Cali for me means travelling rough roads and not necessarily literally go off road. My Cali is a T5 140bhp 2012 version.
I’ve driven forest trails, cart tracks and dirt roads in, amongst others, Morocco, Corsica, and the Pyrenees. And I have driven dirt roads and gravel roads with washboard and potholes in Iceland.
Traction, ground clearance and weight are key factors in getting stuck or not. And: most places can be reached with 2wd.

Traction is the easiest to tackle. I’ve changed the standard fitted Conti’s (235/55r17) to Michelin Cross Climate+ (235/55r17) and ended up with General Grabber AT3 225/65 r17 (M&S and 3mpfs). Bare in mind that you drive 5% faster with this tire than your speedometer tells you.
The Grabbers increase ground clearance with 19mm (³/₄ inch) and give a lot more traction in soft conditions. BF Goodrich AT KO2’s would also be a good choice. I’ve chosen Grabbers over KO2’s because they are less noisy in normal conditions. And let’s be honest, which percentage do we really spend beside well paved roads?

The Grabber AT3 225/65r17 doesn’t fit inflated in the spare wheel holder under the car. So it lives there deflated. I always have a 12V compressor on board.
If necessary I deflate the tires for extra traction up to 1 bar.
AT tires also can withstand more abuse like unexpected potholes.

I had to ask for help when stuck twice. On a soaked campsite!
This only happened while using the standard Conti’s. Great on the German Autobahn! Not so good in absence of decent road surface.

I take with me:
a shovel;
a standard Cali jack and two small bottle jacks;
a sturdy base plate for the jacks. A plastic cutting board will do.
a tire pressure gauge;
a 12V compressor to inflate the spare and before speeding on tarmac after deflating the tires in “off road” conditions;
a tow cable (to give or get help).

Next upgrades could be:
traction boards.
spare tire holder on the tailgate for easy access to the spare tire (and looks)
fitting an engine and gearbox protection plate
fitting a 30mm lift kit or even better a VB-Full Air suspension C4 kit (pricey!)

Well and what about weight? You start with at least 2400kg, so pack light! Short crossings on soft ground? Go as fast as you can without damaging your car. Prevent your wheels from spinning. The ESP function is a great help. Don’t turn it off!

Last but not least:
How about your California’s interior when pots and pans are flying around in cupboards? Always bare in mind that a standard California is not build to go off road in harsh conditions.

Key factor is common sense!

 

[Velma's Dad]

Nice IMO and very sensible post CaliJack.

What 12v pump do you carry? (I'm guessing not one of those horrid cheap things that fall apart after a couple of uses?)

 

[CaliJack]

Nice IMO and very sensible post CaliJack.

What 12v pump do you carry? (I'm guessing not one of those horrid cheap things that fall apart after a couple of uses?)

Thank you Velma's Dad.
Well 50 euro's is cheap. But it didn't fall apart. I've used it every now and than over the last six or seven years. I can't find it on the web anymore. As a back-up I have a foot operated single action pump. (That's quite a work out).

 

[CALI FATE]

I love going off road and quite honestly surprised how capable the van is - the only thing im scared of is loose sand and a bit wary but otherwise love bumping around - we have got through the standard VW shocks replaced with Koni Active units very good - and have Wildpeak tyres - very good not too aggressive but tough for Greek tracks - never got stuck yet with 2WD Beach

Our favourite dustbineering destination is Greece - the mainland mountains fabulous - but our Island hopping around Naxos Paros Santorini Corfu and Milos was amazing