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Monday, November 12, 2007
The name might be weird, but this soft-roader's ability isn't.
BY BARRY WINFIELD, September 2007
View 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan Photo Gallery
As the small convoy of compact SUVs descended the steep, deeply rutted trail on the grounds of the Amani Lodge near Windhoek, Namibia, to the spot where the cheetahs are fed, it was hard not to think of the old military historians’ adage about Germans tending to stick to their plan. I mean, this was terrain that most manufacturers of serious off-road vehicles would not have dared use to showcase their products’ virtues.
And here we were in three Volkswagen Tiguan development mules—unibodied “soft road” SUVs—one of them even going without the underbody protection offered by VW’s off-road package. Which, you should understand, was being exploited regularly as the relatively low-riding vehicles slammed onto rocks in our path.
But having planned this leg of the final vehicle-development exercise, our hosts were sticking to their guns—ultimately to the detriment of the non-off-road-package Tiguan, which suffered a crack to the oil pan, resulting in a small but steady oil leak that ensured it left the rutted trail on the end of a tow rope. But VW’s persistence also saw us drive back out of the valley in the two surviving Tiguans, which had braved a challenge that would surely have tripped up the likes of a Toyota RAV4 or Honda CR-V.
BY BARRY WINFIELD, September 2007
View 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan Photo Gallery
As the small convoy of compact SUVs descended the steep, deeply rutted trail on the grounds of the Amani Lodge near Windhoek, Namibia, to the spot where the cheetahs are fed, it was hard not to think of the old military historians’ adage about Germans tending to stick to their plan. I mean, this was terrain that most manufacturers of serious off-road vehicles would not have dared use to showcase their products’ virtues.
And here we were in three Volkswagen Tiguan development mules—unibodied “soft road” SUVs—one of them even going without the underbody protection offered by VW’s off-road package. Which, you should understand, was being exploited regularly as the relatively low-riding vehicles slammed onto rocks in our path.
But having planned this leg of the final vehicle-development exercise, our hosts were sticking to their guns—ultimately to the detriment of the non-off-road-package Tiguan, which suffered a crack to the oil pan, resulting in a small but steady oil leak that ensured it left the rutted trail on the end of a tow rope. But VW’s persistence also saw us drive back out of the valley in the two surviving Tiguans, which had braved a challenge that would surely have tripped up the likes of a Toyota RAV4 or Honda CR-V.
Labels: Automobiles Reviews
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