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The Perfect Climbing 4x4


belayslave

5-Feb-2008
9:00:04 AM

On 3/02/2008 mousey wrote:
>On 3/02/2008 belayslave wrote:
>
>> I've seen Foresters get in to any place where any 'respected'
>>4WD's such as Troopies,
>>Landcruisers or Hilux's can go
>
>??? you never been 4wding??
>i think the forester is a great car, they are more capable than most station
>wagon style cars, but they are NOT a real 4wd and they can NOT get through
>anything resembling remotely serious 4wd terrain\

Yeah maybe i was "over stating" the Foresters capabilities a little... the few beers i'd had when i
posted that didn't help ;) your right, in serious 4WD country Foresters can't keep up with deep ruts,
very steep a loose terrain, high flow rivers etc. But i'm still a fan and they get to any place that i'm
likely to want to drive to.


nmonteith

5-Feb-2008
9:29:03 AM

On 5/02/2008 Capt_mulch wrote:
>I was looking at the Santa Fe, and read a few reviews. One thing that was
>mentioned in the reviews was that the gearbox was crappy. In the auto the
>gears often wouldn't shift up or down when expected.

Auto gearbox worked fine for me. I had one of these for several weeks last year. Compared to my '05 diesel Pathfinder the Sante Fe diesel was a rocket! It happily roared to 100km/h in 10secs and shot up to 160km/h very quickly. Overtaking was a breeze. I can't say the same thing about my Pathfinder. It does 0-100 in about 12secs (good for a 2.5 tonne diesel) but then it just slacks right off. Getting it past 120km/h is a major challenge. 160km/h takes about 3 minutes.


Capt_mulch

5-Feb-2008
9:50:19 AM

>a rocket! It happily roared to 100km/h in 10secs and shot up to 160km/h
>very quickly.
Was that the one you were testing in Germany on the autobahn?? OK, I'll give the Santa Fe a test drive, not that I need the speed with the amount of fricken speed cameras here in Canberra.


nmonteith

5-Feb-2008
9:55:20 AM

On 5/02/2008 Capt_mulch wrote:
>Was that the one you were testing in Germany on the autobahn??

No - just some random backroads in Victoria. :-) The Renault Megane Diesel hatches were the ones we drove on the Autobahns. Those things go 200km/h quite comfortably!

> OK, I'll
>give the Santa Fe a test drive, not that I need the speed with the amount
>of fricken speed cameras here in Canberra.

Agreed. Cruise control is your friend. I've received one speeding fine in 10 years (and that was in friggn NSW on the steep road down from Mt Victoria to the plains below). I wouldn't buy a car without it.


wallwombat

5-Feb-2008
10:19:07 AM

What Australian crags do you need a 4 wheel drive to get to?


nmonteith

5-Feb-2008
10:23:56 AM

On 5/02/2008 wallwombat wrote:
>What Australian crags do you need a 4 wheel drive to get to?

Mostly its about clearance i reckon. Water bars have been built on roads that would otherwise be fine!

Grampians - Crystal Palace, The Fortress, Western Bloc, some bits of the Asses Ear area. Millenium can be tricky for 2WD.
Nielsons Crags (obscure Victorian alpine area!)
Redcliffs (QLD)
Coles Bay (unless you don't care about your 2WD!)

There must be more?!


HM33

5-Feb-2008
10:25:45 AM

sahara point, blueys


kerroxapithecus

5-Feb-2008
5:48:49 PM

On 5/02/2008 wallwombat wrote:
>What Australian crags do you need a 4 wheel drive to get to?
>
Hell none but don't spoil the dream man!


nmonteith

5-Feb-2008
6:09:15 PM

None until it starts raining... I've seen a great photo of Anita's old Hyundai hatchback sideways in the muddy ditch somewhere in the Grampians after it decided to go sideways rather than straight ahead. Tow truck!


Rich

5-Feb-2008
6:39:18 PM

On 5/02/2008 nmonteith wrote:
>None until it starts raining... I've seen a great photo of Anita's old
>Hyundai hatchback sideways in the muddy ditch somewhere in the Grampians
>after it decided to go sideways rather than straight ahead. Tow truck!

hehe.. I"m sure she was happy about that!

I remember at white water wall when i tried to drive my 2wd hilux down to the water on the right side of the campsite.. ended up front right in a big rut and the back left about 2 feet off the ground!!! Everyone had to jump on it to get it happening again.

Also you can get into crystal palace, etc with a 2wd if you come in from the south. clearance is king tho.. all those rocks and ruts that appear out of nowhere (not to mention driving over road islands when required ;)

dave

5-Feb-2008
11:14:05 PM

On 5/02/2008 nmonteith wrote:
>Mostly its about clearance i reckon. Water bars have been built on roads
>that would otherwise be fine!
>
>Grampians - Crystal Palace, The Fortress, Western Bloc, some bits of the
>Asses Ear area. Millenium can be tricky for 2WD.
>Nielsons Crags (obscure Victorian alpine area!)
>Redcliffs (QLD)
>Coles Bay (unless you don't care about your 2WD!)

Haven't been to all these places...just out of interest would i be able to get to all of them in my L series Subie? or any other subie for that matter?


tmarsh

6-Feb-2008
8:09:34 AM

I've done all the Victoria Range crags Neil mentioned in an L-series subie. Driving the Goat Track in any Subaru is a totally do-able idea. I've driven it from one side of the range to the other in a standard Liberty ferchrissake! The Victoria Range Road is trickier. There is a long climb near the northern end of it that's littered with babyhead sized rocks. It's do-able, but it'll stress you out and could damage your car if something goes wrong.


tnd

6-Feb-2008
10:59:15 AM

No-one's mentioned a Hummer!


phil_nev

6-Feb-2008
11:08:19 AM

I just recently bought a Nissan Xtrail, 2005 model. Afetr 5 months on the road, doing 20,000 km's, im srtill very very happy with it. Fot a compact SUV, its great off road, has heaps of ground clearance and is certainly capeable of getting you to any crag in vicco. Also has hepas more space than the subi for carrying all that gear.

City driving is great also, very economical, 9l/100km or therabout, round trip to the araps can be done on a tank (Aprox $75)

gfdonc

6-Feb-2008
11:57:12 AM

Round trip? Only to Araps? Oh yeah, one other thing I forgot to mention about the Touareg - its 100L fuel tank. You need to check the credit card limit before you fill up, but 1000-1200km range is fantastic.


Phil Box

6-Feb-2008
12:11:36 PM

On 6/02/2008 tnd wrote:
>No-one's mentioned a Hummer!

Ok, I'll mention a Hummer then.

Hummer.


tmarsh

6-Feb-2008
12:27:29 PM

On 6/02/2008 phil_nev wrote:
>... Afetr ... im srtill ... Fot ... hepas more ... therabout

Shame about the car making you dyslexic, Phil.


evanbb

6-Feb-2008
12:27:58 PM

A late addition... I'm of the school of thought that cars should be as cheap as possible, and have been working my way through the sub $2000 station wagons for a few years now. The 1983 sube I had was awesome, until a piston came out the side of the block. I've now got a 1992 Liberty with 350,000 on the clock, and never missed a beat.

I'll never spend more than $20k on a car, what's the point? Some bogan in Nowra will just smash all the windows and fill it with urine. Get a cheap car, spend nothing on it and drive it into the ground. Return on investment is for the weak.


IdratherbeclimbingM9

6-Feb-2008
12:37:26 PM

Indeed evanbb, there is much to be said for that philosophy as well as its benefits of minimising usage of the worlds resources.

My last was a sub $2K Holden station wagon with 553,000 on its clock. It was still running alright when I took it to a wrecker, due to being 'given' another vehicle of similar category but with less km ... ~> Have since given it on to another family member and ride a m/cycle instead.


Rich

6-Feb-2008
12:52:44 PM

On 6/02/2008 evanbb wrote:
Some bogan
>in Nowra will just smash all the windows and fill it with urine.

c'mon surely this scenario is done and dusted. I've been to Nowra many times and never had any problem with my car being left all day. I know it says so in the guide but that was printed a long time ago and I heard the culprits got nabbed.. Has anyone experienced any issues lately??

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