Cooked transmission - desert driving

[dxbX5]

Dropped the X in for the 1st oil service today and was told a story about a 4.8 that had been taken out into the desert. The guy was having a good time until he got stuck and just kept the power on. The tranmission apparently died on the spot. Not sure if there was a lot of shifting from D to R.

I've only ever been in quite light sand as I've seen the damage that dunes can do to Range Rovers and Cayennes - bumpers scattered everywhere!

20 inch wheels just don't seem to enjoy the sand either - not a great deal of improvement letting the pressure down either. There's just no change of surface area.

The best car for the desert? Somebody else's or a Landcruiser from hertz!!

[vinuneuro]

Originally Posted by dxbX5

Dropped the X in for the 1st oil service today and was told a story about a 4.8 that had been taken out into the desert. The guy was having a good time until he got stuck and just kept the power on. The tranmission apparently died on the spot. Not sure if there was a lot of shifting from D to R.

I've only ever been in quite light sand as I've seen the damage that dunes can do to Range Rovers and Cayennes - bumpers scattered everywhere!

20 inch wheels just don't seem to enjoy the sand either - not a great deal of improvement letting the pressure down either. There's just no change of surface area.

The best car for the desert? Somebody else's or a Landcruiser from hertz!!

Got that right!

The X really doesn't really belong off-road. Make sure you are adjusting your service intervals for heavy-use accordingly if you are frequently taking it in the sand. If you are really into going in dunes, investing in 17" wheels would probably be a good idea.

[jditom]

Originally Posted by dxbX5

The best car for the desert? Somebody else's or a Landcruiser from hertz!!

I agree! That is why I have a 96 TLC to cruise the dirt!

[DINANM3]

The best deesrt cruiser was the Lamborghini SUV i think it was called the
LM 002. They stopped production of it sometime in the 90s. It had the V12 from the cuntach with 472hp. It kind of looked like an exotic Hummer. It was nasty. I remeber seeing one at a dealership in RI when my father bought his countach in 1989. I remeber reading that it was tested at being able to maintain 150mph in desert sand for like 3 or 4 hours strait. Its top speed was like 175 or 180. It was a beast. I always wanted one of those. I wish lamborghini would come out with another one.

[dxbX5]

I have seen one very recently parked outside a local garage. No plates and no clues about where it was from, but it did have a roof rack on. Somebody probably using it locally for trips out into the desert. It looked awesome and those huge tires looked great too - almost as if it should float.

I'm sure they're quite a thirsty and unreliable car by todays standards. A new model with the Gallardo engine would be awesome. Audi are putting a version of it in the S8 i believe. Maybe the Q7 aswell!!!

Saw my first Q7 last night and actually quite liked it. If it ever comes with a Gallardo engine, BMW are going to have to come up with something pretty special to keep me.