Touareg/Cayenne fiasco Round 2 (Dakar)

[Livolsi, Stephane]

Well...ok....yes....but.....the Touareg that she was driving in the
Dakar has virtually nothing in common with the Touareg that you are
going to drive off the lot, except maybe the skin, as is the case with
all the other vehicles (how many schlessermobiles have you seen on the
street?) Even then, how many starters actually finish the Dakar? I don't
know the exact number but the attrition rate is very high and this is on
virtually purpose built vehicles.

I can't see anyone dropping the coin for a Touareg and then taking it
off road trying to keep up with Bubba (no offence - I used to be one,
hoping to be again soon) in his jacked up 82 chev 4X4 with 3 feet of
ground clearance and 44" monster mudders.  It'll be a parts Touareg in
very short order - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, IMHO :)

I personally don't like any SUV/Hybrid/multipurpose vehicle because then
you have a vehicle that isn't as good as it could be in any situation.
If you want a street vehicle to perform off road as well then you will
have to give up something from the street end of it, whether it is
speed, aerodynamics, lightweight, etc.  If you have a good off road
vehicle that you want to be good on the street as well, you will have to
give up something from the off road side - agility, low gearing, big
tires, durability, etc.  I would rather have a car designed for the
street (88 5ktqa) and a separate vehicle for off road (64 Landrover
project in progress)

.02

Stephane



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rocky Mullin [mailto:caliban at sharon.net] 
> Sent: January 20, 2004 12:13 PM
> To: Cody Forbes; Brady Moffatt; Quattro
> Subject: Re: Touareg/Cayenne fiasco Round 2 (Dakar)
> 
> 
> 
> 	to follow up on this, VW did decently in dakar.  
> kleinschmidt won a stage, maybe even two.  as the dakar can 
> do, she had one bad day and was then out of the running for 
> an overall awesome finish.
> 
> 	saby took sixth overall, klenischmidt 17th.  both are 
> outstanding showings for a new car, and just finishing the 
> dakar is a huge accomplishment.
> 
> 	i'm glad to have someone cool (as in VW/audi) to root 
> for in a cool racing series.  i just couldn't cheer for skoda in WRC.
> 
> At 3:58 AM -0500 1/4/04, Cody Forbes wrote:
> >Well now THAT was unexpected! Damn I missed the first day of 
> coverage, 
> >was too busy at NAPA getting told they forgot to order my 
> brake pads. 
> >I'm almost down to the backing, got lazy in my brake inspections and 
> >missed the fact that they were low up front. What time is day 2 on 
> >tomorrow (I assume your watching NASCAR TV....er ah I mean SPEED)?
> 
> -- 
>   Rocky Mullin                   |  Work out your own 
> salvation.   -Buddha,
>   vanadium                       |  Do not depend on others.  
>      ~500 BC
> 
> _______________________________________________
> quattro mailing list
> quattro at audifans.com http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/quattro
>