Volkswagen and poor PR

The last week or so Fairfax has waged a campaign regarding the reliability of Volkswagen vehicles. As a Volkswagen owner you take notice. Prior to my purchase I'd done a fair bit of homework what I read about the DSG made me certain I was not going to be purchasing the automatic. So what fairfax had written is not new to me. What is new is the other problems. The apparent poor customer service and the huge wait time for any warranty claims.

I can't help but be concerned with "drive's" assessment

"The Department of Infrastructure and Transport is investigating issues of sudden deceleration. Volkswagen's German headquarters has refused to respond to Fairfax Media's questions on engine failures and transmission recalls. Volkswagen Australia has been equally silent, and dealerships appear to have been gagged by the company from speaking to the media"

Again as an owner you can't help but loose confidence in the brand and the way the company has responded.

Poorly....

 

Flinders Ranges, and 4wd's (Part 3)

It seemed to me that on the trip the most numerous were those who owned whopping big four wheel drives. It was great listening to them, as you chatted around a camp kitchen or they set up camp next to yourself. The stories which they spoke about were often dirt tracks and magnificent views. Escaping a normal life for a few month or years.

What amused me was when I asked what sort of mileage they get. It was anything from 14 to 20 litres per 100km depending on what they towed. I'd say the benchmark for 4wd's was the toyota prada, then followed by the mitsubishi triton. Its pretty staggering when you think that fuel is a lot dearer away from capital cities. If you went around australia you would be up for thousands of dollars.

I felt very happy with our little set up. The volkswagen golf managed 5.7 litres per 100km towing our podtrailer. Very good. for our tip of about 3200km we only filled up three times.

I came to the conclusion that if I wanted anything a bit more rougher, I would do what a couple of New Zealanders were doing. Cycling with the paniers on the sides and trailer on the back. It looked a much kinder and respectful to the environment. It looked as you'd see more. That the type of camping involved would be closer to land you were exploring. As opposed to a lot of 4 and caravans which look as if they have as many creature comforts as they left behind with a permenant home.

Preliminary Trip == Shoreham Foreshore

 

This weekend we took off for a preliminary trip to the the Shoreham Foreshore Park, on Westernport. We did the trip to just to iron out any bugs we might have prior to our big trip to the Flinders Ranges in April.

All up the park was pretty basic. The amenities looked like they could do with a good refresh. No powered sites. Yet there was a charm. It was reminiscent for me of Wilsons Prom. Heaps of bird life, Koalas above us in the trees. The sites were not on top of each other as you would get in a normal caravan park. Yep I'd go back. It seems as if the park itself is still a bit of a secret!

Rate it: 7/10

 

The Volkswagen Bluemotion so far has performed pretty well, its fuel usage even pulling the podtrailer is still 5.6 literes/100km, very good really. I expect on even longer distances to be better. I actually think the computer in the Golf actually over estimates the fuel usage so I'm going to calcuate this manually on the big trip.

The other thing I was worried about was the towing and braking. I had a horrid experience with my Ford Falcon towing a small pop-up caravan which had no brakes. The podtrailer with electric brakes is really good. I don't really feel anything behind me even with sharpish braking.