Moab Utah, October 10-12. Touaregs!

[Arkarch]

Slideshow from my trip Moab Utah with Touareg friends from Colorado and Texas. From October 10-12. 58 images from the collection.

Trails – Fins and Things, Seven Mile Rim, and Dome Plateau.

Vehicles - Four Touaregs, all with air lifts, center lock. Most with 32" BFG's and some with rear lockers. I have the Gray Touareg.

A rental jeep from Cliff Hanger rentals was used for one of the days to compare.

The full slideshow here !
http://picasaweb.google.com/KF6VOM/Moab ... 9528381314

Highlights


Fins and Things


Fins and Things


Fins and Things


Seven Mile Rim - Uranium Arch


Seven Mile Rim - Heading toward Monitor and Merrimac Buttes


Seven Mile Rim - Burnt Toast


Dome Plateau - Again and Again Hill


Dome Plateau - Observation over Professor Valley and Fisher Tower


Seven Mile Rim

The full slideshow here !
http://picasaweb.google.com/KF6VOM/Moab ... 9528381314




Bonus photos from a late season fall Aspen swing through western Colorado via Dolores - Rico - Lizard Head Pass - Woods Lake
http://picasaweb.google.com/KF6VOM/Delo ... 2443385266

[BorregoWrangler]

Nice report and great pictures. Those Touaregs sure do get around good!

[cruiserlarry]

It is amazing how versatile the Touraeg is.

Just makes me nervous seeing all those nice SUVs running without any protection...

[Arkarch]

Just makes me nervous seeing all those nice SUVs running without any protection...

Heh,,

That was on the mind of one of our regular trailbosses for the past many years. They rented a 4-door Rubicon to see if this may be their next trail rig. The overall we got was that they felt much better with the Rubi on the trails - and that damaging a $30k rig is far better than what they paid for the Touareg V8. Consider also the difference in repair costs.

That said, they were not happy with the Jeep at highway speed. It was a handful - heh, I'm sure you know. The big plus in the Touareg camp is to do a mid-level trail, come off the trail, drop the air suspension, switch back to 4-high no locker, and blast down the highway to make happy hour.

So maybe their Touareg becomes a hauler and the Jeep a toy. Then you can pick and choose what you want to play with for the day.

I am not sure I am sold entirely on that. I am still thinking about picking up a used Touareg V8 with reasonable miles for about $20-25k, modifying it enough to get bigger tires and protection, and using that for these trips. Hauling just does not seem fun to me. And really I am becoming more interested in expedition-type offroading. More about the adventure and less about kick-ass obstacles.

Anyway, we like to amaze - but yeah, when I do someday scrape the side - its gonna suck!

[cruiserlarry]

Just makes me nervous seeing all those nice SUVs running without any protection...

Heh,,

That was on the mind of one of our regular trailbosses for the past many years. They rented a 4-door Rubicon to see if this may be their next trail rig. The overall we got was that they felt much better with the Rubi on the trails - and that damaging a $30k rig is far better than what they paid for the Touareg V8. Consider also the difference in repair costs.

That said, they were not happy with the Jeep at highway speed. It was a handful - heh, I'm sure you know. The big plus in the Touareg camp is to do a mid-level trail, come off the trail, drop the air suspension, switch back to 4-high no locker, and blast down the highway to make happy hour.

So maybe their Touareg becomes a hauler and the Jeep a toy. Then you can pick and choose what you want to play with for the day.

I am not sure I am sold entirely on that. I am still thinking about picking up a used Touareg V8 with reasonable miles for about $20-25k, modifying it enough to get bigger tires and protection, and using that for these trips.

No doubt the Touareg excels on the asphalt - that is it's primary residence by design. I can certainly see the appeal of a luxury off-road rig, but even plunking down $20k for a used one to beat up seems expensive; Given the additional money necessary to make it as "trail-ready" as possible, you'll end up spending close to $30k+ on a used vehicle that still has less ability than a $5k Jeep on the trail. Given the relative scarcity of parts in more remote locales, and the much higher than average projected maintenance costs as it ages, it might still be worth considering a trail rig to haul around, and save the extra $20+ for food and wine...