Gibb River Road and Cape Leveque in a Tiguan

I took a mk2 cortina over the gibb river road back in 1971, 23 holes in the fuel tank later[no sense except adventure], I got to Kununurra, and heading for Darwin, I can't see any reason a tiguan wont make it through as there is more traffic on it now days, but drive to the conditions of the road. Cape Leveque, you should do that easily. Enjoy the drive.
Broodie H3

Just to clarify, the tyres are Dueler HP Sport, not AT, OR, or LT.

Yeah I would be taking a lot of caution, your nearest VW dealerships are Darwin, Alice and Kal. Could be a long tow.
Tim

Peter,
While your choice of vehicle, is not mine..... you have a capable vehicle to do the GRR & Cape Leveque.
If you drive to the conditions, have a well serviced vehicle & dont try anything your not comfortable with you shouldnt have a problem..... go & enjoy what this wonderful country has to offer.
Should you be unlucky enough to have a problem on either road there will be many other vehicles using the same roads as this is tourist season & help wont be far away.... get out & enjoy!!

Peter : I guess you can , But why would you want to shake the crap out of a ......" nice car ".....

watch out for large rocks and creek crossing...and yobbos that dont slow down showering you with rock ....

This one had some trouble !!!!! No driver to be seen , just plenty of water running from the subaru , it was facing the Pentecost river so I think it didnt make it !!!

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good luck

As someone who actually owns a Tig (ours is a 103Tdi 6 speed Auto), I'd have no qualms about the Tig being capable of doing those roads. Just a few issues I'd be wary of:

#1 tyres, you'll need to purchase a full size spare and take both that and the space saver. The full size spare will fit in the same spot - it just raises the floor by about 70mm. The more tread the better, and at 25,000k, your current tyres are over half worn. You'll need to air the tyres down a bit on those roads and drive to the conditions. Because of the Haldex system, you'll need tyres to be evenly worn (i.e. same diameter).

#2 Not sure what your plan is (?camping) but you can't put much weight in a Tig (can't put much of anything come to think of it!) - point is that if you overload the Tig, you'll have problems. And if you want to be properly equipped, you'll need water, a small compressor, probably a fridge, tyre plug kit, a few tools, a tow rope (not a snatch strap), and ideally a sat phone. If you have one of those electrical gremlins happen and the engine warning light comes on (which it can do in a Tig for lots of different reasons), you'll have to phone a dealer in the big smoke to ask for advice.

#3 I don't think you'll need the Maxtrax. If you get stuck, it will be from lack of clearance, not from lack of traction. Fuel tank is plastic and in the middle - from my recollection of where it sits, I'd prefer not to hit it with a rock. Otherwise the Tigs are pretty solid underneath.

#4 Not many Tig owners take their vehicles offroad or on corrugations - as soeone who following the Tig forums, they seem to be more interested in lowering them and fitting bling. So I doubt that you'll get many opinions from anyone who has done what you're planning in a Tig. I'd like to take our Tig bush, but my wife vetos it everytime I come up with a great suggestion, like "lets take it to the Flinders".

Cheers
Phil

Peter,

Simple answer is the vehicle will do both roads.

It is your vehicle of choice and must be nice to drive so these are my thoughts.

Don't try and stay in front or keep up with dedicated 4wd vehicles. Take it easy, pull off and stop to let them pass you. On the highway you can blow them away.

Use quality LT construction tyres and lower the pressure to give the shocks a rest.
I don't know what tyre/wheel size they take so be mindful of this as you can't get odd sizes away from major places.

Also be prepared to get stone damage to the vehicle.

You would be surprised where you can take any vehicle with patience, light hands and feet.

Enjoy your trip and don't worry about something breaking, cross that bridge if you come to it.

Looking at the specs online, you'll have 195mm clearance. Presume that's unloaded. That's a smidge under a Prado and the like and may cause probs if you have to drive in dried ruts.

You _will_ need a good sump guard. If the std one is like a piece of limp cardboard like many SUVs see if you can source a decent alloy aftermarket unit.

Your track is about 1560mm.Check this against a Prado and the like.

I've not been in that part of the country but if you anticipate long stretches of corrugations I hope the VW build is up to it. Your fillings may not be ;-)

If your Duellers are down to half depth of tread or below, replace them.

We saw a Tiguan at Cale Leveque in August last year, and also in Palm Valley in march last year.
Take it ease and you will be fine. An extra spare would not hurt,
Most forum members are Nissan, Toyota owners, so to them there is no other vehicle capable in the outback, which of course is a load of rot. If you have travelled the bush as long as I have all brands will break down, if not treated with respect.
BW.

Gibb Road not a problem.

Cape Leveque not a problem.

Locals do them both in Falcons etc.

Keep speed down, drop tyre pressures a tad and you will be fine.

I have just done both, and the Cape Leveque road is in normal condition, which is pretty rough for some. But nothing your vehicle cant handle.

I suggest you get some LT tyres though, as the Gibb can throw some decent punctures at passenger tyres. On the Gibb we seen 2x Jeep SUV looking things towing massive vans. They did it no worries and they had no idea at all about anything. Both vans and cars were indentical right down to the steering wheel covers and air freshners.

Its only 100kms of dirt on the Cape road, take it easy and allow 1.5 hours , have a rest, take your time. No problems at all mate.

Im a local too, so your not getting an opinion about the one time i went to the Kimberley 10 years ago.

Enjoy it mate. You wont have a problem.