Comments on: AutoRoute: A different approach to 4WDriving Central Australia

By: FrugalOne

FrugalOne — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:19:42 +0000

I pretty much did this exact route, but twice as far.

Seeing its mostly boring also took the same photos as u!

Great country though!

Cheers

F-0

By: Sue @ Used Cars

Sue @ Used Cars — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:56:34 +0000

I just loved this read a great test drive unlike any other that have been around I am completely jealous of you having to get to test that car of all cars, she is a real beauty.

By: jansjetta

jansjetta — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:10:25 +0000

Great reaqding Josh.
I’ve just done Perth / Bendigo / Corryong / Bright / Mt Hotham / Omeo / Lakes Entrance / Melb / Great Ocean Rd / Adelaide / Perth. 9267 klm in a Jetta TDi. Ave 5.5l/100 best – 1 tank Ceduna – Mildura (1030), best consumption 4.8 Mildura – Bendigo. Mostly good roads, some great roads and some shite roads (esp Renmark – Mildura) and lots of memories. Ther’s something special about driving this BIG country, but the outback shouldn’t be taken for granted.
I think the next trip might be up the west coast.

By: phillip

phillip — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:44:43 +0000

Full respect Josh. I believe what I read about the DSG, that it’s economical and far superior to a normal auto, but after a while I was really rather bored when driving my brothers GTI. Even though there are steering wheel paddles to change gears manually, I found myself just driving it as I would a standard auto. It just didn’t feel very playful.

By: Tek

Tek — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:34:12 +0000

Josh, what a great read! So refreshing to read something other than the usual specs/review/rating article. My only negative was that the story was too short. I would love to hear more about what you thought of the R32 after such a trip, even if it is biased

By: Josh McKenzie

Josh McKenzie — Mon, 04 May 2009 00:33:16 +0000

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. Glad to see it’s rekindling old memories for some.

Phillip: It’s a manual. I do love the DSG box, especially in the GTI. I just felt the VR6 had a bit more aural character with the manual (even if performance and economy suffer).

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:09:51 +0000

Yeah but Cupid, we get all the great driving roads. Many Australians have to travel a very long way to find great windy driving roads that I can find ten minutes out of London. However, writing that, I’m not sure if windy driving roads are what you want when you own a diesel Vectra Estate. No offense intended but the Vectra isn’t exactly known for it’s driving dynamics.

By: Pete

Pete — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:26:45 +0000

Meant to add:

Josh, thanks for brilliant story. Trouble is I now want to go and do it all over again.

By: Pete

Pete — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:25:30 +0000

Have done this sort of trip twice. 2nd time was in 2002 with my wife and, at the time, 7 & 9 y.o. daughters. We had a VW T4 semi-camper pulling 16.5 foot caravan – 40000K in 6 months. Great driving, great country. Averaged 15L/100K – no flats, no probs.

First time was in a 1600cc T2 Kombi camper in 1979 – 27000K in 5 months (once again no punctures). Back then Highway 1 had lots more dirt road and there were also no rangers telling you it was 4WD only to get to the Bungle Bungles, etc.

Tack – agree, the best buy was my Engel – the 2nd best was the VWs.

By: Mazda3

Mazda3 — Sat, 02 May 2009 12:43:16 +0000

Even if the car in question is a 103kW, 182Nm regular sedan like mine, the article is still pleasurable to read. It’s journals like this that make this website unique. Kudos to the writers!