RE: Oops: Six G-Wagens Hobbled In PR Expedition
Tuesday 9th August 2011
Lesson of the day: if you're crossing the Australian Outback in a Mercedes G-class (that's G-wagen to you and me), do make sure you take some spare shock absorbers.
Talk about an intimidating road sign...The cars should finally be arriving at their Halls creek destination as we type this, however, after Merc sent replacement shock absorbers to land in Perth, before transferring them to a small plane bound for a remote Aboriginal settlement close to Well 33, about 1000km up the cattle route, and at a cost of about $5000 (a little more than £3k)..
Oops: Six G-Wagens Hobbled In PR Expedition
Suspension failure plagues Mercedes-Benz's Outback Aussie PR stunt
Six out of seven Mercs trekking along the formidable Canning stock route (an 1150-mile slog through the Outback of Western Australia) as part of a PR stunt came to grief after the deep corrugations on a 70-kilometre stretch proved to be too much for the rear shock absorbers.
The only G-wagen to survive intact was a military-spec vehicle with modified suspension similar to the 1800 vehicles currently being delivered to the Australian Defence Force (jolly good - or the Australian government might be reconsidering its order).
Talk about an intimidating road sign...
Now, we're not casting aspersions on the off-road ability of the G-class (we've no doubt that a Defender would be just as vulnerable) but if you are going to tackle one of the world's most lonely, inhospitable trails, perhaps a more extensive spare parts roster would be in order? It would certainly save on air fares...
Discussion
When I was in Australia I met a couple who had just driven a 1972 VW campervan on this route. It broke down a bit, but it could be fixed at the trackside and didn't need parts to be flown out.
EDIT: sorry, not the same route, but part of it.
EDIT: sorry, not the same route, but part of it.
Edited by Mr Gear on Tuesday 9th August 12:27
1900km without a gas station!
That's a lot of extra fuel. My mate had a 110 td5 with long range tanks (120 litres total). Driving offroad fully-laden you might get, what, 12mpg?
1900km = 1200 miles @ 12mpg = 100 gallons = 450 litres. So, on top of his 120 litres in the car, he would need another 330 litres of diesel or seventeen 20-litre jerry cans!
That's a lot of extra fuel. My mate had a 110 td5 with long range tanks (120 litres total). Driving offroad fully-laden you might get, what, 12mpg?
1900km = 1200 miles @ 12mpg = 100 gallons = 450 litres. So, on top of his 120 litres in the car, he would need another 330 litres of diesel or seventeen 20-litre jerry cans!
Lefty said:
1900km without a gas station!
That's a lot of extra fuel. My mate had a 110 td5 with long range tanks (120 litres total). Driving offroad fully-laden you might get, what, 12mpg?
1900km = 1200 miles @ 12mpg = 100 gallons = 450 litres. So, on top of his 120 litres in the car, he would need another 330 litres of diesel or seventeen 20-litre jerry cans!
Despite Top Gear claiming electric cars are rubbish, the solar challenge cars make the most sense for crossing Australia. They can do it without needing any fuel at all, but they are not exactly designed for off-road use... http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/That's a lot of extra fuel. My mate had a 110 td5 with long range tanks (120 litres total). Driving offroad fully-laden you might get, what, 12mpg?
1900km = 1200 miles @ 12mpg = 100 gallons = 450 litres. So, on top of his 120 litres in the car, he would need another 330 litres of diesel or seventeen 20-litre jerry cans!
i met an old boy in the far reaches of western Australia, he was an engineer who had been on the road for over 10 yrs on his own travelling between isolated mining towns. We got round discussing his choice of vehicle, a very old, tired looking Toyota landcruiser adapted for his every need. He commented...
'if you want to go into the outback take a land rover, if you want to come back take a landcruiser'
'if you want to go into the outback take a land rover, if you want to come back take a landcruiser'
goron59 said:
dickyf said:
...'if you want to go into the outback take a land rover, if you want to come back take a landcruiser'
love this 
Nobody in Northern_Territories (the big bit in the middle) would consider anything else.
you break down out there, it can really be a life/death situation, no amount of marketing is going to save your bacon...
this image was taken after embarking the crossing of a bridge 10 miles down a track nr Margaret river signposted 'not suitable for heavy vehicles' no mention of weight restriction. We assumed it was a subjective sign! although we were in a navara it coped surprisingly well on a seemingly endless rutted sand track.
Mr Gear said:
Despite Top Gear claiming electric cars are rubbish, the solar challenge cars make the most sense for crossing Australia. They can do it without needing any fuel at all, but they are not exactly designed for off-road use... http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/
Not exactly designed for off-road use.......aka, one level crossing would probably hurt them an awful lot!dickyf said:
i met an old boy in the far reaches of western Australia, he was an engineer who had been on the road for over 10 yrs on his own travelling between isolated mining towns. We got round discussing his choice of vehicle, a very old, tired looking Toyota landcruiser adapted for his every need. He commented...
'if you want to go into the outback take a land rover, if you want to come back take a landcruiser'
He must have met Clarkson then, because he tells the same story.'if you want to go into the outback take a land rover, if you want to come back take a landcruiser'
I know a missionary who runs a hostpital in Africa and she uses a Toyota Landcruiser. Finally started to give up recently, after many years and many many thousands of miles. Would still work fine over here no doubt, but keeping up with the rough and tumble of the roads (if you can call them that) in Africa where she is, will take some serious money being spent on it.
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