Our Maiden Voyage [Pics]

[Westfalia]

We took our new 04 Bambi CCD out this past week for her, and our, maiden voyage, as part of our Colorado Touareg 4x4 rally. We left from our place in Evergreen, CO and drove down US285, passing three Airstreams along the way. I was happy to see that all waved as we passed! We were able to scale Monarch Pass with little trouble, even with our V6.

We pulled into Lake City, CO and found a great spot overlooking Lake San Cristobol. All we can see from our windows in water, and my wife commented that she got sea sick after looking in the upper mirror over the vanity and seeing only moving water.


We dry camped two nights. Everything is holding up nicely, with a cold fridge (and quiet after installing an OFF switch to the fan), and a hot shower. An evening downpour tested the closing function of the fantastic fan, and the awning helped keep our patio dry. I'm liking the LED lights that I added in the front cabinet, and I hope to get more soon to help extend the batteries. I plugged the trailer in to the Touareg every morning to help top off, especially since we were running the heater overnight, as lows got into the low 40's.



So far, a great trip! We our in Ouray, CO for the middle of our offroad trip. Taking the trailer around would have added unnecessary hours to the drive. We head back to Lake City to camp one more night and camp, then drive back north, possibly camping near Leadville or Buena Vista.

If anyone is interested in seeing some pictures of our trip, including the V6 TDI Turbo Diesel (on loan from VWoA, not available for purchase in North America), you can see some more pictures in this thread:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2109565

Looking forward to seeing more of you out on the road. I did get to meet Sarmimi at Camping World in Denver. Thanks to this forum, I recognized him and his tow vehicle. I hope he enjoys the rest of his epic trip. I'm jealous.

[Towhead]

Does that vehicle actually pull an Airstream???

We get that question ALL the time with our Touareg. Once you say yes, then you get all kinds of compliments on it. It certainly makes for a nice combo... a Touareg and an Airstream.

Nice pics.

[67caravel]

Oh wow!

Now I can convince my spouse that Lake City is a great place!!!

Thanks, 'Falia for the pics!

Looks like a great great great outing.

[67caravel]

'Failia,

What's with the awning tie downs? Do you have support arms?

Just noticed...

[Westfalia]

There are no support arms that I'm aware of, and there was some good wind coming off of the lake at times. I figured that a little extra support was in order.

Yes, you CAN tow with a Touareg, even the V6. We get a LOT of looks when we are towing. I usually look back to make sure the trailer is still there, or not on fire.

I'd like to see the V6 TDI tow. It has 371 ft. lbs. of torque!!! Unfortunately, our test vehicle only has the european tow package with a 50mm quick connect arm. I think the tongue weight is no more than about 200 lbs!

[3Ms75Argosy]

I'd love to see the v6 TDI (with a third row) - that'd be perfect. What kind of pricing would it be offered (if it does). Gotta be cheaper than the v10. Mileage?
Marc

[Westfalia]

Back from our trip. The trailer performed well above expectations. The only down side was the smallish water tank. I'm used to having a 5 gallon water tank in my VW Bus, so conserving water is easy for me, but we can go thru 23 gallons in two days easily.


About the V6 TDI, estimated pricing for a well equipped vehicle is probably going to be around the cost of a base V8. The mileage was around 22 mpg of HARD driving with mixed offroad driving. My V6 has only once seen 21 mpg, and averages 14 in daily driving, and 11.5 towing.