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Mild offroad areas to play with the XC40?

Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:39 pm
by ciuncky
Hi all - just looking for areas where we could take the AWD ones for a bit of muddy fun?
Anyone had found / tried places preferably not farther than 2 and a half, 3 hours from London?

I'd be curious to hear feedback for places and for the car itself, how did it play ball and any recommendations such as putting traction control in Sport, etc?

Re: Mild offroad areas to play with the XC40?

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 10:47 pm
by Dermottdog
ciuncky, in my opinion, it would be a bad idea to go looking for off road areas for quite a few reasons. 1st, although it has AWD, it wouldn’t be great with standard tyres. If playing on mud, the tyres just wouldn’t have the bite and you would spin the wheels. On gravel or stones you risk punctures and damaging your alloys. 2nd, I suspect your insurance would be void. You do get companies that cover this sort of thing - Green Light and Adrian Flux come to mind. 3rd, should something untoward happen, it would be expensive to put right. I’m not suggesting for one minute that you’re going to take it through the Congo or similar terrain but it’s just an SUV and not a 4x4. I suspect you just want to see what it’s capable of but it could cost you £££.
My SWB Shogun is a proper 4x4 with a high and lo transfer box, centre and rear diff locks etc.
It has chunky tyres and as it’s 20 year old, damaging it wouldn’t be an issue.

Re: Mild offroad areas to play with the XC40?

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 11:31 pm
by bdalameda
The XC40 works surprisingly well off road for what it is. The ground clearance is quite good at 8.5"'inches and even with street tires is fairly capable. I would not be too shy to take it off road as I have done with mine. Here is a video of the XC40 off road:


Re: Mild offroad areas to play with the XC40?

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 12:50 am
by Deleted User 1945
I recently found out that BorgWarner supply the AWD tech in the XC40: It means the XC40 actually has mechanical locking front, centre and rear differentials operated by a proper mulitplate clutch so its the real deal for off-roading if you want to risk it! (https://www.borgwarner.com/newsroom/press-releases/2018/01/11/gripping-performance-borgwarner-s-awd-coupling-offers-enhanced-traction-for-volvo-xc40)

It is worth checking out this video of the XC40 going up gold mine hill in colorado


Re: Mild offroad areas to play with the XC40?

Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:06 am
by ciuncky
Hi all - a bit of an update here as i managed to find one in Swindon that has confirmed has 2 tracks for any SUV - i mentioned it's an XC40 with city tires and there seemed to be no problem. Entrance is twice a month, so i'll try to attend and see how it goes.

@Dermottdog - i totally see where you're coming from, but my plan wasn't to go rock climbing but rather a nice dusty, muddy trail to try the new toy. Not much damage that could happen to a car on such a road except from maybe a few paint chips, but i hope i'll avoid those too. Besides, as far as i remember Off-Road mode gets deactivated if you floor it over 20mph, so you can't go too fast anyway!

A quick link to the guy i found is http://www.4x4driving.co.uk/index.php
And from google maps, i suspect these are the 2 tracks which don't seem too dangerous with a fairly deflated tyre!



Any thoughts? Any other drivers who would care to join for an XC40 day :) ?

Re: Mild offroad areas to play with the XC40?

Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:41 am
by Dermottdog
Good luck with it all. Put some pictures up👍

Re: Mild offroad areas to play with the XC40?

Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:32 am
by DAN@ADRIAN FLUX
Dermottdog wrote: Fri Oct 11, 2019 10:47 pm ciuncky, in my opinion, it would be a bad idea to go looking for off road areas for quite a few reasons. 1st, although it has AWD, it wouldn’t be great with standard tyres. If playing on mud, the tyres just wouldn’t have the bite and you would spin the wheels. On gravel or stones you risk punctures and damaging your alloys. 2nd, I suspect your insurance would be void. You do get companies that cover this sort of thing - Green Light and Adrian Flux come to mind. 3rd, should something untoward happen, it would be expensive to put right. I’m not suggesting for one minute that you’re going to take it through the Congo or similar terrain but it’s just an SUV and not a 4x4. I suspect you just want to see what it’s capable of but it could cost you £££.
My SWB Shogun is a proper 4x4 with a high and lo transfer box, centre and rear diff locks etc.
It has chunky tyres and as it’s 20 year old, damaging it wouldn’t be an issue.
Hi.
If anyone needs any help with insurance for this type of thing then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.