On a recent exploratory (what the car can do) offroad driving trip (shrub,tall grass, loose rocks, erosion ruts - see image) the following experience has brought a question to mind.
During a steepish descent where the road also slopes downhill from left to right, the car was positioned with the LH wheels outside the rut and the RH wheels on the raised centre of the two-lane track.
Traction was lost on the left rear wheel with the ESP system applying brakes to that wheel. As the RH rear wheel was still driving the vehicle, the rear end started to slide downhill (from left to right) with absolutely nothing that I could do to stop this slide (braking did not help), as it was all under electronic control. The rear end of the car slid across the track untill the LH wheel gripped again which although brief, felt like an eternity.
Upon getting to similarly sloped terrain, I disabled the ESP, and the car did NOT slip off the track ridges. Some time in future I will repeat the first part of the track with the ESP off to confirm whether the effect I noticed was not perhaps unrelated, but at the time I ran out of adrenalin right there, and somehow lost interest in confirming this behaviour immediately.
Has anyone had experience of the effect of ESP ON/OFF? From what I've read, with ESP OFF, wheelspin is allowed, e.g. when stuck in sand or mud where you need to rock your way out forwards and backwards. This seems to tie up with what I have experienced.
Other general observations are that the Tiguan turning circle is a bit on the wide side (12m), having to do 3 point manoevres to get around some bends. The torque of the diesel engine is unstoppable, with 1st gear sufficiently low to chug up steep inclines at around 1500 rpm. Downhill the traction control also works well (just watch out for the cross-slopes!).
During a steepish descent where the road also slopes downhill from left to right, the car was positioned with the LH wheels outside the rut and the RH wheels on the raised centre of the two-lane track.
Traction was lost on the left rear wheel with the ESP system applying brakes to that wheel. As the RH rear wheel was still driving the vehicle, the rear end started to slide downhill (from left to right) with absolutely nothing that I could do to stop this slide (braking did not help), as it was all under electronic control. The rear end of the car slid across the track untill the LH wheel gripped again which although brief, felt like an eternity.
Upon getting to similarly sloped terrain, I disabled the ESP, and the car did NOT slip off the track ridges. Some time in future I will repeat the first part of the track with the ESP off to confirm whether the effect I noticed was not perhaps unrelated, but at the time I ran out of adrenalin right there, and somehow lost interest in confirming this behaviour immediately.
Has anyone had experience of the effect of ESP ON/OFF? From what I've read, with ESP OFF, wheelspin is allowed, e.g. when stuck in sand or mud where you need to rock your way out forwards and backwards. This seems to tie up with what I have experienced.
Other general observations are that the Tiguan turning circle is a bit on the wide side (12m), having to do 3 point manoevres to get around some bends. The torque of the diesel engine is unstoppable, with 1st gear sufficiently low to chug up steep inclines at around 1500 rpm. Downhill the traction control also works well (just watch out for the cross-slopes!).
