Pastor John
06-16-2002, 07:05 PM
My wife and I took the XC up into the Georgia mountains in search of a secret trout stream following what I used to remember as a pretty fair Forest Service road. Turned out to be quite a testimony of the capabilities of the XC.
Started out well enough - the gravel single lane roadway hadn't been graded for a long time and had it's share of potholes and mudholes left over from heavy rains the day before. But after about two miles, the roadway narrowed to something less than a full lane, with the leaves on the trees brushing against the side of the car. Then came the rocks and muddy sections. Our sense of adventure and the lack of turnouts kept us forging ahead, despite having to select first gear in manual mode. To my great delight, the XC handled ten inch boulders well and slowly crept over them with just a light foot on the throttle. The orange dash warning flickered constantly as we slowly negotiated many stretches of mud that went up to ten inches deep and well rutted. The transfer of power among the four wheels was seemless and gave us great confidence.
The ground clearance of the XC really shined - we tackled some pretty large boulder fields that were supposed to pass for a road. At one time I got out to take a look at a pretty rough section and smiled when I saw the contrortion of the tires and suspension as the car tip-toed through a section that I just knew was impassable. Didn't even phase the XC.
After about four miles of negotiating this nightmare/playground, mostly in first gear, we ran up on a Jeep Cherokee and Ford Explorer coming the other way. We all stopped to compare notes; the look on their faces at the sight of our Volvo Wagon was priceless! When we found out that the "road" ended just a half mile further, we turned around and followed them out the way we came in. My wife and I barely contained our smug looks when the Explorer got stuck in the same mudhole that we had just cruised through. Both other drivers just stood amazed when the XC took it without even a spinned wheel.
The car is phenomenal!
John
Started out well enough - the gravel single lane roadway hadn't been graded for a long time and had it's share of potholes and mudholes left over from heavy rains the day before. But after about two miles, the roadway narrowed to something less than a full lane, with the leaves on the trees brushing against the side of the car. Then came the rocks and muddy sections. Our sense of adventure and the lack of turnouts kept us forging ahead, despite having to select first gear in manual mode. To my great delight, the XC handled ten inch boulders well and slowly crept over them with just a light foot on the throttle. The orange dash warning flickered constantly as we slowly negotiated many stretches of mud that went up to ten inches deep and well rutted. The transfer of power among the four wheels was seemless and gave us great confidence.
The ground clearance of the XC really shined - we tackled some pretty large boulder fields that were supposed to pass for a road. At one time I got out to take a look at a pretty rough section and smiled when I saw the contrortion of the tires and suspension as the car tip-toed through a section that I just knew was impassable. Didn't even phase the XC.
After about four miles of negotiating this nightmare/playground, mostly in first gear, we ran up on a Jeep Cherokee and Ford Explorer coming the other way. We all stopped to compare notes; the look on their faces at the sight of our Volvo Wagon was priceless! When we found out that the "road" ended just a half mile further, we turned around and followed them out the way we came in. My wife and I barely contained our smug looks when the Explorer got stuck in the same mudhole that we had just cruised through. Both other drivers just stood amazed when the XC took it without even a spinned wheel.
The car is phenomenal!
John