1st time in Mud/Soft Ground

[jkochis]

This weekend I had the chance to test the AWD and ground clearence of my wagon at a local balloon festival. The parking was in farm fields that just had 5+ inches of rain the day before. Besides tall grass/hay scraping on the bottom, it tackled the mud/soft ground with ease. When we left later on, most cars where stuck in the mud and had to be pulled out. I am happy I left my Acura TSX at home since I would have been stuck as well. I was very pleased with the off-road ability of the XC70. :)

[TrueBlue]

You're "lucky" that you've got a Haldex equipped car, the older VC tranny would have been a disaster.

Recent allegorical info available to me (i.e. unattributable) suggested that the older (VC) models just don't work until the car is moving at 25mph. Not a lot of good in a wet field.

That's history, except fot those who relied on Volvo's sales brochures - which in practice is all you'll get.

[littlewaywelt]

This weekend I had the chance to test the AWD and ground clearence of my wagon at a local balloon festival. The parking was in farm fields that just had 5+ inches of rain the day before. Besides tall grass/hay scraping on the bottom, it tackled the mud/soft ground with ease. When we left later on, most cars where stuck in the mud and had to be pulled out. I am happy I left my Acura TSX at home since I would have been stuck as well. I was very pleased with the off-road ability of the XC70. :)

was this the balloon festival in NJ about two weeks ago?
our car was covered in mud even with the front mud flaps.

[dlr97]

Recent allegorical info available to me (i.e. unattributable) suggested that the older (VC) models just don't work until the car is moving at 25mph. Not a lot of good in a wet field.

I don't know about mud, but I had many occasions to test our 2000 XC with VC awd on snow, and never had a problem with traction, unless the snow was deep enough to high-center the car. The rear wheels were getting power at very low speeds.

Cheers,
Dave

[jkochis]

was this the balloon festival in NJ about two weeks ago?
our car was covered in mud even with the front mud flaps.


Yes it was. I was suprised how muddy it was and that they allowed people to park in the fields. The high ground clearence was a nice benefit as well.

[TrueBlue]

I don't know about mud, but I had many occasions to test our 2000 XC with VC awd on snow, and never had a problem with traction, unless the snow was deep enough to high-center the car. The rear wheels were getting power at very low speeds.

Cheers,
Dave


Dave, I agree - I should have been more precise. Before 2001 the VC was very "tight", but the downside of that was owners had to be very careful with tyre dimensions. On the 2001 /2 models Volvo made the VC much "softer" with the result that slow speed traction disappeared completely.

[budrichard]

You're "lucky" that you've got a Haldex equipped car, the older VC tranny would have been a disaster.

Recent allegorical info available to me (i.e. unattributable) suggested that the older (VC) models just don't work until the car is moving at 25mph. Not a lot of good in a wet field.

That's history, except fot those who relied on Volvo's sales brochures - which in practice is all you'll get.

Absolute crap!
Our 99XC goes thru DEEP mud, snow, everything just fine. In fact other than ground clearance, i find no real difference in traction between our 99XC and our 03XC. The only problem I ever had with the 99XC was that my buddy could always tell when I was at our hunting spots as the tubular skid plate left furrows on the trails. The 03 doesn't leave any marks! -Dick

[littlewaywelt]

You're "lucky" that you've got a Haldex equipped car, the older VC tranny would have been a disaster.

Recent allegorical info available to me (i.e. unattributable) suggested that the older (VC) models just don't work until the car is moving at 25mph. Not a lot of good in a wet field.

That's history, except fot those who relied on Volvo's sales brochures - which in practice is all you'll get.

Well, watch a vc car in the snow or wet grass and you can see power being applied to the rear wheels, plain and simple. Whoever told you that has absolutley no understanding of how the vc awd system works. No doubt the haldex is better but come on; don't spread rediculous info like that.
Additionally, at 25mph it's unlikely any power would be transfered to the rear wheels as the the car doesn't have enough power to spin the front wheels enough of a rotation for the rears to engage unless you're on sheet ice or mashing on the throttle in a low gear at redline. at steady speed at 25mph it's unlikely that the rears get any power at all.

[littlewaywelt]

Yes it was. I was suprised how muddy it was and that they allowed people to park in the fields. The high ground clearence was a nice benefit as well.
my wife was there with our xc and the kids. our almost three year old son thought it was the coolest thing of all time. the front mud flaps helped but the car was still pretty well covered in mud. the car's awd worked fine.

[Bluegrass-XC]

Hmmmm .... kinda makes me want to go find a muddy field! :D

[jkochis]

my wife was there with our xc and the kids. our almost three year old son thought it was the coolest thing of all time. the front mud flaps helped but the car was still pretty well covered in mud. the car's awd worked fine.

We will be back next year... have to remember to post topic and maybe try and get a group together to meet up. Really fun time...

[Bluegrass-XC]

jkochis - where in Jersey is the festival? I have family in Salem Co. (south Jersey).

[jkochis]

jkochis - where in Jersey is the festival? I have family in Salem Co. (south Jersey).

Solberg Airport in Readington, New Jersey

http://quickchk.balloonfestival.com/index.cfm

They have it every year.