When it comes to sand duning, the Volvo XC70 probably doesn't come to mind. As the pictures below show, perhaps it should.
Today's drive commenced in Sydney's leafy lower North Shore. The destination: the Anna Bay entrance to Stockton Beach, some 180 odd kilometres North of Sydney.
Waiving us off from the starting line was "SydneyV70xc", who couldn't make the trip. He turned up in his dramatic yellow Lotus Esprit V8, much to our collective delight.
From there we leisured up the Freeway and made a brief stop to pick up our Rescue vehicle: a 2010 Toyota Prado ZR Diesel Turbo [as it turned out it wasn't needed]. I piloted the Prado in lieu of my BZ XC70.
MyZomela, accompanied by his wife and son, piloted his beige XC70. PJ810, ever the die hard, was in charge of his near immortal white ride. A sleep deprived Tank 2 navigated his silver XC.
We started off a little tentative, sticking mainly to the beach. But after a while, all of us slowly drifted towards the dunes. MyZomela led the way, bravely testing his vehicles capabilities. The other two followed, including some impressive wave crashing by the ever daring PJ810.
As it turned out, the XC70s took every dune that I took in the Prado. They had to work a little harder due to their lower ride height, but apart from that they were amazing. We were all blown away at how capable they were.
Pretty soon we were zipping up, down and around. Tank 2 got mildly stuck once, due to a lack of pace, but reverse gear and a little people power got it going again. He gave it another go - got some air - and cleared the dune without fuss. For good measure he went around again.
Seeing the XC70s ripping around was quite a sight. It certainly caught the attention of the many heavy SUV users, such as the Landcruiser, Pajero and Patrol crowd.
All in all, the XC70 was mighty impressive in the sand. Let's hope that more of you get to experience its capabilities.
[PS. I have some experience on sand/dunes and encourage you to go with experienced people at least for your first time. You need to let down the tyre pressure - we went down to 15 psi - and you need to be told how to drive on the sand. You must also know of the dangers, practises and peculiarities of the particular area you are driving in. Your insurance probably won't cover you here so it is better to be safe than sorry].
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