People never think of those. Seen some epic damage from hydrauliced diffs on lorries. Its cataclysmic when they let go. Water is a strange substance when metal and pressure get involved
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See, I was always told it was one of three things.
- Lots of money
- Cool Cars
- erm… what she may be alluding to there.
Case in point- I am by no means rich and I drive a Chevy Tahoe. Yet somehow managed to land a stunning 5’3 firecracker with Dutch heritage (IYKYK).
If you said “You’re tall”, you’re correct. 6’4 and a winning personality. That’s how I managed it. What were you other folks thinking I meant?
Dirty minded buggers… 
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Question: every off-road vehicle I’ve owned (mostly jeep, one Japanese truck) has had diff breathers with flexible lines running up roughly as high as the intake, well above the hubs. Is that not normal?
I always kept mine good condition (not weather cracked or dry rotted) and never had any trouble. I did keep my axles/hubs greased regularly. What else goes wrong?
Good question and one that was asked by another ‘student’ when I did my RFS off-road course.
The Cat 9’s (Toyota Landcruiser’s primarily) do, but for some reason none of our Trucks have them. Even the instructors didn’t know.
All I know is that if we drive through water above the level of the hubs, then we have to get it booked into the workshop for an inspection.
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Huh, interesting. Not something I would have thought of, I guess I took it for granted that virtually any 4x4 would. Looking back, I’m wondering where the breathers on some of the none-jeeps I’ve seen fording creeks/small rivers are.
Last question: Why did that indestructible Izuzu firetruck have ‘Research’ on the side of it?
ETA: I will say that it’s not the best/most healthy practice in any vehicle. I’ve smashed up a couple skidplates dropping into holes/unseen rocks, bent a few exhaust shields, and left one entire exhaust in the bottom of one creek. Went in sounding normal, came out much louder than before. Sounded cool until it was back on the highway and became unbearable. Would not recommend for the daily driver.
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Becuse of the Brigade it belongs to - ‘Research’ is a suburb of Melbourne.
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Neat! I also must say I’m jealous of you Aussies being able to buy VW pickups. That Amarok is sweet.
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Worst towing vehicle ive ever driven. Nice inside though. The V6 was pretty pokey as well.
The new ones are just a ford ranger which is a shame
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That’s too bad. I sure liked the idea of the 2.0 TDI/6 spd manual but then dieselgate happened and they never brought them to the states.
We recently needed a ‘new’ car and didn’t want a diesel, (i.e. common rail) VW or otherwise, but we need all wheel drive and the ground clearance a SUV or 4x4 provides and it is really hard to find a medium SUV that isn’t a diesel (or hybrid).
So, I bought a (used) VW Tiguan - 2.0 TSI. Brilliant car, I love it. Produces max HP and torque quite low in the rev range. I can just imagine the engineers standing around and saying “Tune it to make it feel like a diesel”, which makes sense for an SUV.
It is returning an average of 7.2l/100km and with 95RON petrol being at least 5 cents per litre cheaper than diesel… you do the math!
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Nice car, and very respectable figures!
And yes, the new VW TSIs here seem to be very much tuned like the TDI’s were. Lots of low end torque and pep. Fun to drive with a 6spd.
I didn’t realize VW was still offering a diesel down under after their worldwide scandal. Out of curiosity is there a disadvantage to diesel beyond the cost, or some mechanical difficulties the new diesels are having? Fuel availability in your area, or just personal preference?
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Our’s has the 7 speed DSG, awesome gearbox…
Cross post from @Troll 's fender bender post:
Modern petrol engines last just as long as diesels these days and where I live are cheaper to maintain, cheaper to run and cheaper to repair (especially repairs to common rail systems).
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Honestly with things like DPF, Adblue (def fluid) and other engine strangling nonsense such as EGR Modern diesels are absolutely awful things. I absolutely love diesel engines. They are awesome things. But i can never ever recommend buying a new one.
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This.
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Yeah, I can agree with that. The DEF Fluid isn’t a problem (lasts a long time, is cheap), but DPF and EGR are bad news. Here our politicians in DC hate diesels, and so they’ve worked hard to come up with creative ways to kill them.
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DEF and Canadian winters do not mix well.
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Nice car! I’m jealous that you can get 95 RON, it’s clean 91 RON, contaminated (with ethanol) 91 RON or 98 RON “premium” (which is suspiciously the same price as “premium” diesel… yes, that’s the only diesel on pump) where I am 
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Thats the problem. Over here. The fluid is no longer cheap and with stricter and stricter emissions classes its use has increased
Its also not just the fluid itself but the absolute catastrophic damage it causes when it fails. The systems gum up, the stuff crystallises and blocks the injectors. Whole exhausts full of the stuff. Its without question absolutely awful for the longevity of a car or truck
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Ooof. Here it’s $5-$10 every 10,000mi or so. I haven’t seen any of those problems yet, but I do know the stuff crystalizes (bad new if it gets mistaken for Prist and goes into the airport Jet-A truck!) and can imagine how awful that would be.
They ruin everything, don’t they?
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