Road Tripped!

OK so I took the kiddos on a road trip in the R from Chicago to the Jersey Shore last week. The R did great! Love the car. Ran flawlessly. A few comments:

1. Continental Tires are not so sturdy. Front Left tire developed a bubble on the way there, I don't recall hitting any big potholes or anything, but saw it when we were in Jersey. Drove back on it after Jersey dealer couldn't find a replacement tire in stock. Should probably have tried the Audi dealership instead of VW in hindsight. $200 replacement on its way from TireRack (we passed the warehouse on the way home actually). Car had about 5k miles on it when the tire sidewall failed.

2. ACC (adaptive Cruise Control) is the best! wow is it just a fantastic feature. I have a 6M car so some shifting is required as the car slows down for heavier trraffic. It disengages at about 15-20 mph, the following gap, even the shortest setting, is fine for highway driving but crap for bumper to bumper traffic near NYC or Chicago where everyone will just cut in front of you because of the gap. Overall my favorite feature on the car by far... this made the road trip so much less stressful and you could just set a speed and forget it. If someone pulled out and was slower the car would brake and tail a bit behind until the road was clear ahead again. Nice work VW/Audi group on that tech! I won't buy another car without it or a similar capability. This worked great on the highway out in the country and also in bumper to bumper Chicago traffic as long as the traffic did not slow to a stop. ACC was also really great when we hit construction zones and the highway went to a single lane. Takes all the headaches of the slowing down and speeding up and so on out of it.

3. MPG was 29 on the way there, 28.5 on the way back. About 400 miles per fill up.

4. Jersey Shore: Decent place to visit. Some crazy nice cars (my son has pics of some of the Ferrari's and McLarens, but most everyone there has a Bentley, 911, and Mercedes which is actually pretty boring when you see 5 houses on a block with the same exact cars)... People there really do overuse spray on tans.... Difficult to stop the kids singing the Oompa Loompa song too loudly. Amazing homes on the shoreline, and yes they are still rebuilding from Hurricane Sandy... Beach access is pay to play which is meh. (we were visiting family, otherwise we'd stick to Lake Michigan's shore)

Misshe11 said:

OK so I took the kiddos on a road trip in the R from Chicago to the Jersey Shore last week. The R did great! Love the car. Ran flawlessly. A few comments:

1. Continental Tires are not so sturdy.

2. ACC (adaptive Cruise Control) is the best! wow is it just a fantastic feature. I have a 6M car so some shifting is required as the car slows down for heavier trraffic.

3. MPG was 29 on the way there, 28.5 on the way back. About 400 miles per fill up.

4. Jersey Shore: Decent place to visit.

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Wow, that's low mileage for the tires to crap out; do you have any coverage for that? I think the extended warranty I have covers crap like that.

It's interesting to hear your thoughts on the ACC. I too have a 6MT, without any of the ACC or DAP stuff (or even DCC, just a base model). I've always heard that ACC and the like were not optimal on manual cars, but it seems you had a good experience with it. Not a huge deal for me as I rarely drive on the highway for long periods and almost never in stop and go traffic where I live, but interesting to hear.

Contact Continental Tire, and it should be covered under warranty.

where about on the jersey shore where you, judging by your sandy description you were between Point pleasant and Long beach Island.

Oompa Loompa song. LOL.

I just got the tire replaced today (my tire shop didn't even charge for it!), the tire was on me... $200 isn't too bad relatively speaking. I dunno if Continental would do much about it, and waiting for them to answer means sitting the R still for too long. When all 4 need replacing I will go with something sturdier I think though... No coverage, I bought the R used with 4600 miles on it in June.

I am smitten with the ACC feature, I wouldn't ever use it either typically, I work from home so most drives are local groceries or kids to school/sports... I may need to drive it to Colorado next. Wonder if I can fit some ski's in it or get a ski rack... Anyhow, DCC I have mixed feelings about. It seems ok, but really I just made a custom setting and leave it there. The blind spot and rear detect and front detect are all very nice to have, though kinda unnecessary if you actually pay attention while driving.

We were in Long Branch and wandered to Ashbury Park also. Nice area, decent food, interesting people, it was a good trip. Mountains in PA are very pretty this time of year.

I just came back from Long Branch (although is only 2 hours for me). In the morning the car felt better, now with all the heat and the traffic the car felt somehow "heavier" not so happy... I'm starting to think that an intercooler would be probably a good idea...
Anyway I had to change 3 of the 4 originals tires (Pirelli) all of them for bubbles so I feel your pain.

A bubble in the sidewall is usually a defect. At 5k miles it should be replaced under warranty.

veedubfreak said:

A bubble in the sidewall is usually a defect. At 5k miles it should be replaced under warranty.

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No, it's normally from hitting a pothole.

Contis have soft sidewalls so it's not uncommon.

XM_Rocks said:

No, it's normally from hitting a pothole.

Contis have soft sidewalls so it's not uncommon.

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Only time I've ever had a bubble was on Continentals in the 90s and 2 of them had the same type bubble. Never managed to bubble a tire from a pothole. Just sayin.

I drove my R from New Rochelle, NY, a suburb about 15 miles north of LGA, down to Tyson's Corner in VA. I like the ACC as well. I did notice a quirk. It looks straight ahead to determine if there is a car for which it needs to slow down, because your car is going faster than the car ahead.

This works very well while you are in one lane. However, if you happen to encounter a slow car ahead in your left lane and a faster car in the right lane with plenty of room to move around to the right and back into the left lane to pass the car ahead of you, you might find the ACC putting on the brakes right before you are trying to get back in the left lane. It does not happen often, but it is a little concerning when it does. I will consider turning it off before making moves like that again.

tax guy said:

I drove my R from New Rochelle, NY, a suburb about 15 miles north of LGA, down to Tyson's Corner in VA. I like the ACC as well. I did notice a quirk. It looks straight ahead to determine if there is a car for which it needs to slow down, because your car is going faster than the car ahead.

This works very well while you are in one lane. However, if you happen to encounter a slow car ahead in your left lane and a faster car in the right lane with plenty of room to move around to the right and back into the left lane to pass the car ahead of you, you might find the ACC putting on the brakes right before you are trying to get back in the left lane. It does not happen often, but it is a little concerning when it does. I will consider turning it off before making moves like that again.

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I agree it is disconcerting. That said I think the car is quite German in its approach as passing on the right is illegal for LHD traffic for many European countries, its really bad form that folks ride the left lane like they are the only ones on the road... I find the US to be the worst offenders, China and India are bad also but there is seldom fast traffic and its generally all a free for all.

I had one instance where a semi decided to cut me off and the ACC hit the breaks quite hard to avoid it. I'd say its pretty good, and that its future implementations will likely replace rude semi truck drivers in a couple of years time.

A bubble from a pothole seems quite bad, Chicago is famous for its potholes so I will keep an eye on the other tires... I hope it doesn't bubble on the inside, I'd not see that as readily.... Seems like a legitimate safety hazard and design defect if it happens often.