Bora Report

[JY Dog]

The Dog has just returned from a 5 week touring holiday in the Bora 4 Motion travelling from Melbourne, Griffith, Cobar, Bourke, Cunnamulla, Charleville, Tambo, Blackall, Barcaldine, Longreach, Winton, Cloncurry, Normanton, Karumba, and back through Julia Creek, Hughenden, Charters Towers, Emerald, Roma, St George, Goondiwindi, Tenterfield, Armidale, Tamworth, and home through Dubbo, Forbes, Wagga and on to the Hume Freeway to Seymour then across to Yea, Yarra Glen and home. With side trips to various places including Lark Quarry, Croydon and numerous other places.

As always on holiday the Bora was towing a Chalet Byron A type van (loaded weight around 900kg) fitted with electric brakes and a Hayman Reese Mini Hitch level ride was used. The total distance covered on the trip was 8,450 km of which 7,500 km were towing. For this trip the Dog had purchased a full size spare wheel the same as fitted to the car as with the distances between towns on this trip were such that the space saver was not considered an option. Needless to say having purchased the matching alloy wheel and put a tyre on it the spare was not required! The Bora again performed faultlessly and fuel consumption for the complete trip was an average of 13.2l/100km with a best of 11.4l/100km and a worst of 15.4l/100km while towing. On one 570 run without the van cruising at around 125 kph the Bora averaged 9.2l/100km. One interesting finding was that once the temperature climbed into the mid to high 30’s the fuel economy dropped by 2l/100km probably due to the AC working hard to keep the cabin temperature down to 22 deg and the lower air density due to temperature.

The Bora turned over 146,000 km at Roma and still has the original brake pads fitted! Every service since 60,000 the Dog has insisted that the brake pads be checked and replaced and each time they have actually measured the remaining thickness to reassure the Dog that they have not yet required replacement. Being used to an average life of around 50 – 60,000 km from a set on all my previous cars this comes as a real surprise. Admittedly the Bora hasn’t been driven as hard as the others in respect to braking and accelerating but that sort of life from brake pads was unexpected.

The Bora has not required any repairs (other than a new sump, a wayward rock punched a hole in the lovely alloy sump at Mt Oxley (out of Bourke) and the Dog can scarcely blame the car for that) in that 146,000 km. Needless to say the Dog is more than pleased with his first VW.

The attached photo was taken at Burke & Wills Roadhouse between Cloncurry & Normanton

[qsilverza]

The loss in power can also be attributed to the air temperature as there is less power to be made.

Awesome stuff glad to hear the Bora did so well on such a long hall, did the awd come in handy at all in any tight spots ?

[Bora Sport]

My 4mo has over 156,000k's and all original brakes still. At the last service I asked them about the brakes. I was advised that they should make the next service. I keep and eye on them also. However I haven't done any towing.

[WEDEL.1]

Well done Dog!

Julia & I bought the Golf V TDI with the intention of towing a camper trailer. This would only be about 600kgs, but there are quite a few people around who think that you shouldn't use anything but a big 4-wheel drive to tow with.

I will prove them wrong, as you already have (I will use your pic as proof).

Maris

[WEDEL.1]

That is a great trip. We went from Ayr back to Adelaide via Charters Towers (played cricket there once), Richmond, Mt Isa, Barkley Homestead, Wyecliff Well, Alice Springs, Ayres Rock etc in our T4 Transporter (which we recently sold (all 62 kws).

How much dirt/gravel road was in your trip?

Maris

[JY Dog]

1. Not a lot of dirt. Mostly bitumen, some very narrow and rough but no real problems so long as you give the road trains a wide berth. Some of our side trips (without the van) were dirt and gravel but were not a problem. Over the whole trip we only encountered 3 ratbag truckies, they were all on the Newell Highway. The roadtrains were all good.
2. The Dog was pleased to see that a lot more people are venturing outback now using cars to tow their vans. Generally better fuel economy and often greater comfort. Of course if you are pulling a block of flats then a big 4WD would be essential.
3. Yes the AWD was handy a couple of times on our side trips in sand and uphill starts on loose gravel. The downside with the Bora is ground clearance to the alloy sump. But a bit of care (the Dog learnt this the hard way at Mt Oxley) and there are no problems. Actually the AWD has been extremely usefull at hill climbs and sprints when towing the car trailer over uphill wet grass and mud! It can be amusing when the utes and panel vans lose traction and the Bora just idles through. The AWD also proved itself climbing up to the Apex lookout near Bright (in Victoria) where the road was loose, steep, badly rutted and pot holed but the Bora simply idled up in 1st gear with just enough throttle to pull.
It would be fair to say that the Dog is more than pleased with the Bora.

[JY Dog]

Latest Bora report

G’day all,

Another update on the mighty 4 motion. The Dog just returned from a trip to Perth exploring the south west of WA.
Covered 9,100 km in total, 7,590 km towing an A type van (loaded weight approx 820 kg) over a five week trip. The Bora performed faultlessly (as always) using only petrol and windscreen washer water. Average fuel consumption was 13.3/ 100 km across the board from a worst of 14.9/100 driving into a strong head wind between Ceduna and Eucla to a best of 9.5/100 km touring without the van. It should be noted that even when touring the car was still loaded with the mighty Engel freezer, spare fuel and the various other things the Dog always carries and has never needed but the very trip he doesn’t take them…
As the Bora had covered 155,00 before the trip the Dog decided for peace of mind he would have all the hoses and belts replaced with a service. This was done and the old ones carried as spares. None looked as though they actually needed replacement but a failure in any one some where between Penong and Norseman would have caused some considerable heartburn and would certainly have cost at least as much as the replacement of all cost in Melbourne. Anyway the peace of mind was worth it!
Over the years the Dog has owned a variety of cars some of which the Dog felt great affection for but none have been as reliable and as hardy as the Bora. One thing for certain when, or if, the Dog buys another new car it will be a Volkswagen. The only complaint the Dog has is that the 4 motion is a tad heavy on tyres but that is a small price to pay for such a satisfactory car.

[anthony]

The Bora is a fantastic car,pleased you are loving yours so much...

[qsilverza]

Nice one Dog a real testament ! I think i've seen your car at the rob roy hill climb last year sometime. Would it have been you ? Had a trailer on the back but I can't recall what it was.

[JY Dog]

Yeah, that would have been me. Red Bora, red trailer with a grey canopy. I would have been up in the pit area with the Mallock (black and yellow). If you see me there drop by and say hello.

[qsilverza]

Yeh Next time, I will. I was on my bike and was on my way out and you looked pretty cosy in the car with the missus So I thought it would be a bit intrusive knocking on the window.

What does the mallock and trailer come to ? I have an Audi 80Q, I want to tow but I reckon it will be about 1150 or 1200 so I don't think I will find a trailer that weighs 200 KGS !! Somebody mentioned aluminium but that will probably be about 400 I imagine...

Yeah, that would have been me. Red Bora, red trailer with a grey canopy. I would have been up in the pit area with the Mallock (black and yellow). If you see me there drop by and say hello.

[JY Dog]

Sorry for the delay in replying but have been somewhat busy.

Total weight would be in the order of approx 850 - 900 kg - tows easily. I built the trailer as light as possible considering it was only intended to carry the Mallock and various other items required for a sprint or hill climb.

I have towed it as far as Mt Cotton near Brisbane once and to Collingrove in SA several times.Total towing with the trailer is in the order of 18,000 km so far.

Have you tried Haunted Hills?

[JY Dog]

Latest $ Motion Update

Yet another report on the Bora 4 Motion. Currently the speedometer reads 182,000 kms since purchase new in July 2003. In that time the Dog has, finally, replaced brake pads and front disks (approx. 160,000 km) a brake light switch (178,000 km) and of course the sump that had been attacked by a wayward rock climbing Mt Oxley some way out of Bourke and some distance from the nearest bitumen road (scarcely the fault of the Bora). That is the sum total of repairs. Tyre life is only average probably as a result of the 4 motion, towing and the choice of soft Pirelli P Zero tyres.

The Bora has covered many trips towing the Chalet Byron a total of 66,700 km and the Clubman trailer a total thus far of 21,730 km, a grand total to date of 88,430 km towing with average fuel consumption while towing of 13.53 l/100km. The rest of the kilometres has been a mixture of suburban and country driving and has yielded an average fuel consumption of 11.18 l/100km. The Dog is quite pleased with these figures although he has heard of better fuel consumption for the 4 Motion for urban driving but as he doesn’t drive in consumption conscious mode (he doesn’t lead foot either!) he is still pleased. The Bora and the Golf suffered some serious hail damage in the storm that pounded Melbourne but AAMI came through and with the help of Burwood Panel Works both have come up as good as new. This also pleased the Dog!

As has been reported previously the long trips have included some seriously long trips and of course there have been many short trips to Tamworth (the Dog is a country music fan), Brisbane, Port Macquarie, Sydney, Adelaide and Tathra. Still planned is the Darwin – Kakadu - Uluru trip (2011) and the Darwin – Perth via the WA north coast (2012). It can be seen that the Bora has not had an easy life and is not likely to get one although the Dog is a stickler for proper servicing, all of which, so far, has been done by Burwin Volkswagen. The service department at Burwin have been excellent and in the case of the brake light switch fitted the car in as soon as I called them. As far as the Dog is concerned this is real service. Quality and service is more important than price.

The Dog is still mightily impressed with the 4 Motion. And for that matter with Mrs Dogs Golf.

[Bora Sport]

Good to hear it is still going strong. Not wishing to hijack your thread but for comparison purposes it is interesting that the longest trip my 4MO has ever been on was when I drove it back from Sydney after I bought it. And yet mine has covered 190,000k's. No towing but my average fuel consumption is 9.6l/100. It can get down to 8.0l/100km on a 110k trip from here to Brisbane. I still haven't replaced the front brakes but unusually I have replaced the rear pads at around 170,000k's. The rotors were still ok.

[qsilverza]

Nice Dog, Keep up the good work !