Overhangs and heights of R36 Wagon?

[al cam]

Hi, So I'm really keen on an R36 wagon but I have an issue. My driveway is steep from the almost flat foot path and my current Subaru Liberty GT wagon scrapes both front and rear when I'm about in the mid point of the break in grade (the tow bar socket has been slowly grinding down) - entry and departure angle in 4wd terminology. The r36 seems to be considerably lower and I suspect one would have no hope of getting up the drive. Would some kind soul be kind enough to crawl around and measure the horizontal distance from the tyre contact point to the lowest thing front and rear as well as the height of that part from the ground? I suspect the parts that will strike first are the front spoiler lip & the exhaust pipe tips. Thanks in advance. After thinking about my next car for so long I'll be cheesed off if I can't get an R36 wagon up the drive.

[Umai Naa!!]

Approach and departure angles are pretty poor, to be honest.

Even if you took the driveway on an angle, the rigid chassis, and open diffs could leave you stuck.

[al cam]

They have open diffs? Nice to know. Thanks.

[kamold]

They bottom out very easily.
I'll get some measurements for you tomorrow.
But suffice to say all R36 front bumpers are scratched to hell underneath, and if you have to go over a driveway with a bit of a hump you'll also start hitting the side skirts and undercarriage.

[kamold]

Some very rough measurements yield an approach angle of 12.2 degrees and a departure angle of 18 degrees.
Departure angle is on the rear mufflers, approach on the bottom of the front lip.

[Guest001]

I did some fron angle measurements on my Passat when building our new house As the garage is only 1500mm from the road to the doorway if it was higher than 175mm the front would have scraped when turning in. Luckily its only 150mm higher didnt do the rear. Apparently the R36 is lower

[MrWolf]

Yeah, can attest to the above. My poor front bumper has copped it so many times; even on bumps on main roads if not approached at excruciatingly slow speeds.

My driveway isn't even that deep yet I still need to exit diagonally.

[al cam]

Thanks all. Just went and measured the angle - 15 deg. Damn. And when the inclined slab approaches the top there's a quick/short curve or hump. I'm surprised the Liberty's belly doesn't scrape. Looks like an R36 is out of the running. More frustration: I went back to looking at low Km's liberty wagons and there's a couple for sale at the moment - both Tuned by STI - which are the lowest of all. In R36 territory. Maybe I need to give up and get an Alltrack.

[Rocket36]

or a new driveway!

[Vee]

See my thread about nearly ripping out my tailshaft carrier bearing on my driveway.

[Rocket36]

Funny. I JUST read that story. Lol

It amazes me that you accepted bottoming out your cars for so long! On an easy fix too. Shave the hump off the driveway! Stop treating your cars like ****!

[Vee]

Not an easy fix at all as ramp over is the issue.

[al cam]

or a new driveway!

I'm planning on extending the carport slab and turning it in to a triple garage with workshop, which will also require a 1 meter high retaining wall (currently 30 year old sleepers which scares me), so I I don 't know how many times I've thought of that. Would need a few cubic meters of fill to regrade the front lawn too. Luckily there's no footpath on this side of the court. But that will have to wait untill I have to take out a new mortgage to buy the ex out.

[al cam]

See my thread about nearly ripping out my tailshaft carrier bearing on my driveway.

Yes I did. Scary. Reminded me of an old lowered ALFA that I spent half an hour underneath with an angle grinder taking off the bottom of a big flange at a joint in the exhaust that was the lowest thing under the middle of the car. P.O. was a collector and mustn't have ever driven over a speed hump.

[al cam]

...So one solution may be getting whatever low car I want and it lives under a cover on the front lawn for maybe 6 months until a more gentle drive is poured, but it'd have to be fairly large lump of concrete...