Dune driving with Mercedes-Benz as it tests off-road systems

The low-traction surfaces of the Dumont Dunes are a perfect test location.


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[Erbium168]

This seems like a failure point on offroading on anything but sand. Climbing rocks and slamming into the battery stored between the axles just does not seem like a fun day of offroading ending very well. At a minimum the battery leaks, at most it explodes with a well placed impact.

Whereas climbing rocks and having one collide with the sump is a laugh a minute?

 

[alansh42]

I suppose the budget office stops just short of copping for local accomodations during the week after spending a butt crack load of cash hauling all that shit out there and back every day ... oh wait - somehow a daily 4 hour round trip is cheaper.

Stay where? The nearest hotel is in Primm which would only save a few miles. And they probably want to keep their prototypes locked up at night and not left in a motel parking lot.

 

[Fred Duck]

Not a fan of Frank Herbert's Dune novels?

Sorry, was too busy trying to unearth the term for sand being dislodged and tumbling/sliding/going down en masse, possibly burying somebody.

This doesn't lend itself to DuckDuckGoing.

However, I have discovered that when sandboarding (a real activity) or sand sledding (also a real activity), they've special kit to use.

https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/sandboarding-and-sand-sledding.htm

Now that I think on it, I'm a bit surprised that they're putting in so much effort into sand when it seems unlikely to be a common obstacle. If snow sleds can't be used as sand sleds, would there be much crossover with sand and ice traction data?

 

[Jordan83]

I've driven on the Silver Lake Sand Dunes in Michigan, which according to them, are the only sand dunes in America east of the Mississippi you can drive on.

It was an absolute blast! One of my top all-time experiences in an automobile of any kind anywhere.

One thing from the pictures - it's hard to tell, but it didn't look like your tires were deflated? Is the sand on those dunes hard enough that you don't need to deflate your tires? At Silver Lake, you can't go through much of the park at all with regularly inflated tires. Deflating is an absolute must to enjoy most of the park, unless you've got an extremely specialized set of tires.

Anyway, if any of you are off-road enthusiasts or even if you aren't, and you get a chance to drive on or ride in a vehicle being driven on sand dunes, highly recommend! It's a lot of fun!

 

[Faceless Man]

?

Oh, I see. If you'd marched along, it could have triggered an avalanche. Wait, no, that's not for sand. A mudslide? No. A...bad sand-related incident?

Not a fan of Frank Herbert's Dune novels?

"Sandworms are attracted to rhythmic vibrations in the sand, which they mistake for prey (smaller sandworms).To escape the notice of the sandworms, a traveller in the desert must learn to "walk without rhythm" in a manner that simulates the natural sounds of the desert."

/pedant mode off

Bootsy put it better.

Walk without rhythm,
It won't attract the worm.

 

[chris719]

IME that's just RWD BMWs period... Decent winter tyres do make a big difference on snow, but there's still an element of "traction control says no".

What? That's completely wrong. BMW has the most permissive traction control of any ICE manufacturer on RWD models. Mine will allow some slip angle and mini drifts even. That is when enabled, when disabled you can do whatever you want.

 

[OSB]

What I realized on that day was that both X5s were recent leases, East Coast, of a similar trim, and that BMW simply sold them with the same type of tires which was a type very much unsuited for frozen conditions. Add the fact that disabling the traction control did not fully disable it - it still will stop everything after one quarter turn or so - and the thing was dead as a dodo.

This really does sound like a tire-primary problem. We get proper winter up here, and there are boatloads of X5s doing just fine all over the city and into the mountains, whether the snow is fresh or packed or icy as fuck from a melt/freeze cycle.

 

[goblinski]

This really does sound like a tire-primary problem. We get proper winter up here, and there are boatloads of X5s doing just fine all over the city and into the mountains, whether the snow is fresh or packed or icy as fuck from a melt/freeze cycle.

Agreed, I was speculating back then that the two X5s could very well have been purchased from the same dealer. It was the same neighborhood, they were the same model and so on. And the tires were new, but nothing to write home about.

The issue was that with the DTC "disabled", the tire wheel would make maybe half a turn or less, and still stop. If I had known how to fully disable the DTC (press for 10+ seconds, it turned out) - I would have been able to get her out by simply melting the tire's spot all the way to the asphalt in a few seconds.
My 535xi wagon from the same year is a beast on snow.

 

[dtich]

More than 15 years ago I spent a day at the BMW Performance Center in South Carolina. In addition to the usual track, autocross and skid pad exercises, we also did some off-roading in the X5. That’s something I’d never done before. Or since, for that matter, although I actively enjoy driving on snow. They basically told us to use minimal throttle, and let the car’s electronics manage the torque apportioned to each wheel. Sure enough, you could feel one tire or another lose grip, then another take over, as the vehicle climbed over rocks or up slippery trails.

And that was using the relatively primitive electronics of the era. I can only imagine how it would be today, especially with the extremely fine-grained control afforded by electric drive motors.

Yup, this was my exp in owning 3 X5s over the years - hold on loosely, but don't let go, as the song says. Guide it with easy throttle and precise but flexible steering, and the thing will make it happen.

As opposed to a 'track' day in a Taycan Turbo, which was: turn everything off and drive it like an old-school ICE car, and that worked excellently as well. Skid pad and obstacle courses felt incredibly similar to ICE cars tbh.

 

[dehildum]

Why do the DRLs look like Mitsubishi’s logo?

That’s the Klingon option.

 

[LordSlinkySupreme]

GLC with EQ Technology

God, the Germans really are the WORST at branding.