Overlanding in a VW Golf GTI?

So we’re currently travelling in a 2019 VW Golf GTI Performance mark 7.5. Yeah, yeah, I know, that’s not a proper overlanding vehicle, I hear you say! Well maybe not, but for our current purposes travelling across Europe it is spot on!

We’ve been over fully grown-up mountains in our various VW Golf cars over the years, and they are tip-top for this kind of journey. After all our current vehicle is a grand tourer in name, and, being fully kitted out in spec, is remarkably comfortable on long drives, and keeps us calm in all weathers. Of particular note is the reliability: excellent, de-mister: excellent, air-con: excellent, multiple 12V sockets: good, cooled glove box: handy, plenty of space for kit, though not really enough to space to sleep in! MPG is fairly decent and there are no restrictions on where we can go due to exhaust emissions.

Tyres are Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6’s, and they seem really grippy, with the added bonus that you feel much more connected to then road.

Can we go everywhere? Probably not, though we’ve been on beaches (the edges!), over mountains via dirt / rubble tracks used pretty exclusively by 4X4s (Land Rovers I would guess), though rivers (about 2 feet deep), over snowy mountains etc etc. There really isn’t a great deal that these cars can’t do. In my view they are awesome…VW if you’re listening I’m more than happy to test drive any of your cars 🙂

We have, of course, looked into obtaining a 4×4 for our wider travels – wow, there are a lot to choose from! In particular we’re interested in the usual…Toyota Land Cruisers, Mercedes UniMogs, Land Rover Defenders (old and new), and all come with limitations and bonus features. So we’re keeping an eye out for our African tour, which will obv present a different kind of exploration altogether.