Behind Cam McCaul's VW Adventure - Video

 if you aren't a dentist you shouldn't be mountain biking at all dude.

 @makripper: lol

 just because things change does not mean you have to buy new just to get them, seems many people complain about changes but actually find it a blessed relief to justify their new-bike habbit ha

 If you have good credit, you should be able to have $800 a month car and bike payment on top of the $1200 a month rent(not including utilities). So if you make $32k a year, you should be able to live with $400 in savings for the entire year.(j/k)

Though, I'm more inclined to have a taller 'truck'!

 @XCMark: lol but you aren't including TAXES, insurance, gas, maintenance, utilities, groceries, incedentals, etc. the lenders who enable this lifestyle should both die a slow painful death. enabling a mentality like this on younger people who don't know any better just ruins their lives.

 @makripper: "enabling a mentality like this on younger people who don't know any better just ruins their lives."

I'm pretty sure, almost positive, that the banking industry does not care if they ruin our lives, just as long as we pay what we owe!

 @XCMark: I agree man. its a stupid system and people don't know the real value of anything. say you owe money on a visa, you are paying monthly fees and after a while you are paying way more than the money you owe. people don't get that or don't want to get that.

 Yeah especially a new VW.

Since they're overpriced & underbuilt.

 I was in the same boat so I did something about it. Went out and got a Degree and got away from the shitty jobs I could only get. Now I can afford a new Bike new Car and new home... Did this while working full time and at 40 years of age. Your destiny is in your hands.....

 @makripper: It gives people easy access to their wants and desires. If they are willing to pay a little more for something they can't afford, they will do it without foresight and complete disregard of economic instability.

 Hardly a road trip.. pretty cheezy advert.

 Priorities!

 I assumed you just got a Subaru with the purchase of a house and change of address to bend.

 @Motoracer31: or a toyota tacoma? lol it's like nelson BC of the south.

 Yep I actaully got denied access to the Patagonia store because I rolled up in my Nissan Versa HB

 Willing to bet i have more miles, with less time on the lift, and less money spent on my VW golf

 Lol you can shit cars from both manufactures. It's like flipping a coin. Brand loyalty is stupid.

 I take it you've never owned a subaru then pahahaha

 @Jokesterwild: brand loyalty definitely ain't stupid but you can get lucky/unlucky with any cars.

In my experience Subaru have been a nightmare with head gasket failure and crazy expensive repair prices. And hg failure is very common on Subaru's. And their diesels are bad too.

VW/Audi are renowned for poor reliability. I don't mind small issues but it's when the cost of repair becomes too expensive that I have a problem.

 @humoroususername: oh really what do you gain from brand loyalty. Sweet dick all. All car manufactures are massive companies that don't give two shits once you own one. Sure some dealers might take care of you but that's it. I've had Honda's fords and Audi's and none of they were any worse then the other. Besides being good about regular mantaince it just comes down to a bit of dumb luck.

 @Jokesterwild: this is so true. i've used toyotas and fords and dodges and hondas. they're all about the same in the mid range. I stay away from the high end stuff as its life expectancy is shorter when it comes to power everything. more electric motors, servos and ccts, the higher chance of failure.

 @humoroususername: They used to have issues back in the 2000-2006 but it's pretty stable now.

 @Jokesterwild: agree,I'm all about the best deal at the time of purchase for anything I'm buying

 I own a late 2012 Outback 2.5 petrol manual, had a 2011 2.0 diesel Outback for nearly 2 years before that, and spent a month in a 2016 Passat 1.6 TDI manual on holidays last year, and have demo'd and had shorter hires in auto Passats. Never had a problem in any of these cars, but a friend did have a 2011 diesel Subaru liberty that about two months of it's first year in the shop with engine problems. The "vw spends all its time in the shop" argument is tired and old, while it had some basis in truth, it applied only to specific engine/transmission models and not across the board.

The only area of clear superiority for the Outback is ground clearance; the Outback rides 5cm higher and has shorter rear overhang which gives it significantly better approach and departure angles. This is enough to make a real difference. It's capable enough off road that it's disappointing that Subaru no longer offer dual-range transmissions.

If I didn't actually take my car off-road as much, I would take the Passat Alltrack in a heartbeat (and probably will for my next car anyway unless something better comes out in the next 12-18 months). The VW is nicer to drive in basically every respect. Better handling & cornering (duh, it rides 5 cm lower), smoother ride, less engine and road noise, and the diesel engines (I've driven the 1.6 and 2.0 TDI) are far more tractable that the Subaru 2L, much more usable torque band and ample power. The VW 6 speed manual is much nicer to use than the Subie. Real world fuel economy is fairly equal between the two (comparing manual transmissions in both, not much time in the automatic Subie). I could get the Subaru diesel down to 5.5L/100km on extended highway usage, but long-term average was around 7.8L. A month in the Passat 1.6 TDi gave me 6.2L/100km, this was mostly highway use but included some enthusiastic driving over Alpine passes.
The VW interior feels better quality - less hard plastics, nicer feel of the switches etc, and the factory satnav/entertainment unit is far better than either the 2012 Subaru units, or the factory-fitted Eclipse AVN 827 (maybe not a fair comparison as the VW units I have used are 4 years newer). In terms of usable internal space, they are fairly similar.

Agree with the "brand loyalty is stupid" comments. I want a wagon/estate style body with low roof height (loading bikes/kayaks on the roof) with capability for light off-road use. It has to have a full-size spare, as it will often be 150km from the nearest tyre shop, with 50 of those km on dirt road. Options right now seem to be Audi Allroad (A4 expensive and a bit small, A6 very expensive ), Volvo XC70 (expensive, heavy, underpowered), Subaru Outback (a bit agricultural), Skoda Scout (a bit small). Pity there aren't more options in this space.

 @dsut4392: you should've gone for a ride rather than type an essay...

 @hiketobike: Amen to that!

 in fact that video is better than the original one ;. more action

 So who exactly do you think pays his wages? Who pays for all the "free" content on this website? Sponsors, that's who.

 To everyone crapping all over the "ads don't belong here" (see today's Batty video as well) I have a few questions:

Did you love the "This is Peaty" series?
Did you not get totally stoked over the "Life Behind Bars" series?
Do you all not get major man crush erections over Ratty's 50 to 1 vids?
Do you not steal 3 minutes of your employers time for every new Metallier edit that drops?

Well guess what--they are all ads!! Every single edit by a rider who makes a living on a bike is an ad for their sponsors. So please, get over yourselves with this "We don't want the capitalist pigs putting ads on pinkbike. This is how athletes feed themselves and save for the future--it's biking, but it's also a career.

Yes, there are definitely better and worse quality ads. For example a Metallier edit = a killer ad but this one and Batty's one for the Grey, Bruce, Simcoe tourism board = lame ads, but they are all ads nonetheless.

 @Geriatric-J: You make man crush erections sound like a bad thing.

 @Geriatric-J: Yes they are all ads , but at least they are cycling companies and about bikes - like Pinkbike should be. So will be nice if they stay that way , don't make it "Auto trader" :-)

 @allbiker: have you ever seen the history of mountain biking, I am new to it but even I know that history of big car companies etc sponsoring downhill etc back in the day,
Now, hop on your bike with all its big bold graphics, don you printed, brand name shirt and shorts, slip on those branded shoes and helmet and roll about being the mobile advertising banner you paid to be, which brings up a good point, they get paid to be a billbaord, you / we pay the companies for the honour!! ha ha ha .. suckerzz .. erm .. who's the suckers .. I am lost now, damn this internet outrage stuff is hard man .. must do better .. erm .. resume

 @allbiker: Volkswagen used to be a huge race sponsor. They sponsored bike teams as well. They even had a Trek edition VW with tire tread inspired trim. Volkswagen has sunk a ton of money into cycling and cycle companies.

 @WolfStoneD: I think the tire tread thing was a Kona edition Ford Focus.

 @DiveH:
Could be, I've never been in a Ford Focus. And it's been over a decade since I've seen the Trek edition jetta in person. Came with a roof rack and a K2 bike.

 I'd like to see him back flip the car!

 First thing I noticed, VW can't get you everywhere.

 It takes a Tundra to film a VW commercial

 Would be interesting trying to drive any car up to the top of Half Nelson.... I've not driven up that FSR since 2007 but you used to have to hit the waterbars at an angle even in a truck. But don't let facts get in the way of a good snipe ah?

 If you'd have taken any notice of this one, you'd now realize why there wasn't much biking footage in the last one. The trails were under a foot of snow. And have been ever since.

 @speedy27 Suprised your comment is the only one touching on the "Deiselgate" controversy......how soon we forget those f*cking pricks at VW. More suprising is after their 8 billion dollar fine they have any money for ads anyway. Shit company. Shit cars. Sad to see McCaul associate with them.