Driver Training

ABOVE: On the Geländeparcours, a VW Touareg lifts a wheel without losing its grip.

The Autostadt has several training courses for visitors. I drove on the All-Terrain Track, and it was great fun--even for a city driver who seldom drives over anything rougher than potholes or snowbanks.

Note: You'll pay extra for the courses, but the fees are reasonable.

All-terrain tracks

On the Geländeparcours, you'll drive twice through an obstacle course: once with an instructor at the wheel, and the second time with the instructor giving you advice from the passenger seat. Obstacles include a steep hill, a simulated riverbed with sharp rocks, soft sand, a seesaw or teeter-totter bridge that drops down after you reach the top,  a series of moguls (see top photo) where the vehicle tips from side to side, and so on.

You'll get your offroad experience in a VW Touareg, a high-tech SUV with features like automatic hill-climbing, an LED wheel-position indicator, and other state-of-the-art features. (If I had a ranch, I'd buy a Touareg without hesitation; but I'm a city boy, and a small VW car is good enough for me.)

Note: If you prefer, you can take instruction on the Tiguan Off-Road Track, where VW's smaller and less expensive Tiguans are used. (The cost is the same as learning off-road techniques in a top-of-the-line Toureg.)

Safety training

VW's Safety Training course teaches you how to recover from skids, how to steer more safely around curves, and other advanced driving techniques. Volkswagen supplies the car (usually a late-model Golf), and your driving will be recorded on video.

For more information on these and other courses, see the Autostadt's Driving Experiences pages.