Stuck In Muddy Rut

[frank_ubar]

Hi, can anyone please explain why my 2019 GTI Performance semi-auto, with LSD and traction control, failed to even move with 3 wheels on the tarmac road and one, nearside front on a very muddy tyre rut, just spinning futilely no matter whether the TC was engaged or not, no matter whether in forward or reverse gear, please?
I need to know what I did / did not do, so as to avoid such an embarrassing and annoying - especially for other users of our lovely narrow Devon lanes - in future, who were inconvenienced by my car's seeming reluctance to extricate itself from its slippery trap.

[Exonian]

Welcome Frank from a fellow Devonian.

Best advice I can give is avoid narrow lanes as they wreck paintwork, leave that to the 4WD brigade!

The VAQ diff is all about reducing understeer on the Nordshleife which it does brilliantly. Obviously muddy ruts aren’t its forte. I’ve had a few moments of furious inner wheel spinning myself. Changing up a gear or two seemed to help by reducing the torque being applied to the ground via higher gearing.

[willni]

In these conditions it's about the driver not the car. I've got 4 wheels bogged down in a loaded van before, you need go forward and reverse a few times to widen the U shape hole before you'll get out.

My gti lives in the mud these days and it's no bother other than clearance...I really should just get a Touareg...