First snow fall in MA

[thejuice]

Got 6" last night which meant a slow commute home. Many want-to-be SUV's and pickups, which presumably have AWD or 4x4, were spinning out, having trouble climbing hills, and accelerating from stop lights.

I was impressed with how well my '12 LE handled the snow, even on stock tires. As much as I hate to say it, because I loved my LR3 HSE, the 4R wins. Took her out on an empty lot and played with spins, hard stops, and rapid accelerating, and I was pleased with how well the traction control and braking worked well together.

In defense of the rover, its weight and torque burned tires like it was cool. Add that to the wider tires, it sometimes had trouble stopping in deep snow.

Point to take away - Toyota built a great traction/braking system. I watched a wrangler spinning all over because some parts of the road were too dry to lock into 4x4, so for snow country commuting, the LE is pretty awesome.

 

[BobsTrail]

snow

Great photo on the snowy road, were you using AWD or Part Time?
Wish I could be there to see how my Trail does.

 

[jspagna1]

Yes truck felt very confident in the snow here in CT as well. Much better than my 3rd gen. is.

 

[thejuice]

Great photo on the snowy road, were you using AWD or Part Time?
Wish I could be there to see how my Trail does.

The LE has always-on full time 4wd. I locked the center diff climbing loose hills before, but there really wasn't a need to lock it up last night. Plus, seems like turning radius gets wide when diff locked up.

 

[Qjake]

I'd say that about 80% of the wheeling I do is without the center diff locked. I've never had reason to lock it in the snow...yet, probably just jinx myself though. :ybrick:

Where are you located Juice? We didn't get any snow here.

 

[bofa]

More pics! :hungry:

And stay safe.

 

[thejuice]

Where are you located Juice? We didn't get any snow here.

Wrentham / Plainville area

 

[rocklighting]

I know how you feel. I had to commute from NJ back to LI that day. First time really driving in snow with the 4Runner. Stock tires were awesome, though I only have 5000 miles on the truck. I can only imagine what real snow tires feel on this truck. Since I have a TE, I had to shift in/out of 4H most of the time. I left work during the height of the storm, before most roads but 95 were plowed. Even in 2H, the truck barely slipped (only twice and that was while still in the parking lot); it gripped onto the road and stayed put even through 55mph gusts on the un-plowed George Washington Bridge. True form of great engineering by Toyota.

 

[BobsTrail]

Snow

Did you leave the Trac on or turn it off and did you use the Multi-Terrain??

 

[rocklighting]

Left Trac on and didn't use multi terrain. I drove only paved roads and mostly highways which some were plowed but most were un plowed. To be honest, I kinda forgot about Multi-terrain. My 4Runner is the first 4x4 I've owned/used and this was the first time it has seen snow really (first real time I used the trans case...After seeing cars, BMWs, and Jeeps spin out and get stuck, all I did was pop it in 4H and kept the speed around 40ish. Slip indicator came on twice in the parking lot, but we had a lot of water from the days rain which froze over. I'll have to try multi-terrain next time and see if I can feel a difference.

 

[BobsTrail]

Snow

Great detail, thanks.

 

[sandcrawler]

Did you leave the Trac on or turn it off and did you use the Multi-Terrain??

just a heads up: Multi-Terrain Select is really an off-road-centric feature; not so much for snow days on the road. the only MTS mode that works in 4H is "Mud/Sand/Dirt"... all other modes are 4L only.

VSC and TRAC (note: not ATRAC) are your on-road pals. :hatsoff:

 

[Flava Flav]

Becoming a New Englandah

Yea, this past snow fall was a first for me. Idk if anyone saw some of my other post in the NE Group tags but I'm originally from the South and a recent college grad who relocated here for work. That said, being from the south, theres practically no need for 4x4. Needless to say, I'm sporting a 2WD 5th Gen (I know, fail on my part). That snow fall came and I was like, oh SUGAR HONEY ICED TEA but the truck was so solid. Trekked up and down inclined streets with absolutely no neglect. I was quite impressed. We'll see how I survive come later this year.

On another note, JUICE, we're in the same area. We should meet-up sometime, maybe you can show me some cool places around here.