Snow Driving

[TimGinCentralNJ]

Now if Ford would only put the correct emblem (AWD) on the back, everything would be good Tim.

Peter

Haha! You are correct, sir I believe that decision was likely one of Ford's Marketing department. Although it's a vastly more capable AWD system than any of the other vehicles in its class, clearly it's still not 4WD.

Gone are the days where one could take a trunk emblem for granted, huh?

Tim

 

[suzook]

Now if Ford would only put the correct emblem (AWD) on the back, everything would be good Tim.

Peter

Then the ex would definitely be a crossover, not an suv!

 

[JFUSION]

I wish they gave us a traction control button like they do on other fords, sometimes you want some more power going to the wheels and it takes too long to scroll through the side menu when you are trying to get out of a sticky situation .

 

[MikeFreas]

I finally got the chance to test the AWD in snow. I think I had it on the wrong setting.

2013 Virginia Beach snow fun

via McTube for iPhone/iPad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-evFIG_NjC4

 

[FIND]

Looks like you had some fun....



By the way, a trick when posting videos in the forum. You can directly imbed them by copying the video code that is usually found at the end of the youtube link, in this case -evFIG_NjC4, then putting it between the tags [ youtube ] your code goes here [ / youtube ]. Just remove the spaces.

I have to laugh at your video a little bit though. One of my friends just move to Virginia Beach this summer because she was tired of South Dakota winters, and thought it would be great fun on the coast... Yet we have had about a weeks worth of winter this year.

Enjoy the snow!

 

[peterk9]

I finally got the chance to test the AWD in snow. I think I had it on the wrong setting.

2013 Virginia Beach snow fun

via McTube for iPhone/iPad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-evFIG_NjC4

We had a lot of snow here a couple of weeks ago. One day we received 13" of the white stuff. I was actually plowing it with the front air deflector at times. Only used the SNOW setting when I had to stop in a snow bank the plow created at the stop sign. One through that I set back to NORMAL. Having a good set of Winter tires also helped.

Peter

 

[hosedagain]

AWD is more of a performance feature not a safety feature, at the first sign of snow on our roads its usually the AWD vehicles that are in the ditch. FWD with a good set of winter tires is all you might need. just a thought.

 

[peterk9]

AWD is more of a performance feature not a safety feature, at the first sign of snow on our roads its usually the AWD vehicles that are in the ditch. FWD with a good set of winter tires is all you might need. just a thought.

I disagree to some extent unless you are putting stability under performance rather than safety. Having 4 wheels providing traction is better than only having 2 wheels doing the job. I do agree that a good set of Winter tires is very important as is the way that you drive, whether AWD, FWD or RWD.
I preferred the Highlander's 4WD system where power/taction under normal circumstances was split 50/50 front and rear.
Performance is also an important feature, especially if it gets you where you want to go. There have been many times when other vehicles have been stopped on a bit of an incline leaving the parking lot waiting for highway traffic to clear. When traffic on road cleared many of them sat spinning their wheels on the snow packed incline while I just pulled away without any problem.
Many more manufacturers are now adding AWD to their product lines. Having driven for 50 years but only the last 12 with 4WD/AWD vehicles, I can't see me going back to 2 wheel drive.
Anyway, that is my small contribution to this thread. I was going to say '2 cents' but as of yesterday, the production of the penny in Canada is no more.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

I finally got the chance to test the AWD in snow. I think I had it on the wrong setting.

2013 Virginia Beach snow fun

via McTube for iPhone/iPad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-evFIG_NjC4

When I had my first Highlander ('02) I tried doing that in a parking lot and try as I might, there was no way the vehicle would allow me to do it.

Peter

 

[Joeymustang]

AWD is more of a performance feature not a safety feature, at the first sign of snow on our roads its usually the AWD vehicles that are in the ditch. FWD with a good set of winter tires is all you might need. just a thought.

yeah...its such a performance feature that when on snow mode the transmission starts in 2nd gear instead of 1st to decrease wheelspin, that should give some awesome 0-60 numbers!

 

[HughCares]

I disagree to some extent unless you are putting stability under performance rather than safety. Having 4 wheels providing traction is better than only having 2 wheels doing the job. I do agree that a good set of Winter tires is very important as is the way that you drive, whether AWD, FWD or RWD.
I preferred the Highlander's 4WD system where power/taction under normal circumstances was split 50/50 front and rear.
Performance is also an important feature, especially if it gets you where you want to go. There have been many times when other vehicles have been stopped on a bit of an incline leaving the parking lot waiting for highway traffic to clear. When traffic on road cleared many of them sat spinning their wheels on the snow packed incline while I just pulled away without any problem.
Many more manufacturers are now adding AWD to their product lines. Having driven for 50 years but only the last 12 with 4WD/AWD vehicles, I can't see me going back to 2 wheel drive.
Anyway, that is my small contribution to this thread. I was going to say '2 cents' but as of yesterday, the production of the penny in Canada is no more.

Peter

Where safety is concerned and assuming proper winter tires have been installed.....an AWD vehicle can not stop any better than a FWD vehicle. Too many AWD owners get a false comfort level of speed and safety since they do have better traction control and then they start to drive a little faster due to the improved traction. But stopping is another story....hence why AWD vehicles are usually the first ones in the ditches on bad road condition days like hosedagain stated.

 

[peterk9]

Where safety is concerned and assuming proper winter tires have been installed.....an AWD vehicle can not stop any better than a FWD vehicle. Too many AWD owners get a false comfort level of speed and safety since they do have better traction control and then they start to drive a little faster due to the improved traction. But stopping is another story....hence why AWD vehicles are usually the first ones in the ditches on bad road condition days like hosedagain stated.

No argument there. That is why I stated the way you drive is also very important. When I was still working I recall one morning that the highway was quite bad. Snow and ice every where. In a 10 mile stretch I saw 5 vehicles in the ditch. Four of them were pickups with one being a fatality.
In my previous Highlander with full time 4 wheel drive, I was able to gear down using all 4 wheels to slow the vehicle before using the brakes and that might have given it an edge in stopping ability but that won't help on ice.

Peter

 

[1995E]

I finally got the chance to test the AWD in snow. I think I had it on the wrong setting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-evFIG_NjC4

Sounds like you had it in sand mode. Nice to know the Explorer can throw the rear end out if conditions are right.

 

[JohnnyDop]

Sounds like you had it in sand mode. Nice to know the Explorer can throw the rear end out if conditions are right.

MikeFreas,

Please confirm if you were in fact in Sand Mode?

 

[Joeymustang]

I'm pretty sure he was in sand mode, if not the traction control would have kicked in and end the fun real fast

 

[MikeFreas]

MikeFreas,

Please confirm if you were in fact in Sand Mode?

Yes I was in sand "mode."

For those who have driven their AWD in snow you know that the truck is basically castrated i.e. very hard to impossible to get the wheels to spin.

The sand mode disables the traction control, keeps the transmission in lower gears to keep the engine in the peak torque range. I'm not sure what the power split front to rear is but it's good enough for doughnuts.

 

[77rednecktruck]

AWD is more of a performance feature not a safety feature, at the first sign of snow on our roads its usually the AWD vehicles that are in the ditch. FWD with a good set of winter tires is all you might need. just a thought.

it is both. The fact that a false sense of security is given or that AWD vehicles crash because of poor driving is not a reflection on the car's driveline. I have a FWD Fusion, an AWD Explorer Sport, and a Jeep YJ at home now. They all handle snow just fine with regular all season tires and the Explorer with AWD is by far the best one. Point it in a direction and go, the FWD will just not steer if the front tires lose traction and the RWD (Jeep in 2wd) will spin out at the worst times . AWD is definitely a safety feature if you know how to drive. I bet those people in the ditches would still be in the ditches no matter what car they are driving. They would be going too fast for the conditions and not know how to correct the slide once it started.

I can't wait to get out on a parking lot filled with snow in my new Sport. My kids love donuts.

 

[trysixty]

First winter snow and the 14xsport in snow mode was fantastic. And using snow mode and the paddle shifters was downright fun.

Now I understand why this vehicle is so popular and useful in snow laden Canada, and also why having a nav system which is worthless makes more sense for the Canadian market since there are hardy any roads in a lot places. I'm still trying to figure out Ford's angle on marketing fabrication of the Ecoboost. Maybe Ford thinks Canadians believe higher gas mileage numbers in liter/km are better?
Maybe the Ford IVT team could confirm this?

Gotta go play in the snow while it lasts

 

[mctee]

PNW - snow? I'm guessing but you are in Oregon? I saw the news - try to stay shiny side up...

And you're correct. We have no real roads in Canada what-so-ever to get from igloo to igloo.
Our Ford Canada nav systems work great, tho, on cow and polar bear trails plus on those leftover wagon trails from that Yukon gold rush in the late 1800's when all those Americans rushed up here to pillage our gold. Now China is rushing to take our black gold... (or we're rushing to sell it to them).

Further, CDN's get better mileage with their Explorer Sports because we use miles per Imperial gallon and not that mini US gallon or complicated metric system.
Try it - calculate your fuel mileage in Imperial gallons and enjoy an instant +/- 12% increase in MPG!
Or, drive 12% harder and enjoy the same mileage you are currently getting!

 

[Sgt1411]

PNW - snow? I'm guessing but you are in Oregon? I saw the news - try to stay shiny side up...

And you're correct. We have no real roads in Canada what-so-ever to get from igloo to igloo.
Our Ford Canada nav systems work great, tho, on cow and polar bear trails plus on those leftover wagon trails from that Yukon gold rush in the late 1800's when all those Americans rushed up here to pillage our gold. Now China is rushing to take our black gold... (or we're rushing to sell it to them).

Further, CDN's get better mileage with their Explorer Sports because we use miles per Imperial gallon and not that mini US gallon or complicated metric system.
Try it - calculate your fuel mileage in Imperial gallons and enjoy an instant +/- 12% increase in MPG!
Or, drive 12% harder and enjoy the same mileage you are currently getting!

LMAO

Are we getting that Oregon snow up north, or is it going east?

I got my brand new Blizzaks burning a hole in the garage, so they need action.