How does your 3rd gen handle driving in snow?

I live in Utah. Over 500” annually (lake effect snow). My folks’ live on a 2 mile private dirt road that has to be maintained all winter. They use a F250 diesel to push snow. Weight is weight. Relative weight distribution has less relevance than overall weight. In deep, heavy snow? Sure, lighter vehicles will win there. Snow that 99% of us drive on? Weight is an advantage, no matter how you dice it. You ever seen a highway plow truck get sideways when they hit slush? Nope.

Your tractor argument doesn’t hold water, either. Are you saying the tractor never lost traction pushing snow? If the engine couldn’t overcome the (paltry) coef of friction on snow, it must’ve been a pretty weak engine. You needed weight (traction) behind that plow to get the snow moving.

 

Yes I’ve seen several plow trucks stuck and have even used to the tractor to help pull them out. There’s a reason I use a tractor instead of bobcat for example, bobcat weighs more and becomes a boat on snow.

Old tractor was a 30hp new one is a 60hp, more weight would have bogged it even more. Only thing weight is good for is momentum and at that point your already sliding.

 

You used a 60-hp tractor to pull out a 30k lb commercial truck?? Ok.

Glad to see it has come to name calling. Good luck to you.

 

Northern MD received some accumulation the other day and I decided to inadvertently test some of the nanny controls. I was on a infrequently used country road when I went into a corner with a little too much gusto and the back end got away from me. After some frantic steering corrections, I overshot my mark and was headed towards a drainage ditch. The controls took over and straightened the the truck out. I was amazed. Tail between my legs I tried to review my mistakes and vowed not to be such a chooch. I also need to price out a winch...

 

Thanks! We are about an hour SW of you near Ennis. Our weekly runs to Bozeman and driving through the canyon have really made me appreciate the handling of the 4Runner.

 

He looks like he could have bennied from one of these

 

Not sure if I'd compare the wife's 4runner limited to taco? Isn't the 4runner limited an AWD system with a torsen in it with a modified variant of 4hi and 4lo?

Our tacoma is great in 4x4 but our audi quattro (aka, rebranded torsen awd system) runs rings around it in the snow. That torsen differential is a great awd system. When you run the brake assisted control with the torsen that audi or the 4runner limited run, those really take off and handle great in the snow. When we get 6 inches or so on the ground, I always try take the audi out for some fun. Anything more than that, I need the ground clearance and take the tacoma. but the torsen system is a whole different kind of capable in the snow. And a different kind of fun.

I guess I just wouldn't expect the type of handling from a tacoma's full time 4x4 system as an AWD drive system controlled by a torsen.

 

I live in Bozeangels and have been having a blast driving in the snow. The stock tires were ok, but I upgraded to Cooper Discover AT3s. I've had them on a lot of Toyotas and they are great. The 4x4 system is great, the LSD is great, and the overall performance is fantastic in the snow. Have fun!

 

We don't usually have much snow in Atlanta so this was a first for me. We drove up to Asheville, NC, during the snow storm that came through weekend before last and Asheville ended up with 10" of snow by Saturday night. This picture was from when we arrived on Friday. We drove it around Saturday and Sunday and only had to put it in 4WD High a couple of times to get up steep roads, but really didn't have any issues at all.

 

What is this "snow" you speak of? Ahh yes, the white cold stuff. Ayup, we used to get that here in Colorado, back in the old days...

There are really two types of "snow driving": (1) driving in deep snow either after a fresh snow-fall, or on forest service roads, and (2) driving on snow-covered, slushy, or icy streets and/or highways. The Tacoma is great at the former (given decent tires), and can be really good at the later (given decent tires).

Driving any vehicle in snow is mostly about tires. Yes, different vehicles handle differently, and some people have much better skills than others, but put good snow tires on almost any vehicle and it will do pretty well, but all things being equal (i.e. control for tires and driving skill) all-wheel drive vehicles like Audi and Subaru will outperform the Tacoma on slippery roads. Your Tacoma will crush said all-wheel drives, however, if high clearance is needed. All-wheel drives will outperform the Tacoma on slippery roads because the Tacoma has (a) a higher center of gravity, (b) true 4-wheel drive which is better off-road but not as good on slippery roads, and (c) imbalance of weight front to rear. I live at 8,500 feet, and winter is usually long here. I always run studded snow tires - as do most people who live up here and commute down 3,000 feet to work, and then back up at the end of the day. The canyon down which I commute also runs along side a creek, which increases ice on the road under certain conditions. With studded snows the Tacoma is really good in the winter, both on-road and off-road. But if it didn't snow a lot here it wouldn't be worth the hassle of the noise of the studs, and cost of the tires. Lastly, if ground clearance were not an issue for me, and I only drove on-road, I'd be in an Audi or Subaru. I've had a couple of Audi sporty-type sedans, and with studded snows those cars were friggin amazing. Some all-season tires do pretty well in the snow, but no all-season can touch a true winter tire (studded or non-studded).

 

Date?

Never mind.

 

Haha! Thanks for info i was finally able to do some "frosty donuts "

 

Classic example of all seasons.

 

Had some snow and ice in NJ last week and the Tacoma did really well. I have the stock tires on my TRDOR and only about 2500 miles on them.
Better than my wife’s Subaru Outback with stock tires. It was a lot better than my Jeep Wrangler was(although that was on MT tires which were only good in really deep snow)

 

I'm running KO2 for about 5 years now (had a 2nd gen before) with lot of snow here in north Quebec, never had a problem. 4x4 most of the time.

 

Sounds like the canyon run from Morrison to Evergreen (or Conifer). One of my favorite drives of all time! Maybe not so much when it's slippery...if we ever get snow, I am excited to see for myself how the new taco handles the fluffy stuff. cheers!

 

Boulder Canyon actually, but there are plenty of other canyons around here all of which make for good driving! Its actually supposed to snow tonight! to you too - powder is coming - pow! pow!