TFL Offroad

Cool video
https://youtu.be/AkUfx_sXXsI
I’m actually surprised the tires did that well in the mud.

 

I agree with his take on the Tacoma. The truck really shines off pavement. Whenever I start to question my purchase, those thoughts go away when you hit the dirt.

 

I really like TFL videos. In fact, one comparison they did of Tacoma OR vs Frontier 4xPro vs Colorado Z71, in particular their review of off-road performance, is what swayed me towards Tacoma.

Nothing I dislike about my Tacoma involves its off-road performance. Well, besides Crawl Control...but that doesn’t count. I consider that a free add-on.

 

Crawl control is misunderstood mostly. Someday I want to do a video of what it’s really used (needed?) for. It should be locked out if the grade is less than 60%

 

Perhaps. But when the majority of owners misunderstand a feature, then it’s on the manufacturer.

The way it works right know CC feels half baked at best. No complaints about the transfer case or the rear locker, though. They work well.

 

Cool video!

TFL guys are great. Good, honest reviews.

 

It’s absolutely on Toyota, and is starts with the stupid “digging itself out of sand vids”. A stuck truck is a stuck truck. CC isn’t saving you. Crawl control is a very powerful traction control system that increases safety on otherwise dangerous ascents and descents. I have used it as such, and found no other use for it.

This is the best demonstration of it on YouTube, in this case fitted to a Landcruiser.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ-Cq_b_UbI

 

I agree, very Jerky and sounds terrible.

But it works to get power to the wheels that need it

 

I hated crawl control until I was stuck on a steep ascent in Moab. Almost everyone was winched up. I said what the hell let’s try and it and sure enough I was one of only a handful of vehicles that made it up.

I rarely use it but love it on super steep climbs with limited traction.

 

Wonder if that tune is true for the 19. I have the M/T so I cant really compare it to my 16 auto

 

Cool video. What that Land Cruiser really needed was better tires!

My brother’s $20,000 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk has a somewhat similar feature called Terrain Select. The premise is similar in that it uses ABS to control wheel spin to regain traction.

It works a LOT more seamlessly on his Fiat though. The one and only time I used Crawl Control on my Tacoma I thought something had gone seriously wrong. Eventually I realized that’s just how it “works.”

 

You just weren’t in deep enough. It’s a smooth system when the terrain calls for it. Surging and rattling indicate you are commanding too slow a speed for the conditions.

Anyways.....the system likely saved my truck and my life when I got in over my head halfway down an icy descent that got steeper, that I could not get back up. I spent 45 minutes covering about 2 miles in CC. If I had to touch the brake pedal I might have lost it.

Toyota made a very serious system, which is why they feature in the Landcruisers and Runner Pro as well. The Ford and Jeep versions do not apply the brakes as readily as CC. The Fords tend to roll backwards when it in use, which people find scary. In CC your wheels are indexed in short bursts, with the brakes on. If you watch a truck going up a hill in CC, you’ll notice the brake lights are lit. This is why it is so safe, your wheels are constantly stopped, yet moving, which is difficult to replicate with just pedals.

 

If they had called it “Ascent/Decent control” or “steep mode” it would get a lot better press.

Calling it “crawl control” indicates crawling along on level ground, which it doesn’t do very well, nor is it required in those conditions.

Toyota further confused people by indicating is some sort of “get me unstuck control”, which it also is not, other than in engineered situations with a perfectly sloped sandpile and Mike Sweers standing there.