Snow in the Tacoma

I put about 600k on 3 different 4.0s and owned nothing but manuals soooo...I agree it does run out of top end, but with any sort of load I find myself revving the hell out of my 3.5 to keep pace. Also in my experience, gas mileage was consistently better in the 4.0. The 3.5 is definitely more entertaining to drive, I'll give it that. Luckily, I've reached the point in my life where my truck is a weekend warrior, so I could give two shits about mileage.


If only toyota would make me a damn dclb with a 4.0, M/T, 3rd gen body and all the new creature comforts...

 

They are not a Toyota but as long as you keep up on oil changes and regular maintenance they should last 200k. Main issues are cam phasers but that's fixable and timing chain. Newer 5.0s are hit and miss with oil consumption. 2.7 EBs aren't terrible.

 

I drive in the snow 4 months a year, the tacoma and wrangler are the best two vehicles in the snow that I have driven.

 

How did a thread about driving in the snow become a 4.0 vs 3.5 thread? lol

 

Tacoma's and Wranglers are both part-time 4WD, so with the same tires will preform very similarly. I haven't driven many wranglers, but the 2 door I did drive recently impressed me in 2wd in snow. I think the short wheel base helps keep weight and thus traction on the rear axle. On the flip side, I'm guessing the short wheel base makes them more prone to spin outs.

I'm guessing you haven't driven an AWD car on snowy roads. I'm sure I could beat any Taco or Wrangler in a snow covered road race with a Subaru (or any other AWD car).

 

Did you call him novice??

 

Yes I did. In his latest video he said it was his first time encountering 0-10F snow. I see that type of snow (and many others) almost every year. There was also some silly discussion about snow chains.

In any case, I don't mean to demean him. I like his videos and have learned a lot from them. I'm just poking a little funzy.

 

I like dick-measuring contest..

 

The size of my genitalia has little relation to how much experience I have driving in snow. Driving in snow is just a way of life where I live. Whether you enjoy or hate it, you gotta do it, that or you rot away inside a cave for 6 months of the year.

In any case, like I said, he admitted himself that he didn't have any experience with 0-10F snow and this is a thread about driving in the snow. I linked his video because I thought it would be informative and entertaining, but added a bit of qualification/critique.

 

While your Tacoma is in snow, watch out for tall trees.

https://twitter.com/blairgbest/stat...torm/283-42eef20e-0dbe-4974-aff3-1b02770f1cec

 

Because ... TacomaWorld!

I just hope the OP has not been scared away from the thread he started.

 

On brand..

 

I might have misunderstood you. Are you saying that with a locked center diff you can transform an understeer into an oversteer by blipping the throttle? If so I would agree to a point, but I've found it's much easier to do the same with AWD. I will also concede that all AWD systems are not the same. My primary experience is with a 2001 Subaru (manual trans) with a (40/60?) viscous coupling in the center and front and rear open diffs.

 

The RS2.5 was my favorite winter car, you point and go. I had a 2.5 forester from that gen, very similar in the winter. It didnt take much thinking.

It's a fickle thing, LSD on the tacoma makes it way more fun in the winter, but LSD on some cars can make them more unpredictable. Wheel spin isnt a bad thing if intended.

 

I turn traction control off when I'm out drifting in snow/gravel/etc, but the lack of a center diff with part-time 4wd makes my taco goofy footed compared my AWD Subaru. The Taco loves to understeer and it's I don't feel as confident about getting it to oversteer and drift a corner. I can of course put the taco in RWD and oversteer like crazy, but it's hard to control and hard to accelerate.

 

You'd like driving an LSD Sport. They are super oversteer trigger happy. I wish Toyota left the LSD in the sport models. They rarely have issues, it makes no sense.

FJ's with the center diff are unusual to drive in the winter, but its attributed to short wheel base.

 

yes.

the benefit to rwd, awd, and 4wd is specifically that the vehicle can be driven with throttle, rwd has other frictions associated with pushing the front wheels through, awd/4wd is point and shoot, with variations in momentum carrying based on teh vehicle weight distribution. the truck loves to understeer due to the longer wheel base, and front weight bias, but extra throttle easily compensates. rwd has the benefit of braking one axle, and adding power to the other axle, via that method, the entire vehicle can be rotated to the desired angle.

but there's so many awd systems, i'm hesitant to so broadly categorize them as something more than fwd. many only add power take-off's using a fwd powertrain with clutches and drivelines to make it officially 'awd', but the clutch will disengage the rear axle if anything over a 40/60 torque split occurs, which just makes some variations an 'advanced fwd'.

 

This has been my experience as well. Completely different truck in the snow once you switch to 4wd.

 

I sprung for the locker anytime setup recently..and I didn’t honestly think I would have a truly practical use for it but I gotta say it’s really nice to have options at all times now that the white stuff hit. The weak point of electronic traction aids is they are reactive, as the operator you can anticipate and prepare for scenarios heading your way (if the nannies allow you at least). It’s been pretty slick over here and having the locker on tap (and on the fly) in 2HI/4HI has been great vs. waiting for TC to catch wheelspin, resorting to grandmotherly rates of acceleration, or having to monkey around with dropping in to low range. Makes this understeering pig feel like it has the Titanic’s turning radius but when you want no doubts about what’s going on back there, this is the ticket. Zero problems with any ABS/TC/ect.

All that said, my ‘03 Subaru is hands down the better snow rig. No contest. I am gonna be taking a long hard look at the 4G Limited transfer cases when those start hitting the streets. If I could tack that on the back of the 4G MT…we might start to have something here.

 

I've never owned a full-time 4WD, but I think it would be the best of all worlds for the type of driving I do. I'd open the center diff for much of my winter daily driving and lock it for serious off-road adventures. Those rigs are so pricey though.

TBQH, I don't find the rear locker useful in deep snow where wheel spin is unavoidable. I get (temporarily) stuck in snow maybe 50 times a year and not found that it does any better than ATRAC. I suspect the reasons are 1) wheel spin is inevitable in many types of snow and 2) the rear axle has less weight on it.