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Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » Bothersome tidbit I found at local Toyota dealer 1 2 3

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  Sept. 10, 2011 8:47 a.m. wbjones SuperDork

  mad_machine wrote:

  BS on the foot of snow. A couple of years ago (during the snowpocolypse.. I was at work (12 miles away) in my BMW which was one summer tyres (worn too). I made it all the way home to get stuck 20 feet from my driveway.

  Only hairy moment I had was trying to turn onto a street with a slight incline. Other than that.. it was a matter of regulating wheelspin to get me through. Yes, I could not accelerate that well in the snow, but towards the end, the splitter on the front of Ti was a snow plow

  Yes, having the right equipment helps.. but in the end, it is all in the driver.

  on flat ground that's not a problem... here in the mountains it's a different story... we don't get much snow ( the last 2 yrs not withstanding ) but many hills / steep / very steep grades ... no weight in the back end of a 2 WD PU ... no matter how well you drive / think you drive you ain't going anywhere

  my driveway is a 18 % grade ( for the arithmetic challenged that's a 36° angle) with (real) snow tires my Honda's have made it up in the normal 3 - 6" snows we get here.. but the last two yrs have had multiple 8 - 15" snows... thank heavens for my AWD Suby ... even with open dif nothing has slowed it down

• 

  Sept. 10, 2011 10:15 a.m. Wally SuperDork

  We must be doing it wrong, my wife, brother and I are all essetial employees at our jobs and have to come in regardless of the weather. With snow tires the wife and I have never had an issue with plain fwd cars and my brother has snows on a 2wd Ranger. He lives on a steep hill and the woman down the block repeatedly slides into his mailbox with her Jeep.

• 

  Sept. 10, 2011 11:15 a.m. Rufledt HalfDork

  I'll say last winter was supposedly really bad here in MA (or so I was told, i've only been here one winter so I have no comparison) and I never saw anything that even approached the need for 4wd. My old 2wd (with open diff, no traction control or ABS) van never had a problem getting stuck in Wisconsin, and it breezed through MA's "snowpocalypse." I say snowpocalypse of course not because it was bad, but because everybody freaked out like the world was comming to an end.

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  Sept. 10, 2011 1:26 p.m. wbjones SuperDork

  ok ... all you 2 wd folk must be vastly superior drivers than those of us that have and rely on 4wd
  'course I've seen several 2 wd pu's that couldn't get up my driveway in the summer in the dry ....

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  Sept. 10, 2011 4:10 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork

  wbjones wrote:

  mad_machine wrote:

  BS on the foot of snow. A couple of years ago (during the snowpocolypse.. I was at work (12 miles away) in my BMW which was one summer tyres (worn too). I made it all the way home to get stuck 20 feet from my driveway.

  Only hairy moment I had was trying to turn onto a street with a slight incline. Other than that.. it was a matter of regulating wheelspin to get me through. Yes, I could not accelerate that well in the snow, but towards the end, the splitter on the front of Ti was a snow plow

  Yes, having the right equipment helps.. but in the end, it is all in the driver.

  on flat ground that's not a problem... here in the mountains it's a different story... we don't get much snow ( the last 2 yrs not withstanding ) but many hills / steep / very steep grades ... no weight in the back end of a 2 WD PU ... no matter how well you drive / think you drive you ain't going anywhere

  my driveway is a 18 % grade ( for the arithmetic challenged that's a 36° angle) with (real) snow tires my Honda's have made it up in the normal 3 - 6" snows we get here.. but the last two yrs have had multiple 8 - 15" snows... thank heavens for my AWD Suby ... even with open dif nothing has slowed it down

  Before you tear my post apart.. remember, I was on well worn SUMMER tyres.. If I had been on all seasons like My saab had last year.. I would not have had a single incident

• 

  Sept. 10, 2011 4:36 p.m. irish44j Dork

  pinchvalve wrote:

  My question is why the salesman was such a schmuck. If you say you saw it on the lot, why deal with looking through all the paperwork? Just go out with the interested customer and look at it, write down the VIN and go back in and find it a-hole! Geez, do these people even get salesman 101 any more?

  when I got my wrx, it was apparently the day that the very first of the 09's arrived at the local dealer. The online sales guy had already posted mine up on the website (09 black sedan). Went in there and wanted to see it. The regular salesguy was like "no, we don't have any WRX sedans." Then checked with the "list" on the wall and again....nope. Then checked with the manager, who assured me that no 09 sedans had yet arrived.

  Finally showed them the online ad and they were stumped. The manager went walking around the back lot of the dealer and finally found it. Apparently unloaded from the truck, but still with road gunk/dirt on it from the trip, plastic protective sheets, etc.

  --

  As someone who's worked at a retail ski shop for 15 years, I can say that salesmen don't always know the stock. Our shop gets 4-5 shipments per day of random one-off skis that come in, are checked in, and are put on the display wall. In alot of cases they are skis that had been sold out, so the salesmen think they're still sold out unless they happen to notice that a backstock guy put it out on the wall....

  --

  As to the 2WD vs 4WD.....I tend to see the "value added" as the couple times you will need it make it worth it. I don't live in a particularly snowy area, but have had to use the 4WD on our 4Runner a number of times doing other things, including pulling a trailer out of a friend's muddy and hilly backyard (almost got it stuck in 4WD....2WD would definitely not have made it out), and things like that.

  In most 4WD "real" truck-based SUVs, they run in 2WD, so no mileage hit or additional drivetrain wear really. Then you can go into 4 if needed. If I lived in Texas, maybe not. But in areas that get any snow or much rain/muddy, it comes in handy.

  Still stupid that Toyota won't let you order it though....

• 

  Sept. 10, 2011 6:59 p.m. wbjones SuperDork

  mad_machine wrote:

  wbjones wrote:

  mad_machine wrote:

  BS on the foot of snow. A couple of years ago (during the snowpocolypse.. I was at work (12 miles away) in my BMW which was one summer tyres (worn too). I made it all the way home to get stuck 20 feet from my driveway.

  Only hairy moment I had was trying to turn onto a street with a slight incline. Other than that.. it was a matter of regulating wheelspin to get me through. Yes, I could not accelerate that well in the snow, but towards the end, the splitter on the front of Ti was a snow plow

  Yes, having the right equipment helps.. but in the end, it is all in the driver.

  on flat ground that's not a problem... here in the mountains it's a different story... we don't get much snow ( the last 2 yrs not withstanding ) but many hills / steep / very steep grades ... no weight in the back end of a 2 WD PU ... no matter how well you drive / think you drive you ain't going anywhere

  my driveway is a 18 % grade ( for the arithmetic challenged that's a 36° angle) with (real) snow tires my Honda's have made it up in the normal 3 - 6" snows we get here.. but the last two yrs have had multiple 8 - 15" snows... thank heavens for my AWD Suby ... even with open dif nothing has slowed it down

  Before you tear my post apart.. remember, I was on well worn SUMMER tyres.. If I had been on all seasons like My saab had last year.. I would not have had a single incident

  like I said in a later post... I've seen 2wd PU's that couldn't get up my drive in the summer , in the dry ... so the AWD will always be with me , I'm getting way to old to hike up that drive every time it snows more than 3 - 4"

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  Sept. 10, 2011 7:08 p.m. Mazdax605 Dork

  You must have one hell of a driveway!!!

  -C

• 

  Sept. 10, 2011 7:34 p.m. irish44j Dork

  it doesn't help that Toyota puts crappy stock "all terrain" tires on most of their trucks and SUVs these days. Ours came with the DUnlop AT20 "All Terrain"....what a joke. The only terrain they could handle without ATRAC going crazy was a normal gravel road, lol.

• 

  Sept. 11, 2011 1:18 p.m. Knurled HalfDork

  pete240z wrote:

  you really want to get the 4WD - what about the resale value?

  (I was told this and said my resale value is usually in the $1,500 range)

  The correct response is "I'm buying the car for me, not the next guy."

• 

  Sept. 11, 2011 7:19 p.m. wbjones SuperDork

  Mazdax605 wrote:

  You must have one hell of a driveway!!!

  -C

  175', 36°, NE side of a "mountain" with very tall trees shading it from the east and ( it's on the property line) a row of ~ 40' tall white pines on the south side (think in constant shade) ... the surface is loose gravel / road bond... yeah it can be a real PITA sometimes... paving isn't much of an option ( to much freezing rain and sleet here .. as opposed to snow

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