First driving in snow experience
12-17-2007, 07:50 PM
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First driving in snow experience
So we went up to Truckee, CA this past weekend for an early Christmas with my daughter, son-in-law and grandson. As advertised - it started snowing about 2 AM this morning and there was about 3" of white stuff on the ground when we left about 8:30. Got checked at the CalTrans chain control on Hwy 80. "You'll have to put chains on!" "But it is All Wheel Drive and has mud and snow tires. I am carrying chains." "OK - just be careful and don't go over 30 - it is slippery up there."
It was actively snowing over Donner Pass and about 4 - 5 inches fresh powder on the ground and not recently plowed. It continued down to about 5,000 feet on the west side. The car felt very stable - more stable then a 2WD car with chains and a hell of a lot more comfortable and quiet!!! I had the SH-AWD display on and it was quite interesting watching the power shifting fore and aft (normally, I have ACC on so I can't view the SH-AWD display). There was one bridge that curved where I felt it start to slip just a bit and looked down and saw it applying power to the outside rear wheel - cool.
I was impressed and pleased. One of the reasons I wanted something with AWD is our second home is right at the snow line of the Sierra Nevada foothills - and and there are 3 areas of chain control between our place and the valley floor. We typically leave Monday mornings to come back home and I wanted to avoid having to chain-up - especially 3 times as it is just long enough and gets low enough between the chain control points that I would be taking them off after each one. The RL will be perfect.
It was actively snowing over Donner Pass and about 4 - 5 inches fresh powder on the ground and not recently plowed. It continued down to about 5,000 feet on the west side. The car felt very stable - more stable then a 2WD car with chains and a hell of a lot more comfortable and quiet!!! I had the SH-AWD display on and it was quite interesting watching the power shifting fore and aft (normally, I have ACC on so I can't view the SH-AWD display). There was one bridge that curved where I felt it start to slip just a bit and looked down and saw it applying power to the outside rear wheel - cool.
I was impressed and pleased. One of the reasons I wanted something with AWD is our second home is right at the snow line of the Sierra Nevada foothills - and and there are 3 areas of chain control between our place and the valley floor. We typically leave Monday mornings to come back home and I wanted to avoid having to chain-up - especially 3 times as it is just long enough and gets low enough between the chain control points that I would be taking them off after each one. The RL will be perfect.
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