Subaru: The Beauty of All-Wheel-Drive
02-12-06, 01:56 AM
#1
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Subaru: The Beauty of All-Wheel-Drive
Guys: As you know, I'm not a member of CL's late-night crowd and it's 4:20 AM...I don't usually post at this ludicrous hour but I wanted to share this with you. The Washington area.....along with most of the East Coast north of about Richmond or so......is in the middle of a serious snowstorm right now.....the worst in several years. We have a good 9" on the ground right now as I write this and it is still piling up at around an inch an hour or so with an increasing wind....and we would have gotten more if a shallow layer of above-freezing temperatures yesterday morning had not delayed the onset of the snow and brought rain for the first several hours.
Anyhow...the thread topic: Subaru has based its ad slogans on several different lines and personalities through the years, such as Crocodile Dundee ( Paul Hogan ) , Lance Armstrong ( for those of you who don't know, he and Sheryl Crow called it quits a couple of days ago) , " Inexpensive and built to stay that way " and the latest " The Beauty of All-Wheel Drive ".
Believe it.......not just for Subarus but for competing AWD products as well, for those of you ( being primarily a Lexus crowd ) who own AWD RX300 / 330's, RAV4's, Highlanders, Outlanders, Endeavors, CRV's, Pilots, Audi All-Roads, Volvo XC70's, etc......I myself have a 2006 Outback, and it got its first winter test on icy, slippery roads in early December and passed with flying colors. Now...tonight......it got its first real test in unplowed, untreated, deep snow. I got a few hours sleep, got up at a little after 3, saw it was piling up fast, and jumped at the chanced to try it before the plows came....as they often do......before daylight.
Well...brushing the snow off alone was a big job, ( it was piling up faster than I could brush it off ) but it was worth it. The standard electric heater grids in the lower windshield for the wipers, rear-window defrosters, 4-stage front-seat heaters, and large, winter-type wipers made the car ready to go in no time. I live on a long, semi-circular street that surrounds my condo townhouse development and don't have a garage of my own...so you pull out of your marked space onto the middle of the street. As I mentioned there was a good 9" or so.....more in parts of it......and I finished warming the car up and testing it on the unplowed snow, snowy tire ruts, snow-coated speed bumps, etc....
This car, in the deep snow, was just U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E.............as I'm sure some other AWD vehicles with good ground clearance are. Not even the slightest hint of wheel spin. My particular car doesn't have the Stability system which comes only on the top-line Outback VDC but IMO doesn't need it. The high stance and AWD alone do the job very well. In fact that was one of the reasons I chose an Outback over the lower-riding stance of the Legacy with less ground clearance. It literally laughs at this kind of road condition ( I didn't do anything stupid of course....even AWD is not a blanket license to do dumb things ). I've had both RWD cars and FWD cars and never saw this kind of snow traction before.
Of course, I'm not naive about these things....or in many ways that terribly surprised. I've long known about the AWD traction advantage in winter...especially with high-ground clearance vehicles.......and have discussed it with others in vehicle recommendations. But I have had little seat-of-the-pants experience with it myself until this winter. There is simply nothing else like it....especially with good winter tires. I don't care what kind of tires you put on a FWD or RWD car....and I have owned plenty of both....none of them in snow can compare with an Outback or competing similiar AWD products.
Anyhow....it worked out great. Tried all kinds of things in deep snow....starting and stopping, backing up, snow-covered speed bumps, starting and stopping both uphill and downhill. After a nice test in deep snow and a thorough warmup, I got back to my space and backed in....again with no wheelspin at all, shut the engine off........JUST in time ( not 3 seconds later) to see the plow come down the street right in front of my space and push all that snow right out of the way.
Anyhow...the thread topic: Subaru has based its ad slogans on several different lines and personalities through the years, such as Crocodile Dundee ( Paul Hogan ) , Lance Armstrong ( for those of you who don't know, he and Sheryl Crow called it quits a couple of days ago) , " Inexpensive and built to stay that way " and the latest " The Beauty of All-Wheel Drive ".
Believe it.......not just for Subarus but for competing AWD products as well, for those of you ( being primarily a Lexus crowd ) who own AWD RX300 / 330's, RAV4's, Highlanders, Outlanders, Endeavors, CRV's, Pilots, Audi All-Roads, Volvo XC70's, etc......I myself have a 2006 Outback, and it got its first winter test on icy, slippery roads in early December and passed with flying colors. Now...tonight......it got its first real test in unplowed, untreated, deep snow. I got a few hours sleep, got up at a little after 3, saw it was piling up fast, and jumped at the chanced to try it before the plows came....as they often do......before daylight.
Well...brushing the snow off alone was a big job, ( it was piling up faster than I could brush it off ) but it was worth it. The standard electric heater grids in the lower windshield for the wipers, rear-window defrosters, 4-stage front-seat heaters, and large, winter-type wipers made the car ready to go in no time. I live on a long, semi-circular street that surrounds my condo townhouse development and don't have a garage of my own...so you pull out of your marked space onto the middle of the street. As I mentioned there was a good 9" or so.....more in parts of it......and I finished warming the car up and testing it on the unplowed snow, snowy tire ruts, snow-coated speed bumps, etc....
This car, in the deep snow, was just U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E.............as I'm sure some other AWD vehicles with good ground clearance are. Not even the slightest hint of wheel spin. My particular car doesn't have the Stability system which comes only on the top-line Outback VDC but IMO doesn't need it. The high stance and AWD alone do the job very well. In fact that was one of the reasons I chose an Outback over the lower-riding stance of the Legacy with less ground clearance. It literally laughs at this kind of road condition ( I didn't do anything stupid of course....even AWD is not a blanket license to do dumb things ). I've had both RWD cars and FWD cars and never saw this kind of snow traction before.
Of course, I'm not naive about these things....or in many ways that terribly surprised. I've long known about the AWD traction advantage in winter...especially with high-ground clearance vehicles.......and have discussed it with others in vehicle recommendations. But I have had little seat-of-the-pants experience with it myself until this winter. There is simply nothing else like it....especially with good winter tires. I don't care what kind of tires you put on a FWD or RWD car....and I have owned plenty of both....none of them in snow can compare with an Outback or competing similiar AWD products.
Anyhow....it worked out great. Tried all kinds of things in deep snow....starting and stopping, backing up, snow-covered speed bumps, starting and stopping both uphill and downhill. After a nice test in deep snow and a thorough warmup, I got back to my space and backed in....again with no wheelspin at all, shut the engine off........JUST in time ( not 3 seconds later) to see the plow come down the street right in front of my space and push all that snow right out of the way.
Last edited by mmarshall; 02-12-06 at 02:27 AM.
02-12-06, 10:31 AM
#2
Speaks French in Russian
Wow....you are the man. 
Getting up at 3am to test out the car in the snow and post on CL....Talk about dedication. Thanks. Glad to hear the AWD works as its suppose to. 
:
Getting up at 3am to test out the car in the snow and post on CL....Talk about dedication. Thanks. Glad to hear the AWD works as its suppose to. :
02-12-06, 11:35 AM
#5
mmarshall,
Excellent review! Conditions right now are absolutely atrocious in the Northeast
as well. I took my car out a couple of times and you are absolutely right that AWD
is NOT a license to do dumb stuff. My car with all season 245/40/18's (speaking of
dumb stuff) slid out a bit whenever I took a turn too fast or hit an unplowed stretch
of snow. If you go too fast and try to brake suddenly (AWD or not) the brakes tend
to lock and you slide
Next season I am getting Blizzaks for sure.
The Lexus gets the job done, but I am sure Subaru and Audi's systems are a lot
more advanced. Hopefully with Toyota buying Subaru from GM some of the
experience will make it to the Lexus car lines as well.
Excellent review! Conditions right now are absolutely atrocious in the Northeast
as well. I took my car out a couple of times and you are absolutely right that AWD
is NOT a license to do dumb stuff. My car with all season 245/40/18's (speaking of
dumb stuff) slid out a bit whenever I took a turn too fast or hit an unplowed stretch
of snow. If you go too fast and try to brake suddenly (AWD or not) the brakes tend
to lock and you slide
Next season I am getting Blizzaks for sure.The Lexus gets the job done, but I am sure Subaru and Audi's systems are a lot
more advanced. Hopefully with Toyota buying Subaru from GM some of the
experience will make it to the Lexus car lines as well.
02-12-06, 11:50 AM
#6
Last year I've tested my parents MDX in deep snow - it was amazing. I took it into what is usually a grass lot during the summer, but in the winter it was covered with around 24 of snow, and on top of it there were piles of snow dumped into there from adjacent parking lot. The Acura didn't hesitate for one bit, it drove through all that snow with no hesitation whatsoever.
However, I do think with AWD comes great responsibility. For instance yesterday I went out ice skating with two of my buds, and then we came to my place and chilled til around 4pm, after that I drove them to their place, they both live in the same apartment building about 2 miles away from my house. And when I was going back home, creeping along at about 20 mph in my beater Honda Civic on a road covered with 10-12 inches of snow, some idiot in Infiniti FX suv passed me, doing what I would estimate at least 50mph. Not only the speed limit on that road is 30mph to begin with, but doing 50mph in snow is retarded regardless of AWD. I don't usually wish bad to anyone, but I really wished he/she would have to stop or make a sudden maneur and crash their kinky SUV into something heavy.
However, I do think with AWD comes great responsibility. For instance yesterday I went out ice skating with two of my buds, and then we came to my place and chilled til around 4pm, after that I drove them to their place, they both live in the same apartment building about 2 miles away from my house. And when I was going back home, creeping along at about 20 mph in my beater Honda Civic on a road covered with 10-12 inches of snow, some idiot in Infiniti FX suv passed me, doing what I would estimate at least 50mph. Not only the speed limit on that road is 30mph to begin with, but doing 50mph in snow is retarded regardless of AWD. I don't usually wish bad to anyone, but I really wished he/she would have to stop or make a sudden maneur and crash their kinky SUV into something heavy.
02-12-06, 12:31 PM
#7
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by magneto112
Wow....you are the man. Getting up at 3am to test out the car in the snow and post on CL....Talk about dedication. Thanks. Glad to hear the AWD works as its suppose to. :
Getting up at 3am to test out the car in the snow and post on CL....Talk about dedication. Thanks. Glad to hear the AWD works as its suppose to. :Being Sunday afternoon, however, I got some rest and made up for it.......and all the SHOVELING.
Last edited by mmarshall; 02-12-06 at 01:35 PM.
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02-12-06, 08:19 PM
#8
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Originally Posted by mmarshall
Guys: As you know, I'm not a member of CL's late-night crowd and it's 4:20 AM...I don't usually post at this ludicrous hour but I wanted to share this with you. The Washington area.....along with most of the East Coast north of about Richmond or so......is in the middle of a serious snowstorm right now.....the worst in several years. We have a good 9" on the ground right now as I write this and it is still piling up at around an inch an hour or so with an increasing wind....and we would have gotten more if a shallow layer of above-freezing temperatures yesterday morning had not delayed the onset of the snow and brought rain for the first several hours.
Anyhow...the thread topic: Subaru has based its ad slogans on several different lines and personalities through the years, such as Crocodile Dundee ( Paul Hogan ) , Lance Armstrong ( for those of you who don't know, he and Sheryl Crow called it quits a couple of days ago) , " Inexpensive and built to stay that way " and the latest " The Beauty of All-Wheel Drive ".
Believe it.......not just for Subarus but for competing AWD products as well, for those of you ( being primarily a Lexus crowd ) who own AWD RX300 / 330's, RAV4's, Highlanders, Outlanders, Endeavors, CRV's, Pilots, Audi All-Roads, Volvo XC70's, etc......I myself have a 2006 Outback, and it got its first winter test on icy, slippery roads in early December and passed with flying colors. Now...tonight......it got its first real test in unplowed, untreated, deep snow. I got a few hours sleep, got up at a little after 3, saw it was piling up fast, and jumped at the chanced to try it before the plows came....as they often do......before daylight.
Well...brushing the snow off alone was a big job, ( it was piling up faster than I could brush it off ) but it was worth it. The standard electric heater grids in the lower windshield for the wipers, rear-window defrosters, 4-stage front-seat heaters, and large, winter-type wipers made the car ready to go in no time. I live on a long, semi-circular street that surrounds my condo townhouse development and don't have a garage of my own...so you pull out of your marked space onto the middle of the street. As I mentioned there was a good 9" or so.....more in parts of it......and I finished warming the car up and testing it on the unplowed snow, snowy tire ruts, snow-coated speed bumps, etc....
This car, in the deep snow, was just U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E.............as I'm sure some other AWD vehicles with good ground clearance are. Not even the slightest hint of wheel spin. My particular car doesn't have the Stability system which comes only on the top-line Outback VDC but IMO doesn't need it. The high stance and AWD alone do the job very well. In fact that was one of the reasons I chose an Outback over the lower-riding stance of the Legacy with less ground clearance. It literally laughs at this kind of road condition ( I didn't do anything stupid of course....even AWD is not a blanket license to do dumb things ). I've had both RWD cars and FWD cars and never saw this kind of snow traction before.
Of course, I'm not naive about these things....or in many ways that terribly surprised. I've long known about the AWD traction advantage in winter...especially with high-ground clearance vehicles.......and have discussed it with others in vehicle recommendations. But I have had little seat-of-the-pants experience with it myself until this winter. There is simply nothing else like it....especially with good winter tires. I don't care what kind of tires you put on a FWD or RWD car....and I have owned plenty of both....none of them in snow can compare with an Outback or competing similiar AWD products.
Anyhow....it worked out great. Tried all kinds of things in deep snow....starting and stopping, backing up, snow-covered speed bumps, starting and stopping both uphill and downhill. After a nice test in deep snow and a thorough warmup, I got back to my space and backed in....again with no wheelspin at all, shut the engine off........JUST in time ( not 3 seconds later) to see the plow come down the street right in front of my space and push all that snow right out of the way.
Anyhow...the thread topic: Subaru has based its ad slogans on several different lines and personalities through the years, such as Crocodile Dundee ( Paul Hogan ) , Lance Armstrong ( for those of you who don't know, he and Sheryl Crow called it quits a couple of days ago) , " Inexpensive and built to stay that way " and the latest " The Beauty of All-Wheel Drive ".
Believe it.......not just for Subarus but for competing AWD products as well, for those of you ( being primarily a Lexus crowd ) who own AWD RX300 / 330's, RAV4's, Highlanders, Outlanders, Endeavors, CRV's, Pilots, Audi All-Roads, Volvo XC70's, etc......I myself have a 2006 Outback, and it got its first winter test on icy, slippery roads in early December and passed with flying colors. Now...tonight......it got its first real test in unplowed, untreated, deep snow. I got a few hours sleep, got up at a little after 3, saw it was piling up fast, and jumped at the chanced to try it before the plows came....as they often do......before daylight.
Well...brushing the snow off alone was a big job, ( it was piling up faster than I could brush it off ) but it was worth it. The standard electric heater grids in the lower windshield for the wipers, rear-window defrosters, 4-stage front-seat heaters, and large, winter-type wipers made the car ready to go in no time. I live on a long, semi-circular street that surrounds my condo townhouse development and don't have a garage of my own...so you pull out of your marked space onto the middle of the street. As I mentioned there was a good 9" or so.....more in parts of it......and I finished warming the car up and testing it on the unplowed snow, snowy tire ruts, snow-coated speed bumps, etc....
This car, in the deep snow, was just U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E.............as I'm sure some other AWD vehicles with good ground clearance are. Not even the slightest hint of wheel spin. My particular car doesn't have the Stability system which comes only on the top-line Outback VDC but IMO doesn't need it. The high stance and AWD alone do the job very well. In fact that was one of the reasons I chose an Outback over the lower-riding stance of the Legacy with less ground clearance. It literally laughs at this kind of road condition ( I didn't do anything stupid of course....even AWD is not a blanket license to do dumb things ). I've had both RWD cars and FWD cars and never saw this kind of snow traction before.
Of course, I'm not naive about these things....or in many ways that terribly surprised. I've long known about the AWD traction advantage in winter...especially with high-ground clearance vehicles.......and have discussed it with others in vehicle recommendations. But I have had little seat-of-the-pants experience with it myself until this winter. There is simply nothing else like it....especially with good winter tires. I don't care what kind of tires you put on a FWD or RWD car....and I have owned plenty of both....none of them in snow can compare with an Outback or competing similiar AWD products.
Anyhow....it worked out great. Tried all kinds of things in deep snow....starting and stopping, backing up, snow-covered speed bumps, starting and stopping both uphill and downhill. After a nice test in deep snow and a thorough warmup, I got back to my space and backed in....again with no wheelspin at all, shut the engine off........JUST in time ( not 3 seconds later) to see the plow come down the street right in front of my space and push all that snow right out of the way.
By the way I am curious what do you do for a living other than post on this forum????
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