16" of snow and drifts Highlander deep snow

[lets456]

Ok, I have been asking and waiting and asking and waiting to finally try my 2008 Highlander in the snow. I have been concerned with the entire open differential vs a true 4x4. I have a Ford Explorer 2002 4 wheel drive that I will be comparing to. First off the Ford has Michelin all season tires with about 30k wear and the Highlander has BF Goodrich all season and one stock Yokahoma? Anyway, last night I had to drive my daughter to work and pick her up. There was about 3"-4" of snow when I brought her in the Highlander. I was fairly impressed but noticed a little bit of the rear end kick out around turns or when I stomped on the gas. So I switched on the snow button and that started it off in a higher gear.... problem got MUCH better. before going to pick up my daughter I thought I would take the Explorer knowing I would have 4X4 in a worst case scenario, but decided I really want to see how the Highlander performs in deeper snow. So on my way back to pick her up from work, I ran through a few snow drifts and also went through areas where the plows piled up snow. These drifts and piles were about 10" to 14" at the time... Once again NO problem. I actually started to find a new found confidence in the Highlander that I had in the Explorer in 4WD!

This is where it gets interesting... being the skeptic that I am at around 10:30 I decided to take a ride and brought my kids out with me (see how my confidence was built up enough to do this). We drove through drifts and high, deep blowing snow. Then I put it to the real test... I brought it to the Church's parking lot ( usually goes unplowed for 24 hours). Now I did not get out to measure how deep the snow was but it was more than 18" in the drifts which spanned 100' or so. I went through surefooted and steady... no slipping, no nothing... not even "wining" or swerving. So I took a chance and stopped in the middle of a drift ( I know, stupid). To my amazement i crawled out with NO problems at all. I even left all the "traction control and stuff ON!

That's not it, we made it home with no problem and on the way back went "head to head" with a Ford 4x4 pick up at the line and blew him away as I saw him swerving in the rear view mirror for the first 50' or so. So of course I woke up in the AM and used the snow blower to clear the driveway and purposefully blew it to the bottom of the driveway where the snow plow piled up about 24" of snow earlier. Honest to God, I went as slow as I could but at a steady speed and I made it over the mound of snow without perceived tire spin. If there was any I did not notice it.

So all in all, any skeptics like me out there regarding deep snow and the Highlander, do not need to worry. Good luck to all and happy snow driving. Oh BTW, I agree with Traildust that the Highlander performs as well as a 4x4 vehicle in high gear that also gets about 24 MPG on the highway to boot.

One last note, I opened my window and hung out to view the front and rear tire while stopped in a parking lot. I then proceeded to stomp on the gas ( no snow button this time) as I watched the tires and both the front and rear tires were spinning on the driver's side. I was expecting the rear to spin then simply put all power to the front wheel... that was not the case. I did this about 4-5 times and every time both wheels would spin and the back of the Highlander would slide a bit toward the grade of the road. I guess because the back weighs less..To me, it seems that even though there are open differentials that the 50:50 power split is being achieved some how while tires are spinning.

[JustSo]

Great to hear!

[05Moose]

Very good review. BTW, the Snow button also causes the shift points to lower, so you won't get up as high of an RPM before it shifts. This is similar to previous' Toyotas with the ECT Power button (Electronic Control Transmission). In comparison to the ECT button, these are in the "Power" mode all the time (as if the old ECT Power button was depressed) and the Snow button causes it to turn off the "Power" mode (similar to the old ECT button being off which was considered Economy mode).

[TrailDust]

Thank you for taking the time to post your write-up. Much appreciated!

[nickhl]

Today is my first day out with my 2010 HL SE AWD in NYC. Pretty deep snow around the area (20"+ average, more than 3 feet in some spot) and countless cars stuck in almost any place on the roads. Although I do expect my HL to do better than my previous FWD cars, I didn't expect it to be this good in the snow . With just stock Toyo A20, it pretty much handled all places I want to go with no issue/no slide/no issues. Along these roads there are lots of RAV-4 AWD, Nissan Rouge AWD, Acura TL AWD and Infiniti FX AWD etc. simply stucked on the roads.

The only places it needs a bit help (turn off VSC, TRC still on) is when I decided I need to a U-Turn in 1-1.5 feet snow to get the perfect parking on a very narrow street. Once the VSC is off, it just pulled like a happy puppy . By the time I'm done with my parking, I can see the face of my neighbors -- they simply couldn't believe what I just did while they're digging hard to rescue their cars.

[joeyo]

I was also very impressed with my '11 HL Limited's performance in this storm. We got about 17" in my area, and she did great!

[abimom]

The vehicle is only about 10-20% of how it rides. The remaining is the tires. That is what is touching the ground.
My wifes 08 Highlander Sport last year complained that it was all over the place with the stock Toyo tires (worst tire ever). I even took it for a drive in the same area and agreed. Then I took my 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee out in the same area and it was good (not as good as the previous tires that I had on it).
Got new set of different tires for it at the end of last year and no problems in the snow now.
It is the tires that make the difference. I like the Michalin LTX M/S best. Various Toyos on a few different cars were junk.

[sanf]

yea man. when I had my A20.. my HL-S would fishtail out at every turn during snow.

[abimom]

It is not just the Toyos A20.
I had a set of the Michalin LTX M/S on my 94 ZJ that were way beyond the thread wear that did better than a brand new set of Toyo Open Country A/T that Town Fair Tire recommended in the rain and snow.
The vehicle can only do so much (transfer) with hp or torque on your driving conditions, but the tires are what grab the road or dig thru the snow/rain.

[Financeman]

Part of the reason I just purchased an AWD 2011 Highlander was because of the excellent snow and ice performance by the AWD 08 Highlander it replaced. While tire condition is important, the AWD system in the Highlander has always worked well for me..... In fact, I liked AWD so much in the Highlander, I also selected AWD for the new Infiniti G37x I recently leased. Have not yet had the opportunity to compare relative performance of the Infiniti and Toyota....been extremely dry here this winter.

[recurve]

lets456 - thanks for taking the time to test and write about your HL.
A ? about your last paragraph - was the HL moving while the drivers tires were spinning or was the vehicle stuck and spinning tires?

Also how do you turn of the VSC? I can get the Trac to turn off but how about the VSC?
Thanks again

[lets456]

Originally Posted by recurve

lets456 - thanks for taking the time to test and write about your HL.
A ? about your last paragraph - was the HL moving while the drivers tires were spinning or was the vehicle stuck and spinning tires?

Also how do you turn of the VSC? I can get the Trac to turn off but how about the VSC?
Thanks again

The Highlander was moving very slow. I was in some deep snow and stomped on the gas. The wheels spun immediately then I slowly started moving with wheels still spinning. When I started moving a bit further i stopped looking out the window and focused on the road.

To turn off VSC you must be stopped (in park?) and first turn off TC then press again and hold to turn off VSC... You must be stopped, though.


Add: Something interesting happened today. I was in my driveway and as I was reversing I applied the brakes and slid on an ice patch for about 2' or more. I wanted to see what would happen when all 4 wheels were on ice and on an incline. At first the front wheel spun only, I repeated it and only the back wheel spun. Repeated again and both wheels spun. TC did not come on and everytime I was able to move forward through the patch of ice to dry driveway. Possibly the wheels on the opposite side (that I could not see ) were spinning?

[arabianobsession]

^You don't have to be in park to turn off the VSC

[dirtraven1]

My '08 HL did fine in the white stuff, drove around day of the storm too and no problems. Only hiccup was the ABS kicked in on a down sloped street which has black ice at the Stop sign, but it stayed straight and took off without a problem.

My main reason for buying my HL in '08 was due to renting one in Tahoe on a snowboard trip and gotten 5 days worth of blizzards and snowstorms and was amazed how well it handled without tire chains.

Have the Toyo Open Country H/Ts on mine thanks to Toyo replacing my A20s.

[summerwind]

Anyone else use the DAC feature in the snow?

I have a steep hill to go down before I get to the main road.

DAC just walks the HL down the hill with no probables.

Ice is ice however. When the hill ices up we wait for the sander truck