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This morning was the first morning I drove my Terrain in winter/snow/icy conditions. I nearly spun out, backing out of my driveway. Had maybe 3 inches of snow overnight. My old Escape would have driven down the driveway like nothin'. I wasn't going fast but go to a point where I could tell that if I kept driving backwards, I'd have started to spin (terrible traction), so I had to go forward and drive out the side of my driveway. So much for AWD.
My Terrain came with new Michelin Lattitude Tour (supposedly All Season) tires, which I did think were crap compared to the great "all weather" Nokian tires I had on my Escape. The Michelin's didn't strike me, judging by the tread design, to be good in snow. I argued with the salesman about it, in fact, telling him that part of the deal to buy I wanted them to replace the tires with something comparable to my Nokians. He told me they couldn't do that. Had the Nokians on my Escape (traded it in) been the same size, I'd have seriously had them do a swap (even if NOkians were nearing 2 years old). I have an order in for the Nokians but it could be weeks before they come in (on back order).
It was a white-knuckle drive on the highway into work. I felt I had really lousy control on the icy/snow-covered highway. Like night and day compared to my Escape. I remembered the "traction control" thingmabob and I turned it on for the drive home. It was a super slow drive so not terribly sure if it made a big difference (I did see it come on twice; the little light shows up on the dash when it's engaged)
All I can say is that driving the Terrain was nothing like driving my Escape. I rarely put my Escape into 4WD, and even when it wasn't, winter driving was a breeze and I always felt secure and like I had good control. I surely didn't feel that way today in my Terrain. How does a person even know when AWD is working? (if it needs to)
Does the Traction Control feature really make a difference with wheel spin or is it more just kind of a gimmick?
My Terrain came with new Michelin Lattitude Tour (supposedly All Season) tires, which I did think were crap compared to the great "all weather" Nokian tires I had on my Escape. The Michelin's didn't strike me, judging by the tread design, to be good in snow. I argued with the salesman about it, in fact, telling him that part of the deal to buy I wanted them to replace the tires with something comparable to my Nokians. He told me they couldn't do that. Had the Nokians on my Escape (traded it in) been the same size, I'd have seriously had them do a swap (even if NOkians were nearing 2 years old). I have an order in for the Nokians but it could be weeks before they come in (on back order).
It was a white-knuckle drive on the highway into work. I felt I had really lousy control on the icy/snow-covered highway. Like night and day compared to my Escape. I remembered the "traction control" thingmabob and I turned it on for the drive home. It was a super slow drive so not terribly sure if it made a big difference (I did see it come on twice; the little light shows up on the dash when it's engaged)
All I can say is that driving the Terrain was nothing like driving my Escape. I rarely put my Escape into 4WD, and even when it wasn't, winter driving was a breeze and I always felt secure and like I had good control. I surely didn't feel that way today in my Terrain. How does a person even know when AWD is working? (if it needs to)
Does the Traction Control feature really make a difference with wheel spin or is it more just kind of a gimmick?
We got nearly 3 inches of snow the week I picked up my Nox, and I marvelled at how much better it was than the Mazda 6 that I drove previously. "traction control" (not the same as stabilitrac) limits one wheel spinning faster than the other, but doesn't really help when both wheels lose traction equally....you shouldn't have had a problem with AWD though. ???
