AWD at snow

[Lacomme]

Hi there!

As you may know, here in EU is Dodge Journey known as Fiat Freemont (almost identical - only badges and front grill is different), Freemont is offering 4 engines - 2.4 L4 gasoline (125kW/170hp 6°A/T), 2.0 L4 diesel (103kW/140hp MT or 125kW/170hp version with AWD/AT availiable) and excellent 3.6 V6 Pentastar AWD A/T only.

Thats just for your imagination.

So, what's the point in this thread?

I would like to know, how Journey behaves in snow, it should be just fine, Journey uses Jeep's ECC Freedom Drive I or II, I doesn't exactly remember which version, and according to my friends (who owns 2.0 AWD and 3.6 V6), Freemont/Journey behaves surprisingly well, definitely better than Honda's real-time AWD.

And because my familly is considering buying of CUV - Freemont, Honda CR-V or Mazda CX-5, and because we doesn't have plenty of snow here this winter (unlike You at US/Canada), could somebody make a short vid with Journey at snow - Slight uphill starts, stars at few inches at snow, doughnuts maybe - not necessarily that last one :-)

I could only find these two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMCcsd73AQU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbD5ZkK74iY

Thanks for everything!

[dethdeks]

i dont have any video's but i can say from experience (i have a 3.5l awd with factor 19" wheels) it handles extremely well in the snow/ice. it loves it. and if you turn off traction control you can have lots of fun drifting and doing donuts with it.

[davidlb512]

I have a 2011 AWD R/T with factory 19" wheels, and factory Kumho's, and untreated roads covered in ice that we've had here in Birmingham, haven't fazed the R/T a single time. I drove all over the place, when the vast majority of people were stranded at home, or the side of the road. I actually was able to help lots of people eat, drink, get home, or get back to their cars that they had to leave in the roads.

[bramfrank]

My experience is that the majority of winter handling comparisons are expressions of a drivers' ability to deal with winter conditions, moreso than issues related to the vehicle itself;

You have the usual 4 wheels, 2 (or 4) of which are driven. You have GREAT clearance with the Journey, as compared with standard cars. Weight distribution can be an issue, as can tire design. But there is very little differentiation between one example of a model and another, except for tires and wear - yet we see people who do well in snow and others who do not in supposedly almost identical situations driving similarly configured vehicles.

In my venue they've been scraping the snow down to pavement on all but rural roads for decades and, until it was legislated, I never bothered with snow tires and NEVER had any issues myself - and I'm not the type that stays home just because 10" or 15" of snow is in the process of falling . . .

Press the gas and brake gently and wheelspin will be minimised - the traction control in the Journey works in part by reducing power to eliminate wheelspin, so if you push it hard what happens is that you are pressing on the gas and the engine slows down to compensate..

I like to recount the story of my ex sister in law who couldn't get out of the driveway with OEM tires at the country house and blamed me, so I drove the vehicle out and bought snow tires. The next day she came in ranting that 'the car did it again'. I pointed out that first of all, when she gave up the previous day I simply drove up the driveway - and explained that I bought snow tires, yet she still managed to get stuck in the exact same place and I had again gone out and simply drove up the driveway . . . . and that the only person who had issues of this sort was her and that even $1200 in new tires didn't help her.

It is very often the driver and not the vehicle.

When we drive up to the ski hills I've noticed that the vehicles most often sitting in ditches, having slid off the road are AWD vehicles driven by people who simply can't properly handle a vehicle in difficult conditions. Snow tires IMO tend to embolden bad drivers into exceeding their limited skills.

In the end my ex sister in law did take a winter driving course and is much improved.

Edited February 22, 2014 by bramfrank

[cmann19023]

I have a 2013 R/T I live in Philadelphia and this year we got a lot of snow and ice. I am very impressed with the way the car handled I have the factory wheels and tires everything was amazing in the snow. I always turn the traction control off so I can have more fun. My wife leaves it on but that's the difference between a man and a woman lol.