The judging is in and there's no doubt about the TCH snow performance. The Seattle area had some snow and ice this morning. My wife set out in our TCH with our son, I followed in our Honda Odessey with our daughter. My wife made it out of our neighborhood, I did not. My wife said the TCH VDIM intervened, so sliding was minimized; I was sliding sideways towards the bus shelter despite the Odessey's traction control.

I'll be taking the TCH for skiing, not the Odessey. Heck, I can even get the skis into the car! Every day, I am more and more pleased with my TCH purchase.

 

Wow - my experience here in Colorado is just the opposite - I won't be taking mine anywhere in the snow unless I have to....luckily we also have an Explorer. Toyota completely failed in not allowing a method of turning off the traction control.

I go stuck in a patch of snow only about 8" deep and 3' wide backing out of a parking space this past week. Any normal front wheel drive would have been able to start rocking the vehicle to make it over the hump and/or power out of it - not the TCH - no power or even movement of any kind because of the stupid traction control and you can even floor it and the wheels will do nothing.....they systems shuts down the tires from any type of spinning. Sometimes you need power rather than finesse - and TCH completely fails the test - I do not consider this vehicle good in snow deeper than a 3-4 inches - it may be just fine from keeping you sliding and it's not bad on ice - but if it gets into some deeper stuff and it bogs down - start shoveling - as I now carry kitty litter and a shovel....

 

We didn't have snow here yet, so no personal experience , but fair is fair, with 8" of snow and 6" car clearance you hang the chassis on the snow and no wonder the car wouldn't want to go anywhere. Comparing TCH to Explorer is not fair since Ford is SUV and made to drive off road with higher clearance and possibly 4 wheel drive, which can really make difference if the front is on slippery road and rear is in the clear, albeit I do agree TCH should have over ride for traction control for those special conditions where computer control just won't work.

 

It sounds like Toyota needs to re-program the VDIM to allow for more wheel spin when the vehicle speed is stopped. If they did, a firmware update would greatly improve drivablility.

With the electirc motors, I'm not sure the TCH can allow for a complete VDIM override button. The traction motor could easily rev past safe limits if no traction is present or is suddenly lost. It would make sense for a button to be able to tell the system that a "modest" amount of wheel spin - aka differential speed between the front wheels - is allowable.

I hope Toyota is listening!

 

A few days ago I parked in an unplowed parking spot. It was a few inches deep but to get in and out I had to crash through a plowed up ridge of snow about 18" high. I had no problems but I was using my new snow tires.

 

I've read other threads about the TCH VDIM going bonkers and not allowing the car to move. So far, I have not experinced that (knock on wood.) Then again, I've never floored any car whist driving in the snow.

I had a Nissan p/u 4x4 many years ago, and the Toyota VDIM seems (subjective, I know) to control the TCH better than the Nissan p/u with four chains. I was never impressed with the Nissan p/u snow and ice handling, even with chains at all four wheels. Then again, I live in the Seattle area and am not subjected to snow more than a few days every year.

 

Trying to spin your way out of getting stuck doesn't appear to be a good idea. If your tires don't have enough traction, you're not getting full power to the ground either way. Either you break traction and your tires spin or the car disconnects power further upstream. The latter is better for the car and for maintaining control.

There are plenty of articles suggesting that spinning your tires is a bad idea:

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF5/534.html

 

I have had the VDIM activate a couple of times on ice, and I am very pleased and impressed.

 

Lilarienne,

How do you know when the VDIM is activated? I saw a ``slipery'' sign at the lower right-hand corner of the instrument panel flashing a couple of times yesterday when I was driving on a sheet of snow/ice. Was that it? I should add that the car was always in control, even when the sign came on.

Thanks.

PS: Come to think of, the car manual must have some explanation about the sign. If only I can find the manual ...

 

Yes, that little slippery road symbol in the lower right corner.