Hi ,
I am seriously considering the purchase of a HiHy awd. Since I live in Colorado I was wondering on how well the vehicle performs in icy and snowy conditions. I would be using it for skiing on the weekends so I am very interested in how it handles on the mountain passes in the winter. Anyone in the Denver area have any comments. Also, what is Toyotas definition of off road. My street is unpaved (but maintained) as is my driveway.
Thanks
Andy

 

I live in CO and love our 400h 4WD.

 

I am really miffed. We finally got some snow in MN. This weekend I found out that my wife's $36,000 2007 Highlander Hybrid Limited is 100% absolutely useless in powder snow. This thing will leave you stranded!!!! Do not buy one of these if you will ever need to drive in snow!!! I knew from reading the owner's manual that the Highlander Hybrid is not to be considered an off-road vehicle. And I used to be OK with that, that's why I have a Chevy Silverado 4WD and it's awesome in deep snow. But this weekend I pulled that Highlander Hybrid into a parking lot that had about 8" of medium-weight snow (not fluffy, but not slushy either, good snowball making snow). And the vehicle instantly came to a complete stop!! Stepping on the gas pedal had NO EFFECT. The engine will not rev up, no power is applied to the wheels, and it just sits there like a freaking boat anchor!! What a horrible piece of crap!! This vehicle will leave you stranded if you ever try to drive in anything that will cause wheel slippage such as medium depth snow, loose sand, gravel, etc. In such a situation small 2WD drive cars would be able to keep going and you will be left stranded in your nearly $40,000 piece of Toyota crap!! I just called the service manager at the Toyota dealer and complained and she said "But it's unusual to drive one of these in 8" of snow". DUH!! Our cul-de-sac often has that much snow in the event of one of our increasingly rare MN snowfalls. These things need to have a mode where you can shut off the Traction Control system, even if that puts you only into front-wheel-drive-only mode. Unfortunately that mode is missing. Possibly the only way to make this thing go through snow is to have a lot of momentum and never ever slow down. It is very misleading to call this thing a "4WD" of any kind.

 

I live off of a county gravel/dirt road that is only maintained when the school bus drivers complain - meaning we don't get plowed until they are ready to start school again, or the pot-holes and mud is too difficult for the buses to get through that they then come and regrade (no more gravel or rocks, just regrade...). I also own my own road which is about 1/4 mile long that I have to grade/plow, and then the driveway is uphill to the house. With 6 inches of sleet one week and 7 inches of very wet snow the next week, I was able to get out and back (before I got around to plowing my road and driveway) with no problem. With the HiHy you just have to take it gentle and you will get through. You can't assume, "locked" 4WD and gun it to charge on. During my trips to work with these past few storms - I made it in with no problems, while I found multiple "super" 4WD SUV's, laying on sides, in ditches and a few on their roofs....

Oh, and I didn't even get a scratch....

 

Andybl,
I live in Colorado Springs, and I've had my Lexus RX400h, which is the cousin of the HiHy, for this entire Winter season. Since you live in Colorado, you know the amount of snow we have had this year. I have been out in all of it, and the 400h has worked great in my book. I have never gotten stuck (even though I went through some areas where some other SUV's were stuck), and it has been sure-footed on ice - like we had last night! The rear wheel drive kicks in when it needs to automatically and seemlessly. The ABS brakes work well. I can't say much about the traction control because it only kicked in very briefly a couple of times.

If you want something that will go through the tallest snow, you should probably look at a Hummer - and pay for the gas. If you want something that is the most sure-footed on ice, I'd get an Audi Quatto. My other vehicle is an Audi A6, and I would say it is a little better on ice than the 400h. But if you want an SUV that gets around 26 miles to the gallon, can go through the snow that we have had this year, works well on ice, then the HiHy or 400h is your only option.

Also, since you live in Colorado, check out the State Income Tax Credit. I got a $3,443 tax credit on my Colorado Tax Return, in addition to the Federal Income Tax Credit. Note though that the Federal Tax Credit is limited by the Alternate Minimum Tax, if you owe that. But since the rules and timeframes keep changing, check to see what the situation is now before counting on the credit as part of your decision process.

Also, when the EPA came out with new miles per gallon numbers, everyone was expecting the hybrids to go down. But all the models went down. So relatively speaking, the hybrids still have the same advantage over the other vehicles as they did before the revision in mileage.

Good luck on your decision. I think if you ask HiHy and 400h owners if would they buy their vehicle again if they had to decide again, over 90% would say yes. But there is that 10% that is unhappy.

 

Look at the Ford Escape Hybrid or the Mercury Mariner Hybrid.

Of course Toyota people are going to tell you they are crap, but there are a lot of people (including myself) who are very happy with their SUV's performance.

You can see video of people off roading and many testimonies of people who are amazed how well it goes in the snow.

My Mariner 4wd parted the snow as it drove up my driveway. The snow was up to the bottom of the door (I pushed the snow as I opened the door).

People will rag and complain that it is a Ford, but it has a Mazda engine and the transmission is made by the same company that makes Toyota transmissions.

Just my 2 cents.

And Toy owners, you are better than me, you win. Please no flaming . I have the right to post here and you don’t have to read this.

I got threats for posting in the Toyota forum and that is unacceptable. Learn to be nice. I am posting about a car, not your mother, it's not personal........

 

How dare you talk about my mother?!?!?!?

 

My concern with the Ford is not quality, I have a 92 explorer with 220,000 miles on it which has cost me less than $500.00 over its life in repairs (I plan on keeping it) . My cocer its about power. I have heard it is underpowered for mountain driving here in COLO. Still I would test dirve one if there was a dealer in the Denver - Colo Spgs area tht has one. There are none to be found.

 

We got another 11" of snow yesterday, even deeper in places where it blew, and much deeper at the entrances to some of the unplowed parking lots due to a snow plow drift. Last night I did some more testing, purposely trying to get the HiHy stuck. Bottom line is if you can keep the thing moving you will be alright. Keep momentum going. If for some reason you get stopped in deep snow, the thing will not let you scratch your way out due to the hyperactive traction control system; in such a case it acts like it's dead. The HiHy has tons of horsepower, but it will not allow you to apply it in a low-traction situation. I still wish it had a switch to turn off the traction control. This morning the snow was even deeper and just for comparison I went into some bad places with my Chevy Silverado 4x4. The difference is dramatic. For real 4-wheeling there are lots of times you need horsepower and wheel spin to get through, especially when you must navigate a corner or around an obstacle in deep snow. A real 4x4 will let you build engine rpms and with wheel spin throw snow (or mud) like crazy. The HiHy will have none of that. So its 4-wheeling capability I give a grade of C compared to a 4x4 SUV on which you can turn off traction control. For all other purposes as an SUV with 7-passenger capability and pretty good gas mileage I give the HiHY an A. If I lived in CO and wanted an SUV that is capable of getting to the ski areas, 90% of the time you will be OK. I would buy a set of tire cables that you can put on if the conditions get really bad, and then I think you would be OK for 95% of situations.

 

the highlander hybrid 4x4 is perfect on slippery roads, or roads with up to a couple feet of snow. the stability control makes it almost impossible to slip off the road, however, if you bring your hihy into more than a couple feet of snow, it will stop dead in its tracks.