Ranger compared to Subaru in snow

[halligan1201]

Yep, same here. Wife’s Tiguan is on 265/40/20 summer tires and you couldn’t even tell there was snow on the ground

She's got the fancy one lol. My summers are 17 inch wheels, my winter are 16 inch with dedicated winter tires on them.

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[dtech]

When I made my earlier posts it was all based on personal experience with both systems. And yes they both have their positives and negatives. Neither system is 100% perfect.

From my personal experiences, I would go with an all wheel drive Jeep or Subaru if all I wanted was a good year round grocery getter.

I haven't drove my FX4 in any snow or ice yet to see how the terrain management actually works. I do know that the same system worked well on my 2018 Jeep Renegade and 2016 Jeep Cherokee with their all wheel drive system.

It will be interesting to compare the Ruger FX4 to the Jeeps and to my older Ford 4x4 trucks (newest was a 97 F150)

And I am well aware how 4 wheel drive systems work when compared to the Subaru and Jeep AWD systems. The Sugar and Jeep systems are different too.

I dove and worked on every type of wheeled and tracked vehicle in the Army system from late 80's to mid 90's. And to be honest, I would rather drive a HMMV or Deuce and half in snow/ice than a tracked vehicle with non removable rubber track pads. I drove a M88 tracked recovery vehicle, M728 Combat Engineer vehicle (tank with dozer blade), and M60 AVLB (Armored vehicle Launched Bridge). They might have had wide tracks and been heavy (60 tons) but they weren't worth a crap during the winter. And we would have to pull the rubber track shoes off of the M113 armored personnel carriers to get around during the winter.

Reminds me of this guy up in Granby CO some yrs back despite having a TM system he never got the chance to test it's capabilities in the snow. This was the infamous "killdozer" incident, he did mange to take out 13 buildings before they stopped him. Gives new meaning to the phrase "it drives like a tank"

 

[D Fresh]

Reminds me of this guy up in Granby CO some yrs back despite having a TM system he never got the chance to test it's capabilities in the snow. This was the infamous "killdozer" incident, he did mange to take out 13 buildings before they stopped him. Gives new meaning to the phrase "it drives like a tank"

Heemeyer ranks right up there with Kazynski in my book.

Definitely went about proving their points the WRONG way. But really not "wrong" either.

 

[dtech]

there is a book written on this incident, but here is a link that gives a pretty good summary of the rampage and what triggered it. What this has to do with Ford Ranger vs Subaru snow capabilities I can't say I know but looking at the original post I think the 1st 2 or 3 responses was all that was needed, yet here we are, lol

https://www.damninteresting.com/the-wrath-of-the-killdozer/

 

[Montana Ranger]

I'm trying to decide which vehicle to put snow tires on and if it's worth keeping the Subaru.

We have a Subaru Outback that I put snow tires on for the winter. When it's the least bit icy out, that's what we'll take. You really can't beat the combination of full-time AWD and snow tires. During winter, I usually only use my Ranger 4x4 to go skiing and leave the Subaru for my wife. I don't run snow tires on the Ranger, so I drive pretty conservatively when not on dry pavement. Rarely have issues.

 

[Msfitoy]

you're probably better off with the subaru in snow. those vehicles are champions. the Ranger won't be terrible, but it won't be quite as good.

When the snow on the road is 10" +...we'll see which one is better... ?

 

[Dgc333]

Yep, same here. Wife’s Tiguan is on 265/40/20 summer tires and you couldn’t even tell there was snow on the ground

I find that hard to believe. Summer tires turn to hockey pucks when the temperature drops below 40F. The tire manufacturers as well as the auto manufacturers have big warnings not to use them below 40F. People have reported that large chunks of tread will break out and even sitting in the cold the tread can crack

I hadn't changed over to my winter tires yet on my Mustang one October and we got a cold snap and it was 28F when I left for work. When I turned left out of the end of my street the front tires just slid, this was on clean dry pavement at about 10 mph.

 

[the5Gmartian]

I find that hard to believe. Summer tires turn to hockey pucks when the temperature drops below 40F. The tire manufacturers as well as the auto manufacturers have big warnings not to use them below 40F. People have reported that large chunks of tread will break out and even sitting in the cold the tread can crack

I hadn't changed over to my winter tires yet on my Mustang one October and we got a cold snap and it was 28F when I left for work. When I turned left out of the end of my street the front tires just slid, this was on clean dry pavement at about 10 mph.

Did huge chunks of your tires break out as you stated? Im assuming not…and then you’re comparing a rwd mustang to an awd suv with a dedicated snow/ice mode and much, much more advanced traction and stability control. Not sure what you’re trying to prove here lol

 

[mtbikernate]

When the snow on the road is 10" +...we'll see which one is better... ?

even living in snowy places in the past, I didn't see more than 10" of fresh snow on the ground very often.

the deepest snow my wife's subaru has dealt with was less than a mile of snow that topped out at 14" deep, but was probably mostly no more than 10". didn't have problem with clearance because the car is light enough that it rolls on top of most of that snow. I once had a little Toyota hatchback that was much better in the snow than you might otherwise expect because it rode on top of it so well.

 

[Dgc333]

Did huge chunks of your tires break out as you stated? Im assuming not…and then you’re comparing a rwd mustang to an awd suv with a dedicated snow/ice mode and much, much more advanced traction and stability control. Not sure what you’re trying to prove here lol

No, no chunks came out but just sitting in an unheated garage one winter they did develop some cracks in the tread and they were replaced in the spring. Really doesn't make any difference how many nannies you have, when a tire slides on clean dry but cold pavement at 10 mph the tire is not appropriate for the environment. 70% to 80% of your ability to negotiate the road safely, no number of nannies will make up for the wrong tire. FWIW, the Mustang has one of the most advanced traction and stability control systems available on a motor vehicle and it includes a snow mode.

1. If you truly have a summer tire on your Tiguan and think it is acceptable in the snow then your standard for acceptability is very low.
2. Since the Tiguan does not come with summer tires from VW I suspect you have misidentified the all season tires it came with as summer tires.

Summer tires are designed to optimize traction on warm dry pavement they look almost like a slick with several circumferential grooves to let water out. To maximize traction the tread wears very fast, you are lucky to get 15 to 20k miles out of them.

 

[Hawkeye]

Me, OP, is quite amused by this thread coming home from work today. For the record, I don't like driving in snow for a few reasons: I live in the foothills of the Rockies, do lots of mountain driving in the Rockies, have some long commutes via big city in the dark, snow can be blinding, etc. And for the record, I'm quite familiar with how AWD and the Ranger's 4WD systems work and have no problem explaining the basics of both and am willing to change modes, etc.

Driving here isn't just about snow. It's small and steep hills/mountains as well as traffic, snow, slush, ice and dry pavement all within 100-200 ft. of each other, thus the original question but I deliberately left that info out for all around info.

In the past, I had another sizable SUV that was a monster in the snow and I absolutely hated driving in poor weather conditions because of the high center of gravity. Probably the most popular vehicle of it's type and I was frankly, scare as s@#* to drive it in snow. Had a 2014 Jeep Cherokee for years that was fantastic in snow conditions.

I will go with what I said many years ago...I will always have a Subaru or Jeep in my garage. So now I have a Forester and a Ranger that I can pick and chose from. Either for weather conditions and the Ranger for towing.

Thank you all for the mostly thoughtful and sometimes rather humorous comments.

 

[Cabose-1]

Me, OP, is quite amused by this thread coming home from work today. For the record, I don't like driving in snow for a few reasons: I live in the foothills of the Rockies, do lots of mountain driving in the Rockies, have some long commutes via big city in the dark, snow can be blinding, etc. And for the record, I'm quite familiar with how AWD and the Ranger's 4WD systems work and have no problem explaining the basics of both and am willing to change modes, etc.

Driving here isn't just about snow. It's small and steep hills/mountains as well as traffic, snow, slush, ice and dry pavement all within 100-200 ft. of each other, thus the original question but I deliberately left that info out for all around info.

In the past, I had another sizable SUV that was a monster in the snow and I absolutely hated driving in poor weather conditions because of the high center of gravity. Probably the most popular vehicle of it's type and I was frankly, scare as s@#* to drive it in snow. Had a 2014 Jeep Cherokee for years that was fantastic in snow conditions.

I will go with what I said many years ago...I will always have a Subaru or Jeep in my garage. So now I have a Forester and a Ranger that I can pick and chose from. Either for weather conditions and the Ranger for towing.

Thank you all for the mostly thoughtful and sometimes rather humorous comments.

Your welcome haha, free entertainment, i live in south texas, where it doesn't snow, except for when it snows. Then Armageddon hits and the apocalypse at the same time. And we close, and hopefully dont die, because its below 60 degrees. And the power goes out, and its ice age with the funny squirrel dinosaur. And we turn on our cars for 3 hours to warm them up because its below 50 degrees.
I grew up in ft collins. 1975 to 1990 so yeah, seen snow and cold.
But south texas.....

 

[mtbikernate]

But south texas.....

I lived in E. TX for a few years. I remember the day that snowmen outnumbered human beings in town. That was a fun day. A couple inches of snow and the whole county shut down more than when hurricane Ike rolled through.

 

[erty176]

For OP: I didn't see this linked anywhere, but I found it useful when I was buying a truck. Vague information, but these guys do a pretty good job of presenting it.

 

[JimJa]

I live 6 miles from a paved road in NW Wyoming. We got dumped on last week, about 4 feet worth. Much of the time it was true white out conditions and unsafe to drive. Many folks refuse to drive it instead using their snowmobile to the parking lot and drive the remaining 3 miles to the highway. There is also a 10% grade a 1/2 mile long to traverse IOT get to the highway. That 6 miles is always 100% snow covered ond/or packed all winter.

Subbie. Although I have no experience there are several owners here and they love their cars and would never buy anything else. Always have VERY POSITIVE comments about their car in snow.

'17 Escape AWD w/snow tires. No problem. Feels planted and secure in snow up to 12-14" (remember the snow in the west is light with low moisture, unlike the heavy, wet snow of the east)

'18 Focus RS w/snow tires. Again, not problem (it's totally the tires). Ground clearance is an issue with deep snow.

'19 Ranger w/OEM tires, about 1/2 tread. Unexpectedly very good in snow, much better than expected. Doesn't seem to miss a beat in this last snow storm and excellent on that step hill. New forthcoming model will have 4A which is the very best for our kind of winters. Clutch pack in transfer case keeps about 35% of power to front at all times and can be driven on hard pavement for those times when snow on the road is patchy.

Didn't read all the posts but did not see the Ridgeline mentioned. Torque vectoring has to be great for snow with added benefit of a bed. Would be great with the higher clearance option and snow tires.

Out here, those coming from the likes of CA or southern states quickly find their wide aggressive tires are great for rocks and the desert, but next to worthless in deep snow.

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