Ranger compared to Subaru in snow

[Wes Siler]

From a stop on an icy driveway, my truck wouldn't make it up on 2WD. Try 4H; traction control nannied it. Turned off traction control. Now just spinning wheels and sliding down the driveway backwards. Put it in 4L, truck walked right up the driveway.

And there we go, by discussing actual function we get a best practice.

The thing that helped you there was that switching to 4l disables your on road, safety focussed traction control. You could complete that same obstacle again simply by pushing the traction control off button in 4H, or using one of the terrain modes, which repurpose traction control for capability.

This is important knowledge. Let's say you encounter some deep snow, which is an obstacle everyone seem to agree crossovers can't handle. (The reason for that is traction, not clearance, which is an irrelevant number.) How do you handle it? Either with TC off or in a mode. Congrats, you just empowered yourself and other forum users to get more from their trucks.

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[D Fresh]

And there we go, by discussing actual function we get a best practice.

The thing that helped you there was that switching to 4l disables your on road, safety focussed traction control. You could complete that same obstacle again simply by pushing the traction control off button in 4H, or using one of the terrain modes, which repurpose traction control for capability.

This is important knowledge. Let's say you encounter some deep snow, which is an obstacle everyone seem to agree crossovers can't handle. (The reason for that is traction, not clearance, which is an irrelevant number.) How do you handle it? Either with TC off or in a mode. Congrats, you just empowered yourself and other forum users to get more from their trucks.

Do you ever hurt your arm parting yourself on the back?


This entire discussion is about which is better in the snow FOR THE OP. The OP has stated that he hates driving in the snow. The OP doesn't strike me as a person who is comfortable setting up his Ranger's tech for the task at hand. They strike me as a person who simply wants the simplest, most drama free, way to commute snowy/ice roads.

Which is why everybody here answered, Subaru.

 

[Blmpkn]

Subaru, no question about it.

 

[Wes Siler]

Do you ever hurt your arm parting yourself on the back?


This entire discussion is about which is better in the snow FOR THE OP. The OP has stated that he hates driving in the snow. The OP doesn't strike me as a person who is comfortable setting up his Ranger's tech for the task at hand. They strike me as a person who simply wants the simplest, most drama free, way to commute snowy/ice roads.

Which is why everybody here answered, Subaru.

Wouldn't a more empowering message be: Hey, that Subaru may require zero thought, but if you take a few minutes to learn how your awesome new Ranger works, it can actually provide way more traction!

 

[silverflash]

Wouldn't a more empowering message be: Hey, that Subaru may require zero thought, but if you take a few minutes to learn how your awesome new Ranger works, it can actually provide way more traction!

i appreciate your insight/experience Wes. I will make sure that I use the TM button more so than the 4hi button/along with TC button. Seems to me that is the way to go for situations I may be in.

 

[D Fresh]

Wouldn't a more empowering message be: Hey, that Subaru may require zero thought, but if you take a few minutes to learn how your awesome new Ranger works, it can actually provide way more traction!

A more empowering message?

Maybe if it didn't start with "none of you know anything about how things work, let me tell you how dumb you are."


Seriously, you can't claim to try to be empowering folks at the same time you're calling them stupid. It just doesn't work that way.

 

[D Fresh]

i appreciate your insight/experience Wes. I will make sure that I use the TM button more so than the 4hi button/along with TC button. Seems to me that is the way to go for situations I may be in.

FYI, no tow mode available in "snow" setting if you like it's shift pattern.

 

[VAMike]

All I'm asking you guys here is to learn how the systems you're advocating for actually work.

What's weird is, you seem to be assuming that you're the only one who does. ?‍

 

[dtech]

someone's been spending way too much time Outside in the sun, and I'm wasting too much time reading this thread.

 

[dtech]

I'm going to re-label my TM button with one that has TZ lettering and plays this thru the sound system:

You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.

 

[Cabose-1]

I see lots of discussion on cvt, torsion, power distribution, 4lo, 4hi, clutches, good, good, hehe
Let discussion on strengths and weaknes of 4x4s and awd vehicles flow......

Ive never been stuck in a duece and a half(6x6, pneumatic lockers axles dragging in the mud, gas tanks on the an inch of the ground)
Or army hummv, payload and tow capacity up the wazzu( anyone need an aa gun??), but horrible daily driver!! Cant do 55 barely on the expressway!!
They are 4x4(or 6x6) is that all thats needed?
My uncle has a ford f150 4x4, no skid plates, special shocks, no at tires, no tow hooks, no locking diffs, or diff, no goat modes, barely has abs, or even traction control,

But its 4x4, thats all we need for snow right?

More to a 4x4, or awd system. Depending on vehicle.

Glad the comparisons of different models has come to the discussion table.
So the op can see the differences do homework and see what he needs or wants or both. It can get confusing with so many options

 

[Wes Siler]

FYI, no tow mode available in "snow" setting if you like it's shift pattern.

The various modes all include their own unique throttle maps and shift points. You don't need to be in the mode that corresponds with the conditions, you just need to be in a mode, any mode, to take advantage of the system.

 

[Sapo]

Interesting info about the Subaru’s performance in snow. I bought our preowned 2019 Ranger Lariat 4WD a couple of months ago to help deal with the snowy winters here in Northern New Mexic and now I’m thinking that I should have bought a Subaru instead. We haven’t had much snow this year so the Ranger hasn’t been tested.

 

[12Bravo20]

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 Ranger 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 Subaru 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.

 

[the5Gmartian]

My Tiguan smokes my Ranger on snow and ice covered roads. I haven't been into anything deep enough yet this year to allow the Ranger's clearance to come into play yet. We had an ice storm this weekend and the Ranger wouldn't go up my ice covered asphalt driveway without being in 4L. My Tiguan went in and out of the driveway all weekend without issue (and it's still wearing it's summer tires).

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

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