Sierra Nevada - Touring's first snow drive

local road in the morning

Downhill at Tahoe Donner

Highway 89 from Truckee to Squaw Valley, about 50 mph

and in some heavy snow - Squaw Valley Road

eagle63 said:

Michal - If you have experience with other SUV's, how does the Pilot handle the snow/ice in comparison? I'm shopping for an SUV and live in a snowy climate. The Pilot is on my short list, but I read some negative things about the VT-M 4wd system the Pilot has. It was on a Toyota site, so it could have just been fanboy-ism, but nevertheless a good 4wd system is important to me. Thanks! (nice pics by the way)

eagle

Click to expand...

Eagle -
The only experience I have with SUV is my previous (last 8 years) Honda CRV AWD... It is a veteran of many skiing trips and it performed without any problem. I put well over 230k on the car. I was very happy in snow or ice conditions. It performs a bit differently than Pilot and I think it is due to it's weight. I think the light weight might be an advantage or disadvantage depending on conditions. Going over the snow or plowing through it...
I just posted my skidding experience o another thread you may be interested in
http://www.piloteers.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=326211#post326211
Bear in mind that my snow experience in the last 20 years is limited to my ski trips to Sierra Nevada... It is not every day snow driving. I used to drive in heavy winter conditions every day and night many years ago but in totally different cars. The technology advanced significantly... I wouldn't attempt to compare Honda to Toyota 4WD capabilities because I don't know enough.
However I need to point out that Pilot is much, much cooler than anything else. No bias of course :2:
I am sure there will be others with more Toyota vs Honda experience...

M :4: