Help me find the next vehicle for my wife...

[TurboMinivan]

I have not intentionally chosen to not do anything yet.

I just wanted to know there was something before I was digging through snow to find it.

Sounds perfectly logical to me.

Just so you know: in the tool kit with the jack is a shiny silver screw-in tow hook eyelet thingy. There is a small plastic removable cap on each bumper (rear left, front right) which reveals a threaded hole. Pop the cap, screw in the eyelet, attach a strap, and presto.

That is one of the reasons I went with the Outback, there is a video showing those others not able to give the rear wheels enough power. However, they didn't show a RAV4 with the center diff locked, and I think I learned later that a couple others had that option too.

One of these days when we have a RAV4 in stock (actually, we have one now) I'm going to take it to a dirt hill and try a stop-n-go climb test with the diff unlocked and then locked. I want to see if locking it will actually send enough torque to climb the hill. (I've already tried it personally in a RAV4 without the diff lock feature, and I verified the diff can't send torque rearward in that scenario.)

I told my mom that if there is snow on the road up there to push the center-diff button. Seems to work. Score one for driving. And for the same reason, my wife prefers the Outback and not having to push a button. Score one for happy wife.

Sounds like a win-win.

You can pass this on to the marketing dept:

Bottom line is their older Subi's make it just fine and the new ones don't and they can't find a button to turn the nanny-mode off.

I want to talk to you in greater depth about this. I am genuinely curious. (BTW, simply pressing 'VDC off' in your car will make it functionally equivalent to any pre-2008 Subaru with Active AWD.)

nanny traction control stuff SUCKS on the 2012 Jeeps as well. ... I think that shit is insurance company mandated, so I think we are screwed

Nope--this is the federal government at work. They are the ones that mandated electronic stability control for all cars, and this requirement was fallout from the entire Ford Explorer/Firestone debacle. FYI

 

[Bart]

For the winter I'd rather have a fwd with snow tires than an awd with all seasons. My honda civics with snow tires do extremely well on paved roads with snow.

Interesting. I am just the opposite. The last fwd car we had was an Audi A3 wagon and I didn't feel it was good enough in the winter unless I had a separate set of studded snow tires for it. This was based on driving my kids to ski races for years in all types of weather and road conditions. There were a few days a year where the fwd with all season tires didn't cut it, but the studs did. I got to the point where I didn't like having an extra set of tires around so the awd fit the bill better.

 

[Greg]

100% agree. Funny because when we recently went through this same thing with my wife, I pretty much told her she had an unlimited budget, get what she's happy with. She was convinced she wanted a small SUV (she was coming from a Landrover LR3). After driving a ton of different vehicles, she drove a Lexus IS 250 F Sport AWD. Fell in love. The AWD in that car does amazing. The reliability of the Lexus is a good thing, I'm thrilled with her choice.

Good to hear, hard to beat the feel of the interior that a Lexus provides! I think that's one of the biggest things she fell in love with, the high-end feel of the inside. The AWD will be plenty for her and a big step up from her current front wheel drive car.

 

[Maverick]

Just so you know: in the tool kit with the jack is a shiny silver screw-in tow hook eyelet thingy. There is a small plastic removable cap on each bumper (rear left, front right) which reveals a threaded hole. Pop the cap, screw in the eyelet, attach a strap, and presto.

Ah, good to know. I don't think ours is installed. I'll check it out.

One of these days when we have a RAV4 in stock (actually, we have one now) I'm going to take it to a dirt hill and try a stop-n-go climb test with the diff unlocked and then locked. I want to see if locking it will actually send enough torque to climb the hill. (I've already tried it personally in a RAV4 without the diff lock feature, and I verified the diff can't send torque rearward in that scenario.)

That would be interesting.

I want to talk to you in greater depth about this. I am genuinely curious. (BTW, simply pressing 'VDC off' in your car will make it functionally equivalent to any pre-2008 Subaru with Active AWD.)

I sent you a pm on fb.