TitanNine wrote:
We just got 2-4 inches of snow in Chicago, and they are out plowing the main roads. The secondary road to my sub-division has a decent incline, and it unplowed. There was a RAV4 in front of me struggling, inching along. I gave him about 5 minutes to make it up the incline, then I started, no problem at all, passed him up, and the Jeep handles like I was on dry pavement! Love the Jeep so far in the snow!!!
RAV4's are NOT 4x4 vehicles. They are minivans in 4x4 guise. I know, My wife has one. She HATES driving it in the snow, it handles horribly. Oh, it has a "4x4" electronic switch. Basically puts it into "all wheel drive" mode. Good until you crest 20mph (IE: you leave 1st gear), then it switches off. So it's basically good for getting out of a parking spot or getting started in deep snow, and that's it.
Likely the RAV owner knew this, and didn't want to leave first gear for fear of getting stuck. Thus the ridiculously slow ascent.