This winter has been a great one snow-wise here in Colorado. While the FJC has been relegated to my DD for the season, I thought I would share my impressions of it in the snow. I feel pretty qualified to evaluate a vehicle based on winter conditions since I grew up driving in snow in a region where roads are primarily snow packed for the majority of a winter and have driven through some of the worst imaginable winter driving conditions due to where I live, travel, and my occupation in the ski industry.
What makes for a good winter driver? Predictable handling is a major one. Wheelbase determines a trucks stability and predictability. The longer the wheelbase, the slower the rear end steps out, the shorter it is, the quicker. A TJ Wrangler has a fairly twitchy personality in snow driving since it rotates so quickly when the rear end looses traction, over say a Land Cruiser wagon.
Another important factor is the vehicle's ability to put down traction while both traveling straight and turning. Fulltime 4wd and AWD systems make for a more seamless application of torque to the wheels when not going straight. The nature of a 4wd vehicles front and rear axles binding as they turn can cause a traditional 4wd to break traction, usually at the front end in tight turning situations.
Some other minor factors come into play as well which I will discuss along with my observations of the FJC.
A night's snow in Minturn.
First off, to clarify, my FJC is part time 4wd since it is an auto tranny. The manual tranny has a fulltime 4wd system and I have not had time behind the wheel of that to make any judgements. The auto was preferred for me since it gets better economy on the highway, primarily due to running in 2wd versus AWD. It also allows me to cheat the gearing a bit in technical offroad situations and really creep slowly when needed.
Overall I would rate the FJC as OK in snow driving conditions. Here is why. First off, the big thing that I greatly dislike is TRAC. It is the standard operating traction control that is default when the vehicle is in 2wd. It can't be switched off. It is not to be confused with ATRAC which is the system that can be engaged in 4wd high and low which is a fairly good traction control system in situations where you may loose tire contact on an axle. TRAC is intruding, abrupt, and entirely terrible. When it detects rear wheel slip, abruptly cuts engine power while using the ABS to try to keep the car from sliding. ATRAC doesn't cut engine power, just uses ABS to help simulate a locker. Why I hate it is that it takes the fun out of driving in 2wd, if you know what I mean and it makes the vehicle practically useless in 2wd in snow. Trying to back out of my driveway from a stop I can't get the vehicle moving because it will cut throttle if the tires slip at all. I find this incredibly frustrating and unnecessary. When you do try to get the vehicle to slide the rear end with throttle while moving it shuts down all the fun quickly but abruptly cutting the power and braking, which makes for a rather jerky sensation. I personally can't stand electronic nannies that are trying to keep me safe when in fact they affect the handling and performance of the vehicle itself. It would be great for it to be defeatable.
In 4wd the truck performs pretty well. Even though it shows VSC as OFF on the dash, when you mash the throttle and say try to crank some donuts, you can feel traction control trying to step in. It is less invasive in 4wd and you can actually slide the vehicle around and rotate it, but it does make it a touch harder. Being the consummate rally enthusiast I am, I want to be in full control of the vehicle's attitude with just the steering wheel, throttle, and brakes. Computers... no thanks. I have messed around with ATRAC on snow and ice in low speed situations and while I was impressed in wet and dry summer conditions with it, it isn't as effective in low friction situations. Engaging the rear locker is more effective. This really became evident when I had to tow a 15 passenger van with a trailer out of snow on the streets of Aspen and once in Winter Park during some heavy snow. ATRAC got me no where, but with the rear diff lock engaged I was able to pull the vans out onto the street.
One of the biggest contributors to traction in the snow is tire selection. For this vehicle I tried the Good Year Duratracs for the first time. The siped lugs looked to be alot more enticing in the snow than my alternative, the BFG AT. I have spent alot of time with BFG's in the snow, they aren't all that great. I find the Duratracs to be much better in snow and ice along with being better in sloppy mud in the summer than the BFG AT's. So I am happy. It seems that the wear rate is a bit faster on the Good Years though, so it comes as a tradeoff.
The FJC's wheelbase of 105" is a bit on the short side. While it makes for great maneuverability and the ability to tackle tougher obstacles with less lift and tire size, it does make it a touch less stable than say an 80 series Land Cruiser that sports 111" of wheelbase. I think an 80 series (or 100 series for that matter) is a much more seamless vehicle in the snow due to its great fulltime 4wd system. You can still steer it with throttle, drift it, etc, but it puts the power down nicely and you don't have to worry about shifting to 4wd to prevent the vehicle from trying to swap ends. I find myself using 4wd more than I normally would like with the FJC just because I don't trust the TRAC system on the highway since it isn't intuitive to the driver in the way it tries to correct a slide where I feel I could easily steer out of something in a normal vehicle, the FJC doesn't allow me to do that.
Other snow considerations, the back door and roof is a terrible design in snow environments. I often forget to clean the snow off the top of the door and roof, and even if I do, I get a large deposit of snow into the rear compartment when I open it. Also, the rear window has these black plugs that are the fasteners that are attached to the outside of the glass. When scraping the rear window I hit them hard all the time, I am afraid I am going to break one off.
The three wipers on the front windshield..... not so awesome. It is hard to reach the center wiper and clean it when it freezes up or gets covered in slush. With a normal vehicle with 2 wipers it is easy to reach out and pull up a wiper for a slap on the windshield to clean it for visibility's sake while driving. Its hard to reach the wipers for that in the FJC, and when you do, you only help the matter for 1/3 of the windshield versus 1/2 on a normal vehicle.
The recessed headlights tend to capture snow when driving in heavy snow. It has caused me to have to pull off and clean them so I could see on a couple of occasions.
This is the shortest 4wd vehicle I have owned. So far it has prevented me from sleeping in the back, being able to haul mountainbikes inside without removing the seat post and front wheel, and is a bit tough with skis inside. My longer skis in the 200cm range really stick up in between the front seats. Not a deal breaker, but there are some benefits of a longer rear compartment.
I didn't realize how used to the FJC's outward vision I had become till I spent a week in a Sprinter. It was a breath of fresh air. Getting back into the FJC I was again reminded of the narrow range of viewing you have from the inside. Funny how used to, and comfortable you get with certain things after awhile.
Good stuff, the vehicle feels very safe and secure and does inspire confidence. It still feels bank vault tight with no squeaks or rattles. The HVAC system is excellent and it gets warm fast. I never have any concerns with the vehicle starting in the cold, fires right up with no complaints no matter how far below zero it is. I do have a block heater I use though to help reduce start up wear in the really cold weather. I have to think having a timing chain is a good thing, super cold weather has to speed up timing belt wear I would imagine.
The color silver is the best. Driving in wet/dirty roads constantly I do enjoy the fact that silver stays the cleanest looking at least as long, if not longer than white and it just looks so much better to me.
An early winter outing near Red Cliff.
About to set off on some backcountry ski fun.
Vail Pass and Berthoud Pass were closed, I took the shortcut and backway on the Trough Road coming back from Winter Park one day. This is where the original Red Dawn was filmed. The route follows the Colorado River from Kremmling to State Bridge.
A couple of shots from Camp Hale, the sight of the 10th Mountain Division.
Next on the agenda, we are ordering up the Baja Rack shortly. With some free time in my schedule starting to approach, we are hoping to get into southern UT a bit this spring to take a break from the snow. If anyone is looking to get any Baja Rack stuff, there is a pretty big order going in shortly from the guys at Roam which will provide for a nice price break. Let me know, or perhaps TJ and chime in. I going to do the utility rack, mount the RTT on the back, get the dual fuel can holder and still have room for one storage box to help making our packing for long trips doable. I know, roof load is the devil but the compromise for us is worth it. I will update this again on the next stage. Can't wait to get back on the road! Our little guy is over 7 months old now and its going to be really fun travelling with him.
