Surprised by poor snow performance

[Jobaker4]

Ok folks, before I get blasted let me say that in all respects I love my LR4 and it is unstoppable in nearly any situation. That being said I just experienced my first snow storm in the LR4 and I can't say I'm impressed. I came from a 2005 BMW X5 which I drove regularly in the snow, went through 14 inches plus and never missed a beat. Today what I experienced in the Rover was surprising in comparison. Switched it into grass gravel snow and took off. Surprising amount of wheel spin, vehicle felt squirrly and even started to turn sideways just starting off on a small hill.

I tried it in "Normal" mode and honestly it felt better. But in both modes I found myself nervous about turning sideways, about stopping and about maneuvering in general.
Maybe it was the fact that the traction control was so delayed and often seemed unsure of what to do, or maybe it is just the excessive weight of the truck. Either way it just didn't impress me like the BMW did in the slick stuff.

The X5 never missed a beat, allowed very little wheel spin, never got squirrely it just did what you told it to and required no dials or anything. (even with a 4.8L V8 under the hood)
Now granted, the BMW had nowhere near the capability or comfort as the LR4, it did understand snow.... Actually it didn't just understand it, it OWNED it.

Still super happy with the Rover, just skiddish about snow (pun intended)

Oh and if you're wondering, I'm in Southwestern virginina where we got 7 inches of the white stuff today.

 

[ycharlie]

Ok folks, before I get blasted let me say that in all respects I love my LR4 and it is unstoppable in nearly any situation. That being said I just experienced my first snow storm in the LR4 and I can't say I'm impressed. I came from a 2005 BMW X5 which I drove regularly in the snow, went through 14 inches plus and never missed a beat. Today what I experienced in the Rover was surprising in comparison. Switched it into grass gravel snow and took off. Surprising amount of wheel spin, vehicle felt squirrly and even started to turn sideways just starting off on a small hill.

I tried it in "Normal" mode and honestly it felt better. But in both modes I found myself nervous about turning sideways, about stopping and about maneuvering in general.
Maybe it was the fact that the traction control was so delayed and often seemed unsure of what to do, or maybe it is just the excessive weight of the truck. Either way it just didn't impress me like the BMW did in the slick stuff.

The X5 never missed a beat, allowed very little wheel spin, never got squirrely it just did what you told it to and required no dials or anything. (even with a 4.8L V8 under the hood)
Now granted, the BMW had nowhere near the capability or comfort as the LR4, it did understand snow.... Actually it didn't just understand it, it OWNED it.

Still super happy with the Rover, just skiddish about snow (pun intended)

Oh and if you're wondering, I'm in Southwestern virginina where we got 7 inches of the white stuff today.

thanks for sharing. i am surprised about the wheel spin as that's never happened to me when i dial it to snow mode. even when you step ******* the gas, the mode eases you out of the spot to prevent wheel spin. anyone else?

 

[jamgolf]

Jobaker4

How were other vehicles around you faring? Was this just a situation where it was too icy/slippery and that pretty much all vehicles were in the same situation? Was this ice or mostly snow you experienced? Are you using the OEM tires or switched to something different?

I've watched some LR4 videos on YouTube and it appeared to do remarkably well in snow/icy conditions. Your experience off-course indicates otherwise...

Personally, on a recent trip to Colorado, I thought the LR4 handled snow very well. Did not experience any wheel spin, slippage or loss of traction. In fact I went off-road in about 10" of snow and it felt as if I was driving on dry pavement. There were some icy patches but it was mostly snow. The motel/resort that we stayed in was on a hill. The short private road up there was quite icy/slippery and we managed to drive up/down numerous times a day without any issues at all.

Could it possibly be a problem with your vehicle? Have you thought about taking it to the LR dealership and explaining what you experienced and having it checked-out? How about recording a video to show it to the dealer to make your point.

Good luck!

 

[rostov]

I think we need to wait till next year when Jobaker4 will get comfortable with LR and start trusting it.
I used to have (my wife did) 06 ML500, I loved it, but yes, it is really different feel, different vehicle. I did not have a chance to derive LR in the snow yet, but I have a suspicion that it will be much different from ML, BMW etc. The way I see it – light trucks could be even better racing in the light snow because of AWD vs 4WD, but dipper snow and more extreme conditions – that is where LR will shine. I could be wrong though, will see in the first snow.

And if LR has longer stropping distance, that is not because it is worse, but because it is much heavier. We just need to remember that I guess…

 

[kdegLR4]

Interesting experience you had. I had completely the opposite in my snow driving so far this year in a mix of thick fresh snow and iced over conditions. I had to switch off the traction control system to force much tail-out or slide in corners (always figure it's a good idea to feel the actual conditions) and that took some heavy-footed acceleration. My take was that short of studded/studless tires I have never driven as sure-footed a car for general conditions, though the weight of the vehicle (and its effect) becomes obvious on cornering at higher speeds.

Our other car is an Audi A4 wagon (quattro) that I feel is a bit more tossable in slippery conditions, but that is comparing apples and oranges (vehicle COG, weight, etc). I think the LR4 has better traction but is less controllable on the limit of adhesion. The cool part is that it seems pretty damn hard to get to that limit in the LR4 without really goosing the throttle and brakes in a turn, and that's not something I'm likely to do unintentionally.

Is it possible that you had a large left-right discrepancy in tire inflation? That might contribute to the traction control system having a hard time allocating torque and braking.

 

[Subman574]

I live in Maine and you think I'd have some input...but no snow at all since I've gotten the LR4.

We too have an Audi A4 Avant (wagon) as our "other" car, and that is indeed very good in the snow - though the ground clearance (even on winter tires) leaves something to be desired.

 

[kdegLR4]

The ground clearance was one of the selling points for the LR4. You can have all the potential traction you want, but if the wheels can't touch the ground for high centering it means squat. The Audi is a whole lot more fun to play Finnish rally driver in, but the LR4 is a far more capable vehicle under some conditions. Had a fabulous time a couple of weeks ago going up a steep, rutted dirt road with about 8 inches of snow on it. Had an even better time going back to the bottom to get my friend from his Volvo.

 

[horacioad]

Interesting post. Don't worry about getting death threats. We all respects facts and opinions. I live in WI and I can't complain about how my 2010 handles snow and ice. I still have the crappy Continental tires but I can't remember any tire slippage. What tires you have on?

 

[uhur]

I too live in the Midwest with plenty of snow/ice most of the time (but not so much this year).
No problems whatsoever so far, even with decidedly ill-fitting for winter tires (Pirellis). That said, no car/truck is totally winter-proof and there's definitely a learning curve to how different makes/models handle in bad weather

 

[ougrad1]

I had the same issue and replaced my tires at 17k miles and it made the difference. My contis were not good in snow/ice but they were also wearing out funny before I got an alignment, which may have contributed to the issue.