TOD on Snow

Does anyone know which is the behaviour of the Torqe-On-Demand system on
snow-road? Is it good for driving on snow or it is better to buy a different
off-road car?
Thank you.

Vinix

 

Maybe you should try your question over again. You seem to be talking about
on road driving when you talk about TOD in "snow-road", and then you ask if
it is better to buy a different off-road car. What are you looking for -
"on-road" or off road?

 

Oh, you are right.
More precisely, I am going to buy a Hyundai Santa-Fe. I was wondering about
the TOD behaviour on snow covered normal roads. I heard different points of
view about this aspect, and some people suggested me to buy a really 4wd
car, not a suv.
Thanks.

 

Well, that begs a lot of questions. What kind of driving will you be doing?
What types of roads? Twisty mountain roads or urban driving? Will you be
simply commuting? How far?

For most people with just normal urban commuting needs, just about any two
wheel drive vehicle on the road today is really sufficient. Front wheel
drive or rear wheel drive makes no real difference in that setting. 4 wheel
drive or All Wheel Drive are really quite unecessary for those conditions.
Too often people talk about "needing" 4WD or AWD to handle occasional 4" of
snow. Hell, any two wheel drive vehicle with half worn tires will handle
that.

So... what that all boils down to is that if you're looking at 4WD or AWD
vehicles, buy what you want because if your use of the term "snow covered
normal roads" is in any way close to the average Northeast urban driving
conditions, you don't really *need* either, and should therefore get what
you *want*.

 

Mike, I would have to guess that you failed to look at the OP's email
address. He is apparently in Italy, and since he is worried about snow,
I would have to assume Northern Italy at that.

If he lives anywhere near the Alps, my guess would be that REAL 4WD
would be required for many days in that part of the world. Todays AWD
drive vehcles perform admirably in the snow, but 4WD is absolutely
required for the real deep stuff, and as you mentioned, for getting
around in the mountains.

Eric

 

Bigger than life Eric - I missed that completely.

 

Wonderful, guys!!!!
In fact, my needs are really those depicted by Eric; I live in Rome, but
often I use to spend my holidays and week ends in the Alps or Appennini. I
like scuba diving in lake and river and often they are non located directly
near main roads, even if there are often good country/mountain roads to
reach them. I have no needs to pass river, or to climb hills or mountains
out of those roads. But anyway some people said to me that also in those
conditions I can not rely completely on the efficiency of the TOD
transmission, which seems to be good for normal roads and highways in case
of unexpected bad aderence.
Especially in case of snow, I would like not to be forced to set up tyre
chains again...
Thank you for the patience.

Grandaal