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Sometimes I am jealous. I would love to teleport the VX to snow...just once. I want to toss it around in ten inches of powder. It would be cool to actually see the TOD work! (I've never had more than one bar lit on the front axle) One of the only things I miss here, is driving in snow (and elevation change) Need a big ol' chopper to get us to the Berkshires for a day.:bwgr:
Ya, you'll want to take it back to dry ground after a day or two...
It's cool with the TOD system that you can kick it around a corner or do a power turn with a tap of the gas on the slick roads.
But, I notice a few annoying things when it gets too cold; my brakes are stiff for the first few pumps and the heater fan will chatter like a card in bicycle spokes every now and then. It also has a tendency to fog up a lot at first inside before the heat goes on. My passenger's side door lock actuator also freezes up in the cold and will not lock/unlock the door.
Not too sure what others have experienced in the cold
Oh, and the worst (fortunately not VX related), my tires like to fall off my aluminum rims when it gets cold and I drive a long distance. The bead separates from the rim and it goes flat quick. The shop has to take the bead off and re-seal it. Just happened to me last week, as well as last winter.
She like Moab weather a lot more (and so do I)... :)
brrrr.
We're not quite as far North as Kenny, but here in Iowa get our fair share of nasty weather. Last week we had an inch of sleet (which turned to ice, try getting that off yur windows, took 35-40 minutes). This week we had 4 inches of snow, more in some parts. I know it's not as much as some of you up north or in the mountains, but it does get the TOD going. Everyone take care this winter, as usually it's the other guy you have to watch out for. :rolleyes:
Snow is a lot of fun but I could due without the warm up time. My transmission feels like its filled with concrete below about 10F, and that is with a pan heater. Kenny, did you see that there are two VX for sale in Calgary this week? A 99 Ebony for $15,000 and a 2000 Firefox for $16,900. I'm going to go check out the Ebony tomorrow. Anyone know if its a member's? There are also another two in Quebec for sale, plus the one in NS. How many does that make in Canada now that we know of? Sorry for the hijack.
it a river bed or a muddy piece of land... no need for snow only to engage the TOD... unless you don't wanna clean the aftermath off the VX... lol;)
Seriously, you can have our mid-atlantic winters. I personally love winter. Everything about it. The cold, the snow, driving in the snow and ice, etc.... BUT.... the problem is, I have to share this area with OTHER people. They make enjoying it very difficult. Ever tried to drive in the DC Metro area with 1/8" snow on the ground? Thats right, less than an inch. This place comes to a crawl. No.... a stop. No........ we go backwards! Last week's snow brought the area between 4"-6" and my EASY 40min commute took 2 1/2 hours. The whole day last Wed, I spent a total of 5 1/2 hours in my car. Ludicrous. 2 huge reasons:
Montgomery County Snow Removal: (I hope they are listening) Has no clue how to prepare roadways or remove snow in even a slight dusting. Compared to Frederick County, your system simply sucks.
Drivers: Dear God! If you cant drive in snow, STAY HOME! Hawaii could get snow tomorrow and perform better in it than 98% of the DC Metro commuters could!! JUST.... STAY.... HOME!!! And because the majority of you has a gargantuan SUV does not mean you suddenly know how to drive in anything!! STAY.... The.... !@#$.... HOME!!!!
Needless to say, the VX stayed in the garage the entire 2 days of man-made hell and I drove the Rex. It performs excellent in rough road conditions and I tend to have more experience and less fright in this stuff than 99% of the other morons. So, the VX stayed in the garage to stay saltless and to avoid some chump in an H3 thinking he was invincible and proving himself wrong by shaving the cladding off the side of her. Besides, there would be no FUN involved with the traffic anyways. :(
Ok, rant over, hahaha.
But when I lived in VT I experienced alot:
1. While good in snow it is like a hippo on skates on ice
2. I bitter cold the remote door unlock and alarm dearmer does not work
It is good in snow I used it deliver newspapers one Christmas mornig starting around 2am with 2 feet coming down. Glad to be down South
w00t!
http://www.nofuture.com/lj/12-07-07/04.jpg
I love it. Snow, trees, mountains. Absolutely gorgeous.
Bart
When I left VT in January 05 I had 11 feet of snow in my yard
Don't miss all the mess....I just fondly remember getting up at like three in the morning, when it was snowing good, to get out and play a few hours before work, and before all the humans woke up and got in the way. Hand brake spins, 100 yard power slides, doing corners all tail out, and opposite lock
I had no problems yesterday in the icy conditions. I love the winter and so does my VX.
http://www.wtv-zone.com/markg/imags/541.jpg
http://www.wtv-zone.com/markg/imags/545.jpg
I love hiking in the winter also, even at 6° below zero. My hiking page-
http://www.kaatskills.com
I even go flyfishin' in the winter.
58 seconds and 13.5 mb, wmv file-
http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/mgpa/vids/snowff.wmv
Mark Griffin
Attachment 626
A nice 12/06/07 day in arizona
i remember the snows i played in out in WV. i just jumped in my 4Runner and took off, went anywhere in first gear low range.. then pumpin gas to swing out in open areas. i loved it... 5-speed 4WD. if only i could figure out a manual trans for the vx... anyone know anything on that subject? looks like you guys are havin fun with the snow
Do a search on "manual trans" you'll find that there have been several rally VX's with 5 speed manuals in them.(IIRC, mostly JDM) Also, notice in the pics., the "holy grail" of all that is traction control...the selectable TOD switch.:cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by So-CalVX
When I went to sleep it was a chilly 39, when I got up it was 64 Ahh warm fronts:)
low-64 high-83....it's the best time of year here.
Warm. sunny and in the 80's in Tampa Bay area of Florida.
I feel sorry for those in the mid west from the ice storm.
My mother lives in Missouri. She was without electricity for a few days because of the storm. I told her to come to Florida.
See!!!!Deermagnet got it....Looks like home to me!!
Other than a beefed up Samauri that doesn't come out in the snow, my VX is the only rig capable of pulling into the parking stalls the plow piles all the snow into. If I wasn't so busy I would definitely be driving up some canyons and having some fun. Maybe around Christmas! :)
I'm fairly certain that I owned the two farthest north VXs on the planet (7 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska).
Sadly, we don't get as much snow as you'd think, but we do get our fair share of cold.
Our VXs ran like new even as cold as -53F. The only cold related issues that I ever saw were the Rancho 9000 shocks blowing out their oil (oil turns to Jello at those temps) and both vehicles pretty much stayed fogged up, which is annoying as the fog freezes on the inside of the windows. You need to use your ice scraper to keep it cleaned off.
For a cost to value comparison, we ended up trading the Ironman for a V8 Touareg ($50k new). The first day at -20F the following happened:
-mirror mounted turn signal lenses cracked spontaneously,
-the door skins expanded and broke the sealant from the door frame (*pop*), then they rattled around until we got rid of it,
-the battery froze (it is in the passenger compartment),
-the TPMS sensors went into permanant alarm,
-3rd gear went out,
-the luggage rack loosened up to the point that it wouldn't stay in position,
-the PCV valve froze closed, overpressuring the oil system -causing EVERY seal to blow out, spraying 7 quarts of oil everywhere.
-the self aiming HIDs stopped aiming, they just got stuck in the down position,
-a ground strap loosened up, causing a voltage drop from the nominal (an necessary) 13.8V. This caused a whole host of gremlins, from flickering dash lights to a failed steering wheel heater.
-I'm sure that there's more, but I was too disgusted to take notes by then...
The point is, that cold weather really highlights any bad engineering. My VXs (and the handful of others up here) have never experienced a cold-related failure. Way to go Isuzu!
Another storm is hitting us today. This time it's all snow for me. I went out this afternoon and shot some video in my VX going up a steep unplowed hill. I now have all-season tires and not A/T tires, so I used 4-LO in drive to help me out. Some slipping, but no big problems. Another storm will hit us on Sunday.
48 seconds and 18.3 mb, wmv file-
http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/mgpa/vids/sno.wmv
Mark Griffin (a VX lifer) http://www.wtv-zone.com/markg/mags/mags2/drive.gif
Took the VX out this morning and wheeled for about 3 hours up and around the Dog Valley range. Lots of loose fluffy snow, lots of hard packed snow, and some icey spots. The VX did alot better than I thought it would climbing in the powder and generally not slipping to much. The BFG A/Ts also probably helped quite a bit. I did have a little nerve wracking moment however, where I wanted to turn around, so I backed up down another (less traveled) trail off to the left. As I backed down I found out the other trail had a minor decline to it, and I struggled a bit to get back up onto the main trail. I was stuck for about 2 minutes, but two minutes too long when you are 4 miles up the side of a snow covered mountain... :) But the VX prevailed and with a little spinning and revving I got out of it...whew.
http://www.nofuture.com/lj/12-16-07/19.jpg
http://www.nofuture.com/lj/12-16-07/06.jpg
Saw tons of mule deer and just plain enjoyed the winter scenery.
Bart
We're coming up to 2ft right now in upstated New York! You can all of it you want. Personally I'd rather be driving on a beach!
"I'm fairly certain that I owned the two farthest north VXs on the planet (7 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska)."
Beach - I spent 6 1/2 weeks there one day - I mean I spent some time there (Greely) a few years back. The only place I've been where it was too cold to snow. The air was so dessicated that the snow evaporated before it hit the ground. Beautiful place tho. I'd love to see it in the summer months.
Deermagnet - there were no deer in the video. Did you have the magnet turned off or is your rep as deerslayer keeping you safe now? LOL
gasmask - nice pix. Your Eb looks good against the snow.
I have spent many weeks at Ft. Greely -that place is awful. Beautiful, but awful. I hit my alltime record there, minus 62*F (ambient temp, not counting the 18 knot wind). 6 of us packed ourselves into a crusty snow cave and huddled together to stay warm for two days.
When the base was closing down, they were entertaining the thought of turning it into a SuperMax style maximum security prison. Imagine being sent there...
Those pictures look great -that's a really pretty area all times of the year.
The latest storm stayed to the north and socked New England. We just got a nuisance snowfall here, but ya gotta love when the snow sticks to the trees.
VX video from this morning-
1:06, 60.4 mb, 640x480, wmv file-
http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/mgpa/vids/1-15-08.wmv
Same video, smaller version-
1:06, 14.3 mb, 320x240, wmv file-
http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/mgpa/vids/11508.wmv
Mark Griffin
That's a beautiful picture. Has that made it on a calendar, yet?Quote:
Originally Posted by nfpgasmask