Joined
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1,225 Posts
I can't bring myself to take my unscratched, cherry $30,000 vehicle smashing through mountainous Connecticut logging roads. I did get a farmer neighbor to let me cruise around his snow covered hay field in exchange for a turn behind the wheel. Not serious terain (2-8" of old snow over level soft grass/mud), but enough to get a feel for the AWD and ABS breaks.
I couldn't get the smile off my face for a few hours. When you hit a soft spot or deeper snow it digs in and keeps moving. Noticed very slight under steer if I pushed it hard through a fast wide turn and slight oversteer through slower but powering sharp turns. All very manageable. I could not get it to spin out but it may be possible if you tried real hard. I'm still babying it.
The ABS is a gentle vibration. You hear it more than feel it. I stomped on the break at about 35 mph over the snow/grass and it stayed straight and stopped as well as could be expected on that surface. Didn't try hard turning while breaking.
Could spin some wheels from a standstill, but it was hard to tell which ones. I played with the rear (VTM 4 lock) differential but only because I wanted to try it, not because I was stuck. Couldn't tell any difference from inside the cab. I guess I'll have to wait for a real sticky situation to find out how well this works.
I don't know how the Ridge would do in the Baja but I'm very happy with the slippery surface handling I had the balls to try.
It looked GREAT covered in mud, but a trip to the carwash had it looking like new again. Still unscratched!
I couldn't get the smile off my face for a few hours. When you hit a soft spot or deeper snow it digs in and keeps moving. Noticed very slight under steer if I pushed it hard through a fast wide turn and slight oversteer through slower but powering sharp turns. All very manageable. I could not get it to spin out but it may be possible if you tried real hard. I'm still babying it.
The ABS is a gentle vibration. You hear it more than feel it. I stomped on the break at about 35 mph over the snow/grass and it stayed straight and stopped as well as could be expected on that surface. Didn't try hard turning while breaking.
Could spin some wheels from a standstill, but it was hard to tell which ones. I played with the rear (VTM 4 lock) differential but only because I wanted to try it, not because I was stuck. Couldn't tell any difference from inside the cab. I guess I'll have to wait for a real sticky situation to find out how well this works.
I don't know how the Ridge would do in the Baja but I'm very happy with the slippery surface handling I had the balls to try.
It looked GREAT covered in mud, but a trip to the carwash had it looking like new again. Still unscratched!
