wasilvers
Well-known member
I was eating out with the family when a gal ran into the restaurant and needed help getting her car unstuck. Her handicapped mom had driven through the construction barrels and into an area prepared for new sidewalk, just dropped the front wheels off the edge (maybe 9 inches most straight down). We built a ramp to within 4 inches of the top with loose gravel and tried backing her 4x4 car out. It would hit 2k rpms and nothing, no wheel slippage, no pulling out, nothing. Turns out the car had a continuous variable transmission (cvt) and apparently has no torque in reverse. I had to drive it up the other side to get a run at reverse just to barely squeak it out of the small ditch. Me and the other guy were really missing our 4x4s, would have been no problem pulling her out. Heck, we almost pushed her out with the two of us.
So now, when looking at new 4x4s for daily driving, one of my tests will be to back it against a curb and see if it can give a good effort clearing it. The car today would easily fail that test.
So now, when looking at new 4x4s for daily driving, one of my tests will be to back it against a curb and see if it can give a good effort clearing it. The car today would easily fail that test.