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What's wrong with these videos?

7K views 18 replies 8 participants last post by  subbus 
#1 ·
Bored at work and found these 2 YouTube videos that I find hard to believe....
Be the judge....
There must be something amiss with MotorBros1470's Tribeca..... do you agree or not?

Subaru Tribeca: http://youtu.be/ga_U4BaXvrk

Honda Pilot: http://youtu.be/QWMEjxbkMV0

Videos by: MotorBors1470 @ YouTube.com
 
#2 ·
i believe the honda is able to lock in 4wheel drive, so it should have performed like it did in the ramp test.

the tribeca test looks somewhat suspicious, but it should have been able to clear the ramps.

that said, the way he performed the test looked dangerous. if the car ran off the ramps there could have been damage.
 
#4 ·
the VTD system should have applied brakes to the spinning wheels thereby transferring torque to the wheels on the opposite side with traction. we've seen many videos demonstrating how this works.

the driver may have been doing something to confuse the system...like having his foot rest on the brake pedal while pressing the gas.
 
#7 ·
Yeah!!! For those who have ramps, whenever you get a chance, please confirm that Subaru Symmetrical AWD is better than Honda's and a video would make it more believable. I have yet to have a pair of ramps or I would have done and film this myself :)
Thanks!
 
#8 ·
BzB said:
the VTD system should have applied brakes to the spinning wheels thereby transferring torque to the wheels on the opposite side with traction. we've seen many videos demonstrating how this works.

the driver may have been doing something to confuse the system...like having his foot rest on the brake pedal while pressing the gas.

About foot on the brake pedal while pressing the gas pedal, isn't it that Subarus have brake over-ride system (Toyota's solution to sudden acceleration and surging), Gas/throttle cuts-off when brake is applied?
I have not tried this either.....
 
#10 ·
That is interesting. On the SUB vid, it seems that all the power is transferred to only 1 out of 4 wheels (that contraindicates other videos posted in this forum). I wonder if you can get the same result with the Pilot by dressing up the rear tire thread with a tire dresser for example.

On the another hand, this is not an off-road vehicle and the test condition here is very unusual for 99.99% of drivers of SUVs. While Pilot is able to climb it, other videos posted in this forum have shown that Tibeca's AWD system is superior. These tests may be more real-world examples than the one here.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Let me say something about these videos (hard to tell but there was also a ramp under the right rear tire). I was driving the Tribeca. (yeah, I really messed up my username when creating my account). I am a Subaru fan, my friend (MotorBros1470) is a Honda fan. I figured the Tribeca would easily make it up and the Honda would fail, so I devised this little test. There were also many more attempts off camera. I tried constant throttle anywhere from 10% to about 80% according to the accel % screen. I also tried slowly increasing throttle and with and without traction control. There were no tricks done and the vehicle was 100% stock (no longer have it, it was a lease). However, the car performed flawlessly in snow and ice, so the test did come as a surprise to me. So, even with a Subaru fan behind the wheel doing everything in his power to make it up, the Subaru just couldn't do it. I think the issue was that the car would move up the ramps, slow the rear left wheel and right front wheel (now off the ground) and then not give enough power to the two wheels on the ramps, so the car would move back down a little, then take power away from the ramp wheels, the car would climb, then fall, and the cycle just repeated. You can tell the best in the second clip (turn up your speakers), by looking at the left rear wheel, it was constantly leaving the ground, then touching the ground, then leaving, then touching, so I think every time it and the front right touched, they stole power from the ramp wheels which weren't getting enough when the other two briefly left.
 
#13 ·
BzB said:
the VTD system should have applied brakes to the spinning wheels thereby transferring torque to the wheels on the opposite side with traction. we've seen many videos demonstrating how this works.

the driver may have been doing something to confuse the system...like having his foot rest on the brake pedal while pressing the gas.
Never touched the brakes.
 
#14 ·
syn=mawd said:
Never touched the brakes.
looking at the vid again i think the tribeca would have made it up the ramp if diver would have stayed on the gas. it looked like the vtd system was trying to reroute power and just as it was starting to figure out where and how much torque to send, the driver let off the gas. in this test a vehicle that can lock in 4x4 will make it up easier every time since it's sending equal power to each wheel from the start. i still think the tribeca would have made it up if driver stayed on the gas though.
 
#15 ·
BzB said:
looking at the vid again i think the tribeca would have made it up the ramp if diver would have stayed on the gas. it looked like the vtd system was trying to reroute power and just as it was starting to figure out where and how much torque to send, the driver let off the gas. in this test a vehicle that can lock in 4x4 will make it up easier every time since it's sending equal power to each wheel from the start. i still think the tribeca would have made it up if driver stayed on the gas though.
I tried many times, off camera too. In the videos, throttle was constant. Some attempts off camera were much longer too.
 
#16 ·
Those vids demonstrate wheel travel, not ability to transfer drive. The Honda has a more flexible chassis and longer wheel travel and high profile tyres which flex, so doesn't need to transfer drive from the rears - they don't lose traction until it is up the ramp.
The beca is a stiffer chassis with less wheel travel. The TC has a small delay and as soon as it kicks (front left starts lurching up the ramp) the driver takes his foot off the gas so it doesn't go over the front and damage the car. Take 10 psi out of the tyres and it will drive up just the same as the Honda - guaranteed.
Not even close to a valid test or outcome.
Torque sensing diffs work and work well.
 
#19 · (Edited)
The ramp, if used the same for both wheels on the original video is higher.

The traction of the surface on the last video is less then the asphalt surface on the orig. one.

If you add another 1/2 inch to the ramp's height I think Pilot would fail too. Tribeca struggles to push over the last 1/2 inch bump on the ramp.

Stiffness and travel of the suspension would play a great role here as the wheels on the ground play a significant role. Pilot's rear wheel starts slipping when the front one has already reached the apex, when it did it's job pushing the car up, so it seems that the front suspension is softer or the rear travel is larger or both.

I think the orig. video is genuine, Tribeca failed this test, and Pilot is superior here. However, this is one of many "road" tests that can be had and one failure/win does not say anything about the cars overall.
 
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