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No, when you are in drive it starts out in 1st gear anyway. In some vehicles I've tried, and in some it does make a difference. This one I don't think it did.

It's more for the daily driven vehicle that hits the dirt roads for camping/fishing/hiking/biking, etc a couple weekends a month. Not a dedicated offroader, but something that can handle forest service and fire roads safely.

I'm not familiar with a warm springs in this area.

Nope, I used to test the steep hill climb in 2wd. Even vehicles with a locker that can be engaged in 2wd weren't able to move up the steep hill at all. The G80 is good at what it's meant for. For off-roading I much prefer a selectable locker.

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It's been a long time since I've tested a Murano, but I don't remember it performing well in these tests.

I don't think I talked about it in this video, but in many of my reviews I talk about not driving like me in these videos as this is for testing only. I do drive my jeep like this, but it's more of a toy that is built for it. Thanks for watching and commenting!

They're certainly pretty capable, the frames flex a bit so you get more articulation from that. I very much prefer my XJ for off-roading, but the truck goes a lot of places that sometimes surprise the Jeep crowd. It just does it a lot slower.

Yeah, for cars.com. It's titled "An up close look at the 2020 Nissan Frontier's new 9-speed automatic transmission"

It's pretty stable, but mostly because it's so wide and long. You are correct on the wheel travel, not a whole lot.

Thanks for watching and for the support! For on pavement all weather driving it should perform well, when you get to really steep stuff, it starts to struggle.

It does lack in towing and off-roading compared to the rest of the midsize class. However it is the best for on road and not towing. It has the most space in the cab and the bed, it has the smoothest ride, and it gets better fuel mileage than most. Thanks for watching and commenting!

Thanks for watching!

I usually mention I drive like this for testing, but driving this fast is hard on the vehicle and can be risky on blind corners with oncoming traffic. I get made fun of for how slow I drive my truck in dirt roads. With my Jeep it's a different story. I've seen photos of a US spec Armada vs the world wide Nissan Patrol and the Patrol has a much more trim rear bumper. Just another thing that makes the patrol better than the Armada.

I don't know if it was that bad, but yes this isn't good for the clutches.

Not for testing. I recommend using an Equal-i-zer brand hitch for anyone towing a travel trailer. It has weight distribution and sway control, with much better durability than anything else on the market.

Ty👍

Interesting, the Gen 3 in my experience is the worst driving midsize truck on road, off road it's great. The Gen 4 has much better driving characteristics and is near the top now for midsize trucks.

@@EngineAdventures I think people are turned off by the Gen 4 price and 4 banger turbo reliability worries. The reliability worries could turn out to be a nothing burger but the price is the price.

Yeah, the Tacoma has generally been more expensive than the competition, but this new generation seems even more so.

Toyota will get past the issues. Every manufacturer has teething issues with new products. The main bearing and machine shavings issues will be resolved.

No, I had that in the intro, but it's also later on in the video so I deleted the early one to reduce the length. I never use a weight distribution hitch for these tests because I want to see how stable the tow vehicle is. I have access to Equal-i-zer brand hitches which have really good sway control along with weight distribution. My recommendation is to always use a weight distribution hitch with sway control when towing a high profile trailer, especially these camping trailers that are pretty light with a high center of gravity.

@@EngineAdventures ahh, gotcha.

Thanks for watching! I hope your truck treats you well!

I'm guessing you mean the get unstuck bounce thing it does. This one didn't have that.

The Frontier's power train drives way better too. The Tacoma is better off-road, the Frontier is better pretty much everywhere else.

Watch my towing video on the 3rd gen Tundra. I test it in that video, it works ok, but not as well as a human. I only have the vehicles for a short time and sometimes I'm just squeezing them in between everything else going on. Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts, I'll make that a priority in future videos.

Interesting, most people I've talked to that have been in both much prefer the Frontier. I also prefer the Frontier.

@@EngineAdventures I like the seating position of the Frontier at 5'11". Taco I feel Im seating on a Big Wheel stretching my legs out

Are you talking the current gen? If so you are in the minority my friend.

@@billsouza4457 I know I am, I just hated the Frontier. We have 2 of them in the company and they feel so odd, the Taco doesn't bother me at all. It's like the dash is too high, just odd, maybe its the hood.

Yup, that was somewhere in the test, I think. A selectable rear locker is something I think is a must for a daily driven off-road vehicle.

Thanks for watching and commenting! 1. Tow vehicle wheelbase, weight, and track width are all very important factors when towing. The heavier, longer and/or wider the tow vehicle, the more stable it will be under load. 2.Diesels have been doing it for decades, if the engine is built right it won't be a problem

@@EngineAdventures No they haven't. All the torque comes from the engine itself. The turbo helps with HP so it's not a tractor. All torque comes from the turbo. Yes, it will cause big problems. No, an engine built right does not mean it will tow great if all the above factors aren't in place to handle the weight. So wrong, it's not towing well because of the engine unless ALL you are referring to is power. If that's the case you don't know what you're talking about. Which in today's world is probably the case.

I've thought a bit about how to answer this. When someone is this strong in their convictions I usually don't respond. However, I think we have a very clear example in the Detroit 6.5L GM and AM General used 2-3 decades ago. It was offered as both N/A and turbo. The NA version had 160 HP @3,600 RPM and 290 ft lbs of torque @1,700 RPM (I thought the L57 N/A version had 190 HP and 340-360 torque but can't find that info at the moment). The turbo charged L65 version had 215 HP @ 3,200 RPM and 440 ft lbs at 1,800 rpm. If you can find a dyno chart, the L65 produced more torque from 1,000 rpm to redline. So the turbo adds significant torque, it's not all the base engine, even for 30 year old diesels. That's all with old turbo technology. Things have advanced significantly. Dual volute, variable geometry, twin scroll, etc all have added benefits for better low end torque while maintaining high rpm power. Diesel engines are built for high compression ratios and the newer ones have high boost as well. To handle that the blocks have to be very stiff. A gasoline engine can be designed to be just as robust, or as robust as needed, to handle the increased pressures from the turbo. You are correct, there are many more factors than just an engine for towing. The transmission, drivetrain, suspension, and chassis are all very important as well as the items I mentioned previously. The previous generation Tacoma with the V6 was a dog at towing when compared to its N/A competition. The new turbo engines have so much more torque and at lower RPM. This greatly improves the towing experience. Take it for what it's worth, but my experience is nearly a decade as an engineer making towing products. I also have 7 years in the automotive journalism industry. I've towed a very large variety of trailers with an even larger variety of vehicles. Much of this was also done with very in depth information about the tow vehicle and trailer for gathering days. I've towed conventional (bumper pull) with and without a weight distribution hitch, gooseneck, and 5th wheel. There are loads of people out there with more mileage than me, I won't contest that, but mileage doesn't equate to broad experience when doing everything the same every time. I'm not saying I'm correct, I just want to share my experience so you can weigh it in forming your opinion.

@@EngineAdventures you having to go back 3 decades negates your point. I'm not talking about trucks for 30 years ago. I'm talking about this one. and the reason it feels good towing is not because of the engine. the 4.0 had endless power. It's due to length and width... because it's huge.

Haha thanks, that was just channel 41 on XM. I do have a hard time not turning up the volume on some songs while I'm filming though.

I prefer the Sportage to the Equinox overall. I always recommend test driving any vehicle you are interested in, because my opinion doesn't matter, yours does.

Nope, this was a media truck I only had for a week. Those low speed, steep, and windy canyons are the hardest on a tie vehicle, specifically the transmission. If the torque converter can't start locked the transmission will heat up. I have overheated others in the past, but that was a pretty intense drive. Guardsman Pass from Midway with a 17k bumper pull trailer behind a Duramax with the 6-speed Allison.

Nope, this is in Utah, but I'm guessing it's a similar situation. This hill is steeper than it looks on camera. I've tried different angles to show how steep it actually is, but haven't had success with that.

It actually performed quite well in this test, especially with it not being an off road trim. Having the right tires for the terrain that you're on is very important, but this test is not about the tires. It is more about the vehicle's ability to transfer torque to the wheels with traction when you have a tire in the air. It doesn't matter how aggressive the tread is, it's not going to assist in climbing the hill.

Thanks for sharing!

This one is the older Tacoma, but I much prefer the newer turbo Tacoma to this anemic V6 naturally aspirated engine. There are concerns about longevity, but my guess is Toyota will work through those.

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The Cummins is certainly a great option. When new, the V10 had more horsepower and almost the same torque (but the Cummins is easier to tune for higher power and torque). The V10 gets terrible fuel mileage though haha.

@EngineAdventures I was thinking the fuel mileage probably wouldn't matter as much for me, Being that it would mainly be a small town truck. but I still personally would want to go for the cummins ideally, just so that I don't have to fuel up that often at all, and it would sound a little cooler as well. 👍

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This was from the media fleet, so I only had it for a week. Sorry, can't give you any good long term feedback.

Thanks for watching and for the support! The Armada (and Infiniti QX80) is based on the international Nissan Patrol. The Patrol has some upgrades to make it better for long term off pavement use, but the Armada is still quite robust for that application. They are also probably the best value in the used market for full size SUVs. Aftermarket support is minimal, but with some smaller wheels (most Armada factory wheels are 20"+) and a decent set of tires you'd probably be just as capable as the Ascent. The Armada is much larger and heavier, making it less nimble, especially on tight trails. I see no issues with it doing everything you mentioned.

@@EngineAdventures Thanks! Yeah we went with 18" wheels, but 1 inch larger diameter tires (Falken Wildpeak A/T3W) which have been great. There wasn't much after market support for our Ascent either. We had a winch welded behind the front grill and welded 2 recovery points through the front bumper as well. Skid plate was bought at Primitive Racing. Figure that has to be at least a little better support for the Armada, but I'll start looking around. We are actually in the process of having the rear locker removed (basically replacing the rear diff) and 2 new axles put on. I think the rear locker put too much strain on the drivetrain/axles over too short of time (about 30k miles). Going to try going without it for a while. As for the Armada, I could even trade our Ascent for a 2021 Armada with about the same mileage thanks to them being really affordable used. It's tempting.... If I could get some cash back on the trade it would better so I could add a few modifications to the Armada, mainly skid plates, recovery points and a lift to start (and wheels/tires). The 33" OEM tire diameter would be REALLY nice too! I do wish more people did GOOD offroad testing of vehicles like your video above! EDIT: I may still try to get into a Toyota Sequoia Limited (it did have electronic locking diffs) though, depends on what the dealer is willing to do on trade and price. I found a 2020 with about 36k miles on it. Test drove really well. Less fit and finish on the inside, but had a good set of safety features (parking sensors, etc). Plus the 3rd row was really comfy and large (important for my family of 6 plus big dog!)

@@slandsharkI've got videos of the 2nd Gen and 3rd gen Sequoias on my channel as well. The 2nd Gen Sequoia has my favorite center differential and the locker button on it is for the center diff only. If you don't lock the center diff you can drive around on pavement in 4wd as much as you want without driveline binding. The 3rd Gen doesn't have a center diff (if you're in 4wd it's essentially like a locked diff) but does have a selectable rear diff locker. Both have a low range transfer case for more torque to the wheels for tough situations.

I was going as slow as I could!

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Mine worked just fine with the cold air intake. I did mess up the ignition trying to use high performance dodge viper coil packs, but that's unrelated to the air intake. For 96 all vehicles were required to have the OBDII diagnostic port, so there may have been some computer changes for that. I'm curious if your mass air flow sensor isn't happy, or if it's something else.

No it's not. I have another test hill that is much more difficult where I have tested the Land Cruiser 200 and LC300. The approach is too rough to even get the Venza on that hill.

I haven't had a Volvo to test, but these tests are harder than they appear. I'd love to take an XC90 on this course.