Daedelous

NOTE: I would recommend reading this if you either plan on driving through cold weather or moving to a cold-weather environment. Some of the stuff mentioned here is for extreme-chill situations only, but there are still other things listed that you may want to be aware of if it gets chilly where you live or plan to live. Also, if there is a Toyota rep reading this it might not be a horrible idea to mention some of these defects to Toyota if they don't already know about them.

Well, I'm in the Navy and I got orders to report to Anchorage. Way back when I moved from Japan to Virginia and the Navy screwed me over on shipping my stuff, I decided I would never rely on the military to get any of my stuff anywhere on time so, despite the best efforts of my family and friends to convince me otherwise, I decided to drive my tC from Florida to Anchorage in January.

Take into consideration as you read this that I was raised in Atlanta GA and had never even made a snowball much less driven in harsh winter conditions.

FLORIDA to SEATTLE:

Not much to report here. Car rolled fine. I started the trip at around 13 or 14,000 mi., drove through the south to Vegas and then up through Cali to avoid most of the cold weather. Got slick around north Cali but nothing too major. No issues.

SEATTLE to HAINES (AK)

Took the ferry. Nothing to report.

HAINES TO ANCHORAGE

Here's where things start to happen. The drive started out fine. It was about 20 in Haines. Then I hit a blizzard in the famous Chugach Pass. If anyone has driven this route in the winter they know what pass I'm referring to. Complete white-out, high winds, roads covered in ice (well, the entire 800 mi route always had some type of ice on it), vision about three feet or less, strugging to make it up even the shallowest incline...I won't go into a lot of details but the tC performed...mediocre. I had never driven on ice in a blizzard so I'm not sure what to compare it to, but I was having serious problems getting up the hills. NOTE: I didn't have snow tires or studs.

Long before I got to the northern-most part of my trek (Tok, Alaska), the tC's thermometer hit its limit. In case you were wondering, the lowest temperature your tC thermometer can read is -22 F. After that all you get is a couple dashes on the display.

An area I drove through during this trip (Northway, AK...see below) had been -55 a few days earlier, so I'm guessing the temperature was somewhere around -40 or maybe lower as I passed through the area. I'd say, no matter what the car, something is going to start going weird when you're driving at that temperature. What I noticed:


MAJOR ISSUES
- Clutch pedal began to get real sticky. When I pressed in the clutch in it became very difficult, and when released it took upwards of 4 to 5 seconds to fully come back to it's original seating position. I was afraid it might never come back so every 10 or 15 minutes I would shift to neutral and pump the clutch half a dozen times to loosen it up until it only took about 3 seconds to fully release. I don't know if it ever would have frozen down completely, but that quick fix seemed to help a little. One of the cars I caravanned with some (a truck) was having the same problem but his wife who was driving a Focus, didn't have any clutch difficulty.

- WARNING! Low profile tires are not recommended for extreme cold-weather situations! I spent the night in Beaver Creek in the Yukon and that was probably as cold as it got during my trip. Even though I left the car on all night at the motel I would say the temperature was -40 and because the tires sat like that all night they developed a flat spot. Once I rolled out the next morning on a particularly poorly-maintained road my front left tire blew out at Northway and I had to change my first tire ever in weather that was fatally cold. Of course, the fact that they were low profile was probably the clinching factor in the blow-out. The other cars I caravanned with didn't have a problem. Also, know that you're going to have a hard time finding tires for stock 17" low-pros. I ended up driving the rest of the 500 miles on my spare. Every town I stopped in (all two of them) had no 17" tires, much less low-pros, so if I had lost another tire I would have been stranded. In fact, when I got to Alaska and looked for studded snow tires only one place carried them and they still weren't the perfect size but they fit.

MINOR ISSUES
- Obvious issues like I had the heater on full blast and the car was barely at a comfortable temperature, and also my windows started icing up on the inside and were difficult to clear up.

- The clutch wasn't the only thing to start operating slower. Everything slowed down. The LCD displays on both the radio and A/C controls took 2-3 seconds to change when manipulated.

- Another problem I have with the tC is that when the temperature gets fairly cold (15-25 or so) the trunk won't latch closed. My entire drive to Alaska from where the ferry dropped me off in Haines all the way to Anchorage (800 mi) was with my trunk unlatched. Luckily the hatchback truck is heavy and doesn't pop up or anything as long as there isn't anything pressing up from inside it.

- My windows freeze stuck up if it gets about 15 or below. Easy fix: Tap the window roll-down buttons real quick, just enough to unseat the windows from their topmost position.

motozen

wow. You are the man. total miles?

bambams247

taking a road trip in the snow with low profiles is your first mistake. And your hatch was slightly oen? didnt that let a ton of cold air into the car? But I am suprised how poorly the car performaed in the cold weather. Coldest I drove my ca since i got it (a week ago) was 17 deegrees and i elt it warm upf ro 10-15 minutes beforehand and ti drove jsut fine, so I'm happy with it. And everytime I drive a car ice cold rite off the bat the clutch sticks and all the elctronics are slow too, just how it is. But once everything gets warmed up tsi AG! Hopefulyl I'll get my autostart soon!

Daedelous

About 4500 miles driving, not including the ferry.

About the tires...I didn't have a choice. I was moving everything I owned almost and I didn't have room in my car for four extra tires if I had bought better-suited ones.

My hatch was barely open. Just enough so that the interior lights flickered (I turned them off). It wasn't actually open anymore than a millimeter at most until I got that blowout. Then I had to take the spare out and put the blown-out tire in a trunk that was already packed. That ended up putting some pressure on the hatchback lid and if I went over a bump after that I would hear it slam slightly.

I never shut my car off during the Alaska/Yukon part of the drive so it wasn't an issue of letting it warm up as far as the problems were concerned.

Autostart isn't worth it, man. I priced that here and, maybe it's cheaper for you, but they said it would cost $500 to put it in; maybe more if they had to screw around with my aftermarket security system to install it. Here's a better idea. If you have a garage or there's an outlet at your parking space, go to a Toyota dealership and have them install an engine-block heater for $85. If you leave that plugged in you don't have to let it warm up at all and the heating for your car will only take a minute or less to start working.

bambams247

Ya I heard everyone in Alaska uses the battery warmers and such at all times, I also heard they dont drive that often. My ex lived in Alaska for a while before she came out here (chicago) and she had a cavalier out there, which suprised me, she said it drove fine but she barely drove it and whatnot, she also slept all day and worked at night! all sorts of crazy up there.

wawamr2

I pass an entire week in Quebec city when it was really cold. It's been -30C plus wind all week long (-22f plus wind) and I didnt have any problem at all.
First error was to keep the 4 saison tire, these gandle bad. It's not the tC it's the tire. Once your are used to the bad tire, you can do praticaly anything! I really had fun with my brother in the snow there hehe.

For me the heather was working realy good, no problem at all, was not full blowing cause it was too hot! (I'm used to winter and cool though, I lived 28 years in Quebec city ) One thing that I find out is that if you let the sun protection for the sunrun open, you will feel a lot more cold air into the car.

The digital display having difficulty in the cold is normal, any kind of digital display will have difficulty.

For the clutch, it's kinda normal cause it's an hydrolic clutch, but usualy, once the car is warmer, it's find! You must have had some really cold weather!!

To conclud, I didnt have any major issue in my trip from Champaign, IL to Quebec city in january with the cold weather. The tC was perfectly fine, no difficulty to start it in the morning a -30 and more, was really amazed of that. Only thing, change the tire!!

That's my experience with the tC and the cold

Later all
wawa 86 MR2 MKI SC & 05 Scion tC

Daedelous

Yeah, I noticed that with the sunroofs, as well. If you keep the covers closed it helps a little to keep the warm air inside the car.

I know that a lot of it was the tires. I couldn't change them at the time...see earlier reply. I have studded snow tires now, though, and they're great.

I figured most of the problems I had were normal...like I said, you can't drive upwards of -40 or colder and not expect some issues. And I didn't say this, but overall I think the tC held up well. I'm sure it wasn't tested to operate in temperatures that I was driving in for extended periods of time, but it seemed to work pretty well.

I'll tell ya something else...my ABS works lol. It was active the whole first half of the trip constantly. I couldn't use the brake without ABS engaging, which actually sucked, because it about doubled my stopping distance and I almost rear-ended the Focus I caravanned with.

But, yeah, I put my life in the hands of that tC. During that blizzard if I had run off the road (which I came within inches from doing many times) I would have died, no question about it. Even if we assumed I drove off the road on a part where you didn't fall 30ft after doing it, I hadn't seen another car for two and a half hours (this was before I was caravanning), and in parts of the Chugach pass I couldn't see my hood, much less anything on the side of the road, and my cellphone had no service. I was scared out of my mind. My Scion and I are much closer now.

superjeer

I have nothing to add other than "that's crazy".

Oh, and I think that there's a TSB on the hatch not latching in the cold. That's a very common problem.

bambams247

Drove my car in a snow and cold weather (30 degrees) while snowing and must say stock tires stock car (650 miles) and it treated me like a charm. Alot better then my WRX with really really low profile tires. Good stuff! LOVE IT IN THE SNOW!

Daedelous

You're saying the FWD tC drove better than an AWD Subaru?

Like I said, this is the only time I've ever driven a car in cold weather so I have nothing to compare the tC to, really. I've ridden shotgun in a bunch of RWD trucks and jeeps and, man, FWD is so much better (but not as fun, heh); however, I haven't driven around in other FWD cars so I dunno if the tC handles good for a FWD car or not, but I don't see how it could be better than anything AWD/4WD.

P.S. If I had a nickel for every Subaru WRX that's up here in Alaska I could buy another tC. I have checked ScionLife and ClubScionTC and I think myself and one other guy I see on the street sometimes are the only owners of a tC in all of Anchorage, maybe Alaska, though I might be wrong.

ucyib2papi

drove my car to wisconsin and it was in the low negative teens and i could tell the car was not happy w/ me but she did what she had to. let it warm up for 20 minutes b4 i drove her, because, get this, i was gonna go wash her. then i got smarter and headed back. all in all i think it does great in the snow/cold.

bambams247

The AWD usually works great, it'll get you going, the stopping is the hard part. The problem I ahd with the WRX was that I had low profile tires, really low profile. Yokohama ES100s on the car. And those things had no snow rating (you know how tires have 0-100 ratings for dry, pavement, fog, rain, etc). For this tires there is a Snow column and just a big red box, no number! WOAW! So ya I couldnt go above 20mph if there was snow on the ground (like a few inches), otherwise if it was just a small layer i had to cap it at 40. But drifting in the thing was so easy and so fun in the snow. I made a few vids you could drift through a corner and halfway down the street with it sideways, and be able to hold it and bring it back. Fun times! I miss the rex

3_IGs

Ouch... -55 is crazy. I thought it was bad at -20 this winter.

I'm in the Navy too (HM). I was looking at orders to MEPS Anchorage a few years ago...but the wife didn't want to go...she's a bit smarter than me. Now it's off to the sunny climes of Camp Pendleton, CA.

scion_tC

wow one thing the Navy forgot to teach you was common sense...I like how you wrote up a completely useless review. Imagine someone taking a geo metro off roading and then writing a review about it...The tC is by far the WORST car you could have taken in that climate...and this review was really a waste of time. It says nothing about the cars performance when you use the car for something it's not even designed for. You needed a truck or an SUV with all wheel drive at least. Maybe a Subaru, with an upgraded heater, more insulation and bigger run flat snow tires. I wanna say you are stupid for attempting what you did...because you could have easily killed yourself.

Bear

You should've listened to your friends and family instead. Yeesh.

tsizzle

i've found that once you get into single digit temps and lower, the heat doesn't work as well. in 20 F it heats up pretty quick... this morning i had to leave a window open cause i had the front defogger blasting to keep the bloody snow from icing on my windshield, and it got damn hot in that car. couple weeks ago the thing didn't warm up for the entire half hour ride to work... i think it was 6 or 7 F out.

engifineer

It could happen to anyone, so saying those harsh things is the mose useless thing here, not his post. I think it could be very useful to anyone thinking of driving into Alaska, as many people dont understand the effects of those super harsh conditions. It seems normal to think that a car is designed for that, and it isnt, An SUV is not either. -50 degree weather is hard on any vehicle.. That is why they take steps in AK to keep their vehicles from having problems, such as block heaters. At those temps, the oil even sludges to a non useful point if not kept warm.

I live in Minneapolis, so the coldest mine has been driven in is 15 below. I did not have any issues, and the heater would still completely run you out of the car. I think I kept it at about 3/4 on the temp (when the little light on the dial is still purple and not changed to red yet) and about level 2-3 on the fan. But at -55 NOTHING likes to work properly. I have family and friends that lived in AK for years and they all said that their cars went through hell. But be very careful driving those long routes up there! A breakdown on the the highway there can easily be fatal. At -55 exposed skin will begin to freeze within minutes and traffic is sparse (As I am sure you noticed). At at those temps a breakdown is much more likely!!

scion_tC

cars can be customized to work in those conditions, if they can make a 250,000lb plane fly at 550MPH at 30,000ft with temps easily in the -50's they can design a car to work in Alaska...you might need a little bit more work then stock, but it's possible. And for anyone who has NO common sense and thinks that you can take a regular car into near death defying temperatures I feel sorry for you...not to mention a car that only cost 16.5K. Toyota Landcruisers for one can be fitted with special tires, insulation and a heater to work in Alaskan temps. I've seen on the discovery channel how they modded a Landcruiser to work in the North Pole.

Daedelous

scion_tc, half the reason I posted this was just because I thought tC owners might be intrigued to know the quality of their car in extreme conditions, even if they never drive in it. I figured it was something interesting that I could share *shrug*.

THE PERSONAL SIDE OF THE STORY:

Also, if you must know, I didn't have much of a choice about the drive. There were a few details I left out of the story such as, if I had shipped my car I would be stranded in Anchorage for who-knows-how-long with no transportation. The way things are setup I would have 10 days to find a place out in town, and this would be impossible if I didn't have a car. The time estimates I got for shipping my car from VA to AK, were very iffy and still encompassed a time period that wasn't an option for me. I needed my car to find a house. I left all that out because it has nothing to do with my drive, but since you are intent on calling me an idiot I guess I gotta explain it.

And I guess I could have figured something out if I had known how bad it would have been, but I didn't. People told me I would be driving on ice and that's all I knew. I didn't predict a snowstorm, I didn't predict a blowout, I didn't predict seeing no cars for hours, I didn't predict never having cellphone service, but, you know, my resources were nil for this drive because no one's done it and I'm not a psychic. I was definitely not stupid about it, though.

I flagged down people on the highway or people staying in motels with me and worked out caravanning schedules with them so I wouldn't drive alone (one of which helped me change my blowout in Northway). I also had a publication called the Milepost with me that lists, mile-by-mile, all the highway routes in AK and where to find everything. I also had a -20 rated sleeping bag, spare fuel, extra water, extra food, extra warm clothing, a huge roadside emergency kit, phone numbers I could call about road conditions, and I had coordinated times with family and friends as to where and when I would be staying at next and making sure to call them with continuous updates. I most definitely was not stupid about this trip.

Daedelous

Oh, hey, I forgot. If you guys want to see pictures of the drive I have them uploaded to my site here: http://www.adschmidt.com/photos12.htm

Let me know what you think. Scroll down a little for the AK portion of the drive.