Subaru X-Mode Winter Snow Test - Outback Onyx XT

We put Subaru's dual x

mode

to the

test

in this icy episode of driving sports television. Subarus are known for being go-anywhere, do-anything adventure vehicles on this very channel, we've tackled hills, forests and even trekked through an Icelandic blizzard behind the wheel. of one of these very sensitive wagons in terms of adventure one of

subaru

's most important innovations in recent years is its x-

mode

off-road system in simple terms, it is a special configuration that modifies the power of the throttle motor, the brakes, all-wheel drive torque. split and transmission to optimize traction in slippery conditions anytime you need more grip, just push a button and you get more capability.

Some of Subaru's more enthusiast-focused models, like the new 2.5-liter-powered Crosstrek Sport and the Outback Onyx tires when you try tough situations it is for the times when you need more traction but are afraid of getting stuck if you stop it is like the original x mode with the traction control is disabled, however here they have optimized every aspect of the vehicle, so it's not exactly the same as Subaru calling this second configuration deep

snow

and mud. All dual mode systems also have the original x mode as the first setting. Today we are going to see how the dual function It will carry over to the 2021 model year with only minor changes, it features a 260 horsepower Subaru symmetrical all-wheel drive turbocharged boxer engine and of course dual function x mode, so we have a couple of

test

s set up today, first we'll look at the

subaru

x mode system. specifically the dual Covered with a fresh layer of

snow

and then we'll switch it out with

winter

tires to see how much better that system can be when you have proper tires on the vehicle.

It will be a fun day. The temperature is currently 34 degrees. The climb up the hill here is covered in about five inches of fresh snow. No one's been up here yet and I know for tire comparison purposes it would be nice if I could be all scientific. However, this is the real world we are going to. Up with all the seasons, let's go down, there will be tire tracks. I am aware of this. Yes, it gives a slight advantage to the

winter

tires we are going to test this on later in the meantime. I'm going to learn a lot about how dual x mode works.

There are now two different x modes. There is snow, dirt and deep snow and mud. The only real difference you need to know is that deep snow and mud allow for more wheel spin, which helps you maintain momentum. Is that really an advantage in a climate like this? Let's find out, so here we go. I have no idea if this is going to work, so all seasons going up a rocky climb right now, I'm just in x mode, snow and dirt, actually, you know what? let's turn off x mode, see what we have now, there should be a lot of wheel spin as the system shuffles the power.

Now, inside, here you have the all-wheel drive system which is basically 60 percent forward and 40 percent rear. and uses wheel braking to redistribute power. Well, I'm already having a lot of problems. I like it. I can't even move here and I'm barely out the door. Let's look at some momentum. Well, a little momentum. We have this, but. I'm going around all over the place like this isn't really going to work, so let's go ahead and change it to x snow and dirt mode and see if that improves things. You are already using programmed traction control for this type of situation.

What are you doing? Does it handle my throttle a little better, cut the power a little to make the ignition smoother, and is it more aggressive in shuffling that power and detecting slippage. Oh, it's still a challenge, although with all these seasons up here it's a challenge even when it's dry because it's going to lift two wheels. Can you make up for it? I don't know if it will do this, let's see, oh, come on, standard x mode. Heck, even the standard x-modes get me through the tough stuff, so there I had it. There's no wheels on the ground there's no wheels on the ground back there and these two wheels were in the snow and I'm still sliding all over the place but I'm doing fine well let's switch to deep snow and mud and see if we can make the wheels spin more if that helps the situation.

I'm going to back up a little bit okay and I'll go because I was spinning the wheels so enthusiastically that the Subaru thought I had exceeded the 18 mile per hour speed limit for x mode so it shut down the If it turns off the system , you can see that there is less braking on the wheels, which means less control in these challenging conditions. We had already passed the most difficult part of the route, so from here on our standard all-wheel drive with a little boost reached the backcountry. Upstairs, let's try that tour again, so here we are on the second pass.

We already have a set of clues so we can see exactly how it will respond with both standard tires and snow tires, but right now we're focusing on x. dual x mode specifically, which only comes on a few different subarus, is available on the

outback

onyx

, which gives me maximum slip on the wheels, which helps me maintain momentum in challenging situations like the ones we're in now and the way one of these all-wheel drive systems works is you have to keep your foot on the accelerator, you can't stop and you also can't just step on the accelerator, but you have to keep a constant pace and then as you keep the accelerator on the system it will shuffle the power between the different wheels as it predicts it should work now that there is deep snow and mud.

This will allow us to know what is doing a brilliant job and look at those rocks. Oh okay, this is something you have to be careful of as you accelerate and go faster, sometimes it will detect that you are going too fast. for mode better illustrates how x-mode works. Look at the front wheel when not engaged below it spins freely however at the top when engaged it pushes the power to the rear wheels. Mode x makes it nice and easy so mode automatically the hill descent control is activated, it will now be set. a pace that depends on what my approach speed is, so now I'm completely stopped, I'm going to slowly lift the brake and now we're descending at about two miles per hour, three miles per hour, pretty controlled so far, go to the ditch . there's two miles an hour and three, that's where you want to be on a tough descent.

I'd prefer it if it could go down to a mile an hour, but I always have the brake pedal if I want to just give it a good push, so there you have it, even in pretty good snow, five inches isn't very deep, but you know at least it's not causing clearance issues due to the 8.7 inches of ground clearance, but even in snow like this, the x mode can really help you stay in control and get to places you didn't even know you could go, it was fun , but now let's do it with snow tires and see what the difference is rolling to where it was level and paved.

I changed the stock throughout the advent of the season. gts for a set of redistine windtrack pro winter tires the windtrack pros are designed specifically to handle snow and ice conditions like we have today as you can see the winter tires have larger sipes and blocks but the real benefit here It's in the compound that stays flexible in cold weather. All seasons are as hard as rocks right now. We would like to especially thank Redtine for making this video possible today. Sure we could have done a snow test in X mode, but you really should use proper tires.

In conditions like these, let's go ahead and finish this test. Ok, now that we have the professionals from Vredestina Windtrack, let's head back to the mountain. It has thawed a little, but I hope we have a very similar surface. cover, this is not a scientific test, so yes, the conditions are slightly different, unfortunately, in a real world situation, there really isn't much we can do about it. I have the avid gts in the back with me and I'm going to take them with me, uh, because I want to keep the same weight that I was when I first went up because when I first went up with the uh avids on the vehicle, of course, I had snow tires behind me , now same situation, different tires, now there is a little known fact is that some rally riders actually use winter tires as rallycross tires because they have larger blocks that really help get through slippery mud conditions.

Now, compounds don't benefit you as much, but they are a softer compound and of course they also have those thicker block designs. So if you only do rally cross occasionally and don't want to pay for rallycross wheels and tyres, then you know you have an option that is also useful in winter, although I'm aware that very few people actually do rallycross, so I'm sure that message is only useful to five of you, probably okay, here's the snow line, let's see how these things grip going up. I'm not going to say it feels like I'm driving on dry pavement because I'm not, but the feel I have behind the wheel and the limited slip I have on this surface is actually a pretty noticeable difference and I know this is not news to no one who has driven a winter tire, but yeah for those of you who don't know, it's a very different driving experience, it's like you drive on winter tires and you think, oh yeah, now I get it.

Now I know why you spend the money on having an extra set of winter tires if you are in a climate where snow is not unusual or you find yourself often following trails. Well, the temperature hasn't really dropped. I'm just eating this surface, eating it, even turning the vehicle. I can still use some oomph. turning that back, you know, is one of the benefits of Subaru's all-wheel drive system, but the grip is there. I mean, if I want to slide, I can really push it, but you can do it in all seasons on wet pavement. Well, here it just gives you a lot more control over the vehicle.

Now we have to ask ourselves: how much better is x mode with winter tires? Do we need x2 mode or can x1 mode help us climb the climb? Let's find out if I'm really curious because we haven't done this beforehand, this is how you see it, for those who don't know, we actually film these documentary style, we literally do all of this in the order that you see it and we do it without prior notice warning. testing so there is no shenanigans here this is what you see is what is happening now we are going to try the x mode with the vredestinate windtrack pro tires to see what the difference is first we are going to go ahead and start in dirt snow mode what is it the first level of mode x, if you have a vehicle that has only one type of mode and down and of course we've already taken this vehicle up and down the same course so I'm going to try to follow the soft ground.

I'm going to try to go off the beaten path, so to speak, which is obviously going to be more difficult because it's the non-compact path and we'll see what this does and I'm going to go ahead and cut all the way that's left on the track so that we really take it away. traction to these two wheels and let's see. What does this? Yes, we lack traction. All-wheel drive is pushing the power. No problem. I just keep my foot on the accelerator. Now the exmo type 1 will accelerate a little so that when you step on the accelerator you don't.

I don't get as much power right off the bat, which is good because you really want to be able to have smooth power to the wheels and I mean, let's compare what this looked like whenI got up here at every station right now, yeah, okay, it's having a hard time. for a bit of grip on a rocky slope, but is it a problem? Actually, I haven't even switched to type 2 yet I haven't needed it. Type 2 is for very special cases where you really need a lot of wheel spin. Right now the wheels are spinning a lot and they are being pushed up, so we are still in snow land mode.

I haven't needed to add anything. I'm going up a fairly steep slope. I think this is a grade 20 covered in snow rocks. Traction control, I mean everything is unbalanced, some wheels don't even have ground under them and it's working fine. Wow, that was really impressive. It has been so easy, I don't see any problems, less fuss than with all the stations. Now I know you. You're probably saying you're probably saying Ryan when you went up with All Seasons that there was nothing up there it was pure snow well that's why we have phase two here so phase two here is tough even without snow.

I'm not going to lie, a lot of vehicles have problems with this, so we'll look at some problems, it's just the nature of the angle of gravity, all-wheel drive, that kind of thing, but let's see what it looks like with winter tires on a crazy slippery surface. , I mean this is frozen so I have ice and powder snow that's all, oh and it's on top of rocks on a slope and two wheels at a time only have traction. Can do it? Does it have enough grip? Yes, apparently I have. I can't do this without scratching the paint.

He really hates it when I scratch the paint. Well, I'm still in snow and dirt mode and this is very steep. I'm crawling out of a hole here, apparently no problem, dude, these. The tires are great now we will back up and see how well the hill descent control works. I haven't had to go xmo type 2 at the moment and it is letting me down and getting close to 2 miles per hour on the steep stuff. three miles per hour when it's a little bit softer totally under control nice cool I say yes let's go to the mountains in the snow we'll try it before and then I have in my head how it's going to be this was better like this it was Much better than I expected for host sports on television.

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