I drove my truck when the snow was bad, my commute then was 60 miles and I was cruising straight as an arrow in 4" slush on the highway no track marks, full on slush. Passed a cop doing 90km with a 30' rooster tail.

 

Two years ago drove from Charletsville, VA to Ocean City, MD in a blizzard with white-out conditions at times on I64. Wife wanted to see snow for the first time so I headed to the mountains because we don't usually get much here. Since this was a storm comming upward and from the southwest, it was just as heavy on MD's eastern shore. (didn't need to go to the mountains). The whole drive the truck was in 4hi. My 07' is just a standard 4X4 with LSD rear. I was never worried and never broke into a skid. Just didn't drive very fast, took me about 10 hours. BFG AT's did extremely well on the truck.

 

Personally, I don't think the ESP had a damn thing to do with getting you through deep snow, but winter driving has a LOT to do with confidence. So if YOU are convinced that the ESP in that '09 was the reason you got through the snow so well then I'd suggest you buy another 4th Gen with ESP...

 

Living in upstate NY my whole life (Rochester NY area), I have driven my share of snow covered roads. It is my opinion that 4 wheel drive is only as good as the tires you have. My truck is an 07 Quad 4X4 Hemi, and it has the stock GY Wrangler HP's, which will break loose on wet pavement. I have a new set of AT tires on order, just waiting for them to arrive at the install shop. So, if the 08 you are looking at has Wrangler HP's, I would get rid of them ASAP.

 

Never had an I'm not driving in that sh*t moment. I had to be at work no matter what. I drove in the blizzard last year and only got stuck once and didn't take long to get unstuck(4ft snow plow drift at the end of my street).

I agree winter driving does have a Lot to do with confidence, and to me the only way to build confidence with the truck is to practice and play around. It doesn't have to be hard core offroading which could cause something to break. Like I said in my first post simple stuff like driving down dirt roads and trails, playing in open parking lots in the rain or snow, or an open field can all be used to build confidence.

 

I am not a snow driving expert because we dont get it often. But i am very confident driving in snow. That makes a big difference. But if you want a snow commuting tank in a pickup, it would make sense to stage some weight (sand bags or whatever) in the bed of the truck. Seems that would be more helpful than anything electronic.

 

Well I spent the first 25 years of my life in upstate NY & had a 4 Wheel Drive something for all but about a year from the time I was old enough to drive. I never had a moment where I felt I couldn't drive safely, matter of fact I worked nights at a hospital when I was in college and volunteered to drive doctors & nurses to and from work and even carried blood & organs during bad snowstorms.
I always just made sure I had a couple hundred pounds of sand in the back of the truck for better traction with the rear wheels.
Best vehicle I ever owned in the snow was a little Mitsubishi made '89 Dodge Raider SUV. That little V6, short wheelbased thing would go through anything and fit anywhere. Had that bugger for nine years and put 143k miles on it before selling it and buying a Jeep Wrangler. I spent many a day out on the ice with that Raider, ice fishing and doing donuts and power slides when the fishing was slow, LOL...

 

Well, thanks all. I've decided to go with it. In sitting in the dealer right now waiting for them to finish the prep and paperwork and using my iphone to post this. There was a misty rain this morning and when I test drove the truck I did get rear wheel spin pretty easily... so it's something I'm going to have to know going in.
Thanks for all the advice.. I mean nobody seemed too concerned about winter driving, so why should I?

 

You do of course realize it's now your obligation to post pics of your new ride, right???

 

You do have to go easy on the gas when it's wet, from a dead stop. I still do that to this day and have to back off. Strange but it seems worse in a misty rain than it does in a full downpour. But I never hammer it like that in the snow. A lot of how it handles the snow is going to be up to you, of course. Many people around where I live just have no idea how to drive in it so, by default, they just go drive like they would any other time.