12+ Inches Of Snow

[Booyah]

Well we just recieved a boatload of snow, so of course I had to take the Lex out and see how she performs as few said it aint worht POO!

Well, it handles and runs great through the snow. I did notice that when you want to take off Fast say on a really slick area it does cut the power down and takes it time till it gains traction (helpfull for not spinning out).

Goin around turns and trying to get it out of shape is sort of hard to do with the VSC system kicking in, amazes me how it works so well! You can get the car out of control if you "try", I tried Just normal driving and going to turn you can tell when it kicks in and does the job great of keeping you out of trouble.

Overall its great in the good ol snow, I try to get out in the snow at anytime, I love it, I have to think of things to go get so I can run and get them

[ArmyofOne]

Well we just recieved a boatload of snow, so of course I had to take the Lex out and see how she performs as few said it aint worht POO!

Well, it handles and runs great through the snow.  I did notice that when you want to take off Fast say on a really slick area it does cut the power down and takes it time till it gains traction (helpfull for not spinning out).

Goin around turns and trying to get it out of shape is sort of hard to do with the VSC system kicking in, amazes me how it works so well!  You can get the car out of control if you "try", I tried     Just normal driving and going to turn you can tell when it kicks in and does the job great of keeping you out of trouble.

Overall its great in the good ol snow, I try to get out in the snow at anytime, I love it, I have to think of things to go get so I can run and get them

←

yo man, you from anchorage? i lived there for my whole life!

[Harteget]

Hi Booyah,

Thanks for the info. Do you have ECT snow switch in your car? Mine is FWD and has it. I am not sure whether AWD has it or not. If so, did you have a chance to try it?

[Booyah]

Hi Booyah,

Thanks for the info. Do you have ECT snow switch in your car? Mine is FWD and has it. I am not sure whether AWD has it or not. If so, did you have a chance to try it?

←

Yea, it has the Snow ECT switch as well! I tried it and seems to control even more wheelspin on takeoff! I think it takes off in 2nd gear with the swich on. My 330 loves the snow

[Booyah]

Well we just recieved a boatload of snow, so of course I had to take the Lex out and see how she performs as few said it aint worht POO!

Well, it handles and runs great through the snow.  I did notice that when you want to take off Fast say on a really slick area it does cut the power down and takes it time till it gains traction (helpfull for not spinning out).

Goin around turns and trying to get it out of shape is sort of hard to do with the VSC system kicking in, amazes me how it works so well!  You can get the car out of control if you "try", I tried      Just normal driving and going to turn you can tell when it kicks in and does the job great of keeping you out of trouble.

Overall its great in the good ol snow, I try to get out in the snow at anytime, I love it, I have to think of things to go get so I can run and get them

←

yo man, you from anchorage? i lived there for my whole life!

←

Oh yea Anchorage I love it! Its another little world up here....

[Harteget]

What tires do you have? All season?

[Booyah]

What tires do you have? All season?

←

Just the stock all season Goodyears the car came with! I prefer Michlins though

[SW03ES]

So apparently that front biased "fake" AWD works just fine. Surprise surprise ;)

[Booyah]

So apparently that front biased "fake" AWD works just fine. Surprise surprise ;)

←

Works like a charm--I was watching the tires as the wife hopped on the peddle a bit and it got the front and rear tires to spin a bit till all the fancy controls kicked in

[StatikRX]

Well we just recieved a boatload of snow, so of course I had to take the Lex out and see how she performs as few said it aint worht POO!

Well, it handles and runs great through the snow.  I did notice that when you want to take off Fast say on a really slick area it does cut the power down and takes it time till it gains traction (helpfull for not spinning out).

Goin around turns and trying to get it out of shape is sort of hard to do with the VSC system kicking in, amazes me how it works so well!  You can get the car out of control if you "try", I tried     Just normal driving and going to turn you can tell when it kicks in and does the job great of keeping you out of trouble.

Overall its great in the good ol snow, I try to get out in the snow at anytime, I love it, I have to think of things to go get so I can run and get them

←

Booyah,

Do you have an '04 or '05 RX? The stock tires on my are actually Michellins. I'm wondering if these are better or worse that the tires you have. I'm glad to hear that you're having no difficulty with your truck as snow is around the corner for me here as well. Do you find yourself leaving the "SNOW" button engaged or is it only required for serious conditions?

[wwest]

Booyah,

You could have been describing the LS400 with VSC/TRac for all that matters with the limited testing you did. I'm quite sure the LS would perform just as adequately and/or as well in the conditions you describe.

Now, how does it do getting up or down a 5% grade covered with snow and ice? I can't recall any of those close in to Anchorage but I'm quite sure they can be found reasonably nearby.

And by the by I just learned that the BMW X3 has a DSC (VSC equivalent) manual cutoff switch so that the engine isn't dethrottled in the circumstance you describe. But they do caution that in the cutoff mode the brakes are still used for right/left torque apportionment so there is a possiblity that this braking will be "masked out" to prevent overheating the brake rotors if the driver persists with wheelspin for an extented period.

But even so, with X-drive you would still have active front/rear torque apportionment.

Maybe next year's Toyota/Lexus new "features".

[SeaDuck79]

There is a hill on that route between the airport and downtown that is both sloped and has a couple of sharp curves. How's she handle there?

[SW03ES]

Your LS must be vastly different than my dad's, I couldnt even get it out of the driveway in 5 inches of snow. The LS is an absolute pig in the snow.

[wwest]

The early LSes did not have VSC/Trac, therefore no VIRTUAL LSD, therefore no go in the snow. I think, far from sure, the 98's and later have VSC.

[SW03ES]

This was a 98 with VSC.

The times I drove it in the snow I actually turned the VSC off and found it preformed better. Still I would never choose the LS to drive in the snow, unless it was equipped with snow tires.

[wwest]

Turned the VSC off??!!

Are you sure?

I haven't seen a VSC off switch on any Lexus model. Someone did recently post that their 05 RX had one but my 01 RX certainly doesn't.

My 92 LS has "Trac off" but that's an entirely different, useless, system, on or off.

[ColinBarber]

VSC off is available on other models - GS, LS, SC, IS etc

Not available on my '01 RX.

[noosense00]

ok. I think we came to a conclusion that the 04 RX330 AWD handles well in snow on level ground. The question is, how well does it handle on a "slight" or "steep" incline when the road is covered with snow? Haven't really had enough snow here in NYC, so please someone let me know as I am dying of curiosity as to how well it handles on an incline.

[wwest]

With snowchains on the rear it (01 AWD RX) handled SUPER here in the Seattle eastside area last winter during our ice storm.

But wouldn't have dared venture out without the snowchains.

[SW03ES]

Yep, the LS series has a VSC off switch on the console. The ES has a VSC off switch too but unlike on the LS the VSC off button doesn't also disable the TRAC. I'm not familiar enough with his 04 LS, but it also has a VSC off switch, whether it operates like his old 98 or my ES I don't know.

[wwest]

One of us (me??), or some of us, are confused, very.

At the Lexus showroom today the 05 LS430 did not have a VSC off switch, nor did the 05 ES300, nor the GS470 and LX470, although I didn't check the model year on the latter two.

And, the 05 AWD RX330 did NOT have a VSc off switch/mode.

The LS did have a Trac off switch and the RX330 had an ECT/snow switch.

The salesman (whose word alone I don't trust anyway) said that none of the Lexus vehicles that he knew of had such a capability and then he went on to ask why someone would want to disable VSC. I explained the BMW capability and the whys and therefore but I don't really think he took it to heart.

The truth of the matter is that the only real need is to have some way to disable the dethrottling aspect. It happens that BMW chose to do this via VSC disable.

And by the by someone on another forum pointed out to me that Toyota.com now has very good animation of all of these individual aspects, ABS add-ons, if you go into the vehicle's in-depth area.

Not as comprehensive as would be desired but certainly understandable.