J1 IS300

Is there any harm in driving in snow mode even though its not snowing?

flipside909

Not at all. Just retard's the throttle response and tranny shifts of the electronic throttle control.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

just curious, would it save gas?

flipside909

Unfortunately no. There was an old thread on .net that discussed that. It doesn't help/hurt mileage at all.

mmarshall

What it does specifically is to cut way back on the amount of torque going through the transmission to the rear wheels. It will give you a noticibly smoother start-up from rest....particularly at cooler engine temperatures when the drive-by-wire throttle system can be a little jumpy. It will feel like the transmission is slipping a little and starting in second gear.
It will also feel like the engine is lugging, but it is not lugging because of the cutback in torque.

Snow mode, Traction control ON, a very light foot, and non-high performance tires are a MUST for an IS300 in almost any kind of snow or ice. Even then the car is not particularly good in snow...just passable.

J1 IS300

thanks for the information

RJML

Yeah, the car is pretty crappy in snow even with snow tires. It easily loses traction.

pruittdm

This is my first winter with my IS300 and we just got 20 inches of snow
It appears to be rear wheel drive - surprise to me - I thought I had a front wheel drive

rominl

iTrader: (4)

errr.... yeah... the is300 is rwd, together with gs, ls, and sc. es and the rx are fwd. gx and lx are awd

Incendiary

News to me. I thought the RX was FWD or AWD.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

ah you are right, i stand corrected. i beleive here is a awd option for the rx

Incendiary

Ah, the student has become the master.