spiceboy23

I got a 2014 IS350 AWD F-sport, and been trying to research what the SNOW button really does, but to no avail. Please enlighten me. Thanks.

JDR76

It pretty much just dulls the throttle response. Think of it as ECO mode with extra ECO.

Swacer

It also starts the car in 2nd gear in order to dog down your torque curve. Less torque, less spin, smoother transition to getting moving in snow.

JDR76

I don't actually believe that's correct. Mine still starts in 1st gear when in snow mode.

drbazing

That's what my tech told me.

JDR76

That was what I thought, too, but then I tried it... (note mine is a 6 speed, perhaps the 8 speed is different?)

drbazing

Maybe an AWD thing? I never actually have tried the snow mode because I'm down here in SoCal. I have a RWD and it is 8spd.

JDR76

Rub it in...

a790

Must be nice. Up here, having a RWD 8-speed with the 6-speed AWD is available would be pretty daft. Case and point, I'm looking at at least 10cm of snow right now...

drbazing

Haha sorry didn't mean anything malicious. Maybe I'll drive this winter up in Snoqualmie mountain and see. I have a place in Bellevue.

spiceboy23

Same here. I tried the SNOW mode and can attest it starts in 1st gear, not 2nd gear as I was told.
By default, IS350 AWD has a 70/30 rear:front torque split. Is it possible the SNOW mode locks it in 50/50?
Regarding throttle response, I cannot tell its difference from Eco or Normal mode.

Spagolli94

Maybe it changes the way it routes power if a wheel starts to spin? Or maybe it helps you rock the car when stuck, like you can in an MT car? Just guessing here...

Swacer

I woudln't trust that gear position indicator.

Here:

http://www.torquenews.com/1083/lexus...s250-and-is350

"Lexus has opted to add a SNOW mode to the AWD cars in addition to the other 3 modes. This works well in use and is as simple as locking out first gear to allow the car start in second gear. This is a Toyota trait that works well and we are glad to see it continuing in the newest Lexus cars. It would be nice to see this mode on all the IS cars since they might all see snow and it is simple to implement on any car."

Here is discussion of the LS using snow mode on this forum:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...snow-mode.html

Again, discussion that the car starts in 2nd gear.

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Thus, when you put your foot on the gas, how quickly does that indicator move from 1 to 2? I bet its pretty quick, probably almost immediately.

JDR76

Trust it or not, you can just count shifts as you accelerate, and clearly feel it run through all 6 gears.

That article states that RWD models don't have a SNOW mode, which clearly is not correct. There are other inaccuracies in the article as well.

It may very well start in 2nd on the LS, I do not know. My experience is with the IS.

It's fairly quick, though not immediate. Though it always moves out of 1st into second fairly quickly (though it holds on longer in Sport Mode).

I'm not sure which model you have, but just play around with it and you can see.

Swacer

Yeah, we will have to see this winter. I find it more concerning that Lexus dealers are telling people something, and it might not be true.