LexusFirst

How do you guy find the IS's awd performance on snow?
I am looking to purchase an awd IS, so I want to know how it perform in snow with snow tire.
My area usually has 5 to 10" of snow in the first few days. Then, the city clear the snow and left with slippery road everywhere.

I previously own an Audi A4 and Subaru Impreza. They never stuck with snow tire and have great acceleration..
I watch some old video testing the RX. It failed all the climb and slippery condition compare to other car. However, those video are pretty old. I think recently Lexus test their cars on snow and keep making advertisement about that.

What are your real world experience?

Lindenlea

We get a lot of snow in Ottawa and my car performs well.I have had an A4 and a BMW 535xdrive and I would say the IS350 is just as good as those cars.The caveat is, the Fsport does have a low front lip and you will get the snow plow phenomena happening if the road has deep snow.

LexusFirst

Sounds good. I notice the low front lip as well. My impreza's bumper is right above any curbs, but it does hit the road if I go too fast entering or exiting a slope.

Does IS F sport bumper hit things easily like road curbs, parking curbs, or entering a slope?

Onz

My F-Sport AWD performed really well in the snow this year with Pirelli snow tires - even sharp acceleration didn't fishtail it. I also felt comfortable in it on the highway. The only irritant was that I was always wiping off the rear camera (and sweeping the snow of the front lip as was mentioned).


My wife's Impreza is fantastic in the snow (even without snow tires) and still I personally feel more comfortable in it than the IS in a snow storm, but I guess they are not directly comparable.

BOBFSPORT

Haha do you hit road curbs and parking curbs? Its all about how careful you are with your cars.

JB5674

Heres a photo of my 350 F Sport AWD in the snow in DC. The streets were bad and the whole city got shocked by this storm. I actually stopped 2x to help people get unstuck. I was able to take on the snow without snow tires and lowered. The AWD system is crazy good. Another instance I drove through a huge puddle that I thought was road. I hit the puddle on simi icey roads at about 60 mph. The car didnt flinch. Again, I personally vouch for the AWD system in the car, as well know how to drive " the proper way " for skids and drifts etc.

LexusFirst

Nice, btw, is it a part time or full time awd system?

My0gr81

What part of AB are you in? I lived in Edmonton 25 years, did the YEG / CGY commute weekly on Highway 2 in a variety of cars and tires over time, but ultimately I found a RWD with winter tires to be much better than any drive train with 4 seasons. It was also more fun to drive.

I think the AWD 250 is 30/70 front/ rear biased and can shift to 50/50 as slip increases. With winter tires, this should be fine, as long as you realize that once the plows pass by, until they sand, you are on ice, not snow. Same goes for the packed snow in residential areas, once it's packed it's ice, really.

For disclosure, I just traded a 2nd Gen RWD IS250 for a 3rd gen AWD 250 F-Sport last week, so no experience in the snow. I have experience with the 3rd Gen RX, but that one is FWD biased and shifts up to 50/50 as slip increases. I always used dedicated winters tires and wheels on both the IS and the RX.

theoryguy3

It's a intelligent system, it definitely works well as I've had no problems the past 2 years in show as deep as 2 feet. Bloomberg actually confirms this in the below review:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...nowplow-review

JDR76

It's a full time system. As noted up thread, normal operations is at 70 rear / 30 front, with the on demand ability to go up to 50/50.

I've only had mine out in about 3 inches of snow, but it was very impressive.

budman1

My F Sport AWD had no trouble with the Illinois winter snowfall. There was never a time where I could not get to wherever I needed to go. The AWD system performed as expected.

LexusFirst

It is good to hear all this.
I am wondering what does the "snow" mode actually does?
Can I use snow mode with ECO/normal, S and S+ mode at the same time?

In you experience, is using the snow mode actually better in snow?

JDR76

Snow mode just reduces the throttle input. You can read more about it here:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...w-mode-do.html

computerwi

As a fellow Albertan, I can say that I haven't had any problems getting around in Edmonton with the AWD. However, I am a strong believer in a good wet of winter tires. I run Michelin Pilot PA4 which turns the vehicle into a snow beast. The stock tires are alright in snow, but do very poorly on even the thinnest ice.

AndyL

This is my first car with full-time AWD and here is my take. I have a dedicated set of winter tires on 17" wheels (Michelin X-Ice Xi3)

I find the full time AWD in IS works pretty well except it will still have some slight fishtailing if you turn a corner at a sightly higher speed on a thicker snow pile. 3IS is still rear wheel biased as 70% torque goes to rear wheels. After the 1st snow in the first winter when 3IS was launched, I literally saw quite a number of 3IS sitting in a body shop lots and all of them were AWD. Just like in a ditch, you seldom saw RWD cars in winter. I guess overconfidence is easily associated with cars with AWD. So still caution is advised.