hobaid

Hey all, I crashed my 91 LS in Jan because I was driving in the snow (not by choice). I only had it for 4 months.
I want to get a another one, but wanted to find out first...
All LS's are rear wheel right, so can it be driver in the snow or rain?
The GS's are all rear wheel too. What's one to do??

Och

iTrader: (3)

Certaibly forget the GS - mine's stayed parked every time it snowed. My LS however does fairly well with all seasons.

siamiam

mine does really well in the snow and ice, ive got weight in the back and snow tyres on it too.

Kansas

I drove a 90 LS400 through 13 winters with little problem and even spent quite a lot of time in Iowa snow during the winter. Dedicated snow tires (the ones with the mountain/snowflake logo) are the key and a couple of bags of sand it the trunk help too.

Without snow tires my 90 LS was very scary. The 98-up LS does far better in the snow (much better than our front drive Camry) but again dedicated snow tires are important. My 00 LS with Blizzaks seems to get around better than most SUV's - it is actually a lot of fun to drive in snow and ice. VSC is amazing for keeping you out of trouble. Also, the later LS400's have substanially more ground clearance than the early onces. I high centered my 90 LS several time (always got out of it though) but never came close to getting stuck with my 00 LS400.

But, heck, it's almost Spring. My snow tires come off in another few days -- always on the first day of Spring.

trukn1

Ths LS handles just like any other rear wheel drive vehicle in the snow conditions. Agree with what Kansas said, that good winter tires are a good key element to the handling. This not to say that with it, your car will be invincible. The main thing you need to remember is even though you may have all of the equipment dedicated, and specified for winter; you still need to change your driving habits. This entails, extra stopping distance than normal, anticipating that someone else is going to screw up and being ready for it, always setting yourself up so that you have an "out" if you need it, and most importantly reducing your speed. Any rear wheel driven vehicle is gonna have a tendency to get "tail happy" in bad weather. Remember to steer in the direction that the tail is heading so you can recover quickly, and maintain control.

dinh626

1990 Ls400, ABS brakes, no traction control. Good set of winter tires and 2 sand bags in the back.

2 canadian winters thus far, nothing the LS couldn't handle. Just have to take it slow.

akxx

iTrader: (1)

LS is just fine in the snow, especially with traction control, and dedicated snow tires (mountain/snowflake symbol--extreme winter rating) are a must.

With a little extra weight in the back, plus being able to raise the air suspension allows me to go practically anywhere my friends' AWD vehicles go.

Only thing I've noticed that is slightly odd is that the ABS isn't effective at extremely slow speeds. For the last 3-5 feet on icy conditions (under 5 mph), the front wheels will lock up and slide without ABS kicking in at all. A little disconcerting, but not a major deal.

steveski

When I bought my LS in 96 I drove it home in the snow and ice through Oklahoma. That was the first and only time I drove it in the snow. Thinking back it handled really well - just like trukn1 said, I drove safely but never felt the vehicle was unstable at any point - loved driving it home - snow or not.

EastWind

Snow Tires Is The Key. That's It.

ajmcd64

95 LS with traction control, decent tires (all season), didn't have any problems in NE Ohio past 2 winters, although, when it gets real bad, I just take my 4wd truck.