Jamrock27

Perfect, thank you

alpinefun

Define the hill and the situation you have to make it. There is no magic bullet if it is packed / icy road and you have to start from dead stop - you need all wheel drive car. ES350 was not designed for that. Indeed enjoy a quit and fantastically comfortable ride and have a second car for bad weather. I keep my baby garaged this ****ty weekend and use my old 1999 4Runner to get around. That's it.

hypervish

You don't need all wheel drive.

What you do need is a set of snow tires.

All wheel drive might help you get going but it isn't going to help you stop. Snow tires will!

Jamrock27

If the all season tires will not do, then I will definitely consider the snow tires since AWD will not be an option. One of my biggest concerns is the torque of the 4 cylinder to get me over the hill and in my driveway. My current Camry is my first 4 cylinder car and is the only FWD car I have had this issue with. You guys are great, thank you all so much

mspearl95

i just put studless winter tires on my es350, and they performed quite well in the recent snowy weather we've had. Virtually no loss of traction when taking off from stoplights, even on 3- day old packed snow. No slippage around corners either. Of course for truly awful weather, My 91 Corolla All- Trac wagon will go anywhere anytime. :-)

uicandrew

I have an es300h. Previously, with my previous Camry, I could shift to "L" gear or something similar like "2" or "3" (that's how it was labeled on the gear shifter.

I don't have that option anymore. I live near Chicago where there's rather harsh winter with snow and sometimes ice. Any helpful hints ?

mackbuck12

Hi

I have a 2013 ES with traction control. We just had a big ice storm here in Dallas. The traction control was great and the ABS brakes worked fine as well. As a matter of fact you can be on solid ice and stump on the gas and the car will inch forward in very controlled manner. You can have one front wheel on ice and the other on pavement and the car will still go forward in controlled manner. You still have to use common sense though.

SW17LS

Here's the issue...experience driving the ES350 in the snow and the ES300h in the snow won't always be applicable. My two previous ES's were okay in the snow. Not great, but okay. Would have been better on winter tires but we don't really have the climate for them down in MD.

I will tell you that our old Prius was almost undrivable in the snow, and the reason for that was the overzealous traction control system. Apparently the hybrid system doesn't like wheelspin, so the system was designed to not allow any...which is a problem when trying to get going in the snow. All power would just shut down whenever the slightest wheelspin was detected.

Now, that was 10 years ago...technology has improved maybe its not an issue anymore...but be careful when assuming the 300h will be fine because the 350 is. I would like to see some experiences specifically of 300h drivers in the snow...

If your Camry can't get up a hill, the ES won't either 350 or 300h.

Kansas

The strategy to use on snow can be very different than when on ice. To get moving in deep snow, it is often imperative that Traction Control be turned off. If not, no power will be transferred to the drive wheels and you will just sit there.

At least Traction Control can be turned off on the ES300h -- not something we can do on our Prius. Real snow tires are the answer though - Blizzak, X-Ice, etc. - not just for traction but to allow ABS and VSC to function at their maximum potential.

Don't forget to set the "park" position of your ES windshield wipers to the higher "winter mode" - see your owners manual for how to do it.

Jamrock27

Thank you SW13GS, those were my concerns about the ES 300H since I have a 4 cylinder Camry. My previous 6 cylinder Camry handled the same hill ok. Since I live up a hill and my driveway is in the curve portion of the road I need to slow down to turn into the driveway.

Jamrock27

Thanks Kansas

lesz

The challenges of winter driving can include a number of different things. One of them is getting moving in snow. Another is moving on ice. Still another is maintaining control once you are moving.

With the stability control and ABS, the ES, whether hybrid or not, should do quite well at maintaining control once you are moving. With regard to getting moving, what becomes critical is slowly and steadily building up some momentum from a stop. I've found that, with my ES350, I can get up my very steep driveway when it is covered in ice if I can get moving and build up some momentum. On the other hand, if I can't get moving and build up that momentum, I won't get up the hill with the all-wheel drive of my GX because, regardless of the drive train, if the tires don't have a surface on which to grip, you aren't going anywhere.

An important additional point is that the most important equipment to safely get through winter driving isn't snow tires or all-wheel drive or anything else that the car is equipped with. Instead, it is the driver using his/her head. My observation is that the most common reason why people get themselves into trouble driving on ice or snow is when the driver thinks that he/she can drive the same way that he/she drives on dry pavement. For about 20 years, I had to make a 300 mile round trip drive each week. Every winter, there would be at least 2 or 3 of those trips that involved doing the driving on ice or snow. During those drives, invariably, cars would be passing me on the interstate driving, in spite of the slick surface, at speeds above the posted limit. But it was amazing how much traffic slowed down after we passed the first vehicle in the ditch, and, more often than not, that first vehicle in the ditch was an all-wheel drive vehicle.

SW17LS

Do we know for a fact that defeating traction control on the ES300h actually defeats the traction control, or does it just allow more wheelspin? That would surprise me given what I've been told about the nature of the HSD as relates to wheelspin.

Jamrock27

With most of the country experiencing snow recently does anyone have any further comments?

chewbach

I would recommend snow tires. The cost of 4 snow tires mounted on separate wheels is somewhat offset by saving tread life on your All Seasons. Thus, over the long-haul, you have the advantage of much better winter traction without a significant additional expense.

I've been doing this for about the past 10 years. I've had a lot of success using Tire Rack.