Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions one can offer. I drive an 07 GS350 RWD. This will be my first winter experience with this vehicle and thought I'd try to get some ideas from others regarding what to potentially expect, or suggestions on how to maximize the safety of myself and others. Buying a new car is out of the question--that would be like abandoning a child, so please don't offer that as legitimate advice as I won't take it seriously. Anyone use winter tires? Sandbags? Bumper car style bumpers? <---that'd look sexy eh? Any thoughts, suggestions, or stories would be greatly appreciated!

 

I don't know if the Gen. 3 GS is different from the Gen 2 when it comes to handling in the snow, but I had a 2001 Gen 2 GS300 RWD that was absolutely the worst car I ever owned when it came to driving in the snow. I remember one time I was driving in snow in my development and had to go up a small hill (about 10 degrees) and the car couldn't make it. I tried putting weight in the trunk but that didn't help very much. Sorry, but I can't offer any good suggestions to maximize safety because I was so afraid of driving it I just got rid of it and got a 2006 GS300 AWD.

 

get snow tires, that should be more than enough. if your really worried, buy a cheap beater car for a couple hundred bucks (probably what you'll spend on snow tires anyway) and use that for when it snows.

 

good set of snow tires and it should do very well

 

I would suggest snow tires. I'm going to invest in a set myself, thinking of either just tires on my OEM rims or a new set of rims/tires just for snow and winter such as 17 inch "cheaper" rims with quality tires.

 

Buy a used car than.

Your IL weather can't be worse than MD. My best advice is stay off the road when the weather is bad... and turn on the TV see all the idiots showing their AWD SUV stuck in 2 foot of snow in the ditch.

 

I hope that taking it easy and a good set of tires will get me through the winter months. Does anyone know if a set of 17" is250 awd wheels will fit on a gs430? Found a cheap set.

 

The is250 17s won't clear the front brake on your 430

 

Had a 2GS and it was TERRIBLE in the snow. Snow tires and sand bags are your best bet.

 

^ terrible as in how? packed snow? hill?

The GS is really not good in snow in general. Low clearance + RWD. Which was why my advice was to stay off the road.

MD, we don't get bad snow very often. So I'm OK with my GS. If I have to be out in the snow, I drive slow on the right side and try to stay in area that is well driven by other cars. Drive just fast enough that momentum will carry me over if I do hit a small patch lifting my vehicle up for a sec. But not too fast that if I lost control and momentum could throw me deep in the ditch. When you are stuck, momentum is your friend to get out. Can't go forward, than go backward. Not so good for the gear box though. But if use properly it should be ok.

 

Phis, how good are your winter driving skills? I had an AWD GS350 with snow tires on all 4 corners and it was excellent in the snow. But let's face it; driving in the snow is about the equipment and the driver. If you have a history of having trouble driving in the snow, a RWD car with low clearance probably isn't your best bet. If, on the other hand, you've been driving RWD vehicles in the snow successfully for a long time and you don't have difficult geography (mountains, large hills, etc.) then you'd probably be OK with just a little weight in the truck and snow tires. Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

 

You make it sound like there is another worse combination. None wheel drive with no clearance? LOL

 

LOL. You're right. Perhaps I didn't make it clear enough but my point was if you have good equipment and bad skills, it's still not going to be a good day when it snows. Likewise, if you have good skills and average equipment, you'll probably do OK. If you have really goods skills and good equipment, you can probably star on ice road truckers!

 

If we get so much snow I would buy this instead of the GS


But for now it is like this

 

Ahhh man... I was hoping to not see anything like that for quite awhile. Now if I have to go and drink enough to forget what you showed me.