Is there any harm in driving in snow mode even though its not snowing?

 

Not at all. Just retard's the throttle response and tranny shifts of the electronic throttle control.

 

just curious, would it save gas?

 

Unfortunately no. There was an old thread on .net that discussed that. It doesn't help/hurt mileage at all.

 

What it does specifically is to cut way back on the amount of torque going through the transmission to the rear wheels. It will give you a noticibly smoother start-up from rest....particularly at cooler engine temperatures when the drive-by-wire throttle system can be a little jumpy. It will feel like the transmission is slipping a little and starting in second gear.
It will also feel like the engine is lugging, but it is not lugging because of the cutback in torque.

Snow mode, Traction control ON, a very light foot, and non-high performance tires are a MUST for an IS300 in almost any kind of snow or ice. Even then the car is not particularly good in snow...just passable.

 

thanks for the information

 

Yeah, the car is pretty crappy in snow even with snow tires. It easily loses traction.

 

This is my first winter with my IS300 and we just got 20 inches of snow
It appears to be rear wheel drive - surprise to me - I thought I had a front wheel drive

 

errr.... yeah... the is300 is rwd, together with gs, ls, and sc. es and the rx are fwd. gx and lx are awd

 

News to me. I thought the RX was FWD or AWD.

 

ah you are right, i stand corrected. i beleive here is a awd option for the rx

 

Ah, the student has become the master.