living150

Hello, I'm a prospective IS owner and new to the cl forums. I know this question has been covered ad nauseum but no thread has answered this question in a satisfying or definitive way. I live in Calgary Alberta (Canada); it snows about 1/3 of the year here. I want to know what the safest and cheapest route would be if I choose an IS250. I know the best bet would be to get the AWD with snow tires, but that is too much money. so I guess my question is:

Would the RWD with snow tires out perform the AWD with All seasons on?

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Will a RWD car with -good- snow tires offer better snow performance than an AWD car with all-seasons?

Yes.

Particularly if you know how to drive a RWD car properly.


Keep in mind, people managed to drive for most of the last century in the snow without AWD and without all killing themselves.

Fearlessfx

I live in Regina, SK and im driving a 250RWD MT on nokians. I have had absolutely no problems driving in the winter, but never having driven an AWD model in the snow I can't really compare the two. The traction control system is pretty awesome in these cars, although it is extremely intrusive and beeps consistently if you're trying to drive too aggressively on icy roads.

I definitely like my RWD model though, nothing like turning off the traction system and doing doughnuts in an icy parking lot. I think you'd be ok with RWD and snow tires in calgary, winters there are weak sauce anyway.

bwesley

iTrader: (3)

Hey living150, I live in Minneapolis and drive an IS350 so I probably see snow about 1/4 of the year. I can't speak for all-season tires, but I purchased a second set of wheels with Bridgestone Blizzaks snow tires and I couldn't be happier. Yes, initially it's expensive. But as I see it, you really can't place a price on safety. The car handles quite well in the snow with a proper set of snow tires. Plus, your summer set last much longer this way. I've driven a friend's IS250 AWD on both dry and snow covered roads and to me, whatever additional traction you might gain (I didn't notice much of a difference) in heavy snow simply doesn't out weigh the performance you lose in dry conditions. Granted, that's comparing an IS250 AWD with an IS350 RWD. Others can comment on the IS250 RWD. But it's been my experience from owning AWD cars, you must factor in that they'll be considerably heavier, a bit slower and worse on overall gas mileage.

peace

mikez

I gotta disagree with this one tho

What if you are spinning out, fishtailing out of control due to the excess spin on the rear wheel, wouldn't the additional grip and driving force on an awd's front wheel save you. Playing with the throttle or braking in that scenario wouldn't be effective.

bwesley

iTrader: (3)

Good point. However, the multiple traction control systems on the IS are so advanced, the chances are slim to none that the driver would be in that scenario. That is, unless he or she is doing something very stupid (like driving way too fast for the road conditions). It's damn hard to get the IS to step out of line.

No matter what you're driving, the key is learning how to drive on snow and ice and know what your car is capable (and not capable) of doing.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

If you're in that situation you did something wrong to start with.

Like I said, people drove for close to 100 years in snow without AWD being commonly available without all dying.

(but if you're spinning out of control having AWD won't help you either... 4WD/AWD vehicles get stuck/wreck in bad weather too with bad drivers behind the wheel)

And again the poster is asking about RWD with snow tires versus AWD with all-seasons.

Your tires are -far- more important than if you're driving 2 or 4 of em in most conditions.

EyeEss

So I picked up my IS250 6MT with X-Package, it wasn't until winter when the first major blizzard hit that I realized I had summer tires....it was horrendous, I was sideways half the way home. I didn't freak out about this, and I just stayed calm. I ended up ordering winter wheels and tires and now I have 0 worrys all year long

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Heh... yeah they are NOT kidding that summer tires are for summer... I'll even get the TRAC light to come on cornering hard on dry roads if it's under 40 degrees with em.

mikez

Hehe... I did it on purpose and its pretty amazing how the awd can save you even when you are literally sideways

But yeah normal driving, a set of good tires will do.

brtnrdr1x

iTrader: (3)

from awd and rwd experience, the answer to your question is RWD with snow tires is better than AWD with all-seasons/summer tires PERIOD. it is almost a fact forum to forum. When it comes to performance you will be the happiest with the RWD and have the optional manual trans. w/ the is250. If you are more geared toward safety, the AWD will be best and with snow tires is unstoppable.

-FROM THE ABOVE POSTS..yes if you're fish-tailing and sliding out of control you were being irresponsible in the first place, believe it or not i drove my RWD on the all-seasons this past winter and unless i was trying to spin the car, it kept up with my movements well. AWD is AWD, but snow tires does make a BIG difference in the case I mentioned in my first couple sentences.

EyeEss

I had no problems at all except that one blizzard day, this was because there were alot of hills and I had summer tires...the plows hadn't come yet so the snow was on the ground and I was slippy slidy everywhere. Snow tires + rwd + stick = unstoppable though, I had 0 problems after I threw on the winter rims. Winter attack mode is FTW!

Feirax

iTrader: (1)

Depends on the tire (and driver as already mentioned).

I run Michelin Pilot Alpin PA2 snows on a 17" rim in the winter, and IMO they have to be one of the worst snow tires out there (maybe why they were discontinued). They're great for cold/dry, and relatively quiet but in deep snow they have trouble if I have to stop on any kind of an incline and get going again. Most times I can crawl and avoid stopping but it's not a problem; however I recently had an SUV jump in a gap I left open and had to come to a stop on 30% grade..I managed to get going but it wasn't as mindless as it would have been with an AWD w/good all-seasons. There are also some all-season tires that are seriously good in the snow. My next winter tires will likely be the less performance oriented blizzaks that I now have access to dropping down rim size.

kargahi

i live in toronto... and before my lexus i used to drive an A4 quattro... that car is beautiful in snow and winter... but i always had winter tire as soon as the winter and snow came... however this winter that car was parked in the garage with summer tires (pretty much the same thing as the RWD IS comes with)... i had to take the car out for an oil change and there was not that much snow... but at a turn i almost hit the curb ... CONCLUSION: SNOW TIRES ARE VERY EFFECTIVE.

Now my IS... i drive a 250 RWD... winter that just passed!!... i was a bit lazy so i decided to buy snow tires as late as possible... so this year in toronto we had an early snow storm which cought everybody by surprise.. especially me!!! i slept over at my gf house downtown and i live uptown and i had to come back to get something from my house!!! at one point... i closed the whole street trying to come up a hill and all the cars behind me stoped in the bottom of the hill and it took me 5 min to go up half way!!! my car could get no traction what so ever.. till one of those F-150 snow shoveler cars came and grabbed some excesive amount of snow on its shovel and put it on the back of my car and pretty much pushed me up the hill.... after that i purchased my winter tire ( Continental) ... i pretty much had no major issues for the remaining of the winter.. except 2 times which was a snow storm and there was range rover and jeep which slided into the side of the street and kinda got stock!!! so i was sliding from left to right but it wasnt bad.... so CONCLUSION: RWD WITH SNOW TIRES... VERY GOOD BUT AWD WITH SNOW TIRES EVEN BETTER... HOWEVER, RWD U GET SO MUCH MORE PLEASURE AND ENJOYMENT.... EVEN IN WINTER, WITH SNOW TIRES... TURN YOUR TRACTION CONTROL OFF AND JUST ENJOY SPINNING AROUND AT EACH TURN ... 100% FUN GURANTEEED THERE FOR U

i dunno how usefull that was but im buying another rwd car this week for my little brother and i think its not a bad choice whatsoever...

OH also agreeing with a couple of post above me.... DRIVER MATTERS, NOT THE CAR!!!!