I have a '11 IS 350 RWD, and I want to make a road trip through the Canadian mountains. There are a lot of uphill roads and the in the car are 4 peoples and the cargo is full. I want to know if my car can handle the uphills easily or maybe the car will need a lot of effort to do that.

 

I suspect the car will feel sluggish, but will have plenty of power to get where you are going. Be prepared that the car may handle a bit differently with that load.

 

Shouldn't be any problem with a 306hp car

 

There are only 2 major roads through the Canadian Rocky Mountains. TransCanada highway 1 and TransCanada Yellowhead. Both of these offer nice scenery and some stretches of mountain driving, but you will be disapointed if you are looking to do some spirited driving. The speed limit is mostly 55mph (90 km/h) and cops abound. Further, YellowHead is twinned most of the way, but it is a boring drive. Highway one is single lane each way most the way, except for the stretches along the major cities and tourist areas, but trucks/campers/tourists spoil the drive. I've had more fun going the American side of the Rockies from Montana to Wahington.

Take I90 east to Butte, Montana, I15 to Great Falls, and continue on to the Alberta border if you want to go to Canada. Keep driving North, until you reach Calgary, and then hop on the TransCanada Highway1 towards Vancouver. You can then head south through Seattle from there.

You get to do both sides of the Rocky Mountains and compare.

 

You have 306HP, you'll be just fine. I've done the passes crammed to the ceiling in a hyundai accent!

 

You'll be fine, you have more than enough power. I've gone up ridiculously steep grade in my RX, which only has 220 hp, and 222 torque.

 

My route in Canada will be Vancouver-Squamish-Whistler-Pemberton-Lilloet and then back again. The scenery is great. But I dont know, sometimes I think if the car handle the uphill easily.

 

Why do you think will fell slugish??

 

Heading North I see. Great choice. Still boring as a spirited mountain drive. Specially after the 2010 Olympics, most of those roads have been twinned. The 350 has a lot of torque to handle up hill easily. You may want to use the paddle shifter to downshift a little sooner than the long gear that the ECT wants to keep, that's it.

 

You may want to put it into "manual" mode and limit the gears between 3-5, or higher, depending on the speed, so you get more ooomph in the powerband range.

 

If my ~100whp Ford Escort can make it through the Rockies I'm sure you'll be fine. Stick to the paved roads and you'll have no problems.

 

Adding 1,000 pounds to a small car like this can change the way a car "takes the turns", especialy on windy mountain roads.

 

Thank you I saw the road on google street view and really liked it. But maybe you can tell me if there cops, or i should not worry much about them on the high mountain roads. When I arrive the at the point where there are no cars or very rarely, then I'm gonna press the gas till end and see what the car can do!!

 

There will be lots of cops, this is peak tourist season so it is also high revenue stream through speeding tickets.

 

My 2000 civic SI made it from Cali to Wisconsin with 4 people and a loaded cargo. No reason why the IS350 wouldn't be able to do it.