Meeps

I've read through countless threads about people winter driving their RWD models with no issues, but I couldn't even get through a month here in western Canada. I have 17" dedicated winter rims with 225 blizzak tires (studless) and the car is still a pain. Leaving intersections on compacted snow takes few seconds before I can get any momentum. The slightest incline is a pain. I've gotten stuck going up my driveway 3 times, and stuck in a side street parking spot a bunch of times over the snow that gets plowed over to the sides.

The open diff is the biggest drawback I feel. I finally got tired of it and picked up an 04 Honda Civic to winter drive. Even on the old bald tires, it does way better than the IS ever did. New tires are also super cheap on those 14" wheels so I plan on making it my dedicated winter car. Which allows me to mod the Lexus for summer mods, which is a plus

Zmon

iTrader: (2)

It's a pain, the open diff doesn't help things. It is a RWD card though, so it needs to be driven like one in the snow regardless if you're using snow tires or not. Although I find it odd you're spinning on Blizzaks unless they're low on tread. Throw a sandbag or two in the trunk, and use snow mode (all this does is dull the throttle response but it should help on takeoffs).

Meeps

I'm always in snow mode and it definitely helps, but not enough. When it's close to -30 degrees on hard compacted snow, even the best winter tires will tend to spin. The problem with open diff RWD is that the front end stays stationary while the rear end slides to the left or right. On a FWD, the wheels will still spin, but it still moves the car forward until it gains enough momentum to stop spinning. Getting out of deep slushy or thick powdered snow is also a lot easier on a FWD because I can turn the wheels and put down power at different angles. I have to get the Lexus points for braking though. With the blizzaks, I never had ABS kick in, even in the most slippery conditions.

markjustus

Bay area California, no snow so it's not super hard to drive here, just the traffic.

bbaugher47

I don’t even bother to bring mine out until the roads are clear.

newgsman

iTrader: (4)

The key to driving RWD cars is to adapt to the conditions. If you think that jack rabbit cars are going to work on snow/ice covered roads with RWD then you probably are better off to get a FWD or AWD. If you have trouble getting up slight inclines and you are driving prudently I would blame the tires. Blizzaks have a great reputation but my own experience with them has never been great and I have been driving RWD cars for over 35 years. My favorite tires are Pilot Alpins. I also like the Arctic Altimax. I currently drive a GS400 as my winter car but I have also driven my ISF in winter and many other RWD cars. When I bought my GS400 many years ago it also came with Blizzaks and I too could not get up my icy driveway. I got rid of those tires and have used several other brands over the past ten years or so and never had the problems I had with the Blizzaks.

On another note, don't get to confident with your FWD Civic having bald tires. Yes the car will pull away better than a RWD car but watch out if that back end ever gets away on you on an icy patch on the highway. I have see this happen often that people think their FWD just needs semi decent tires on the front and put their balding tires on the rear. Then they wonder why their car spun around a couple of times on the highway when they had to hit the brakes...