A lot of snow this weekend here, in Quebec City.
On the road, I used the ECT when on the snow, but ... I can't see WHAT it added to the already present antiskating, TCS ABS or VSC ... I can't feel any difference with or without this ECTsnow system

Jacques

 

I think it causes the transmission to upshift earlier than normal.

 

I believe the snow mode makes the vehicle start in second and changes the shift patterns to avoid sudden downshifts, etc.

 

Da Ha has it right!

The ECT mode prevents the transmission from starting in first gear. First gear is the gear with the most torque and has a tendency to spin the wheels when starting on slippery surfaces (snow, sand, mud, wet grass/leaves).

This is generally a well known driving fact, among those who drive stick. Start off in second gear when on snow or ice!

Just putting the RX 300 transmission in second wont do it because that allows the transmission to start in first and shift to second and not beyond to 3rd or 4th.

Ed

 

In Mexico, I use both the snow (there is snow here in some places in the mountains) and the power mode. I use the snow mode when doing high speed turns, feels like the car can handle turns better (it will not let you accelerate to quick).

 

You can see the difference of putting the RX in "snow mode", or for the 2001+ RX's it's just ETC mode, by turning it on while stopped without holding the brakes. You'll notice the decrease in idle power as the tranny goes from 1st to 2nd gear.

I used snow mode back in 2001 when we actually had about 3/4" of snow on the ground early New Year's day. It greatly reduced slippage (helps in the rain too). That combined with TRAC allowed me to drive uphill from a stop where normally I wouldn't have been able too. Works great