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Sedans Lexus IS Lexus IS 250/IS 350 driving experience in the snow
36 messages, Last post on Mar 01, 2009 at 4:52 AM
You are in the Lexus IS Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: mldj98 (Mar 13, 2007 5:07 pm) |
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Hope everyone's enjoying their IS 350. mine now has 107,000 KM ( just about 2 years ) I had driver's side mirror replaced ( it was acting up ) but under warranty. Otherwise no other problems. The good looks on this car seem to want to last forever. It will be tough for Lexus to come out with an even nicer design in 3 years time. They'll do it though. Oh I forgot - one other thing - on Start up there would be a little rumbling noise ( It has a timing chain ) I mentioned this to the service dept a few times then I got a call from them to come in. Apparently they did a fix for it ( other owners were complaining ) and I have never heard that noise since. Mine is a 2007 model acquired in Novemeber 2006 so later models should not have this problem. - hopefully
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Replying to: gotoyota (Nov 17, 2008 10:28 pm) Crappy, especially if there is 4 inches or more ...... get excellent snows!!! KC
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I've owned my '06 250 awd for 2 1/2 yrs and 40K miles now. This will be my 3rd winter driving it. The car has been exceptionally good in snowy conditions, in my opinion. Obviously, driving on snow in a AWD car is completely different than in a rear wheel drive car (e.g. IS350). The Lexus/Toyota awd system with limited slip diff. is excellent and in dry weather when you don't notice any difference to a rear wheel drive car. The 250 is obviously less performance oriented than the 350 in dry weather. However, the 250 has plenty of power off the line on wet and snowy roads allowing you to get out in front of other drivers who want to run into you (and it's no sloutch on dry pavement either). Starting out on slick roads requires less initial torque and improved by using the "SnowMode" button to change the shift points of the tranny. I have a steep driveway which has been covered with as much as 10 in. of snow and the car just plows through it with confidence. The brakes are very responsive, but of course any AWD car "goes" better than it "stops" on slick surfaces. So, you have to be careful with the extra confidence you gain while driving awd cars. Choosing the appropriate tires is exceedingly important in snow. Dedicated snow tires would be necessary with a rear drive car in most snowy climates but don't seem to be needed with most AWD autos, in my experience. I just replaced the oem Dunlop tires with new Michelin Pilot Sports (all season performance tires). So far the Michelins are performing better than the Dunlops. While living in the "snow belt", the 250 AWD has convinced me that awd is the safest (and most fun) way to drive in the winter. If I lived in a warmer/dryer climate I would probably prefer the IS 350. |
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Replying to: kc567567 (Nov 18, 2008 4:51 pm)  Well, I can't say I was expecting it to be a good snow performer, that's just a trade off I was willing to accept for the dry weather performance. So far we have had a very mild winter - in the 50's for the most part, with very little precip. My 17" all season's are still fresh so I have not had any tire issues yet, but when the snow starts to fall I will definately be getting some good snows. Thanks for the feedback. Does winder mode seem to make a big difference in your experience? It feels like it saps about 150 hp when you switch it on. That has to help, right? |
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Replying to: cstone558 (Nov 18, 2008 3:46 am) |
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Does winder mode seem to make a big difference in your experience? It feels like it saps about 150 hp when you switch it on. That has to help, right? To my knowledge, the "Snow mode" toggle switch readjusts the transmission shift points. It's meant to be used when driving on snow or ice or other slick pavement conditions. So the car will start out in 2nd gear. While this sounds counter-intuitive to typical dry surface driving, this reduces the amount of torque to the wheels and limits the amount of " tire slip" that occurs when starting from a stop. This feels like the car has less power initially but when you get up to speed there shouldn't be any difference. Along with traction control, vehicle skid control, and VDEM the Snow mode switch adds another set of electronic adjustments to provide more control and safety. Some drivers refer to them as "nanny controls" and want to turn the controls off, but if you spend much time driving on snow and ice, it's good to have a bunch of auto engineer "nannies" helping out, in my opinion.
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Replying to: toydriver (Nov 24, 2008 9:44 pm) Incidentally, I drove in a snow storm on Sunday and it surprised me with it's foul weather capability. Of course, I did not take any steep inclines or anything like that, but did take it up perhaps a 20% grade that did not present any difficulty for the TC and VSC to manage. Of course, I think since mine has the 17's and all weather tires it probably helps. I stopped by the dealer last week and realized my tires have a lot more meat on them than do the 18's. Anyway, I worked from home today so I did not get a chance to try it over a long stretch of snow packed roads but I will most likely have that opportunity tomorrow...not that I'm looking forward to it. If I hadn't permanently loaned my old Maxima out to a relative I would certainly drive that instead, but oh well. I get sort of stir crazy if I don't take the IS out at least once a day anyway. I just love this car 
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A couple of days ago was the first real snow of the season where I live and there is no polite language to describe how poorly my Lexus IS 250 AWD handled in the snow. A few inches of snow on the road and the car was all over the place. I have contacted Lexus regarding how disappointed I am in the car's performance and handling in snow. I really wanted a car that could handle snow and this is not it. It handled so poorly that I do not have confidence that 4 good winter tires would make it safe enough in snow. The AWD badge is on the car but, it handles like RWD. Perhaps the AWD does not work on the car. Could the problem be inadequate tires? The car only has 5300 miles on it. How can they sell an AWD car with tires that are so bad in snow? The car in no way compares to Audi or even Subaru performance in the snow. I even had someone else take it out for a ride in the snow and they confirmed how bad it was. I am looking into good snows or just trading the car. I have owned the car less than six months so a trade would be a financial loss. However, I have to drive to work in bad weather and I need to feel secure in my vehicle. It was a lot of money to spend for a car that feels like a sled in snow.
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Replying to: LexusSled (Dec 21, 2008 5:14 am)
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