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I'm struggling with my mkIII GS300 in the snow, pulling from a snowy side street on to a clear main road takes forever.

I've tried putting the gearbox in snow mode and turning off the traction control but it doesn't seem to help much.

I suppose rear wheel drive & wide tyres is never going to be very good in these conditions.

How are other GS owners coping?

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I'm struggling with my mkIII GS300 in the snow, pulling from a snowy side street on to a clear main road takes forever.

I've tried putting the gearbox in snow mode and turning off the traction control but it doesn't seem to help much.

I suppose rear wheel drive & wide tyres is never going to be very good in these conditions.

How are other GS owners coping?

450h has been brilliant. I couldn't get our celica moving on our road (an ungritted but icy crescent), but the 450h has been brilliant. Snow button depressed, not a spinning wheel in sight. TCS has been kicking in up the hill (yes the crescent goes up a hill at both entrances).

I followed a neighbour and his Laguna slipped in the same places as I did.

Paul

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I'm struggling with my mkIII GS300 in the snow, pulling from a snowy side street on to a clear main road takes forever.

I've tried putting the gearbox in snow mode and turning off the traction control but it doesn't seem to help much.

I suppose rear wheel drive & wide tyres is never going to be very good in these conditions.

How are other GS owners coping?

450h has been brilliant. I couldn't get our celica moving on our road (an ungritted but icy crescent), but the 450h has been brilliant. Snow button depressed, not a spinning wheel in sight. TCS has been kicking in up the hill (yes the crescent goes up a hill at both entrances).

I followed a neighbour and his Laguna slipped in the same places as I did.

Paul

Probably the position of the hybrid batteries helping keep weight over rear wheels.

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It's been pathethic. Maybe a little better than the IS250 I had in the February snow (running on Battery mode only seems to feed power in more gently and gives less wheel spin), but not much. Snow mode on, traction control off (TC off, or it wont move at all). I was left for dead by every front engined fwd car.

Looks like every other abandoned car near me is a BMW, RWD and snow does not mix.

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I can understand that the hybrid might be better in the snow, but I agree it does seem to be the big RWD saloons that are struggling with the snow.

I've had other RWD cars before (mostly sports cars) but they have not been this bad.

The tyres are getting low, so maybe a fresh set may help.

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I can understand that the hybrid might be better in the snow, but I agree it does seem to be the big RWD saloons that are struggling with the snow.

I've had other RWD cars before (mostly sports cars) but they have not been this bad.

The tyres are getting low, so maybe a fresh set may help.

Can't remember my old MK 3 Zephyr 6 estate or MK 3 Zodiac struggling in very bad ice & snow in the '60s and early '70s. Big RWD saloons but did have manual gearbox not auto. Also my Rover 827si wasn't that bad.

My Series 1 GS 300 sport was not brilliant in snow or even really wet weather but that was due to the 275/35/18's that were on the rear.

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Can't remember my old MK 3 Zephyr 6 estate or MK 3 Zodiac struggling in very bad ice & snow in the '60s and early '70s. Big RWD saloons but did have manual gearbox not auto.

Much narrower tyres and a lot less torque and horsepower than now?

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I'm struggling with my mkIII GS300 in the snow, pulling from a snowy side street on to a clear main road takes forever.

I've tried putting the gearbox in snow mode and turning off the traction control but it doesn't seem to help much.

I suppose rear wheel drive & wide tyres is never going to be very good in these conditions.

How are other GS owners coping?

Same problems with my GS430. Traction Control will not get you out of trouble if your tyres are not getting grip in the first place. It is designed to assist control when traction to the tyres is lost during normal driving.

In snow conditions, cars always get better grip going in reverse. If you can reverse to a level area and then go into snow mode and be very, very light on the gas you may just be able to ease the car into enough momentum to overcome the slippy surface. Its a case of trial and error but avoid big revs and try to be patient.

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Mine is a outright liability in the snow - so much so that I refuse to drive it. I started a new contract last Monday and have been driving 45 miles each way, night and morning, in my fiancee's 1.25litre Fiesta, which has no trouble at all in the conditions.

I had the same trouble last year, and swore to myself that I would buy some proper winter tyres. Of course, I didn't get round to it, and it is only through luck that her car is available for me to use. Otherwise I would have lost hundreds of pounds in lost earnings, not to mention seriously upsetting my new client!

I am giving serious thought to changing the car over the next 12 months or so, to the extent that I've more or less chosen the one I want. Am thinking of an Audi A6 Avant, with the 3.0TDi engine, as that has plenty of grunt and also the quattro 4wd system. I hate being stuck at home unable to go anywhere...

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Combination of RWD and wide tyres doesn't make for carefree snow driving. It's the same for all cars in this catagory - damn these laws of physics!

I klnew my MkII was stuffed as soon as the ground turned white. Best solution I found was reversing up my little road to the gritted main road. Dunno if that makes it FWD. Hehehe.

Most fun moment was when my 75 yo neighbour offered me a lift into the village in his problem free Micra.

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Can't remember my old MK 3 Zephyr 6 estate or MK 3 Zodiac struggling in very bad ice & snow in the '60s and early '70s. Big RWD saloons but did have manual gearbox not auto.

Much narrower tyres and a lot less torque and horsepower than now?

Probably. Apart from the Rover 827si which had plenty of poke!

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Probably. Apart from the Rover 827si which had plenty of poke!

Still only about 85% of the torque and the horsepower of the IS 250 auto?

I believe the significant difference on snow, was that the 827Si was front wheel drive was it not?

I seem to recall that it was a lot lighter than the Lexus (maybe 75% of the weight) but (I'm guessing) with a much bigger proportion of the weight over the driving axle?

Altogether a much better package on snow . . . . :)

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Combination of RWD and wide tyres doesn't make for carefree snow driving. It's the same for all cars in this catagory - damn these laws of physics!

I klnew my MkII was stuffed as soon as the ground turned white. Best solution I found was reversing up my little road to the gritted main road. Dunno if that makes it FWD. Hehehe.

Most fun moment was when my 75 yo neighbour offered me a lift into the village in his problem free Micra.

I had a set of 4 TOYOS TIR fitted a few months back at 100 a tyre, which are good on fuel and no noise cant even hear the road very smooth and they grip the road very well, had a bit of snow here and but i find that i still have to use the traction and snow mode, i had to had 3 gos to reverse onto my drive which as a slite incline but still handles well,all my big car in the past have all been the same its a thing you have to put up with unless you carry a spare set of snow tyres in the boot,

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Does anyone know what the snow button actually does?

I presume it just tells the gear box to start in second gear.

It didn't seem to make much difference on my car.

the snow button is a slower start off,its a 3 way switch low norm and sport, but you wont see or feel a differance unless you flick traction aswell, in snow you need to use both traction and snow mode, i can feel the differance on mine once both modes are pressed

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Absolute joke in snow or on the ice ! I have to reverse up a sloping drive to get out of the garage so unless I have completely cleared and salted the drive the neighbours get to watch comical wheel spin and pointless sliding up and down as I try to reach the road !

But on a more serious note I have noticed that when driving on sheet ice with the car being auto there is a strange and scary tendancy for the car to keep going straight on even with the brakes on as the auto box pushes against the brakes with the auto box winning with the result that the car keeps going just when you think it is about to stop.

I know that all cars do this on ice but with an auto it is worse and very scary. On solution I have found which works very well and has saved the front of the car on more than one occasion is to drop the box into neutral just as you expect the wheels to some to a stop. This way the tyres can use the little bit of grip they have left to stop without the auto box trying to keep pushing. Now I am not advocating driving with the box in neutral as this is not safe and removes control. But flicking the gear lever half an inch forward into neutral just as you want the wheels to come to a full stop makes all the difference and prevents front end damage in slow manouvering !

Try it and you will see the difference :winky:

I have also noticed that since I fitted new tyres a few months ago the car is better than it was with the 3mm tread tyres I had this time last year. The extra few millimetres of tread does make a difference in the snow even with summer tyres.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello,

I picked my MK2 Lexus GS430 sport yesterday and really enjoyed driving it back home last night. However driving it today in the snow has been a totally different experience. It seems to be okay whilst driving on the flat or a slight uphill gradient, but driving down anything remotely downhill is the scariest thing I've ever done in a car. I just seemed to locking the brakes at the slightest touch. I previously had a 350z that didn't seem to be anywhere near as bad. Is there a tip for driving an automatic in the snow on a downhill or does my abs have a problem? I previously drove front wheel drive cars and enjoyed the challenge of driving in the snow, but it just seems like good fortune that my car is still in one piece after today!

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Al

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Agree with most of the comments, my fifth GS300 (Now on my 2nd mk2 Sport)......this is the first time i have really driven in some significant snow & icy conditions in the Lexus and i was expecting, particularly with abs linked to Vehicle Stability Control and all manor of trickery under me all nicely linked to a 'Snow' button!! That this vehicle would cope well in adverse conditions!!!...........

....Not a chance in hell!!!........it has been woefully inadequate, so much so that last week, I scoured eBay and found locally a cheap Mitsubishi Pajero just to get me through the winter and mainly so i dont take the chance of having the Lexus pranged or ending up in the trees (or worse!!)

To be frank, now i have the Pajero, i feel a lot happier driving this old thing in the current conditions and feel much better that the Lexus is staying clean & salt free on my drive at home!

..if you have a spare bit of cash i would recommend buying a cheap 4x4, then sell it and hopefully get your money back!

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Mine seams to crawl about if im very light with the throttle.

Must be the H system that dosnt put too much power down

Weight of the Hybrid batteries over rear axle will be helping.

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As experienced with most of you guys its a bleeding nightmare in the white stuff, back end was all over the shop today going to and from work you have to just coax the accelatrator pedal otherwise the back end just goes . Not fun

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Hello,

I picked my MK2 Lexus GS430 sport yesterday and really enjoyed driving it back home last night. However driving it today in the snow has been a totally different experience. It seems to be okay whilst driving on the flat or a slight uphill gradient, but driving down anything remotely downhill is the scariest thing I've ever done in a car. I just seemed to locking the brakes at the slightest touch. I previously had a 350z that didn't seem to be anywhere near as bad. Is there a tip for driving an automatic in the snow on a downhill or does my abs have a problem? I previously drove front wheel drive cars and enjoyed the challenge of driving in the snow, but it just seems like good fortune that my car is still in one piece after today!

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Al

hi try autosocks!!! like snow chains but cheaper, easyer to put on and safer... look at www.autosock.com or roofbox .co.uk look at the videos on youtube as well they are about £50 a pair...

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Good quality winter tyres would make a huge difference.

They're not just for snow and ice,they also improve grip in cold temperatures-the kind of temperatures that I encounter most mornings in winter on my drive into work.

Well worth looking into,but difficult to source in UK.

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