vleong1

I'm looking to purchase an IS but am having a hard time to decide which one to go for. I was told at the dealership the RWD is terrible as soon as it snows and recommended I go with the IS250 AWD.

Does anyone have any experience driving in the past couple years here in Vancouver with a 350 in the snow? Was it really all that bad? I'm assuming you had winter tires as well?

ivanz

People all over the world drive RWD cars during the winter without any issues. You just have to adjust to driving a RWD car in the snow, and get winter tires. The IS 350 is no worse than any other high performance car with RWD in the snow.
You have to ask yourself: is AWD is really worth it?
First of all, there is no IS 350 AWD. The IS 350 has a huge amount of extra performance compared to the IS 250. So you will have to give this up. Likewise, the IS 250 AWD uses more gas than the regular IS 250, so you will be spending more money on that.
Now, is it worth it? Basically, unless you live in a mountainous area (West Vancouver/Westwood Plateau) you will maybe have a week of snow. Even if there is snow and you have good all season tires, major arteries shouldn't be an issue.
I drove my GS 350 RWD with summer tires up and down Cambie Street during the snowfall, and I didn't have too many problems (granted I didn't do this every day). Basically, I didn't want to spend $2500 for winter rims + tires for a couple of days...but I plan to buy all season tires when these wear out.

Solo_D33A

a cheap set of rims that fit your IS ~800
a nice set of Bridgestone Blizzaks (WS-60 in my case) ~1000

with snow tires and rear wheel drive in my GS400, there's no need to get 4wd unless you're stupid enough to go to places you shouldn't...

I drive cross country and I'm in Winnipeg for most of the time, MUCH colder than Vancouver

I'm here last year in Vancouver when the big snow hit and City's not plowing, I'm going up and down entire Vancouver no problems. Haven't got stuck once despite lowered to about 1 finger gap all over, just sometimes scraping and plowing snow and ice.

only ave to drive slow, have common sense, keep distance with people in front and back, know your limits, brake early, anticipate for events like red light or pedestrian etc...

Only differences to me when I had my AWD (97 Talon Tsi AWD) is the car's more planted, and when I get pulled into the snow, I can just floor my car to get out (no traction control in them, and I'm using all season tires vs winters in the RWD GS400)

Stormforge

another question to ask yourself: do you plan to mod your IS? if you say yes, go with RWD. if you don't plan on modifying your car, get the AWD.

Faymester

I drove RWD for years in the snow, up till this past year, I had few to no issues. It's mostly about how will you can drive and less about what your car is.

vleong1

Thanks everyone for your input! I Will skip the 250 AWD and get a 350.

anonymous1

sorry to bump an old thread, but I'm interested in the is350 rwd, but both my parents and my in-laws live on hills, I snowboard regularly on grouse, and will be driving to whistler occasionally in the winter... with proper snow tires, will this car be ok? ie. is starting and stopping on hills ok with this car? when i had a mr2 with snow tires i still had a terribly difficult time getting going, is that going to be the case with an is350?

thanks!

stkiss

iTrader: (1)

I'm hate to say this, but I did have a terrible experience with my IS350 in snow before. I was going down a tiny hill, (41st & Main westbound in Vancouver, if you guys know where about) I don't know if I braked too hard or due to my all-season tires, my car spun 360 degree, went over the island, and end up sitting at the intersection. lucky that it was 3am in the morning, there's no other traffic on the road, or else i wouldn't be here talking. Anyway, I didn't have snow tires installed back then, so I don't know if it would make a difference at that moment.

I have finally gotten my snow tires for this previous winter, it worked fine, gave me more control while braking. As long as you brake gently enough, you should be fine. But no matter what it's still a RWD, so it's a bit challenging going uphill.

ivanz

Were they actual all season tires or the stuff Lexus passes off as "all season"? I have "all season" Dunlop SP Sport 2050s, and they are summer tires with zero snow traction. Since the 07 GS 350 does not have VDIM, it was pretty tail happy...but nothing too bad. I guess the IS is lighter and therefore easier to spin?

stkiss

iTrader: (1)

^ those are stock tires, so-called "all-season" by Lexus. but yea, you might be right, IS is lighter indeed. Ever since then, I tried not to drive my IS as much as possible, even with the snow tires. So I couldn't give much opinions regarding to snow tires in winter =)

On the other hand, if you could get through the snow season by other means, the 350 would be a better car for remaining the 3 quarters of a year. (especially during the summer )

anaq110

I'm not from the Vancouver area but I regularly do my share of driving from Toronto into New Jersey and Pittsburgh. I used to have a RWD GS400 with Nokian Snow Tires and it made a huge difference BUT in my experience snow tires are only good up to 3-4 inches of snow and past 6"+ you can get around depending on your driving skill but it can get tough.

Now as for performance there's a very big difference. I recently traded my 98 GS400 for a AWD GS350 and I cant tell you how much I miss my 400. The AWD gives you the feeling you are stuck to the ground, pickup is good but nothing compared to a RWD or even a FWD. For me safety was more important and performance secondary.

Johnny

My previous car, the LS460 RWD weighed just under 5000 pounds and was completely useless in the snow. I now have the AWD LS600, and it glides in all the snow conditions you could ever find on the Lower Mainland. I used to own a Audi A6 AWD; the car was a charm in snow as well. FWD does an acceptable job in winter conditions, and while RWD will be OK most of the time in Vancouver, you will get sweaty real quick when the snow arrives and you have to negotiate hills - even small ones, icy roads - especially turns, and higher speeds.

AWD distributes torque and horsepower over four wheels instead of two, so on RWD cars, the tires will break loose much more easily. The people I know who drive these wisely leave them in the garage when winter conditions turn our roads into skating rinks. Snow removal by municipalities is also extremely poor in Vancouver, and this as well as the poor drivers that clog our roads make winter driving a challenging if not dangerous experience indeed.

stkiss

iTrader: (1)

^ totally agree, with every single sentence!

alex_414

personally i am driving a 250 AWD, I usually do a lot of snowboarding in winter time, so i bought a AWD before, of course if i don't do any snowboarding, i would rather choose 350... more power and better performance.

RudeDoggy

Why not get a GS350 AWD? You get the 3.5L V6 and you get AWD. I considered the IS250 AWD briefly but couldn't deal with the 2.5L V6 (coming from a Nissan Maxima with 255 hp).

And according to Lexus, the Dunlop SP2050 are summer tires, at least for the GS, so they had the description right...

Burnaby, you are my hero. I would be a very happy person with an LS600h L.