So we got about 7-8 inches of snow here in the DC area and I got out and around in my new RWD LS460L. As you all know I had an AWD LS460 for 3 years and had an AWD GS350 for 3 years before that, so I had gotten quite accustomed to Lexus' AWD sedans in the snow. They are excellent in the snow, by the way.

My main concern with my new LS460L is that they had to get it from Alabama...so its RWD. Its been about 15 years since I've had a RWD car, and even at that time I also had a 4WD/AWD car. Right now I own no AWD vehicles, first time I haven't had at least one available in 23 years. Thats something I've been a little concerned with, seeing that we have "hit or miss" winters here, I have a job that requires me to work at times in snowy weather, I have young children and elderly family scattered around that could potentially need me in snowy weather. My previous family LS400 and LS430 (which I drove in the snow less than the 400) were terrible in the snow.

I was really pleasantly surprised how well it did. Its certainly not as sure footed as the AWD one it replaced, but it was a lot closer than I thought. Never saw the skid/traction light hardly when driving the AWD LS460, on the RWD car it blinks a lot, but the TRAC system really does an incredible job of keeping the car moving, and the VSC does an incredible job of keeping the back end in check, even when the driver tries to get it to step out. I defeated both systems and saw first hand the impact they have, with TRAC and VSC off the car is dramatically less competent, and downright scary...which is how I remember the LS400 being even with those systems, 20 years less advanced.

I used SNOW mode, and HEIGHT HIGH suspension mode set to COMFORT. High height kept 7-8 inches of snow from dragging the bottom of the car, even when driving through aprons where plowing had occurred and I put the car in several difficult situations. Stopping at the bottom of an unplowed hill with just a few tracks or no tracks and accelerating up the hill. Stopping while already on the hill and killing all momentum and starting again. Accelerating up a hill with left curve. The car was always able to get traction, slow going at times and only once did I need to back down a little to get some momentum and get moving. Full throttle uphill also handled by TRAC. In several of those situations I defeated TRAC and VSC and attempted the same stretch of road again and the vehicle would not move.

Next step was to take the car to an unplowed parking lot where I was able to really see what its limits were, and again with VSC active it was very hard if not impossible to get it to do a donut, with that system off it will do them all day long. Pretty cool.

All of this is on all season Pirelli Cinturato P7 Plus tires with about 2k miles on them, so very new. Car was unladen, only passenger was me.

So, I'm not about to jump in it and drive it to western MD or southern WV as I would have in the AWD LS460 without hesitation, but I feel much better knowing that if I needed to get out and around in it, I could.

 

Nice story. Modern day RWD with traction, as well as stability control evens everything out to a certain some point.

 

How did the ABS do in the snow? My own experience, in several different vehicles with it, is that ABS does, in fact, keep steering control by preventing wheel lock-up, but that it does not necessarily shorten your stopping distances.

 

Yeah I'm really glad I did it, I feel much better about the car in the snow now. ABS was fine, no difference there between the RWD and AWD car.

 

That is exactly how it is supposed to work.

 

I don't why there would be.

 

I liked the VSC/Snow modes on my GS430 in mild conditions and even icy conditions. Lexus/Toyota really did a good job on them. Being in Canada I used winters of course. There were a couple of times each winter though, where these systems got me stuck and would not help getting me out of slushy to slightly packed ice/snow. If I'd had an old school posi-trac rear axle that would have helped me spin my way out by turning off the systems. I had to resort to getting hot water and isopropyl alcohol to "cut' the ice and slush down.

In general with the LS's heavy curb weight providing lots of downforce on the tire contact patches and the Pirellis the 460 should have no problems in mild DC conditions unless it's an all out blizzard or an ice storm.

 

Carry some weight in the trunk or ideally use a set of winter tires.(Pirelli Zotto zero since you have Pirelli all season) Regardless of what type vehicle it is nothing beats winter tires in the winter.
According to my wife's absolute rule, all vehicles in the family is AWD with two sets of tires/rims, only exception is son's summer car which is older Bimme M3.r

 

Lol! As the saying goes, 'Happy wife, happy life'.

 

Yupp amen to that

 

 

Awesome stuff. Even in AWD vehicles, the VSC makes a dramatic difference. The AWD IS will drift nicely in the snow with the VSC off, but with it on, it's kinda hard to make it do much of anything. That's exactly what you want when on the street though (as opposed to an empty, snow-covered parking lot). Thanks to the squeaky F Sport brakes, I found that VSC does what it does by braking - I'm guessing individual wheels - to keep the car in line.

It's nice to hear that even a RWD Lexus is confident in the snow - gives me more options, in a way, for next time.

 

Never owned a 4wd car or truck, last FWD car I owned was back in 2002. RWD and snow isn't scary, if you know what you are doing and slow the hell down. Of course here in Nashville it never snows enough to really push your car to the limits, in the past 20 years I can think of maybe 2 or 3 times its snowed more than 6", snows of 2-5" are pretty much a once or twice a year occurence though. Main thing about Nashville snow driving, you don't drive in the snow when there are other DAMF'S on the road, if there is traffic, stay off the road. Nobody around here knows what in the hell they are doing in the snow. Main thing is people are so damn scared that they drive 10mph up a damn steep hill(Nashville is very hilly) and spin out about halfway up. Idiots, you hit that hill at 20, 30, 40mph, let your momentum carry you up, try to keep your foot lightly on the throttle.

 

I too prefer RWD on any vehicle that comes in both, we have it all in our household. FWD, AWD, RWD, RWD. And all but the FWD have snows. It adds up to a lot of space taken up in the shed, but imho it's a one time hit, then set it and forget it except for swapping them in the fall and spring. I can assure everyone that a LS, with snow tires, can get stuck in the snow, and mud (from experience lol). Ditto with AWD from observation.