So, I'm sure some of you have heard about the weather we've had in Denver over the past 2 weeks. First storm gave use 2-3 feet then 6 days later, another foot. Global warming my butt!!!

Anyway, I wanted to recount my experiences with my GS300 AWD in this terrible weather. Bottom line - the car is amazing in the snow!

First day it was coming down hard and I left work with about a foot of snow on the ground. Many other cars and even trucks & SUV's (2wd) were getting stuck. The GS did great, even on hills that I was concerned about. The only times I was even scared was when going through a few intersections where the snow had piled up pretty good and I thought I might bottom out and high center. But, I drove the 15 miles home on I-25 at like 30-40 mph, no problem.

For the second storm, I was caught up in the mountains skiing and had head back to Denver the next day, right after they re-opened I-70 back to Denver. The road was snow packed and icy the whole way home. But, even on the twisty road back down to Denver, I probably averaged 40-50 mph and was never even worried. I passed many trucks and SUV's (4wd). I have to say that I felt much safer in this car than I used to in my big GMC 2500 4wd truck.

The only thing that bugged me at all was the damn traction control. There are times in the snow where you need to keep your momentum up and just keep gunning it. The traction control would kick in and cut the throttle. I'm sure its great for people who have no clue how to drive in snow/ice, but it bugged me.

Anyway, for anyone thinking they might have use for the AWD, its great.

Oh, and I'm glad I decided to save the drop for the spring. I'll worry about next year, next year.

 

Glad the car serves you well under such adverse weather conditions

 

That's nice to hear. This is will be my first winter with 3gs. We are having a mild winter so far. Can't wait to try it out in snow.

 

Good report.... nice to hear such a luxury sport sedan can handle the white stuff when it gets heavy out. (he says this from his keyboard in the non-snow land of Florida LOL... j/k)

 

jdog, I assume you have a stock 17" w/runflats?

 

still waiting for winter here in OH.. frikkin 60 here today.. can't stand this middle of the road weather.. need to move farther north or south.. i like the seasons, so probably north..

 

awesome....just like my GTR

 

this is due to global warming

global warming is not a sudden increase in temperature
it is gradual temperature increase of average annual global temperature

the earth itself is trying to bring the system back into equilibrium and this is a symptom of that action

global warming is not a micro problem
its a macro one

good to know the GS300 AWD can handle the powder though

 

Stock 17's and run flats.

 

Great report,,Thanks for sharing!

TripleL

 

Good report. I also thought our good buddy Jace would chime in on how he fared in his 450h through the storms. Where are you Jace?

 

Stuck in the snow ???

 

I'm I'm here<<<
Yes 3 feet one hit, then 12 inches the next. Honestly I kept my car in the garage, and drove the other coche my GX470.

But when I did venture out, on 5 inches of packed snow and ice. I was plesently surprised. Handled well, couldn't get it to spin, b/c of the trac control. I disabled that so see, and I couldn't move...just spun
Never got stuck. fyi... no trac control in reverse.. so be careful of the parking spots. Whenever I moved fowards it was fine though.. Kept hearing beep beep beep.. trac control... but I got everywhere I needed and was pleased. Obviouslty AWD is a different experience and I wish it had, but oh well. Very happy with the car.

 

you can always disable the trac control for those specific times you think you need to have it off.
easy to do... like the on screen dist hack...

 

ok, ok. Let me update.... now that we've seen our 3rd major snow storm in 3 weeks............................
Got my car stuck 3 times in 100 yards. I think of myself as a kid still at age, 28 almost 29, but I had 3 other kids come and help me push me out of snow each of those 3 times. Put it back in the garage, then drove the GX for the rest of the day.
Traction control.... I was mislead the other day when I thought it was soooooo good.
It's ok.
AWD is the way to go in storms like this. If they come out with a GS-F 460 hybrid AWD, it's mine. Don't care on the cost. I'll pay a few grand more than the total of this one which was about 74K all said and done with clear bra and stuff.
So, with this update, the car did ok, and just ok in my mind in the snow. So much now to plow through this time. Won't attempt to drive in what I did today ever again. From now on, when we get about 6 inches, it's the GX.