Just make sure to turn off traction control as others have said! The car could be a total death trap if you drive on snow covered roads with it on. An 07+ would be ideal because it eliminates having to do the pedal dance, although once you get used to it, its very quick and pretty much a habit to do.

Snow tires are a must as well!

 

Why is that? I only turn it off when I'm stuck in snow. Otherwise, for driving, I'd keep it on.

 

I'm right near you in London I've had my 07 250 rwd for two winters now, I run blizzak lm-60s on the stock 18's and throw a slab of granite in the trunk, in the winter I usually drive with traction turned completely off just have to be careful with your inputs, especially with turning. In deep light snow it'll plow through almost anything but when the heavy packing snow comes you'll have to mind where you park it, so you can actually move it afterwards. You'll be fine in Toronto with the rwd, London usually gets everything you do up there but x5 worse haha

 

RWD in snow is like what everyone says that with proper tires you will be fine. Here's a pic of my car seeing a lot of snow for it's first winter. I just got off work that day and decided to snap a memorabilia pic and I had not much trouble getting out. Just drive in consensus of the weather.

 

I was driving to class one morning and there was maybe a half of an inch of snow on the ground. I was making a left turn at an intersection across a 55 MPH road , two lanes, and there is no stop light here at all so I just had to wait for something to open up. When it did open I gave it a little bit of gas, and while in the intersection the traction control started to act up cutting off the power to my wheels and the traffic was heading my way. Lucky the traffic was spread out and the opening that I was crossing in was large, or else I could have caused a major accident. After that, even if there were flurries, I was doing the pedal dance every time.

 

Yikes. I can understand the part about cutting off power to the wheels. If that is the case, what is the point of the TCS? (Serious question!)

 

YES, all the above and you'll be fine. I survived this years heavy snowfalls in Toronto with no issues. I was rolling on a new set of Gislaved Nordfrost 5's.

 

To keep traction? Tires spinning = no traction, car cuts power to regain traction.

Very useful when taking a corner, because the car will cut power to ensure you make the turn rather than fishtailing out. This is very important if you're merging onto a freeway. As long as you retain traction, there's no issue, but if you merge into the freeway fast and furious style, the TCS will cut in and you could cause an accident. In instances like Dylan19's, just hit the TCS button to turn it off. It will stay on until you hit a certain speed (I think). Or, just don't be too aggressive with the gas pedal. Let the tires do the work.

 

Good winter tires, snow mode and leave the nannies on. If you need a quick start (in traffic) or stuck in deep snow disable the TC and VSC.

Koz

 

I found that turning the TC on makes it very easy to get out if you're stuck in snow.

 

With proper winter tire you will be fine. I have a IS350 for couple year now, and I live in Chicago. I have no problem driving in snow even after the big snow storm we had two years ago. Just keep in mind light foot always help when in Snow.