Seriously?

 

yup, seriously.

i take it you never tried to make any quick maneuvers when it snows out? Lets say if you needed to make a left turn and there is lots of traffic and you had to go to the median lane first where there is usually a lot of snow. Next thing you need to do is merge right and there is traffic. Good luck doing that with TC on. As soon as you hit the gas the wheels will spin the TC will limit your revs so you can only go 5 mph till you get grip again and everyone starts honking at you as you merge in.

With TC off i can gas it and the wheels will spin, yes, but the car will take off a LOT quicker and i can merge normally.

I personally dont see any scenario where TC would be useful in the snow if you have an AWD car with descent tires. Unless you have no idea how to control the car/throttle...

Again this is just my opinion, everyone has their own style of driving. I like to drive more aggressively and feel that TC limits me any time i try to do anything outside of "slow"

 

Quick maneuvers and snow don't go together...you should never drive aggressive in snow.

Besides, turning right from the left turn lane to merge into traffic is illegal in most states that I'm aware of...as well as not very safe.

 

I think you are misunderstanding what I was trying to say...my point was to explain a situation where you would try to merge into traffic without making other cars need to slow down, possibly causing an accident for others.

Im a little bit puzzled why you think its so hard/dangerous to drive in the snow?

I never said turn, i said merge. If you make a left turn out of a parking lot and stand in the median, i believe that the only way for you to go straight is to merge into the lane to the right of you...

 

I never said it was hard/dangerous to drive in the snow. I lived in Idaho and Oregon where there is lots of snow. I've driven in blizzards and up and down mountains more than you could possibly imagine. I recently drove all over the mountains covered in snow and ice in New Mexico with no issues...

I still don't see why you can't go over 5 mph with the TC on..if that's the case, you have a lead foot when you get on the accelerator. I had a 350Z and could easily drive it in the snow...drove it from Boise, ID to Portland, OR in a snowstorm. Never had a problem...

Like I said, you should never make fast maneuvers in snow...you should not put yourself in that position.

And yes, I understand exactly what you are saying by merging right into traffic from the median lane. That is for left turns and it's illegal to sit or drive in it to merge right...and unsafe, snow or no snow.

I don't think you're are gonna get very many responses that agree it's "best" to turn the TC when driving in snow.

 

Maybe so, was really just pointing out my observation/preference. I just know from personal experience that i can control the car a lot more predictably with TC off. If i feel the wheels spinning and i need the RPM to drop, i can ease the throttle myself, i dont necessarily need the car for me to do that. If the TC wouldnt limit the throttle but be a little more "creative" in how it finds grip, i would probably be fine with that. But as it stands, it just bothers me when the computer is trying do something for me that i can do myself. Not trying to come off as rude or egoistical, but I really feel like i can control the car and find grip better with TC off than with it on.

Either way, i think we got a little carried away from the topic at hand (what the snow button actually does)

 

My experience with this is that the snow mode button does put the car into a 50/50 mode, but I can't be too sure. Last snow storm we had, I did two takeoffs from stop signs at full throttle, in D. Without snow mode on, the *** end of the car fish tails to the side until the computer senses the slip, then the front will pull the car forward, basically causing the whole car to "crab" (aeronautics) forward until you let up on the gas. At that point, the *** end would let up, and swing back the other direction, then the traction control would catch the swing in the opposite direction and correct for it.

WITH Snow mode on, with a full throttle take off, the car seemed to LUNGE forward immediately, and not kick the *** end to the side as much. The car was being pulled forward by the front wheels, rather than being pushed by the rear. This indicated to me that the front wheels are engaged in a greater way, from a completely stop, than they are when snow mode is off.

I plan on asking the guys about it when I take my car in today.

 

Agreed. I do the same.

 

Snow mode doen't lock the AWD 50/50. With snow mode on my rear wheels will still momentarily slip before power is directed to the front wheels.

 

this has been covered 14 times already. the snow button does nothing except tone down the throttle response. that's it.

if you want to manually control front to back power distribution, buy a STi

 

I have a coupe but I still havent gotten a chance to use my snow button!

So sad. Got it just for snow and still didnt get a chance. But its allright because i rather not have snow touching my car

 

This is 100% true. Turning off traction control is a MUST for an average driver or better. Worst thing is when your power is cut when you need it to merge/turn/accelerate in snow

 

I respectfully disagree. What is an "average driver or better". I would argue that everyone is a 'better' driver, in their own mind, so should everyone turn off VDC?
When I had my X I never turned of VDC in slippery conditions. There was no need to. One small part of being a good driver is knowing how and when to give yourself (and those around you) the time required to safely make left turns or merge with traffic.
Drive sensibly based on current road conditions.
Now I have the S, so obviously have less acceleration than the X on slippery surfaces, and still have never felt the need to disable VDC.
I can bring the vehicle to a stop the same as my X did as both are fitted with winter tires which btw also help prevent wheel slipping (resulting in the annoying 'engine braking').
Drive safe.

 

I will say that 99% of the people who think they are such good drivers they need to keep the traction control turned off are the ones who really should be keeping it turned on.

 

The X isn't all that epic in the snow. I mean it's better than RWD... but it's still a RWD biased AWD system.

I've owned just about every AWD brand (Audi, BMW, Subaru, etc) out there at some point in time, and I can say that if i lived in a HEAVY snow area, i would not be getting a G, even an AWD one....Where i live, it's mostly light snow in the winter, so my X works just fine...