FINALLY some snow, and serious snow at that. Almost white out. Plows couldn't keep up. I was actually bottoming out, but the car plowed forward like a trooper. I have to admit the conditions were more then greasy, and had a "Hard time" up hills (not talking huge hills either), but had to punch it. I was actually encountered by an RL who tried like heck to pass me on these slippery roads. He drove next to me at the bumper plowing through the snow with me (very impressive). But he gave up quickly and pulled behind me. I gotta say, I was happy I had this car! An MDX also rode along side to keep up with the fun. I was sliding a bit in the high snow, too much snow to see clear tracks, but never out of control and SH-AWD was kicking in overtime! I dusted an Envoy, and many of the larger SUV's were slower then some cars. Yes, I was worried I'd not make it home, but should have never wavered!

 

Whew! Glad to hear it Mickie! Where are you? I'm getting clobbered right now too...saying 16-26 inches before tomorrow morning. Tomorrow's drive to work is going to be fun (if I go). I'm hoping my snowblowers don't quit!

Mike

 

I took my RDX for a quick pizza run, and the local roads here (West Central NJ) were not cleared, so it was mix of wet snow and ice. Handled much better than my old C-RV, and I was a bit surprised to see the VSA light flash when I took a corner at quite low speed and in second gear. According to the manual, that flashing meant the VSA kicked in and is working. And I guess it did, as the car hardly fishtailed and crisply went back into a normal driving trajectory.

 

Mike,
I'm in Saratoga, NY. where are you? Were looking at 24-36"
I don't really have the option of not showing up to work, I actually have a schedule of folks who depend on me to be there. That's why I had the "opportunity" to drive the RDX back home in a blizzard.
My problem now, is the snowblower is siezed up, and The ATV plow can't handle 3' of snow, it will just tumble right over the top of the plw/ATV . I guess that means we have to cook on Valentine's Day?
Guess I'll be "plowing with the RDX tomorrow morning just to get out of the 250' driveway.

 

Ouch! Yeah - you have it worse then me. I'm up in the northwest corner of Vermont (actually on an island in the middle of the now frozen lake). Fortunately, even though we don't have cable or DSL, I have a wireless broadband service and can work from home any time I want. It does make days like this a bit more tolerable. Tomorrow will be fun though. With all the wind, it looks like I already have 2 or more feet on my driveway....

Mike

 

man, you guys are so lucky. My rdx is sitting at home in brooklyn while i'm here in shanghai. I've been waiting for a snowstorm to test out the SH-AWD. Have fun and don't over exert yourselves when you shovel/plow.

 

Be careful the next day! I went through some major drifts yesterday and when I drove the RDX today there was so much ice buildup on the alloys, that I thought my wheels were going to fall off! A lot of vibration at over 40mph - I kicked off some of the ice and it was better, but still vibrating. Hopefully a quick wash with hot water will clean the rest off. Too bad its still only 12 degrees, nothing is going to melt off.

Be sure and kick off as much ice and snow from the wheels as you can & have fun!

 

hehe...that's what the garage is for!

Mike

 

Man, I am jealous to hear about all your snow and where you both live -- especially the island in the middle of a lake in Vermont -- sounds like my dream location!

 

Hehe...don't be jealous. We don't get anywhere near the snow you'd think. Most of the snow (with the exception of today's whopping storm) falls further south. I think the lake moderates the temperature here and limits what actually falls as snow. It's a little weird. We get the snow later than most of the state because the lake keeps the air warmer, but after the lake freezes, it tends to keep it cooler here slightly longer - so while the rest of the state is starting to thaw, we're still getting snow/ice.

As far as the island is concerned, it has it's pluses and minuses. Sure it's pretty, but not having the usual conveniences - like cable, dsl, decent phone connections, a big grocery store - get's old pretty quick. I live across the street from the lake, so during the winter the ice fisherman park all over, they block my driveway, they come off the lake drunk and drive over my driveway stakes, and then pack my driveway down to ice turning around. It makes keeping it clear a bit of a hassle. Needless to say, my patience wears thin some days. During the summer, this is a tourist spot, so I get all the vacationers sightseeing. Being the impatient person I am, they drive too slow when I'm trying to get to and from work.

Feel better? ;-)
Mike

 

Speaking of the whopping storm, here's a pic my friend took today to give you a perspective of how much we got so far...and it's still coming down.



Mike

 

yea i took my rdx out in the snow yesterday....wow what a dream. My friend had his 4wd pickup with lots of weight in the back and he still couldnt keep it as straight as me...one thing i think i noticed is that the VSA limited my speed in the snow a bit, when i took it off i felt like i could actually get moving better, but dont worry i didnt take it off for long, just to test teh difference. with the turns and such, love the VSA...OVERALL- AMAZING! one more reason to continue to love my RDX

 

Ah, yes, sounds like the joys of suburbia on a slightly different scale....

 

This morning's commute was excellent, but that's because all schools were closed. That helped alot! Roads were covered in packed down snowand were very slippery, but too cold for salt. I didn't feel I had to stick to the paved tire tracks in order to get there without incidence. I actually had no qualm with pushing further to the left (already in the left lane) letting a tractor trailor zoom by the right of me. Only left plenty of room for stopping btw cars, cause SH-AWD doesn't help me there!

 

Hehe...that's funny. I mention that a lot. I run into people all the time who seem to think they have more control stopping in their pickups or SUVs because they have 4 wheel drive. I always have to remind them that all cars have 4 wheel brakes!

Mike

 

Got into the discussion of 4-wheel drive Vs AWD too. Apparently a horse of a different color. Folks desperately held to the ground that I don't have four wheel drive. Sure, yea, I don't But that digital AWD system, sure as heck is sweet. Isn't that what really matters? It does the job. anyone care to ellaborate?

 

I guess I'd have to wait another year to test out sh-awd in the snow. When i return from shanghai it'll already be march. =(

 

True 4WD allows you to lock all the differentials so that all 4 wheels are powered at the same time (the downside is that you can't take corners on dry pavement in this mode).

Traditional full time AWD with slipping diffs varies between 2WD (one wheel per axle) in cornering situations and 4WD (two wheels per axle) when going straight. The RDX is more like a part time AWD system in the sense that it has a nominal FWD bias, but it switches to more of a traditional AWD behavior when needed, and of course it has the cool SH aspect.

 

Okay, then which is "better" in the snow. when you are driving on dry pavement with two wheels (front and back) , and the other two are in the slush, I guess both FWD and AWD will grab and pull you along. What's the arguement where it's an advantage to have all four wheels driving all the time, when AWD does the same thing (as needed). Isn't AWD more versatile?

 

If you don't have to encounter dry pavement, then full time locking 4WD is the absolute best, by a long shot. It's the choice for off-roaders, people that plow, etc. I don't think AWD would be appropriate for heavy duty use like that (for one thing, the various types of diffs, clutches, and couplings used in AWD systems would get a real workout if used on a permanent basis). The downside to true 4WD is that you have to engage it on demand, which means you have to plan ahead.

On the other hand, if you want to drive a variety of roads and not worry about engaging/disengaging 4WD when they pavement/surface changes, then AWD is a better option, especially if the majority of driving is on dry pavement with ocassional wet weather. It gives the best of both worlds.

From that basic outline, there are a lot of fine points with AWD systems. My old Subaru had full time 45% front / 55% rear AWD that would vary depending on braking and acceleration (it would send power forward on braking and aft on acceleration). This is known as a proactive system, in the sense that it tries to minimize the chance of wheel slippage before it happens. If slippage did occur, it would also transfer power front/rear as needed. It also had limited slip diffs that significantly improve side to side traction in the situation you cite above where one side of the vehicle might be on dry road and the other in slush. In that scenario, *all* of the power from the slushy wheels would flip over to the dry wheels so that 100% of the engine power went to the road. (BTW, not all Subarus have the same AWD system).

Contrast that to a part time AWD system like in the Honda CR-V, which is 100% FWD until the rear wheels slip. This is a completely "reactive" system. And it does not have limited slip diffs, instead relying on traction control to brake spinning wheels for side to side control. In the dry/slush scenario, it would only send 50% of the engine power to the two dry wheels, not 100% like the Subaru. That turns out to be a significant difference in many cases (deep snow, hills, etc). Many people have learned that their CR-V does better in deep snow with traction control turned off, you just have to deal with slipping wheels which have their own disadvantages. It ends up being a tradeoff between sending 50% power to two wheels reliably, or 100% power to four wheels unreliably. The Subaru system I cited above does not have that tradeoff -- it always puts 100% power down reliably.

The RDX is in between the two in most ways -- it always sends some power aft (10%) and will send more aft upon acceleration, so it is proactive. And the SH aspect is very clever and has a great benefit for dry handling -- I appreciate that benefit when it counteracts understeer almost every day. But the RDX still relies on traction control to tame spinning wheels, and will only apply 50% power in the dry/slush scenario. So it's going to be less capable in severe winter driving. Like the CR-V, it will likely benefit from turning traction control off in low-speed deep snow situations, but then you have to deal with more wheel slippage. (Note: switching off traction control also switches off VSA, so you only want to do this to get up a snowy driveway or similar low speed situations; in any other winter driving scenario, I think it's preferable to have traction control and VSA on).

Ultimately, I still think my old Subaru was superior in winter driving -- and in my experience, it was unstoppable for the most part. I drove it uphill through 18-20" of unplowed snow across an entire ski parking lot a few years ago, and was one of only a handful of vehicles to make it to the front row (it's a big deal to get on the lift first on a powder day for first tracks, and part of that means getting a good parking spot!). That said, the RDX did fine on a recent ski trip. I am sure it would not be as good as the Subaru in that unplowed parking lot, but I bet it would do allright. Since those scenarios happen once every 3-4 years for me, it's not a big deal. The Subaru had more winter capability than I needed 99% of the time.

 

Nice, informative post, c_hunter - thanks!

 

yea man... rdx is baller in the snow... traction is nice... CLIMBS onto parking spots hahaha... yea man dusted madd suvs too... friggin ML HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAA

 

Thanks Craig!
I apprechiate all the time you put into comparing all breeds of wheeldrive, and in a manner that my ignorant mind can understand (with out all the whoopla). Are you in the academics by chance? Thanks for clearing that up

 

Well, I did teach math part time for about 5 years at the local college. Been out of academics and into research for the past 7 years.

 

Rdx All The Way Brothers!everytime i drive my Rdx ppls are always taking their head off their windows to see what kind is it of an Acura..lol myson was like"THERES A DUDE WHO IS TRYING TO TAKE OUR LISCENSE PLATE"..lmao

 

i just wanted to add my experience this Friday with my rdx & some really bad road conditions (the worse i have ever seen). i live in NYC & had to drive for work to a small town 60 miles west from the NJ border off route 78 in PA. i didn't realize route 78 was still closed from the NJ PA border for around 50 miles into PA. so i had to take some back routes to our warehouse through a mountain range. this area was hit with a foot of snow & a half foot of ice on valentines day!! i mean ice! that is why 78 was closed because they weren't able (three days later) to get all the ice off the road. i had to go slow on most of these roads (15-30 mph). they were covered with snow, but also with brick hard ice. i know that no vehicle handles well on ice of any thickness, but i was blown away how well the rdx managed itself on these conditions. yes, i slid a couple times, but quickly (in a second) got it back under control. yes, i was going slow (so was the ten four wheel drive jeeps & ford trucks ahead of me). but i watched these four wheel drive lose footing in front of me when they hit a particular hard exposed ice area & 9 times out of 10, the rdx went straight ahead without a slide. anyhow, i went up & down major steep hills (mountains) on roads that were not yet touched, passed four jacked knifed tractor trailers & three cars in ditches without out ever losing control. several times i had to come to a complete stop up a very steep grade while allowing vehicles to get around a disable car & without any slippage able to continue up the hill. it passed my bad weather test!!

 

I can't help but laugh at a few of these posts. Appropriate tires are a lot more relevant to winter performance than anything else.

 

Winter tires do in fact make a difference in snow/ice but, good awd systems make up for lack thereof.

A few years ago my a4 quattro had summer performance tires during an 12-18" blizzard and did fine.

 

AWD does nothing for braking. Running summer tires in snow is extremely foolish.

 

Living in Saskatoon and going through no fewer than 4 major blizzards already this year, I can tell you that the RDX with stock Michelins performs just fine. Quite simply, this is the best vehicle that I have ever driven on the snow or ice. I do understand that it would likely be even better with Blizzaks, but why spend the money when the stocks do everything I need them to do.

Rusty

 

I'm pretty pleased with the performance of the stock all-seasons as well. My problem with getting real snows is simply the price of rims. I don't want to keep swapping just the rubber and likely end up having some dolt damage my TPMS transmitters. If someone can point me to a place where I can get a set of rims for <$100/ea with transmitters, I'd probably go for it. Otherwise, I'll just be foolish I guess...

Mike

 

yea under $100 ea is pretty tough, for bout 150 can go to tire rack
www.tirerack.com

 

Yeah...the cheapest ones there come out to about $200/ea with sensors. Still $800 plus the cost of snows....just not worth it to me.

Mike

 

Yea, I thought of that, and can't argue that mine are spanking new. I know that means something. But still, I have to say that I felt the traction control there was unsurpassable to any of my previous vehicles, but that's not saying much either.

 

Well my RDX let me down tonight. The snow from last Wed has been drifting for days, and last night we had a real blow. I ended up with a foot or so back on some spots on the driveway. Tonight when I came home from work, I simply couldn't get back up. I tried backing up, pulling up, etc., with no luck. I just kept getting stuck in the drifts. So I blew the driveway (a very poor job after packing the snow trying to get up), and was able to back up without a single slip. All of this wouldn't be so bad if my wife hadn't gotten up the driveway before I cleared it in her Accord with snow tires!!!! I guess it proves the point...AWD doesn't make up for the lack of snow tires.

Now I'm questioning my whole RDX purchase. Originally, I really wanted a TL - but I REALLY wanted AWD. The RDX seemed to be the best of both worlds. Now it seems that maybe I could have gotten a TL with snows and it would have been just as good. Oh well....

Mike

 

Did you turn off VSA? Generally you need to turn it off to make headway in deep snow.

 

Why don't you just get snows for your RDX. Then you'll have the best of both worlds, and the knowledge that your car is more winter capable than 95% of the cars/trucks on the road.

 

For dry weather handling, I believe the RDX will compete with the TL. If you look at some testing done on both vehicles you would find they are very close in the salom. For example, per Edmunds:

600' Salom

TL 67.5 mph

RDX 65.7 mph

Now, obviously, I don't have weather conditions at both of those respective tests. I do know the TL was on the Summer High Performance Potenzas which are much better than the all-season Turanzas on the TL.

Just food for thought, I guess...

 

No!! I realized that AFTER I cleared the driveway and was kicking myself for not trying it before giving up. GREAT to know that it might have worked. C, given the great descriptions you've provided on how the various AWD systems work, can you help me understand why switching off VSA might have made a difference? I've seen various posts about switching it and traction control off, but I thought they were the same thing... Help?

Thanks,
Mike

 

Hehe...check about 4 or 5 posts up. I'm not really excited about paying a minimum of $800 for rims & sensors + the cost of rubber. In the end you are right. I do suspect that this thing with snows would be a monster....

Mike