Slimey

Well, as you all know, it's snowing today in the northeast. The bright folks that run Philadelphia and Montgomery counties must have come up with some brilliant decision to NOT plow the roads, at least when I was going to work at 6:15AM. There was about an 1" or more on the ground. When I just drove from one place to another at 8:30AM the roads still were not plowed...

Anyway, I still have the stock tires (M+S rated, Ha!) and had the opportunity to take my six speeder on the road through city and highway traffic. Granted, I did not go faster then 35 or 40 and I think I got into 4th once. It was mostly very slow driving in first and second on the city streets.

The car handled reasonably well. Only one slight spin from a stop. I really have to ease off the clutch, but the six speed seems to allow me to really keep in good control of my torque. I'm not sure if the LSD is helping, but as said, I really didn't have trouble with wheel spin. FWD and the weight of the car helps too. I had no trouble with sliding when braking, but that might just be because I was going very slow this morning.

I'm sure better tires would make a world of difference, but my bottom line review is:

Snow handling -- Not too bad!

Pappy

"LSD"???? Back when I was growing up, LSD was something other than a mechanical device.

Zapata

I haven't driven yet but i'll take the 6speed out in the snow for a good review of the Pilot SPort A/S tires.

chikai

Does a Limited Slip Differential help in straight forward situations? I always thought it was to help you turn better by spinning the outer wheel faster (or something to that effect).

Anyway, VSA is the bomb...it brakes my car enough during launches that I have minimal spin going up hills...gotta love it.

Slimey

Yes...when the LSD is working my car changes colors into turquoise then pink then polka dotted...then my car turns into a rhinoceros with green eyes and chicken feet that speaks French to me...

Zapata

Yes it does help during turns. When the HLSD unit detects one wheel is spinning faster than the other the unit will pulse power to the wheel until both are spinning at the the same speed. For snow and ice.....depends

VSA is nice. I was in one bad storm with the old cls and VSA was awesome. HOpefully at some point they have LSD and VSA working together.

I am RobG

mine turns into a turtle and yells at me in czech and then waves a japanese flag around thats pink and blue

TypeS-Cgy

Braking with the stock Michelins is fairly good! The ABS works very well. Taking off from a standstill took a little more effort in order to limit wheel spin. Even starting in 2nd gear was tricky. But the car corners and handles fairly well, nonetheless.

Just my opinion

EricL

There is the possibility that they will switch the type of LSD if and when they add the VSA. They will definitely need to modify the software to keep from frying brakes with the current type of LSD used with the current VSA. Honda likes to play with neat electric "toys", so it's certainly possible to run with an advanced electronically controlled diff + brakes + engine control.

The VSA is nice. However, Acura Care told me they tell some people to turn off the VSA (actually the traction control component) when trying to climb up steep, icy driveways. This is related to low-speed traction issues as opposed to yaw/stability control.)

I've only been in "patches" of mixed slush up in the local mountains and the VSA is great for keeping the car stable with rocks, bits of snow and even a few small patches of black ice...

The weight that everyone hates sitting at the front of the car is great for traction. That 63/37 percent figure comes in handy (slightly less for the 6-speed)...

Starter

Just got into work in Baltimore, we had a late start, and my 6sd worked very well. Little wheelspin, reasonable handling, good braking (stock tires). As long as you kept the revs low by being in a higher gear there was no problem.

Biggest problem was the bozos doing 20 mph and taking up 2 lanes on I 95.

Starter

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I passed 3 cars spun into the median...2 of the 3 were SUVs.

GreenMonster

LSD hahaha. "better living through modern chemistry" - dupont slogan from the 70's.

I was really suprised at how well my 6spd handled in the snow recently. The real test will be tonight when we get the snow you've gotten already up here. It'll be just in time for my commute

I was surprised when the ABS kicked in (ice that I couldn't see under snow), but this is my first car w/ ABS (my other cars were peices of shit).

Even tho' the stock tires get a bad rap, I think they work ok. I don't think that the Pilot A/S come in the stock size, so when I upgrade I might be forced to go w/ the 235's

EricL

Cars love LSD and STP

Shawn S

I’ll be giving mine the big test tonight. They just upped the possible total in my area to TEN INCHES !!!!
And I live at the end of a nice long winding road going up a big HILL.

Shawn S

Zapata

Just got back from driving around.

6Speed:
Car performed well. Made the HLSD work a little. It helped.

Pilot Sport A/S:
There were OK. I thought they would perform better. $40 tires on my old college car, nissan stanza worked like a champ! Took that out for a spin to show my brother how to drive in snowy conditions.

Klamalama

Last week I was in Miami, today I'm sweeping 8" of snow off my baby.

I took it for a ride around my circle (2 blocks long). It pulled very well from a stop and in/out of deeply snow-rutted parking spaces. I never got above second gear but I purposely tromped on the throttle to see what the HLSD would do. One wheel started to hop a bit showing that it was trying to "grab".

Overall impression: the HLSD certainly improves snow traction. I wouldn't hesitate taking it out and around flat terrain. I don't think it'll climb grades like my Jeep Cherokee in 4WD but it still impressed me.

BTW, my tires are stock with 20K miles and an average of 8/32" of tread (measured at 16K miles by Acura dealer).

PS. Let me take this opportunity to thank the nice folks I met at the Miami meet at the Dolphin Mall. They were a nice bunch of enthusiasts with the slips to prove it. They advised me well on window tint and I took advantage of the low area prices to get mine done (20% on rear 3, 35% on side doors - looks great and liveable in PA).

6speedS

No problems here in Frederick, MD. The 6 speed handled remarkably well and I am fairly impressed with the stock Michelins. It was fun actually, a little spin for fun when no one was around, it's the other people I worry about. I was running about 35-40 on unplowed roads, no problem. We totaled about 8-9 inches of white stuff here. This weekend will be the lovely task of getting the salt and sand off.

Slimey

That's disappointing to hear. Although I wouldn't expect an all-season tire to perform like a snow designated tire, I would expect a better review considering the price these puppys go for.

Let's here from others with four season tire reviews - Dunlop SP 5000 A/S, Michelin Pilot Sport A/S, Pirelli P7000 A/S, Yokohama AVS, Sumitomo HTR+, Michelin MXM4 (Ha)...