No sir, was just stating a fact.

 

I use dedicated snow tires and disable TCS. Works great!

 

6 speed Acura TL's are horrible in the snow especially with winter tires.

Sounds like you need to adjust your driving and find a safe place to figure it out

 

My 6 Speed TL runs fine in the snow, you should get some dedicated snow tires. I run Bridgestone Blizzak's on my Winter set.

I think it's all about driving experience and actually knowing how to drive in the snow. You can't drive the same way in the Winter like you do when it's the Summer and the pavement is all dry and you have to learn to adjust to the road conditions.

My first manual car was a basic low end model 98 Civic DX HB with no ABS and no computer system in there to help with traction control or any of that and that's probably what helped with my driving technique once it started snowing and I owned that car for 7 years.

I think too many people rely on the car's computer to help with the driving and then blame the car for it when really it's driver error.

 

For the newbies driving in snow:
1: When starting from a stop use 2nd gear. In fact if you're on residential streets just leave it in 2nd gear. This is true for autos and manuals.
2: leave plenty of distance between your car and the vehicle in front. Double the normal distance.
3: leave plenty of room to stop at lights and stop signs. Figure twice the distance again.
4: plan ahead. If you see a hill ahead you'll need to keep up some speed. Stopping while going uphill can be a disaster.
I am sure there are others who will add to this but the 2nd gear trick will save you all aggravation.

 

My experience with an 04 AT with all seasons was the TL was the worst vehicle I have ever driven in the snow. Now if you get a set of winter tires that will make a huge difference but I don't care what all seasons you buy, the TL tire profile is terrible for snow. Period.

I had a set of winter tires on my Grand prix and it drove better/safer in the snow than my 4wd Grand cherokee. It's all about the tires. There is no substitute for winter tires in the snow. DWS are probably the best option for all seasons but will still be terrible compared to a good set of winter tires. I had general altimax artic and dollar for dollar were the best winter tires I've ever owned.

 

I second the General Altimax Artics I tell everyone that the best all seasons won't be as good as the worst snow tires

Lots of good advice here!

You know what the best traction control is? Your right foot!! throttle modulation is key, plus you could probably drop the clutch in 1st without any gas and it would help that wheel spin. Second gear starts work well, I use that technique from time to time.

 

In the snow/ice, I completely agree....however when it comes to winter on dry or just wet pavement, I will not agree. The worst snow tires will be far worse than good A/S on cold dry/wet pavement. I had some type of Nokian snow/ice tires which were absolutely fantastic on the snow/ice...but when on dry pavement they were squishy and actually very scary.

 

Yes I absolutely agree and snow tires aren't meant to be pushed like all-seasons on clean roads. What's cold dry/wet pavement? If it's wet it probably warmer, making the rubber on snow tires softer. The squishness isn't something to be afraid of it's just the tires letting you know that you have achieved the maximum level of grip based on how you are managing the weight of the car. At the Road America events I could feel my snow tires throw in the towel when it was dry when cornering hard, it's the nature of snow tires they stay pliable and grippy at low temps, build some heat into them and they fold over.

If you watch my video most of the non-covered snow surfaces where wet pavement.

 

Just drove my TL-S 6MT about 60km today in a terrible storm mounted on Toyo Observe Garit KX winter tires... All I gotta say is if you feather the throttle properly this thing is amazing in the snow. It actually blew my mind of how good I tackled some hills & deep snow. The car still rotates very nicely at low speeds without losing any control. Tbh I think it was better in the snow than my moms old CR-V which was 4WD. The only way I think it could be better is if the snow was 2.5 feet deep.

 

then aspec snow plow!

 

I used my Aspec snow plow kit today My area got hit with a good snow storm last night. Turned off VSA and had some fun on my way to work. I unfortunately made it to work lol

 

LMAO,
unfortunately...
You're a trip!

 

6spd,

I'm also from WI. We got like 10 inches of snow in that storm last night. My camry with 40% tread life with A/S tires still did better than my TL with almost new A/S tires. In fact, it did surprisingly well, and its all because of the tire profile.

Still thinking about putting winter tires on our 4WD highlander although it didn't even blink yesterday when I was bombing around the neighborhood watching people getting stuck left and right.

Snow tires + 4WD = unstoppable!

 

Very similar story here but I drove 30 miles this AM in a combination snow / sleet storm with Bridgestone Blizzak's. Sections of my commute were on untouched / untreated roads but I had little to no issue. And definitely agree about managing the throttle - makes a huge difference.

 

Sweet! You are probably located close by since my area (Fox Valley) got about that much. The snow drifts where the worst part and it had been so mild before this.

What's the tire size on your Camry? I agree with you the TL's wheel profile works against it in the snow. My folks have a TL with A/S tires and it's worthless in the snow, but they have a Forester as a second car.

Yes! Snow tires + 4WD = amazing!

 

I will say this about my experiences with GM's vs Honda's in the winter.
1. I have had Accords that did great in the winter.
2. I haven't got a chance to drive my TL in snow yet.
3. Every V6 powered GM I've owned was very good in snow.
4. Worst car I've driven in the snow in years: '98 Acura CL 3.0. (Which is why I was a little worried about it after purchasing an 06 TL recently)

Some thoughts on this. The Accords were 4 cylinders with not much torque off the line (I had auto and 5M). The CL had quite a powerful V6 with responsive takeoff thanks to gearing. Also, it's all aluminum under the hood. On the other hand the GMs I've owned tended to have good ground clearance, lazy tall gearing, and a larger displacement heavier cast-iron V6 up front with transmissions built enough to be behind V8s.

All in all even though the CL's winter performance IMO was sub-par, I still got around, which brings me to the point that I agree a lot has to do with the driver and their patience. I just wanted to put it out there that OP was not completely ill founded in his remarks. Peace!

 

could also be your driver experience over the years, no? I am amazed at how much better I am with my 2nd S2000 over the first just because I understand oversteer and how to react to it better now...and that was less than a year apart. If I stood back I might think the first car was a death trap where the new one is a real gentleman.

I've only driven in snow a handful of times...1996 Maxima once...that was fun in an empty parking lot (it was a rental!)...and a few vehicles in Switzerland that were manual...usually small motors though.

 

I want to put to bed the whole "learn to drive in the snow" BS. I've been driving in snow since I was 16 personally and have driven several different cars in snow.

Best FWD car I've driven in snow; 1993 accord auto w snow tires. I personally credit this to (obviously the tires) and having no power/torque, gearing, and tire profile.

My Integra GSR was quite a bit more torquey, but with snow tires, even though it spun quite easily, was pretty solid if I was careful with the throttle/clutch. It was similar to my TL Type S with all seasons though.

1:I think Automatics do significantly better in the snow, simply due to gearing.

2: I think that the tire profile of the TL-S is a huge negative in the snow.

3: TL-S 6MT gearing is also a huge negative in the snow.

4: I think a good set of snow tires would make the TL-S 6MT capable in the snow


Bottom line is, some cars (my 93 accord) were unstoppable in the snow. Gearing? No power? probably a huge factor.

The 6cyl GMs my mom has had over the years, as Huff has also alluded to, seem to do really well in the snow even with all seasons...

I assume this has something to do with all or some of the following

Transmission/Gearing
Tire/Wheel profile
Torque/Power
My TL just doesn't stack up with other cars I've had. But like I said, with snow tires, I'm sure I'd be more than fine... I just didn't expect it to be so worthless with AS tires, considering the GMs I've driven are so much better.

 

All I read is that you're a bad driver and you can't handle a sub-300hp car in a bit of snow, like everyone else here can. Nothing to be ashamed of.

 

1. keep foot out of throttle...
2. 2nd gear start...
3 a TL should plow through about 9" before getting stuck.
4. drive something else... I park the CL-S and bust out the snow eater AKA Subaru... I have yet to get stuck in that car and it has all seasons on it as well...

 

Shut up. You put Honda and torque"y" in the same sentence. Never thought I'd see the day. Just stop talking.

Your 93 accord with snow tires is obviously gonna handle better than ALL SEASONS in your 6 SPEED TYPE ETH.

Nothing to do with TL having "smaller profile tires". 235 is plenty of width for the OEM setup

Part of me thinks you're just trolling at this point, or just a kid who really doesn't know his shit.

Stop reiterating the fact that you have 100 years of driving experience, know how to drive, have driven dozens of cars; it makes me think you're just a kid and lying out your ass.

Happy New Year bud.

 

Didn't have any trouble driving my 6spd home on bald tires in a snow storm when I had it. It did alright with snow tires. Obviously if you tried to make it go through a foot of snow it had a bad time. Just don't drive like an idiot...

Switching to narrower snow tires would make a huge difference though. 235 snows were a bit wide for the car's weight.

 

So have I...How old are you now? 18, maybe 19?
That car was light, low power, skinny tires, and had snow tires. Without a doubt was probably great to drive in the snow as long as it wasn't too deep.
Wha? Torquey? You can't be serious....I have yet to meet a 4-cyl Honda that would be considered torquey.
Well, this will depend on the specific car, but with a manual, you pick the gearing so I will not agree with you on this one for sure.
I will agree that this is a bit of a negative, but not a huge one.
Ummmm....no. Start in 2nd, gearing fixed.
Without a doubt a true statement.
I know what you are trying to say on the older GM cars....but I think it has more to do with the weight of the car. My Cavalier was pretty good in the snow with A/S tires....but it did get stuck in places my TL has no issues with. However in stopping and cornering, it was for sure better than the TL. That would be mostly due to the TL weighing so much more.

BTW, my Cavalier had more torque than a factory GSR.

 

I love the car.. But It's not good in the snow.

Stop acting so butt hurt.

"OHH IT CAN'T POSSIBLY BE THE CAR, IT MUST BE YOUR DRIVING'

Dudes, the car is not that good in winter weather. Get over it. Stop acting like angry, butt hurt, virgins

 

Yes, we're the butt hurt ones.

It's okay man. Maybe one day you'll figure out how to handle all that beastly power the TL-S puts down.

 

Milano...you started the thread right? And you are the one who stated, and I quote "I mean completely worthless. I've only got all seasons, but they were the highest rated all season winter tires on tire rack. It's not drivable...Am I the only one? Combo of manual transmission, too much torque, not that heavy? What is it?"

So grow up and stop acting like a child and take the criticism in a positive way. I learned to drive in the snow when I was 16 in my parents '73 station wagon with tires that, by today's standard, were not so good. The advantage I had was practicing in a parking lot and intentionally losing control and skidding. The best way to learn. Yes, the Type S is probably a handful in the snow but obviously a lot of others on this forum seem to have no issues winter driving that car and tire combo. If you don't like the responses then don't post a thread like this.

 

Numerous members all have success in the snow with the same vehicle. Is it the best car I ever drove in the snow? Nope. Worst? nope. There's really no mystery to limiting the torque to the wheels in the MT TL so that's just not an issue. There's no gearing issue and ATs are no better than MTs in the snow. IMO I'll take an MT any day for inclement weather for the ability to control torque and gear selection. I also greatly prefer dedicated snow tires as I think they make a night and day difference. There's simply no substitute for true tire grip with the road. Concentrate on that first and much of the rest will follow. But that's me. You probably feel differently.

So rather than get all pissy and throw out insults you should perhaps take some of the advice others are trying to give you. Ultimately you need to be confident when you are driving your car in the snow. Maybe that means getting dedicated snow tires (no matter how top-rated your AS tires may be). Maybe in means experimenting with short shifting or other ways to limit torque. Maybe it means selling it for something else. Most of us here really are trying to help. That will quickly dry up for you aren't careful.

 

The language in this thread needs to be cleaned up immediately. I'd hate to see guys starting off the new year being banned.......

 

a rooster is a bad word?





okay okay...but I was making a point!

 

Fixed for accuracy...

 

< or equal to 235 width snow tires and your opinion will change. Any FWD or RWD vehicle that has a larger than average stock tire width almost always necessitates snow tires.

 

Is huff87 OP?

Steven's giving a warning about language and he's not directing it towards me!

Your tires and car are fine OP, not to say driving in the snow is easy. It takes experience. I'm not sure why everyone in here is bashing on the TL hp/torque. 20 years ago, those numbers are spot on with top sports / super cars (more than NSX, R33 GT-R, RX-7, M3, etc). TL is plenty quick and fast. If you're not careful you can easily spin the tires.

Just be patient OP, if you can't walk it out of 1st, try in 2nd. Most importantly, pics of hot mom in her 99 Monte Carlo?

 

 

 

If your 99 Monte Carlo is FWD like someone over here just said, then it's the same thing as your TL, except that you need to fine tune driving it because it's manual, not auto. I assumed your Monte Carlo is auto, so it's easier to drive than manual. I can say this because I drove 90 Prelude with manual in Iowa during my college time. It had all season tires because I couldn't afford to buy a set of winter tires and their wheels. It was good because I didn't force it when the roads were covered with snow and ice.

 

you win this whole thread. I award you some left over cookies that santa didnt eat.

 

I agree with Justin.

 

+1 driver mod. No issues in northern VT on A/S. The winters are on now for anyone concerned...

 

I will also say that I recently had some serious hydroplaning in rain...
maybe overinflated tires, hadn't gotten an alignment yet since adding some camber...

I couldn't believe how hard it was the drive the car without it jumping all over the place.

Just sayin...there are a LOT of factors. Car, conditions, driver, snow, type of snow, ice, depth, el nino, how heavy.