Well, were having our first snow storm of the 03/04 winter season here in NY. Took the TL out to give it a try in the snow. This particular storm is bad in that the first part of the snow melted and then refroze, giving a thin layer of ice under the 3/4 inch or so of snow. Everyone around me was locking their wheels (idiots!) everytime they braked. I thought I was going to be hit once by someone sliding out of a parking lot with all four wheels locked.

That said, the TL performed admirably, but not as well as I remember my old Buick Le Sabre I had 6 years ago, which made it through some of the worst storms I've been through. Hard to tell, though, 'cause each storm is different. I don't know how she'll behave in heavier snows, and ice is tough on any car.

The fairly high horsepower and torque made it easy to spin the wheels on start up, but the drive-by-wire throttle also made it easy to avoid doing this. Putting the manumatic into second gear before starting helped too. Going up an icy hill (not too steep) proved no problem, though when I purposely gave it extra throttle I could feel the VSA kick in to keep the vehicle on its intended path (around a curve in this case). You could push it off the path if you tried hard enough, but overall the system appears to function as advertised. Anti-locks worked very well, though with proper speed control and breaking, I did not really need them except when I tested them out. Others on the road obviously did not have them and did not know how to properly control their speed and braking.

I don't have the confidence I've felt on merely wet pavement with the TL. I'll be curious how this baby behaves in less icy, more snowy conditions. I'll post later on tonight how it behaves on some of the steeper hills near home. I'm pretty certain, though, that in anything less than 6 solid inches on the ground (and thus no clearance), I'll be able to get home in any storm if the RWD summer tire crowd don't get in my way!

 

you got balls...the first snow storm is always the worst one because people somehow forget how to drive!

What tires are you on? I've switched from the stock summer tires to Dunlop DS1's for the winter. Haven't had to deal with them in the snow yet though but I was forced to drive with the summers in the snow on Monday and it wasn't pleasant at all.

 

NYC here also.. Its comin down right now... Leaving work early..

 

I'm driving on the stock all-season Turanza's (no the 5AT).

As for leaving early, if a storm is going to be letting up, I always leave late! Everyone else leaves early, in the middle of the worst. Wait for it to end or slow, for the plows to their work, and drive home without traffic or the idiots who shouldn't even be out in good weather! Now, if it is the blizzard of the year, getting worse and worse.... that's a different story.

 

send some south.. Originally from Wisconsin, and 5 years in Syracuse, and 3 years in Yorktown Heights, I miss Snow..

 

This should be "fun" with my 6MT WHOA!

 

The idiot across the street took a dirt bike out and dumped it on the first turn. There is something to the "improving the gene pool" theory.

 

Just drove 30 miles with my '04 TL in the same snow storm in NJ with stock tires, in some cases over a few inches of snow (on local streets).

The card did a very nice job.

If I forced the acceleration, I would briefly feel one of the front wheel lose grip for a fraction of a second but then VSA would kick in and the car would stay in course. I did not feel I had to drive any slower than the many SUV's around me on the NJ Turnpike.

 

Ok. Drove it home over mostly local roads, some hills, 20 miles, 6 inches of snow with some plowing, but no sand or salt. Keeping in mind that I have some skill in the snow.

I found that the car performed decently. The VSA definitely helped keep it going in the direction I wanted, though I don't think I'd have had too much of a problem without it. It just made it simpler. I had no problem keeping up with a perhaps over cautious jeep.

On the one fair sized curvy hilly road, I passed three stuck cars with no problems. Two of those, were, of course front wheel drives (one a BMW 5). But of course, the third was a FWD, so skill level has something do to with it. I really wanted to stop on the hill and see if I could get restarted, which would be the ultimate test, but that' s the best way to get stuck I know of and I was not in a place where I could have backed down to flat ground. That will have to wait.

Average speed was about 20MPH or less. Biggest problem were the idiot tailgaters, and peolpe who pull out in front of you and cut you off. People seem to forget that all cars have AWB (all wheel braking), and it don't matter on ice!

 

Driving here in CT, had to take the Parkway home.There`s an incline for about a half a mile.A Z4 is next to me. He starts sliding his rear between a 3 o`clock and 4 o`clock degree towards me. Got out of the way but, was he was at that angle all the way to the top!

 

We got hit with a foot in NJ. My '04 TL did pretty well. There's a huge hill approaching my neighborhood and it had been a while since it was plowed so I went through about 4" I'd say. The VSA was on part of the time, I had a slight skid and made it all the way home without a problem.