Hi guys ,

What a joy..
We got about 10" of snow yesterday , here in Montreal area.
I just wanted to share with you how good the TL SH-AWD on these conditions.
I never felt that I'll get stuck even on deeper snow . It was passing like a " tank ".
Starting from red light on icy road was without problem and on very straight line.
It was fish tail a little bit on the corners when I push it hard , but nothing dangerous as the VSA kick in right the way.
I'm happy with my decision to go with SH-AWD.
I forgot to mention, I have good winter tires also.

 

I agree with you Momyc.
We got lots of snow, sleet and rain in Boston over the last 24 hours and the SH-AWD performed superbly (despite my not having dedicated snow tires). This was one of the reasons why I got the car and was really happy to see it live up to its expectations.

 

Ditto. You could really feel that it had full control, significantly more than my last TL. With my old one you would feel skiddish while passing and changing lanes over snow and ice. I would imagine dedicated snows would really make this thing stick to the ground.

 

What I posted in another thread - I was in Grand Rapids, MI last week for a meeting:

"The next evening we got about 6 inches of snow had had a 20-mile drive back to the hotel from a downtown restaurant. The car was phenomenal. While others were crawling and sliding all over, the TL was planted and never slipped, even when crossing slush tracks on the highway.

The following morning we drove on ice/snow (no road crews had been out) to the office and again, the car never wavered, uphill, downhill, around icy turns. There were at least a dozen cars and SUVs ditched along the route. The only time the TL slid was when I turned off the VSA, nailed it and did a 360 in the unplowed parking lot. The moment I got off the gas, the tires hooked up, solid."

 

Ditto.... I have dedicated snows on mine. We got a foot of snow on Monday and it has not been above 15 degrees here during the day all week with overnight and morning lows around -2 to -10. The car has been a beast all week in the snow and ice. As was posted above, the car is straight off the line from a stop and when passing it is very solid and controllable.

I am watching other vehicles spin their wheels and my traction control has yet to light up

 

Did you put your snow's on those diamond 19"? Or did you buy some different wheels for the snow tires?

 

I put the snows on the HPT's that came with the car. The Diamonds are for 3 season use only. However, next spring I will probably sell the HPT's and then make the Diamonds my winter set and put the Ron Jon Vega's on for 3 season use.

 

Thats great to hear. Sounds much better than my experience with the winter weather we saw in California this week...summer tires were not my friend.

 

youtube...

How about some videos on youtube. There’s MDX, RDX, even one lame RL vid but no TL SH-AWD in the snow. I’m tired of watching xdrive and Quattro videos.

 

I live in Montreal. I have to say the TL drives like a tank in the snow. My winter tires are Toyo Garits. I use to have the RDX and it was fun in the snow. But, I have to say I really love the way the TL sh-awd handles in the snow. The power is always on.

 

I have full faith in my SH-AWD however I am always afraid of other jerks who skid and slide and follow you too closely

 

Hahaha I live in Trois-Rivieres and got the same tires than you do. I found the handling was better in S mode for some unknown reason, did you experience the same thing?

We should have a TL owners dinner some time..or we could plan a track day at ICAR facility in Mirabel this spring...

 

What we do not usually think about is that high performance summer tyres do not work well below a certain temperature.

Snow or not, they aren't going to grip as well as usual if the temperature is below 40 degrees.

This driver is also very happy with how his TL performed in inclement weather a few days ago. It was a situation that was rather treacherous, several inches of snow and ice on even the Interstate highways. 18" OEM all seasons did better than I expected.

 

Hello, just wanted to share my first experience. I changed my TL 2004 base for a new 2010 awd tech, and picked it up tuesday evening before our snowstorm in Montreal. I was getting really nervous during winter with my previous cars ( I am getting old I guess !), but let me tell you, this awd makes me feel much more safer. I got 17'' michelin primacy alpin installed on it, I went out with it on wed evening to test it out a bit. It was really amazing, it's been a long time since I smiled driving in snow :-) Cheers.

 

I have Yokohama IG20 on my TL .
It's first time when I use Yokohama on my cars . So far so good , no complains, quiet and good at pick-up and braking. Probably the AWD also helps.
I used to have Toyo Observe GO2 and Hankook W300.
Toyo very good , but noisy . Hankook no so good at pick-up , but good breaking, pretty quiet also.

Now I'm enjoying Montreal winter...

 

I forgot to mention that the Yokohama tires are on 17" white metal rims..doeasn't look to bad.

 

Snow squall country. Muskoka, Ontario received 50-80 cm of snow yesterday and 30 cm more today. Hwy 11 was closed for a while last night. Even the police were pulled off the road. For the Amexicans 30.5 cm = 1 foot eh...

Found this vid on youtube, guy is even driving an Acura SH-AWD. He doesn't seem to know if he has AWD for some reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL1WQSlHKuQ

 

^ fyi, @1:12 he said "luckily I'm driving a 4wd car with snow tires on it"

 

crazy looking storm btw... eeek.

 

he says hes driving a 4wd car with snow tires...rewatch it ull see

 

I was up in Binghamton on Tuesday, and we got about 5" nothing compared to you guys up north :X but my 09 FWD TL didnt hiccup at all,

 

That you tube clip is documentation of what is wrong with American drivers. Driving 60 mph on a snow covered road while running a video camera, filming snow plow on the opposite side of the road, all while commenting that he is somehow lucky to be driving a 4WD car, wtf!? Four wheel drive does not overcome physics. The snow on that road is no where deep enough to require 4WD, so it is irrelevant.

I'm not even going to calculate how many feet he is traveling while filming the oncoming lanes, but it could be any one of us or our loved ones that he kills when he runs into them at 60 mph after they have stopped for a crash or traffic jam.

Freekin morons! I'm surprised that he doesn't have his wife on the cell phone with his other hand.

BTW, that is not even close to white out conditions.

 

It is a Canadian Acura with a speedo in kph, if that helps you feel any better about the driver.

That's between 35 and 40 miles per hour.

 

 

That's not as bad as 60 mph, but he would still put a red line in your health chart if he ass ended you in stopped traffic.

 

You're right. Sorry about that.

BTW it's illegal to be using electronic devices while driving in Ontario.

 

Just wanted to chime in, in MN we had blizzard conditions last week. My 09 AWD handled deep snow (14"), unplowed, in the neighborhood with ease. And it stuck the roads well which had been plowed, but had 5" or so back on them. I do have snow tires on the car, so I'm sure that helped. This TL grips the road so much better than my IS250 AWD.

 

I had a 2009 IS250 AWD...for a few months. I absolutely loathed that car. Most uncomfortable car ever. Even my brother's Geo Metro was more comfortable than that car. Absolutely worthless vehicle IMHO. Looks nice, that's about it. Never had the chance to try the IS in the winter, which is a pity b/c that's why I got the IS in the first place. Dam Lexus comfort my a$$

Traded it in for a 2010 TL 6MT. So far the TL has been awesome in every aspect. Took it up to the mountains and ski resort last week; gobbled up ice on the hills, up slope and down slope. Very confident in the winter thus far. And that's on HPT all seasons. I look forward to driving it on heavy snow.

 

7-14" of snow tomorrow.... Im excited

 

Yeah that's the problem with 4WD/AWD, it doesn't overcome physics, and you can't stop any faster. It just lets you reach a higher speed before crashing.

 

Still waiting for an opportunity to drive my TL SH-AWD in a major storm. I have been traveling for work in the Washington DC area and it's snowing here like crazy. I wish I had my TL-SH AWD here to plow through the snow,

Regarding the IS250, I find it interesting that you found the car uncomfortable. I'm 6'1 and I owned an IS350 for 3 years and found the car very comfortable. Interestingly, the IS has more front legroom than the TL. IMHO, the seats are also very comfortable. I have also driven the IS250 AWD as a loaner vehicle a few times.

 

We are getting 10"-14" overnight tonight. Cars going to stay in the garage nice & safe. Only 800 miles on it so still protective of it.
I will be taking the 4Runner if I need to venture out.

 

The same blizzard hit us last night. Had to drive home in it.

Car did very well, although I noticed ABS for the first time, and noticed one instance of the VSA cutting in.

I cannot even begin to imagine the complicated heuristics that go into determining whether a car like this is supposed to decide on using SH-AWD or VSA in a given situation.

But I'm sure glad they did it. :-)

 

I must be crazy to pick up my TL SH-AWD today in NY!!!
But the traction is great, engaging the clutch it just tracks forward and straight effortlessly.....almost like my xbox games! the earlier comparison to a tank was dead on accurate, but faster ;-)

just a reminder to all, when it comes to stopping and making turns on snow, we are not much different from SUV and non-AWD cars....take it easy...there are a lot of non Acura SH-AWD cars out there

be safe!

 

Well, second little storm in NY yesterday, got about 6-7"...but it was freezing so that didnt make road condtions much better...FWD did perfectly fine on flat road...but didnt like uphill at ALL...

 

Sorry to hear. FWD and SH-AWD are too totally different animals. I had 1G TSX that did fine on flat roads as well, but horrendous when it came to hills and inclines. Hence my decision to get an AWD vehicle.

 

Seeing as how the vast majority of 4G TL SH-AWD owners are doing very well in the snow, I like to make a little comparison to the RDX.

Over at the RDX section, it appears a few RDX SH-AWD owners are not doing so well in the snow. If I'm understanding it correctly, it seems that some RDX owners can only either get front or rear wheels to spin, but not both, when they are stuck in the snow.

Can someone elaborate why?

 

...and I wouldn't expect them to. I also wouldn't expect rain (much yet 2 inches in one week!) or a temperature below 50 at 6pm (it was 38 that day). The roads were also nice and slick because of the oil that comes to the surface when it rains out here. But...it was 75 today! gotta love cali

 

My guess is that if one is stuck in the snow, the VSA needs to be switched off so all wheels can spin. The same will hold true for the TL.

 

'09/TL/Tech/FWD

Took it out of the garage on Sunday; got up the ramp to the street; stopped to look both ways, & encountered a 10-15" snowbank. At first the VSA went crazy, & I went nowhere. Then I remembered the owners manual, describing how to turn the VSA/OFF, till you free the wheels from snow; then re-engage, after emerging. Well, it worked, great! Not SH-AWD, but adequate for NYC roads. That's why I figured that for the 2 or 3 days a year, when snow is plentiful, the FWD would be sufficient. Brooklyn, isn't exactly Montreal, or Buffalo.