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Another Snowpocalypse, another drama free commute in the TLX
I live on Long Island, and work at a hospital, so no work from home option for me. Between multiple highways, 1 bridge,and the many unplowed surface streets between LI, and through the burroughs of NYC, the TLX "plowed" through everything in its path with relative ease, and zero Drama. The bridge was plowed, and salted, but the rest of the roads and highways were not, so there were no clear tire tracks to follow for most of the drive as you couldn't see blacktop.
I run 19" PSS tires in the summer, so I still have the horrible factory Goodyear tires on my SH-AWD, but even with those, the car was rock solid, and I was very surprised at how relaxed, and calm the entire trip was, even while driving up multiple hills, and pretty steep inclines where SUVs struggled. I had a similar post for a blizzard we had last year, but with snow tires, I am sure this car would be unstoppable. I had snow tires on the 3 previous cars which were all FWD or RWD. Braking was better with the snows, but the AWD definitely makes up for any shortcomings of the all seasons. Snows are absolutely best for these conditions, but I think when the time comes to ditch these Goodyears, I'll just go with some DWS tires as they meet my needs bettter since 99% of my commute is on cleared streets.
I wasn't looking for a top tier sports sedan, but wanted something that was kind of fun to drive, was AWD, had a V6, the tech I wanted, good N,V,H isolation, was reliable and would take everything I threw at it, and so far the TLX has been exactly what I wanted/needed.
Have to go out in a few hours. Cars will not even make it down the driveway to the street with summer rubber. Ranger 4X4 to the rescue, not the wife's favorite transportation but beats walking in a few inches of snow @ 14*F wind chill. At least it will be 60*F + by mid week.
Have to go out in a few hours. Cars will not even make it down the driveway to the street with summer rubber. Ranger 4X4 to the rescue, not the wife's favorite transportation but beats walking in a few inches of snow @ 14*F wind chill. At least it will be 60*F + by mid week.
AWD is great, but tires do make such a big difference. That's what is so surprising as the TLX is on the crappy all season Goodyears, but is 100x better than my last FWD & RWD cars on dedicated snow tires. I wasn't expecting such a drastic difference, but I know if I was on summer tires things would have been bad.
Picked up my RS4 from the shop with a new clutch in it 2 weeks ago on Friday in rush hour traffic in NY with rapidly falling snow It had just started snowing on the way there, otherwise I would have waited until the next day, but I didn't know things were going to get so bad. Definitely not ideal conditions to be driving in with a brand new clutch as it took an hour to drive less than 15 miles home. I was on a side roads as the highway was a parking lot, and even going as gently as I could with second gear starts, the car was all over the place on summer rubber; rev matched down shifts were breaking the tires loose also. It's a different kind of car, but that was definitely a white knuckle driving experience, and I won't do that again any time soon.
Agree, Got an OH SH*T moment in the COBRA when I was less then smooth on a 1/2 upshift in 40*F on dry roads. The track tires turn to grease as they get cold. Once was enough always check the temp before taking it out. The summer tired cars stay parked in any snow even patchy road coverage. Ranger has off road tires for hunting that are snow rated only glare ice will upset them.
FWD are always good because they are naturally stable & the back does not constantly want to come around on you. Takes AWD in a natural RWD to have equivalent balance.
Really dangerous down here in the snow. About half the population has about 10 minutes worth of experience driving in the snow. You see lots of very capable cars & trucks ditched in 2 or 3 inches. The other half are damm Yankee transplants.
Last edited by BEAR-AvHistory; 01-04-2018 at 02:17 PM.
Glad to hear the TLX is working the snow well. I wish we had more snow in Utah I've swapped my snow wheels/blizzaks on for only one day this season. And I would have likely been fine with the DWS06's.
On the flip side, the light weight wheels and DWS06's are much more fun to have on the car than the bulky OEM wheels with Blizzaks. But I'd still rather have snow......
Yes , SH-AWD+winter tires is perfect for Canadian winter .
I had/have TL and TLX with SH-AWD and I never got stuck in the winter
I have disappointments with my TLX , but is nothing to do with AWD system , which is one of the best.
Made it home in equally drama free fashion. The highways were a little better than they were in the morning, but the "B" roads were 100x worse. The front end was definitely plowing in many areas, but the car still go through everything without a single hiccup. Right up to my house where I had to wedge it into a snow bank in order to digout my driveway. Had to go back and forth a few times to get her back out, but that was it, no drama whatsoever, and a very relaxed drive in not so relaxing conditions. Very, very impressed with the SH-AWD setup. The torque vectoring is really great, and the car just tracks dead straight without issues. Can't wait to see how it handles when I upgrade the GoodYears.
I was absolutely convinced that I would only buy a RWD or AWD car 3 yrs ago when I was in the market. After 10+ years of RWD, the transition to a FWD with the understeer, and torque steer was too much. This system has not disappointed in any way; if the car ever feels loose, understeers, etc, a little throttle settles things immediately; really enjoy powering through, and around bends.
If Acura is serious about a performance model, it should hands down have the SH-AWD setup over FWD.
This is our first winter with a TLX. We didn't have a lot of snow this week in the DC area and I can't say I noticed a huge difference between the SH-AWD in the TLX and the FWD in my 3G TL on the packed snow in our neighborhood (no plowing since we didn't get 2" or more of snow). I had the display set to show me where the AWD system was routing the torque and it didn't look much different than on a normal day.
I did notice the SH-AWD will still allow you to "drift" around a corner in the snow if you hit the accelerator mid-corner (in other words, intentionally skid—the skid ended when I hit bare pavement).
My new 17 MDX SH-AWD got stuck in a snow drift which built up on the lower part of my driveway the other night. First time I had to dig out my car in years. (Strangely enough, my TLX P-AWS had no problem plowing through it earlier that evening.)
My new 17 MDX SH-AWD got stuck in a snow drift which built up on the lower part of my driveway the other night. First time I had to dig out my car in years. (Strangely enough, my TLX P-AWS had no problem plowing through it earlier that evening.)
Does your owners manual say anything about turning off the stability system in the snow? My car has summers so its dead in any snow but if it has winters they say to kill the stability system.
Yes , SH-AWD+winter tires is perfect for Canadian winter .
I had/have TL and TLX with SH-AWD and I never got stuck in the winter
I have disappointments with my TLX , but is nothing to do with AWD system , which is one of the best.
When I bought my RL it came with some brand new generic winter tires. I wasn't too thrilled about the tires but I've crushed the last 2 winters with ease, even being lowered. Can't get enough of SH-AWD and plowing snow
Does your owners manual say anything about turning off the stability system in the snow? My car has summers so its dead in any snow but if it has winters they say to kill the stability system.
The guy across the street took his 4G SHAWD out this morning, so far the only one out except me. His is the only TL still in the subdivision, 12 houses, used to be 6 including my 3G. Still snowing at 1.00PM but will be sunny tomorrow & 60+ by the weekend.
^
Thanks for the kind words. Been in this house for 22 years & I can count snowfalls with any real accumulation on my fingers & have some left over. Expect a few hundred crashes in the next two days. Half the people here are native to NC the rest are what they call newcomers, mostly from the north east & mod west, so we are used to driving in snow. The rest give the wreckers a lot of business.
We are catching up on the depth. Might get to 8' or so. Most I can remember was a number of years ago we got 2 feet & I think 12/15" about two weeks later. City shut down for a week.
Was out for a while to the food store. So far the TL is the only car the left the subdivision. Guy next door has a RAM 4X4 & I passed him on my way back & a Tundra 4X4 form the other end of the dog bone was out in the street.
Measured 7" when I got home. Snow is still falling straight down with no wind so no drifts. This is the view from where my computer is @ 7" of snow. Dogs love it.
Last edited by BEAR-AvHistory; 01-17-2018 at 03:13 PM.
Son in Law just stopped by & said one of our local Bay Leaf Fire Station trucks in an a ditch a short way up the road. Our local two lane road has some nice turns & hills and so it starts, bumper car time. Snow has stopped.
Last edited by BEAR-AvHistory; 01-17-2018 at 04:27 PM.
01-04-2018, 09:05 AM
Between multiple highways, 1 bridge,and the many unplowed surface streets between LI, and through the burroughs of NYC, the TLX "plowed" through everything in its path with relative ease, and zero Drama. The bridge was plowed, and salted, but the rest of the roads and highways were not, so there were no clear tire tracks to follow for most of the drive as you couldn't see blacktop. 
Glad you made it safely in that SHAWD tank!
It had just started snowing on the way there, otherwise I would have waited until the next day, but I didn't know things were going to get so bad. Definitely not ideal conditions to be driving in with a brand new clutch as it took an hour to drive less than 15 miles home. I was on a side roads as the highway was a parking lot, and even going as gently as I could with second gear starts, the car was all over the place on summer rubber; rev matched down shifts were breaking the tires loose also. It's a different kind of car, but that was definitely a white knuckle driving experience, and I won't do that again any time soon.
I've swapped my snow wheels/blizzaks on for only one day this season. And I would have likely been fine with the DWS06's. 
