Winter tyres

alanc745 · December 10, 2017

First chance I have had to properly try out my 390H Fsport in deep snow & I have been surprised to find it performed flawlessly.

Was expecting to have to dig out my drive but decided to give it a go & it was fine, just noisy as the snow was being compacted.

Worked well even on a slope, makes a big difference & is still a good benifit in sub 7 degree temperatures.

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65mike · December 10, 2017

Hi all.

This is good news indeed did you use the winter button on the dashboard and have you got winter tyres on the is300h.

65mike

alanc745 · December 10, 2017

Hi all.
This is good news indeed did you use the winter button on the dashboard and have you got winter tyres on the is300h.
65mike

Yes did also make use of the snowflake button, think it just reduced throttle sensitivity, but it all helps, have always switched to winter tyres when I started driving rear wheel drive saloons again.

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65mike · December 10, 2017

Hi all.

What size wheels and tyres have you got on the car Alan and what tyres are you using.

65mike

Carl1983 · December 10, 2017

65mike I've started another thread on here which you may well have seen called IS winter wheels. I have an F sport running 18 inch wheels but have purchased a second set of 16 inch for winter, great in the Snow. The winter wheels are 205/55/16 I'm running good year ultra grip 9, amazing tyres

alanc745 · December 11, 2017

65mike I've started another thread on here which you may well have seen called IS winter wheels. I have an F sport running 18 inch wheels but have purchased a second set of 16 inch for winter, great in the Snow. The winter wheels are 205/55/16 I'm running good year ultra grip 9, amazing tyres

Have you got them set up with tpms sensors as a second set?

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Ben1001 · December 12, 2017

Tried to take my IS250 out today - abysmal in the snow, I got stuck right outside the drive in slush. The snow button did nothing.

Fortunately my wife has an X-Trail so I'll be using that for my work trip tomorrow.

Ill be on the lookout for a winter set for next year.

rich1068 · December 13, 2017

18 hours ago, Ben1001 said:

Tried to take my IS250 out today - abysmal in the snow, I got stuck right outside the drive in slush. The snow button did nothing.

Fortunately my wife has an X-Trail so I'll be using that for my work trip tomorrow.

Ill be on the lookout for a winter set for next year.

Off topic but what do you think of the X-Trail? As a family bus if that's what you use it for.

Chris Skelton · December 13, 2017

I'd be interested to hear too. Was thinking of one, having had a Cherokee in 94-00. Good basic vehicles that are USEFUL! The current X-trail looks a bit to Quash-however it's spelled!, but the boxy one looks right for a 4X4.

Ben1001 · December 13, 2017

The X-Trail is almost identical to the Qashqai, we had a Qashqai to start with but we out grew it. The dash, steering etc are identical. I have two babies and a very large Rottweiler (120lb) and needed the extra boot space.

There aren't many non-premium cars of this size on the market and given we only do 4k per year and it gets wrecked I didn't want to go premium.

If you time it right you can negotiate Nissan down around 27% off list price, my wife's is an N-Connect which is middle of the range: 19" wheels and sat nav. We paid £21k. This is our third Nissan, we get a call about 18 months in to swap for a new one for the same monthly payment. Despite the huge discount the car is in negative equity - we owe £19k and it's worth about £17k. We can return it under PCP though in 18 months.

The pros of the car are:

Fuel economy - always 50+ mpg

Size - might be the lowest cost 7 seater out there(?) well maybe not be it's a low cost option.

Spec/Tech - the navigation and all round cameras are excellent, general spec is very high (power boot, folding mirrors)

Performance - for a 1.6 diesel 130 hp it has a lot of torque and I don't find it underpowered

Negatives:

Traction is not great with 19" wheels

Depreciation - need to be careful how you buy, lease costs are low and Discount levels depend on the time of year and demand

Serving is affordable (£220-£320) however they stopped the 3 year £299 service pack which was a great deal. Annual services is a bit of a pain but if you own a Lexus you're used to it.

I pay a consistent £300 a month for the family car (last 3 Nissan's) and I'd buy another X Trail - we treat it very poorly (dog/kids) and treat it as disposable, never had any issues with trade ins or doing a deal. I've looked at leasing and found the large deposit outweighs the monthly saving so it's also around £300 a month.

rich1068 · December 14, 2017

22 hours ago, Chris Skelton said:

I'd be interested to hear too. Was thinking of one, having had a Cherokee in 94-00. Good basic vehicles that are USEFUL! The current X-trail looks a bit to Quash-however it's spelled!, but the boxy one looks right for a 4X4.

Reading below it seems Ben is referring to the new shape X-Trail but my dad had one of the old ones and he loved it. Proper 4x4 too. Nothing stopped it.

16 hours ago, Ben1001 said:

The X-Trail is almost identical to the Qashqai, we had a Qashqai to start with but we out grew it. The dash, steering etc are identical. I have two babies and a very large Rottweiler (120lb) and needed the extra boot space.

There aren't many non-premium cars of this size on the market and given we only do 4k per year and it gets wrecked I didn't want to go premium...

Cheers Ben. I'd be leasing through my business so depreciation doesn't matter as long as I can get a good enough CH deal. But good that you give it a positive review. Looking at one of these or the Kodiaq vs. the usual Galaxy/S-Max/Sharan type stuff.

Chris Skelton · December 14, 2017

Yes, 4X4s should look like ......Land Rovers? The infamous chelsea tractor' scenario means that a lot are just glorified people carriers (which is what I thought a car WAS!)

One imagines that the current X-trail wouldn't last long in Saudi.

But then, I recall being up a mountain track in Pyrenees, in my Cherokee, feeling slightly intrepid to have lurched up there. We heard an engine coming zooming up the track; then see a Citroen Dyane van flying up the track, delivering bread! Softee tourists!

rich1068 · December 14, 2017

To be honest I always perceived my dad's MK1 X-Trail as a bit of a soft roader but then I noticed that Nissan used to put it with their Pathfinder in terms of marketing and then one winter we had truly atrocious snow and I borrowed it to ferry staff around. It was amazing.

Carl1983 · December 14, 2017

Is this not a Lexus forum ???

rich1068 · December 15, 2017

In the absence of smilies or other clues should I assume your comment is tongue in cheek? Based on the 7+ separate but virtually identical winter tyre threads started in the last few weeks I'd say you're mistaken.