Snow mode

[Digga]

Is there a snow/ice mode on the ES?

Had to run my daughter to the doctors and car would not even move on incline ice. If it i got it to do anything it just slid.

Trying to wade my way through the manual on myphone after our 30 min walk to the doctor, in the meantime any one?

[dutchie01]

Do you have wintertyres?

[Digga]

6 minutes ago, dutchie01 said:

Do you have wintertyres?

Factory fitted,  which I believe are mixed.

Why do you ask, is this because there is no snow mode?

[Rabbers]

I have heard it said that if you have winter tyres (coded M&S with the three-peak mountain symbol) you don’t need the snow mode.  I don’t subscribe to this view with my RC but maybe a FWD car handles snow better  and might explain the absence of the mode in the ES.  Presumably, though, you have TRC and can switch it off in order to reduce the transmission of power to the wheels if you are ever in trouble in snow. 

[dutchie01]

Snowtyres will give you grip on snow but when there is ice on the road thats it.

not sure if the Es has a snowmode but if yes it would not make a lot of difference especially on an iced hill. 

[e-yes]

1 hour ago, Rabbers said:

Presumably, though, you have TRC and can switch it off in order to reduce the transmission of power to the wheels if you are ever in trouble in snow. 

Turning off TRC will not cut the power on wheel slip. That may come handy while moving off from stand still but imho must be turned back on immediately after. Also, not cutting power will most likely hit the torque limiting device’s limit and results in very uncomfortable jittering of the hybrid drive. And also, this is anyways beyond the limit for ES (and probably other cars) going uphill on icy/slippery surface.
 

In short, if there is ice on the road the ES is not going very far unless one wants to take significant risk. It definitely is not going uphill. 

[Cs150]

My opinion is that the ES is not suitable for driving on roads that are full of snow, it is so cumbersome and simply not configured for the job. I have been using another car since the snow has appeared and after testing the ES out on the local ungritted roads near the house had no confidence and simply returned it back home! Have been using a very old Ford Mondeo that is much better in the snow...

[NemesisUK]

8 hours ago, Digga said:

Factory fitted,  which I believe are mixed.

Why do you ask, is this because there is no snow mode?

What do you mean by "mixed"?

Could you let us know the make and version of the tyres fitted to your car?

That all said no tyre except a studded version would grip on ice..

[Las Palmas]

Either like this:

 

 

Or real factory made for driving on lakes when ice is thick enough. Snow tyres are useless on pure ice.

https://todosneumaticos365.es/Tyre/coche/Neum%C3%A1tico+de+invierno/5452000648471/Goodyear+Ultra+Grip+Ice+Arctic+185/65R15+88T+STUDDED+3PMSF/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=surfaces&utm_campaign=shopping_feed&utm_content=free_google_shopping_clicks&gclid=CjwKCAiAv9ucBhBXEiwA6N8nYMPLbTOn2IBNdtDOsQrSTNZVil0O9sJR8kj3U0MtNZjl_2igoSbWjBoCQCgQAvD_BwE

 Real ice racing tyres are useless on ordinary paved roads. Definitely not permitted.

[Digga]

Its a shame the sequential will not let you select a high gear like you do in a manual.

We have been taking my wife's 2k honda civic, manual as the ES seems to be terrible with any sort of ice.

 

Have 100s of cars going up my road all day long, no one is going to buy snow tyres and fit them for the 3 days of snow we get every 5 years.

They should have a snow setting that puts the gearbox in to a high gear and lowers rpm,  just like we drive the manual cars in snow to give it a chance.

When I'm talking hill I'm talking the smallest of gradients

[e-yes]

47 minutes ago, Digga said:

Its a shame the sequential will not let you select a high gear like you do in a manual.

We have been taking my wife's 2k honda civic, manual as the ES seems to be terrible with any sort of ice.

 

Have 100s of cars going up my road all day long, no one is going to buy snow tyres and fit them for the 3 days of snow we get every 5 years.

They should have a snow setting that puts the gearbox in to a high gear and lowers rpm,  just like we drive the manual cars in snow to give it a chance.

When I'm talking hill I'm talking the smallest of gradients

Yea that is an issue with the ES. The only other option is to put the car into ECO mode as that simulates cutting the power output. But even with that I guess it won’t go very far. But worth a try. 
 

EDIT:

Oh and also, you can put the "gearbox" into manual selection mode. Go into "D" and the push the selector into "S" and try selecting a higher "ratio" and see if that sticks, might be more predictable if the drive mode selector (the Shrek's ear on the left side of the dashboard binnacle) into Sport mode as well.

HTH,

—E

[Digga]

The sequential mode only sets the max gear it can select. It's useful when wanting to hold a low gear for racing/over revving.

It doesn't hard set a high gear, which is what we want.

I tried ev off and on and sequential yesterday and it made no difference. 

 

It managed to climb the solid ice today okay, yesterday pure snow was ok, but compacted snow yesterday was what it failed at miserably yesterday 

 

Well, we can all forget about it for another 3 years if you are in the u.k 

[dutchie01]

Just a short story of something I witnessed some years ago in Stockholm in winter everything white snowing like crazy at 8 in the morning waiting on my taxi. The roads were just covered in a thick layer of snow and apparently the school run was on. Mothers happily driving their kids to school in all sorts of cars without any problem. I guess its what you are used to isn't it?

[LenT]

34 minutes ago, dutchie01 said:

Just a short story of something I witnessed some years ago in Stockholm in winter everything white snowing like crazy at 8 in the morning waiting on my taxi. The roads were just covered in a thick layer of snow and apparently the school run was on. Mothers happily driving their kids to school in all sorts of cars without any problem. I guess its what you are used to isn't it?

This is so true, Bernard.

I recall a friend who had spent some weeks one Winter on business in Sweden and Finland.  Shortly after returning to the UK he was driving around his newly snow-covered country lanes - within the speed limit, he emphasised - when a Police patrol car decided to follow him.  It wasn't long before a glance in the mirror confirmed the Patrol car sliding gracefully across a bend and in to a ditch.

 

[Rabbers]

23 hours ago, e-yes said:

Turning off TRC will not cut the power on wheel slip. That may come handy while moving off from stand still but imho must be turned back on immediately after. …

Driving out of the garden of my house in order to reach open road entails negotiating 30m of gravel followed by 40m of cobblestones which, under snow, generally contain several hidden patches of ice.  To successfully get to the top of the rise, I turn on Snow mode, turn off TRC, select D1, and proceed slowly and steadily.  If I don’t turn off TRC, I can’t make it and tend to go into a wheelspin at the first patch of ice, but if I do turn it off I make the rise with no trouble beyond one or two minor tail wobbles.  When I reach the open road, I turn TRC back on and, depending on the amount of snow, leave Snow on and select D3 or maybe D4 before I might finally feel comfortable with full automatic.  I figured, evidently incorrectly, that turning off TRC simply reduced the transmission of power to the wheels.  But, frankly, I care less about how it works than, empirically, the apparent positive effect of turning it off in my own domestic scenario,

[Rabbers]

3 hours ago, dutchie01 said:

Just a short story of something I witnessed some years ago in Stockholm in winter …  I guess it’s what you are used to isn't it?

I won’t disagree with that.  I lived in Denmark for three years, and while it admittedly has the least harsh climate of the Scandinavian countries, I was initially surprised at how motorists appeared to take snowfalls in their stride whereas my own natural tendency was towards over-caution.  Still, I also recall seeing a fair number of vehicles awaiting rescue after sliding off apparently safe stretches of road into fields and ditches.
 

[Spock66]

I think you actually get more grip in fresh deep snow than the few inches we typically get which then turns to slush and subsequently freezes.

I also find rear wheel drive is much worse in snow than front wheel drive.

[dutchie01]

36 minutes ago, Spock66 said:

I think you actually get more grip in fresh deep snow than the few inches we typically get which then turns to slush and subsequently freezes.

I also find rear wheel drive is much worse in snow than front wheel drive.

I found my IS250 wonderful to drive in snow. Snowmode on and the electric nannys take care of you. Floor the throttle wherever you can the car just wont listen. You hear beep beep and before the slide starts everything is under control again.

By the way driving in snow tells you a lot about car handling in general. When i was young i had an Alfa GTV rear wheel drive and this was before ABS and so on. Fully analogue. Slipping and sliding in the snow on an empty carpark those were the days!! I sometimes i see supercar accidents on youtube all with thesame driver error. Accelerate, floor the throttle, wheels start to spin and keep spinning even when you lift the throttle sending you off the track. Just like driving on snow. When you get used to driving in snowy conditions you can literally steer the car by throttle and provoke under and oversteer. Its driving on Ice thats the problem.

 

[Rabbers]

52 minutes ago, Spock66 said:

I think you actually get more grip in fresh deep snow than the few inches we typically get which then turns to slush and subsequently freezes.

I also find rear wheel drive is much worse in snow than front wheel drive.

Yes indeed.  One very rarely gets the chance, and then only briefly, but drives on deep-ish crunchy virgin snow with winter tyres and the feeling of a good grip can be highly pleasurable - at least until it crosses your mind that the snow may well soon be turning into icy slush or you actually come to a road where this has already happened!

Concerning FWD cars having the edge on RWD ones in snow,  I have always thought so too, and was surprised to read negative comments about the ES in this regard.

[cdmaskell]

Great advice from all in this thread.  Mine leave the ES in the garage, drive etc. if you can. It is less likely to be damaged by a novice driver who doesn’t understand the effect of ice on traction and braking. Trust me I have jackknifed at 15 mph, got out of the cab, then fell over arse over tit.

[peniole]

We've had snow and ice here. Down to -5C. Steep incline to get out of garage. ES hasn't had any problems whatsoever because I ditched the factory fitted summer tyres!

P.S. it's our only car, so the daily driver, and we have a 56mile round trip commute.

[Initial P]

I thought all hybrids/electric cars were harder to drive in the snow due to less gear ratio's?

I guess driving in the snow tells you if you made the right tyre choice when opting for a budget set 😉

265 on the rear for me & wider tyres give you less grip in the snow.

[dutchie01]

Issue with electric cars is the instant torque its on/off and does not build gradually like with an ICE. If you have a petrol with an manual gearbox you can put it in second do not touch the throttle and slowly lift the clutch to the moment it bites. the car will then slowly start to move with the engine idling. When it rolls shift to second and ever so slightly push the throttle. Job done. With an EV its different due to the instant power, you need 4wd, or a snow mode setting which limits torque or intervenes by brake so spinning of the wheels does not happen. Hopefully the traction control is hyperactive that could do the job as well.

anyway, without proper snowtyres not even worth trying  

[Initial P]

I think Eco mode on the GS just limits the aircon so maybe the same on ES.

[Scoops]

The ECO mode will limit the throttle response so make it easier to get less revs but won't allow you to select the gear ratio. To be honest, I was surprised the snow mode selector was missing from the ES when it was included on the IS, and the RX as well I think. In the end, tyre selection is going to be more important that the driving mode - perhaps cars should come with mixed tyres as a no-cost option depending on where you live, assuming Lexus sell cars with summer tyres in all territories.