rich1068

Re-read my post, sounded a bit arsey. Certainly wasn't meant to be a dig Jeff. We had snow again today and I really did feel handicapped by my IS. Not a nice feeling. The Bambi on ice handling does make me wonder about winters on this car but I just can't justify them for the few days I'd need them. Watched a film called The Snowman the other night which is set in Norway and the snow scenes were astonishing but what struck me most was the number of rear wheel drive cars in use. The taxis were all Mercs and one of the lead characters drove everywhere in an F30 BMW. Even my wife commented. Lovely G-Wagen at the end though

It is odd people still ask about how a certain car is in snow. It's either terrible or brilliant depending on what sort of tyres are fitted.

Weatherproofs were always very popular over on the XC90 forum.

Good luck!

I wish I could do something like this on my first gen IS.

Watched 5 minutes of series one when it first came out and I've not had the urge to return to it. To be honest I really don't know what I was thinking as I'd long given up on Top Gear. Why I thought the three of them would be sufferable on a different channel I have no idea. I could probably just about watch something with James May in without removing my eyes with spoons but the other two? Not a chance. I have real trouble deciding which one of them I find most objectionable. I mean real trouble, as in I'll give it serious thought for quite some time before concluding that I really can't choose between them.

I've noticed this too. Very annoying. *Googles block heater* We had a Touran with an auxiliary heater. Standard fit on the facelifted MKl and absolutely no mention of it in any of the sales information. Cue panic the first time it kicks in on a cold morning and there's plumes of foul smoke coming from under the car. Pretty staple Touran forum topic around this time of year apparently.

This is very good. And cheap. Never been a fan of de-icer sprays because they always seem to err... freeze. But a few squirts of this seems to do the trick. Alternatively, unless it's seriously below zero water will clear a windscreen easily. Pour on, flick the wipers, done. Both methods we use on the IS and our XC90.

Calm down guys. It's white grease. Most likely white lithium grease. Check your door hinges and locks it's likely there too.

Your English seems to be excellent, better than my Dutch anyway. Why not just pick a dealer over here to ask? No need to mention you're in The Netherlands. Try my local dealer, Lexus Sheffield 00 44 114 201 0222 and ask for Lexus Parts. Then take it from there.

Funnily enough I've been looking at the Eibach kits. 20mm on the back http://www.eibachshop.co.uk/eibach-prospacer-kit-pair-of-spacers-20mm-per-spacer-system-4-s90420013_p31222695.htm#.WjbGNN-Rq70 15mm on the front http://www.eibachshop.co.uk/eibach-prospacer-kit-pair-of-spacers-15mm-per-spacer-system-4-s90415009_p31222694.htm#.WjbGL9-Rq70 Pretty sure I'll get the usual socks from Santa though

Exactly the same for me. Just one of those things I suppose.

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.

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.

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. 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.

And cleaning the element to the MAF is a doddle so you can exclude that easily enough. I did mine the other week. It was black. Can't say it made any real difference but worth doing I reckon.

I was with you up to then

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

They were OK, certainly no drama. Sheffield didn't get anywhere near what was forecast but it was still a little dicey as I ventured into the Peak District. With the dedicated winters I used to seek the snow out and try to get myself stuck. I probably wouldn't do that with these Pirellis unless I had a backup plan but I'm quite confident in them. These tyres, AWD and a bit of common sense with the gearbox and traction control and I don't think we'd be getting stuck any time soon.

Very interesting thread. Would this apply to my first gen IS too do you think? A couple of times over the last week it's felt as if the throttle/gearbox were holding back but after a few minutes driving the sensation disappears. I thought I was imagining it. It's not that I was trying to thrash the thing from cold, it was more when you've done a manoeuvre or driven a stretch of road a hundred times and you expect the car to behave a certain way and it doesn't.

Noticed that doing it's thing for the first time this morning. Rest of the windscreen frozen solid though...

For low speed maneuvering or steady straight line driving you're aswell disengaging the traction control too.

Well we got some snow here (Sheffield) but nowhere near as much as the don't leave the house/burn your furniture to stay warm/eat the youngest first lot were warning us. The children were very disappointed (at the lack of snow, not at not being eaten). However, there was enough for a little trip out to the edge of Derbyshire last night in the XC90. And just far enough to make my wife nervous and remind me we had the children in the car. The IS300 stayed under its snowy blanket until this morning and even though it was icy on the side roads judicious use of low gear letting the revs pull me along and turning off the traction control didn't allow any drama. I'm a big fan of winter tyres but I doubt I'll bother for the IS while we still have the XC as back up. And anyway, it took that long to get my regular wheels and tyres balanced I don't think I could go through all that drama again.

This was discussed a little while ago in the GS section. May be of help

I've been around a while. This is all very familiar.