The best winter driving car!

[Khanhvngo]

Living in Maine we experience some of the best winter! I have lived in Maine for over 25 years and have been driving for 17 years. I can say with a full grin on my face that while driving the X, I am in full control and with confident!

Past car in order of ownership:

1996 Infiniti I30 standard
2009 Subaru Outback
2012 Prius C ( drove from Maine to Ohio during a winter storm)
2008 Nissan Frontier AWD

2016 Model X 60D 20" all season tires!

I don't even think I need winter tires!!!!


This winter have thrown down everything for driving experience: Icy, wet slushy snow, puffy snow, pack and slippery snow and most of all side way snow.

I have driven and are looking forward to driving during a storm, looking for every excuse to go out and drive: " we are out of what honey? I'll get it!

While driving I have full control, going up hills and going down, stopping has been great, starting from a dead stop with a foot of snow under me with ease. The AWD is the best I have ever experienced.

If anyone is on the edge wondering if the X is a good winter car! I can say with full confident it's the best there is!

Does any other owner have the same or different experience as I do?

 

[Gwgan]

I noticed something today about winter driving I wouldn't have thought of as a big deal until it happened. I had to park a outside last night in this major snowstorm since the alternative would have been driving an hour in it, twice. When I got to my car to get going it was easy to brush off the fluffy stuff (standing almost up to my knees in it) but the ICEs nearby were all scraping away at ice which had formed on their cars as they cooled off. I had a little ice where the rear defroster had been on before I parked. I was out of there in a fraction of the time.
Not so great: the AP1 sensors put out a cacophony of alarms warning that every nearby snow bank must be avoided.

 

[K-MTG]

Does the car preform fine with regent enabled?

 

[Khanhvngo]

Does the car preform fine with regent enabled?

The regent when fully working is what making stoping amazing, the regent slow the X down without apply heaving breaking which could cause the car to slip or spin or go side way!

Going down steep hill the regent keep the me in control with out applying the break which is great!

 

[Gwgan]

I wish the car was better about keeping regen a available when it is cold. The more the better in my opinion, as long as you've got a steady foot.

 

[vandacca]

IMO, the reason why the X is so great in the snow is partly why the X is so fast. It monitors the situation at every wheel many times each second and adjusts power accordingly. Same thing during acceleration, which is why the tires never "burn rubber" on hard acceleration. It's a smart vehicle. Too bad Mercedes already took that name.

 

[krazineurons]

Well i can't say the same for My X on 20" all season M+S tires. The road was icy and when i braked (had already let go of accelerate pedal few seconds before) the car decided to coast and swerve, not confident if it is a perfect winter car without winter tires.

 

[K-MTG]

Well i can't say the same for My X on 20" all season M+S tires. The road was icy and when i braked (had already let go of accelerate pedal few seconds before) the car decided to coast and swerve, not confident if it is a perfect winter car without winter tires.

Are you on the continentals?

 

[krazineurons]

Are you on the continentals?

Yes, aren't those the defaults?

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Even RWD Teslas are surprisingly good winter cars due to the weight distribution and precise EV power delivery. In AWD Teslas this benefit is of course more than doubled.

One thing the dual-motor setup allows is actually independent power distribution between the axles. This is often the sore point in non-offroader all wheel drive systems, such as the much lauded and otherwise quite excellent Audi longitudinal quattro models - there are situations in those cars, often even with additional sport differentials etc. that may be available, where one fully spinning wheel may cause the rest of the wheels to stop moving, when that one wheel hogs all the power. ESP is used to offset this, braking that one spinning wheel, but this is not optimal nor is it always sufficient.

In a Tesla, while I guess similar issues could still happen within an axle (between its two wheels - they have an open differential between them probably?), the rear and front axles are physically separate. Even if front is spinning without traction (or in the air), the rear will still operate normally.

 

[muleferg]

My Model S performed well in this same condition. After 2 weeks of getting our X we had 6 inch snow. Regen worked wonder full. No spinning, no sliding.

 

[Trnsl8r]

Well i can't say the same for My X on 20" all season M+S tires. The road was icy and when i braked (had already let go of accelerate pedal few seconds before) the car decided to coast and swerve, not confident if it is a perfect winter car without winter tires.

For getting up and go, I'm sure MX has an edge against other cars, but when it comes to stopping, it's all about the tires (and ABS breaks, sure)...

 

[Khanhvngo]

Braking is not event an issue with the X, if you time everything right, just let the regent slow the X down at a control rate and then when your almost stop, tap the break to stay put.

 

[muleferg]

Forgot to say. X the conti AW tires. The S had Michelin AW.

 

[jeffreys]

I've been pleased with how my P90D X performs in slushy, snowy, and icy driving conditions this winter. I had Tesla install all season radials on it. I wasn't pleased at all that they refused to deliver the car with those tires initially.

My main complaint about the X in the winter is that my range is cut in half or more. I had to do a 130 mile round trip last week, and I couldn't manage it without supercharging.

I absolutely love coming back to an already warmed up car, though. I almost always park in a garage, so I haven't had to remove snow from it once yet. I'd be worried about the adaptive spoiler causing problems with packed snow. For better or worse, though, my adaptive spoiler isn't working.

 

[Snow Drift]

@Khanhvngo is it noticeably different from the Outback? Also, did you have manual, auto 2.5, 2.5XT or 3.0R? The awd systems are drastically different.

 

[dark]

Same here, not sure if I can agree this post title. I have a 75d and went to the mountain few times this winter. The X curtainly performs well in terms of traction.

However, when you are climbing as a big SUV, in cold climate, range is a big issue. I charged my X full from home (237 miles) and the ski resort from my house is 80 miles. When I arrived at the destination, I had 80 miles left. I left the resort at night and lost few miles which had about 70miles to get home.

Not the best winter driving car because you have to consider your range lost due to cold climate and hill climbing.

 

[Khanhvngo]

@Khanhvngo is it noticeably different from the Outback? Also, did you have manual, auto 2.5, 2.5XT or 3.0R? The awd systems are drastically different.

I Had 2.5i with the winter package. I do notice a different in how the traction works. In the outback I can tell when there is traction lost and the outback is working on correction. You can feel it during start up or on hills. 5 winters with the outback I can say it did very well, my wife would get into sticky situation sometime with the outback. Stopping with outback I do get sliding and lost of traction int he back end.

if I were to rate the two side by side! 1 out of 10 ( 10 being best)

outback ( well with 8.5)

model x (best with 9.5)

only 9.5 because I only had it for 1 winter. I can say that during startup, stop, hills, and decent is much better. I hardly can tell before I see the indication that there is lost of traction.

 

[bushburner]

off topic, have your doors been giving you problems? mines work fine now, no more phantom objects. I'm guessing it was the software.

 

[siucity]

Same here, not sure if I can agree this post title. I have a 75d and went to the mountain few times this winter. The X curtainly performs well in terms of traction.

However, when you are climbing as a big SUV, in cold climate, range is a big issue. I charged my X full from home (237 miles) and the ski resort from my house is 80 miles. When I arrived at the destination, I had 80 miles left. I left the resort at night and lost few miles which had about 70miles to get home.

Not the best winter driving car because you have to consider your range lost due to cold climate and hill climbing.

I've driven up to the slopes and it certainly does take a lot going up. But coming back down takes very little, so it almost evens out. Truckee to Roseville is about 80 miles, and I probably could make that with less than 80 miles left in the middle of winter with the heater blowing.