S-Type remarkebly good in snow!
Discussion
Hi folks. We've had snow on the ground here in the NorthEast since Wednesday, and I'd just like to say how good the Jag has been so far.
It's the wife's car and initially she was terrified of driving it in the snow, mostly due to some select assholes at her work, giving it the old 'ooh, that'll be awful in the snow 'cos its rear wheel drive etc etc'.
Anyway, the first drive out in the snow proved the car to be very good, with minimal slippage and the t/c cutting in very seldomly. Now I must admit, it has got newish tyres with plenty of tread, but they are only summer tyres as far as I can tell.
My daily hack Fiesta by comparison, is like a new born deer, wobbling and slipping all over! The naysayers have been very quiet at work as the wife gets there on time and unflustered.
Anyone else coping easily in the snow with their RWD Jaguar?
It's the wife's car and initially she was terrified of driving it in the snow, mostly due to some select assholes at her work, giving it the old 'ooh, that'll be awful in the snow 'cos its rear wheel drive etc etc'.
Anyway, the first drive out in the snow proved the car to be very good, with minimal slippage and the t/c cutting in very seldomly. Now I must admit, it has got newish tyres with plenty of tread, but they are only summer tyres as far as I can tell.
My daily hack Fiesta by comparison, is like a new born deer, wobbling and slipping all over! The naysayers have been very quiet at work as the wife gets there on time and unflustered.
Anyone else coping easily in the snow with their RWD Jaguar?
I drive an S type, and after the last lot of snow we had, I very quickly decided it was the worst car I have ever driven in the snow.
I am guessing you did all your driving on the flat if you found it so good?
Put the S Type on an upward slope, and you will be lucky to reach the top, going down hill, due to the weight & the wide tyres, it's like a sledge with no steering!
Best solution in the snow is to leave it in the garage!
I am guessing you did all your driving on the flat if you found it so good?
Put the S Type on an upward slope, and you will be lucky to reach the top, going down hill, due to the weight & the wide tyres, it's like a sledge with no steering!
Best solution in the snow is to leave it in the garage!
John D9395 said:
I drive an S type, and after the last lot of snow we had, I very quickly decided it was the worst car I have ever driven in the snow.
I am guessing you did all your driving on the flat if you found it so good?
Put the S Type on an upward slope, and you will be lucky to reach the top, going down hill, due to the weight & the wide tyres, it's like a sledge with no steering!
Best solution in the snow is to leave it in the garage!
Plenty of slopes, both up and down. Just saying it seems better than some cars I've seen lately. It will happily crawl along in drive, when several fwd superminis I witnessed, just sat there with their wheels spinning, and that was on a level surface!I am guessing you did all your driving on the flat if you found it so good?
Put the S Type on an upward slope, and you will be lucky to reach the top, going down hill, due to the weight & the wide tyres, it's like a sledge with no steering!
Best solution in the snow is to leave it in the garage!
Its probably all the junk my missus keeps in the boot!
I managed a trip from Warwichsire to Edinburgh and back in my 2.7 td se auto in the worst of last years winter (-17 going up through the borders and -12 coming back). We were 4 up with luggage, had to cope with all types of road conditions and I was really impressed.
The day after I got back home there was a fresh (but moderate) fall of snow and I got stuck trying to get up the hill out of my village so I turned round and headed home. Unfortunately when I parked the S Type and switched off the ignition, Traction control had got very unhappy and locked up the autobox so I faced a bill for a recovery to the dealer and a reset of the system. My opinion of the S type in snow changed overnight.
I pinched the wife's Golf and it got up the hill no problem.
The S Type lulled me into a false sense of security then bit back (with £££ attached) when I was not prepared. Beware.
The day after I got back home there was a fresh (but moderate) fall of snow and I got stuck trying to get up the hill out of my village so I turned round and headed home. Unfortunately when I parked the S Type and switched off the ignition, Traction control had got very unhappy and locked up the autobox so I faced a bill for a recovery to the dealer and a reset of the system. My opinion of the S type in snow changed overnight.
I pinched the wife's Golf and it got up the hill no problem.
The S Type lulled me into a false sense of security then bit back (with £££ attached) when I was not prepared. Beware.
marcosal said:
Unfortunately when I parked the S Type and switched off the ignition, Traction control had got very unhappy and locked up the autobox so I faced a bill for a recovery to the dealer and a reset of the system.
Did you get the software update to stop it happening again next time you have wheelspin ?With great difficulty and not a little wheelspin/traction control I managed to reverse up my drive onto the road this afternoon, only to see the warning that ABS and DSC had decided to become dysfunctional. As the road was like a skating rink I beat the retreat and rolled it back gingerly to the start. But other than the warning signals it all seemed fine.
I did the right thing - all my neigbours who set off by car this morning have parked in town and walked back!
ATEOTD you cannot expect a big heavy RWD car with wide tyres to be good in snow and ice.
I did the right thing - all my neigbours who set off by car this morning have parked in town and walked back!
ATEOTD you cannot expect a big heavy RWD car with wide tyres to be good in snow and ice.
Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 1st December 17:44
diesel piston said:
marcosal said:
Unfortunately when I parked the S Type and switched off the ignition, Traction control had got very unhappy and locked up the autobox so I faced a bill for a recovery to the dealer and a reset of the system.
Did you get the software update to stop it happening again next time you have wheelspin ?My new Steed? Subaru Legacy.
Having said that, I seriously thought about investing in a pair of these last year. http://www.snowchains.co.uk/main/weisssock.htm I should have done. About £50 each last year, nearer £80 each this year.
One thing that I quickly learned last year was the problem that the creep from the autobox continues to try to drive the car forward as you try to come to a stop so at anything less that 5MPH on ice you have to take it out of drive and put it unto neutral to avoid skidding as the creep from the autobox tries to overcome the ABS.
This is especially true if you are going down hill on ice and trying to scrub off speed (at low speed) or come to a stop.
This is especially true if you are going down hill on ice and trying to scrub off speed (at low speed) or come to a stop.
marcosal said:
Having said that, I seriously thought about investing in a pair of these last year. http://www.snowchains.co.uk/main/weisssock.htm I should have done. About £50 each last year, nearer £80 each this year.
Blimey, do they actually work?Simpo Two said:
marcosal said:
Having said that, I seriously thought about investing in a pair of these last year. http://www.snowchains.co.uk/main/weisssock.htm I should have done. About £50 each last year, nearer £80 each this year.
Blimey, do they actually work?CHJ said:
Spent an hour or two wondering what a 911C4 would be like in the snow 
It would depend on the tyres.Talk to the wife's uncle last year, one of his sons has an X5 and that apparently wouldn't go anywhere in the snow where as other sons Range Rover with sensible tyres had no problems.
My Jag is going no where till the snow has moved, I know the P6000s are useless in these conditions. We put winter tyres on the misses' Merc and it has totally transformed things.
^^^WHS^^^
Its all about the tyres folks.
I've fitted winter tyres to my daily work hack and it's completely changed the characteristics of the car. I can reverse up and off a snowy driveway without any problems at all, which is just as well 'cos I'm fed up of scraping it clear of snow.
Oh and by the way, the missus has managed to get into work (30 mile round trip) every day for over a week in her S-Type V8S without getting stuck, unlike some of her work colleagues in their BMWs/Audis/MINIs/what have you.
(A set of snow socks are kept in the boot just in case)
Its all about the tyres folks.
I've fitted winter tyres to my daily work hack and it's completely changed the characteristics of the car. I can reverse up and off a snowy driveway without any problems at all, which is just as well 'cos I'm fed up of scraping it clear of snow.
Oh and by the way, the missus has managed to get into work (30 mile round trip) every day for over a week in her S-Type V8S without getting stuck, unlike some of her work colleagues in their BMWs/Audis/MINIs/what have you.
(A set of snow socks are kept in the boot just in case)
Edited by V88Dicky on Friday 3rd December 09:08
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