Snow day miracle
 

So if anyone on here is from the Calgary area, you may have noticed the crazy winter storm we just got, including a blizzard warning for 2 days straight! This brought a bunch of snow, coupled with high winds that created drifts as high up as the side windows on peoples cars! Now I have said in a few forums that the BRZ/FRS are not good in the snow, and there traction control is inferior to other vehicles I have owned.
Having said this, it is also the only vehicle that I own, a manual Brz with Michelin x-ice tires. I also had no choice but to venture out to go to work yesterday, even though the mayor suggested everyone stay home, and it looked like 90% of people did this.
I got in my car, and thought that there was no way my car will make it 10 feet.....I looked around and there were stuck vehicles all around me.....drifts so high it was almost hiding vehicles.....it was still windy and blowing snow......I put it in first, and crossed my fingers.
My Brz started to move, and I put it into sport mode, which gave me a little more leaway with the traction control. I started out down the street, all while the snow was scrapping the bottom of my car, and even on the sides! The end of my street became inpassable, so I turned around and had to go up a steep hill....not good, but there car kept chugging along....near the top, which became a T intersection, there was a Uhaul completely stuck and blocking 3/4 of the road, as well as a Hummer...yes, a hummer, totally stuck sideways across the road as well!(there was someone in it and was spinning all four tires!!)!!
I dont know how, but I squeezed through without any problems!!
I made it to work without incident, and once there, found out that most of the staff I work with called in or were stuck (and they all have 4x4 vehicles!!).
My area was one of the worst hit area's of the city, and I am overwhelmed with shock at how well my car did yesterday........I now have much more confidence and take back any "negative" comments I made about the the winter driving capabilities of the Brz/Frs.
Sorry for the long post, but I hope this helps for all you winter drivers out there!

Thanks for the post.

I'm a bit confused though. I though "sport mode" was part of Vehicle Stability Control, which prevents skidding. How does that give more leeway with the other system, Traction Control, which (again I'm confused) I thought was either "on" or "off" to reduce low speed wheel spin.

Can you, or someone else, explain? Or were you just a bit loose with your terms?

Thanks again.

Sometimes you need a bit of wheel spin to get it going whereas the nannies would stop you from making any progress if you were stuck. Definitely not for traction, just for the power.

Exactly, if you leave the modes "as is", like when you first start your car, you have full traction control assist...the "nannies"....which will at all cost's, prevent any wheel spin. In sport mode, it allows some wheel spin, but also uses traction control to prevent excessive spin in the rear drive wheels.
This mat also be disengaged completely by holding down the traction control button which will permanently diasable and allow for unlimited wheel spin, and zero "nannies'.
I found that sport mode gave me the best of both worlds when needed going through the snow, but as soon as I am on a cleared road, its back to full traction control.

I'm digging out my Subie tomorrow morning for my Calgary commute. Our mayor is a complete communist. I'm an employer. Thanks Naheed for your bonehead socialist crapola. I get to pay for your generosity which btw is just an admission your snow clearing guys are incompetent, which they are.

I expect excellent performance from my Subie (and not from my mayor) and the ground clearance is about the same as for my awd jaguar which has been awesome in this stuff.

Those Michelin ice tires sound very good.

Thanks Kfresh23, now I understand why you went to "VSC Sport + Trac On" instead of "VSC Normal + Trac Off" (which is what I likely would have done).

I find my brz is great with regards to fun in the snow, but I was a little disappointed with the ease at which I could get stuck in slightly deeper stuff. The difference between the brz and my impreza is huge when it comes to getting out of the really slippy stuff (impreza on x-ice 2s, brz on x-ice 3s).
I suspect most of it is just down to weight over the driven wheels.
I had to get a push out of a walmart car park with only a couple of inches of snow, but it was on top of solid ice I think. In virgin snow on asphalt I doubt there would have been any problems.

Not sure what you mean here.

My BRZ has TRAC off and TRAC really off (press and hold the TRAC button for 6 seconds approx) or VSC on with TRAC off when I select the VSC button.

TRAC is only fully off if you press and hold the TRAC button for about 6 seconds.

VSC is a useful setting in winter because it backs off the wheelspin control a bit which can get you better traction in some loose snow conditions. It leaves the TRAC at the off setting which isn't really off just backed off so the rear axle will step out a bit before the stability control kicks in, also useful in some winter driving conditions.

My car doesn't have a VSC on and TRAC on option as far as I can tell.

What kind of snow were you in? I imagine deep packing snow is a lot better than fluffy powder.

Looking at tires on TireRack, it looks like there is a new model Blizzak out (LM-32) with some pretty aggressive tread. I might get those for the my BRZ and give it another shot. My STI is just so damn fun in the snow, though. I wish I had the 04 lug pattern so I could share wheels with my BRZ.

Well, had hours of fun in the snow over the last couple of weeks, and apart from getting stuck the one time, no further issues. The car is not the most practical but is fantastic fun.
I don't think i've had the traction control on for the whole time.

I drove through all the crap too. The piles of snow on the sides of my driveway were taller than my FR-S! It was like driving through this:
http://hookedonthebook.com/wp-conten...e_red_sea1.jpg

My dad's AWD huge SUV got stuck less than a block away from the house right on our street whereas I made it past there just a few minutes before he left there. Saw so many buses and SUVs and trucks just stuck in the snow and my little FR-S made it through all that with no problem at all. The twins are monsters in the snow with the right tires!

Deep drifted cold dry snow. About the lowest traction you can get short of ice.

I too drove my BRZ in this stuff, but it was way easier in my AWD Jaguar XF SC V6 on the same Sottozero winter tires ....and my fwd SAAB Aero on Continental Extremewinter Contact winter tires ....and our fwd Alfa Romeo 164 on continental Extremewinter Contact tires.....

The BRZ is tricky to drive in winter. Anybody says different doesn't actually know how to drive in winter.

Fun yes, stable and easy to drive, no.

Still have no idea what this idea of the 86 being hard to drive in winter.

We just got 20 cm of snow. Drove through it no problem. Not sure what the tricky part is. I'm not trying to be Ken Block out on the public roads.

Well according to Suberman, you just suck at winter driving and don't know any better. I guess I'm in that company as well, since I find the BRZ drives just fine in the snow/slush/ice.