2010 SC
Blizzak LM-60 (19")

I have lived in Canada all of my 27 years of driving so have lots of reference.

Manners are very good but clearly a high HP rear wheel drive vehicle. It exposes how balanced the car is and its very fun to drive. I have tried a number of full stops facing up a grade and starting from standstill. Sweeping corners etc doesn't seem to kick in electronics when I would expect to so grip is pretty good.

I was concerned on the first day as the car seemed very squirrelly and I had trouble getting going once on a small grade but it was in my opinion the most slick conditions one would see in snow (warm wet snow skimmed) I was able to back up a few feet and then continue. The temp has since dropped and I have been able to experiment more. I am very happy with the grip and ability to get up fairly steep grades. Snow mode takes some of the required attention out of the mix. Without it you really have to pay attention to the right foot. I have some concern about the e-diff/brake pulsing adding to brake wear. If you toss it around without disabling traction control the nanny stuff is pretty active.

Braking is very good. Highway slush at speed felt very stable and solid. Car tracks very well without that white knuckle feeling some cars exhibit.

 

Have you tried Jaguar's recommended gearbox and traction control combinations fom the owner's handbook yet? I was a bit skeptical that Jaguar in England could know better than me about how to get traction in winter, after 40 years of winter driving and counting.

However, after using my test track ( a very steep section of my back alley in chinook rotten snow on top of very cold hard pack and ice, no gravel or salt) I can verify that of all the combinations and techniques I know of Jaguar has it correct.

The only time I have been stuck is in cold sugar snow on top of ice with no gravel or salt, right outside my garage one morning, partly high centered . Had to use the carpet trick and even then required a push from my neighbour. I had to re- enter the garage to get a run back out through the drift!

Otherwise, this snow cat has impeccable winter manners.

 

Do you mean just the "winter mode" selection? Or more than that? I certainly have used it and it does seem to work well but I haven't "pushed my luck" yet with deep snow. That picture is at my parents north of Toronto. When I arrived the drive hadn't been blown out yet and had about 6 inches of fresh snow with a bit of a "plow mound". If I had more experience with the behavior I would have punched right into it and tried to get down the drive....but not having tried deep snow and not having time to mess around I elected to wait for my father with the tractor and blower to clear a path. I will report again once I try some deep stuff.

 

I forget exactly where, page 186 or so? There is a little chart of which combination of settings to use for different snow conditions. I tried them all and they work.