I have a 2005 Jaguar Vanden Plas with 9k miles one it, original everything, original factory tires and all and I was wondering how everyone's x350's do in snow and please specify what tires you have. Had one of the scary things happen to me when taking out my vdp this morning.

 

I have Pirelli tyres on my X350 normally, but we had a very bad winter two years ago and the car was awful,but after putting on winter tyres, I chose Nokian after a lot of research, the car has been brilliant whenever on snow and ice since. Well worth it.

 

I bought my '06 XJR this summer and immediately set out to get a winter set-up. I bought a package from Tire Rack including Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3's as the rating on the Tire Rack website was very good. I had my first snow drive last night and so far so good. Only light stuff mind you - the real test will come when we get heavy stuff. From past experience, a full set of winters with RWD works very well. I do not recommend driving in snow without them.

 

Ignorantly, I left my Michelin Pilot Z rated shoes on last winter and expected to go right ahead through winters worst. Wrong. A horrible mistake and at one point, I was unable to even turn into my own driveway and had to be pushed into the garage once I was turned around and headed in the right direction.

This season has seen zero snowfall at this point but I am better equipped, tread-wise.

I absolutely would under no circumstances reccomend leaving high performance tires on the X350 during the winter season. It is very dangerous and your performance in horrid conditions will be disastrous.

 

Blizzacks all around or I can't get to the end of my block on hard packed snow. No snow in Chicago yet, but it always comes with a vengeance. Oh, and Firestone will swap & balance your tires for $35 each season.

 

Snow tires (I use Kumhos) are an absolute necessity. Bought a second set of rims for $600 from salvage dealer using Car-parts.com Beat the heck out of ruiingin it to a tire sealer for swap out,

 

Michelin all around. Car does NOT like snow! I use my VDP as a daily driver and tend to shy away from driving in anything over 1" deep. The brits don't have a lot of snow, so why should they know how to design such a car. I understand and overlook the shortcoming.

 

It is not only the jaguar that is useless in the snow with out proper winter tyres, I also have a mercedes E class estate, again it was even worse than the Jaguar, but as soon as I put the Nokian winter tyres on the merc it transformed the car. in fact I fitted them to the merc first and was so impressed I ordered a set for the Jaguar a really amazing difference, so much better in the cold and ice as well.

Over a few winters you are no worse off financially as all the time you have the winter tyres on your summer tyres are not being worn.

I also found a second set of wheel rims on the internet to put the other tyres on, ok they casyt a couple of hundred pounds but saves the swapping around of tyres each time.

 

I thnk Jaguar are coming round to the view that they need an AWD saloon for your "snow" states in order to be able to sell their cars in competition with SUVs. Of course the company is Jaguar Land Rover, so the company sells Range Rovers etc, but this doesn't help any Jaguar dealer in these places. A friend of mine who lives in Lancaster PA, said one winter the snow fall added up to 60" Not all at once, thank goodness !!

 

ROVIW. I am surprised by the trouble you have with your E-class estate. I had a 1996 E320 sedan for almost ten years. The sedan was the best rear wheel drive car I have ever had in snow. I could regularly drive through snow deep enough to scrape the bottom of the car without getting stuck or sliding around. That was all while on all season Continental, Michelin and Bridgestones.

I have only had my 07 VDP since last December, and with the mild winter we had I did not get a real good chance to try it out in the snow. The few times I did get out it was in less than an inch, but I did not have a lot of problems. Continental Extreme DWS.

 

Hi, it was down to the tyres I think, I had staggered AMG wheels and low profile Dunlops on it, we had a really bad winter in 2010 and the merc was all over the place !, had to get it pushed at one point and there was only a slight gradient,left it in the garden then and used my van and Jaguar.
I then ordered the winter tyres for it and with the nokians it will go anywhere, I have them on a set of old steel rims, so probably best that I dont blame the car, more so the tyres .
So pleased with the result, as I mentioned, I put them on the XJ as well.

 

The Jaguar should be better than most RWD cars in snow with its sophisticated traction control system, 6 speed tranny (lots of gear choices) and excellent weight bias. The thing that needs close attention is the driver's skill and the tires. If either of these is not up to snuff, it's a squirrel run!