Well we got about 3" of snow here in Chicago last night. And a couple more forecast throughout the day. Had a chance to take out the FX for it's first drive in the white stuff. Considering we have a Subaru and an Audi also in the stable I was anxious to see how it matched up compared to these two winter warriors. Some random thoughts. This is on stock rubber.
On roads with a light coating (less than 1") it tracked great. No drifting or constant corrections necessary. Accelerating hard showed no sign of any slippage or spinning from either the front or rear axles. Accelerating hard from a stop into a 90 degree corner - the move you would usually make to pull out of somewhere - appeared to be very controlled. The car has a lot of TQ so you obviously have to be easy on the throttle. It's pretty easy to swing the back end out a little if you try, but as soon as the rear starts to swing you can feel the AWD kick in and straighten you out. Stopping was controlled and sure footed.
I sought out a grass field with a little deeper snow (about 3-4") and played around a little to get a feel for it. Driving in deeper snow is certainly made easier by the SNOW button. I was interested to see what effect this mode actually had. It made a big difference. It basically just reduces the RPM and TQ. If you floor it from a standstill it will only rev up to 2000-2500 RPM so that your movement is slow and acceleration is very gradual. If you try and rev it hard it just feels like you have loss of power from the engine. Works great overall. With the SNOW button OFF I spent some time driving a little quicker and really trying to get the car out of shape. I could spin the rear end out about 90 degrees but the AWD would eventually reign me in and straighten me out.
It's not as composed, steadfast or as surefooted as the Subaru. I didn't expect it to be. Subaru's SYMM3 is probably the best AWD system available for any vehicle today. It makes rain and snow seem irrelevant it's so good. But to be honest, the FX didn't feel very much different to my Audi with Quattro. It was hard for me to really nit pick where the Audi was superior. That alone speaks very highly of the FX AWD I think. It handled itself admirably. Bottom line is that I would have no hesitation taking my family out for long snow trips in the FX.
On roads with a light coating (less than 1") it tracked great. No drifting or constant corrections necessary. Accelerating hard showed no sign of any slippage or spinning from either the front or rear axles. Accelerating hard from a stop into a 90 degree corner - the move you would usually make to pull out of somewhere - appeared to be very controlled. The car has a lot of TQ so you obviously have to be easy on the throttle. It's pretty easy to swing the back end out a little if you try, but as soon as the rear starts to swing you can feel the AWD kick in and straighten you out. Stopping was controlled and sure footed.
I sought out a grass field with a little deeper snow (about 3-4") and played around a little to get a feel for it. Driving in deeper snow is certainly made easier by the SNOW button. I was interested to see what effect this mode actually had. It made a big difference. It basically just reduces the RPM and TQ. If you floor it from a standstill it will only rev up to 2000-2500 RPM so that your movement is slow and acceleration is very gradual. If you try and rev it hard it just feels like you have loss of power from the engine. Works great overall. With the SNOW button OFF I spent some time driving a little quicker and really trying to get the car out of shape. I could spin the rear end out about 90 degrees but the AWD would eventually reign me in and straighten me out.
It's not as composed, steadfast or as surefooted as the Subaru. I didn't expect it to be. Subaru's SYMM3 is probably the best AWD system available for any vehicle today. It makes rain and snow seem irrelevant it's so good. But to be honest, the FX didn't feel very much different to my Audi with Quattro. It was hard for me to really nit pick where the Audi was superior. That alone speaks very highly of the FX AWD I think. It handled itself admirably. Bottom line is that I would have no hesitation taking my family out for long snow trips in the FX.
