Has anyone winter driven their F-Type in the cold and snow? If so, what was the experience like? Very interested in driving it all year round and not sure how the AWD system behaves in snow mode....

Thanks,

Breaker

 

In cold weather with summer tires (dumb, I know) it's OK as long as you don't do anything insane. Tires spin a lot easier until they warm up. I never take it out in snow - I have a truck for that.

 

I am in Winnipeg or as we call it Winterpeg... Usually -20 - -40 Celsius (same as farenheit at that ridiculous temperature). So only someone with a death wish would ever go out in summer tires here... I plan to get Nokkian tires and some less than amazing rims for it, but I am just curious how it behaves as the AWD system is somewhat lazy compared to Subarus and Audis etc...

 

There's a post somewhere on here listing all the changes triggered by rain/ice/snow mode, trying to locate it. I believe it does, among other things, change the AWD distribution to more of an even split (40/60 maybe?) vs the other modes that are rear biased.

 

My area gets a lot of snow. So even if I wanted to drive F-type in the winter, with its front clearance I'd go through couple bumper every winter.

It will go into heated storage and out comes Subaru with winter tires.

 

Pm RickyJay52. He will give you the lowdown on winter driving. (And he does it with RWD.)

 

I found all the winter threads and went through them.. Very interesting stuff! Nobody really mentions anything about the way it drives, other than it is good. Unhingd, appreciate that my friend, but I am really more interested how the AWD works for people in the snow. The RWD experience I'm sure is very exciting, but I have enough grey hair for the moment lol... I know it's going to be a blast regardless, and I am FULLY committed to driving it this winter (and going sideways a fair bit of the time) just hope to find other people with like minded ideas!

 

I have a set of 20 Nokians from my XF supercharged I am going to post for sale soon if you're interested. Also have my summer wheels from that car, but don't know that the offsets will work.

 

Can't give you specific experience as I don't have an F Type. But I do drive my RWD XFR-S all year round, through plenty of Canadian cold and snow ;-)

Isn't Jag's AWD system rear biased? IIRC, it is 100% RWD until slip is detected. This is quite different from Audi's Quattro, which is based on FWD platforms. IME, Quattro is great in a straight line but is strictly 'nein' for fun in the corners. I would imagine a RWD biased system will give you a lot more cornering options and a lot more fun, so go get those Nokians and enjoy this winter!

 

The F-Type is Rear biased for sure but when it shifts power forward it feels weird. I had a 2008 Audi TT and a 2012 S4 and the Haldex AWD was not bad, but the Subaru STI and Evo X blew it away for sure! I read just one little comment that snow mode locks the center diff to a 50/50 split, and if that is true (I kind of doubt it) that would be VERY good news for all of us! Can anyone source or figure out how snow mode changes the distribution? My concern really is that if you power oversteer theough a corner and balance it with the RWD, then the car shifts a bunch if power forward, it is going to severely screw up your exit, and that is what worries me... I'm probably over thinking the problem and just have to "feel it out" but I am very curious!! I would be very interested in wheels with Nokkians on it (hakkepellitas by chance). More info would be appreciated!

 

Not that I recommend reckless behavior but I did drive my S AWD through last winter with stock tires. I kept going back and forth on the wheels I want to mount the winter tires on and as I debated with myself the winter was over. I basically just drove cautiously - no hard acceleration, allowing myself extra time to get from point a to b, and let all the Prius/Camry pass me.

Having said that, I do plan on getting winter tires for this coming winter. If you come across any nice tire/wheel combo, let me know.

 

I'm not sure if this is helpful... I am not driving my F type R in the winter as I am using a XE sport as a daily.

When I had a XKR, I bought a set of wheels from 'Coventry' as they make wheels that fit Jaguars.... the 19" fit over the calipers and I believe they will on the F - R as well.. this gave me a bit more sidewall for potholes.

I happened to use the winter tires with 'Walnut' technology (ground walnut shell in the tread for ice traction) and they had good tread for snow as well. I think they were Toyo's ?

Also, I kept with the front tire size and width as we get heavy snow and a narrow tire (narrow with respect to the rear) is better in snow. Anyway, lots of good snow tire brands available.
Lawrence

 

Yup those are the best winter tires for sure. Great snow traction and fantastic ice traction without studs! Definitely makes for a more enjoyable winter season! As soon as they release the tires I will grab em.

 

I drove my base F-type in the winter -- winter tires are an absolute must. While I do live in a very cold climate, this past winter happened to be very mild. We only had a few snow days -- and only 1 that saw a lot of accumulation. The F-type performed amazingly well through it all. There were a few highway drives when I didn't feel as sure footed as I could have -- especially when changing lanes through slushy lanes lines.

I felt the importance of winter tires when I accidentally swapped off my winters a week too early -- there was a spring ice storm that grounded me. I was able to get the car back to my driveway after driving on side streets with the hazard lights flashing. Hills were impossible to climb and stopping was scary. Luckily I was only 3 blocks from my house -- I parked the car and ended up renting a car the next day to get to work.

I believe that the S model's limited slip differential could make a significant difference in terms of winter performance. With my slip and sliding on my summer tires, the car became absolutely useless at certain moments -- especially when one wheel lost traction and you could see/hear it spinning out versus a LSD compensating by balancing things out properly.

I can only imagine that the AWD that has the LSD would be totally fine in the winter -- again, assuming you buy winter tires. On bad days I was forced to drive in "snow" mode to keep the throttle under control. But otherwise, the car can, in my view, be used as an all year driver.

 

I will send info on NokianS (yes they are Hakkas) and wheels tonight.

 

I have a 2016 F Type with rear wheel drive, which I settled on because I just had to have a manual transmission, which I love. My last rear wheel drive was a BMW Z3 which was a terrifying car to drive in snow. Today I drove in about an inch of snow for the first time (I live near NYC can usually walk or train). Was surprised about 2 things. Yes, it skidded especially on even a slight hill, but it did not fishtail. A light came on, I guess t was traction control. Now, my driveway is up a hill. The car would only going about 4-5 MPH, the wheels were spinning, but it did not fishtail. I was able to make it up the hill within a few minutes and was OKAY! Do you think Jaguar will introduce a manual transmission with four wheel drive? That would be my next car.

 

Is this video Finnish rally-ace Markku Alén plays with 380 hp V6 S AWD in Scandinavian winter.
He is very impressed with car´s abilities in wintry conditions and rates it 10/10 !
He even says that it drives much like a WRC rally-car.
It is mentioned that Jaguar does it´s winter-testing in northern Sweden, where conditions are very similar.

Tires on this car seem to be Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2´s (studless Scandinavian compound winter tire).

 

I have had the Hakkapeliittas on several of my previous cars, and they are the best studless winter tires I have ever had.

 

An MT is unlikely ever to be offered with AWD on the F-Type. With the RWD, they were able to pull a tranny of the shelf and mate it up with a purpose built bell housing. Even with that, it has been estimated that they needed to achieve 10% of the F-Type sales to break even. They did not. The AWD has no obvious off-the-shelf solution to look to. Development costs would be huge compared to that for the RWD.


Get the Hakkapeliittas or the Conti ExtremeContact DWS06 (RickyJay can attest to these) and you'll be more than half way as good as an AWD and maybe 3 times better off than with summer tires.

 

Do you have rain/snow mode on the MT? I think most of that is really backing off the throttle response, which may help.