Hello

We finally got some snow in MA. I was eager to test Jaguar's AWD system in proper snow. It has been snowing since early morning, lots of roads in Brookline/Netwon area are/were not cleaned.

I did not purchase snow tires this year since it has been incredibly mild winter in MA. I used stock Continental ProContact GX All-Season tires that came originally with the car. I know these tires are not suited for snow, but I think for testing out the AWD system they are fine.

I wanted to know how would AWD system handle 1-2 ft of snow + frozen roads.

In DSC on and Regular mode, my car was relatively stable with very little side to side sliding. However, at every instance of rear axle slip, car's AWD system would shift power back to front relatively abruptly resulting in some unpredictable behavior. (I got feeling that car was too busy shifting power from back to front instead of giving power to all 4 wheels or wheels with the most traction).

In DSC off mode (fully off - not TracOff) I felt like I was driving on ice. I could spin all four wheels if I used more 1/5 throttle or more. But that is not the part that was surprising. Any car with all season tires and decent power could do that. XE's AWD however, felt like RWD in DSCoff. I would go into the corner, at 20-25mph, apply quarter throttle and instead of gradual transition into all wheel drive drift (like you would get in the majority of AWD cars) XE's back end would step out very easily and almost violently. This was not due to inertia while going into the corner too fast. I believe it was due to torque distribution being aggressively RWD biased. At no point did I feel like the front end was doing much to help me out. Even at 45-degree angle slide with almost full opposite lock on, I did not feel any pull from front wheels. I had to manually apply more lock than needed and slowly get off the gas so that car would stop drifting.

This is very different from any FWD based AWD system for sure. But even when I drove other RWD biased all wheel drive cars, (Such as MB 4Matic or Xdrive) they felt like power was often 50/50 in snowy situations. With XE, it was more like 20/80 front to back all the time.

I do understand that Jaguar's AWD defaults to 10/90 and can adjust the torque between the axles. However, at no point during my 2-hour drive did I feel like the front end was getting more than 20-30% of engine power. (According to Jaguar, it can send up to 50% of power to the front if needed).

In conclusion, I believe that current AWD in XE is very heavily biased towards dynamic driving style rather than safe and secure as you'll find in many of its rivals' systems.

To end on a positive note, I was very impressed with the Snow mode. It worked amazingly well. While using it, I felt like I had some serious snow tires on. The car was not sliding from side to side at all like before in Regular mode. (Tested both modes on the same road with same conditions)
I could feel that brakes were being gently applied to each wheel as soon as one lost traction. The gearbox was optimized so that It was starting in 3rd or 4th gear and not downshifting even at almost full throttle. The engine torque management and throttle response were very smooth. I could comfortably accelerate with almost no wheel spin (got a sense that power was going to wheels with most traction, front to back and side to side too). I was very satisfied with its performance and would thoroughly recommend using it in snowy weather. It truly makes a major difference.


I would appreciate your feedback and opinions about it.

Here's the shot of my car after the drive

 

Nice write up!

Wait till you try your car with actual winter tires, night and day!! I've driven them with Nokian Hakka's in 1-2 feet of snow and it felt like the car was still on rails. Sucks for the 20inch guys though, don't think there's even a 20inch winter tire option as of yet from any tire brand.

Basically every all season tire that doesn't brand the "snowflake" symbol on the side is really just a 3-Season tire, that M+S on the sidewall isn't the "snowflake" symbol, it just means that tire can handle light snow which is like dust across the autoroute (its only 4 season when considering places like California). Non snowflake" symbol tires are only good till a low of "+10C", below that temp even on dry concrete will start to show traction issues, especially when braking, add snow to the mix and ....hehe..have fun!!

Nonetheless, glad your loving the XE, I know I certainly enjoyed my time in the snow with one! 😜

 

I drove my AWD 35t from Brooklyn to Queens and back today. That's about a 12 mile drive each way. There were 3-5 inches of slushy and sometimes icy snow on the ground. My tires are the Pirelli all-seasons that came with the car. I chose the Snow, Ice, Rain setting rather than Dynamic, Eco, or Drive.

Driving conservatively, I felt the car slip a few times but at no time did I lose confidence in its ability to hold the road. It handled at least as well as my previous 335xi, also with all-seasons. It could not compare to my previous S-4 but that car had the advantage of performance snow tires.

I was rear-ended today at a stop light by a car which tried to stop but instead skidded out of control. Fortunately, neither car suffered any body damage. That was early in my first trip and happily no mechanical issues arose thereafter.

As ice accumulated on my windshield, despite the wipers and defroster, the dashboard reported that the forward camera was obscured, and therefore that the lane change warning and AEB (autonomous emergency braking) would not function. After I scraped the windshield clean of ice, all functions were restored. I've read on this forum about how problematic the optional heated windshield can be, but I would have loved to have that feature today.

Ice also accumulated on my windshield wipers. I tried to lift them off the car to clean them, but could not. It turns out that there is a bizarre procedure required to lift the wipers into "service position," which involves turning the ignition off and on a few times and then moving the wiper control a couple of times.

 

Sorry to hear about the accident. I hope it did not damage anything to your car.

Which Pirelli tires do you have? on 20inch rims, OEM is Pirelli P-Zero which is HP Summer tire so those would be really bad in snow.

As for the heated windshield, it is definitely very helpful. I hate that it blocks my radar detector beam but on the other hand, it melts all the snow and ice very fast. (except for the very edges of the windshield)

As for the wipers, I encountered the same issue as you. I tried to lift them and could not. I even thought that maybe the hood was blocking them but that would not make a sense. If you know the proper technique to raise them, I would appreciate you sharing it.

I also realized that windshield wiper fluid sprayers are underneath the hood next to the drains. This sounds good as they are better protected but with all the snow going through the drain, both sprayers were completely covered and could not spray the fluid on the windshield.

 

Is that picture in front Wegman's in Chestnut Hill?

I find the Ice mode to work well, but the all season tires aren't worth much in this weather. I did not try the snow accent feature. Heated windshield is worth the cost!!!

Personally, I'd take snow tires over AWD. I wish Jaguar offered a snow and summer tire/wheel package. They'd get a lot of takers.

 

I have the 340 hp R-Sport, which I believe comes with 19-inch all-season tires. The rear tire says "255/35 R19 96H Extra Load."

 

Yes you got that right, it is Wegmans' parking lot. Love their liquor store.

 

For the best wine deals, I like the bin at Martignetti's, Costco, Gordon's mailing list, or Bin Ends. Wegman's does have some good deals and pretty well thought out selection. Have you been to Total Wine yet?

I sure wish the XE was smart enough to put on the heated seats when the interior is like 50 and it's below freezing out. Pretty safe to assume passengers would want to start the car with the heated seats on... Jaguar needs to work on a few things...

 

Yes my car does not put on the heated seats either... it does turn on heated windshield and rear window defroster though.

It would also be helpful if InControl app on the phone could turn on the heated seats.

I should definitely check Total Wine, I looked it up and looks like a gem. I will check out their whiskey selection soon enough.

 

I have the 20"s on mine and I went to buy new tires for it and there are NO options at all out there. I find it odd that there is no other tires I can put on besides the same size and 3 brands. I can't even find all season tires at all, just summer only.

I drove mine in the snow here in NJ and it was terrible in every mode except snow mode and I also tried snow mode plus low friction launch and it worked very well for the summer only 20's on it. I was kind of pleased considering the 20" and summer only tires.

I wish we had the winter wiper mode like the loaner they gave me has as its nice for the wipers to park 1/5th up on the window for these days.

I wonder why the remote start or even the push start doesn't turn o the heated seats and wheel below certain temps? All my other cheaper cars do this and also turn on vented seats i the summer. I find this odd that it only turns on the blower motor only? Not even the rear window defrost comes on automatically
The loaner they gave me ( Evoque) turns it all on in this cold weather and that is a base model.

Any input on this guys, have you checked yours also?

 

Yes the seat heaters do not come on automatically. Neither can you turn them on through the app. However, my windshield heater and rear windshield defroster do come on below 35 degrees or thereabout.

Maybe you need a Cold Weather Package for that to happen? Not sure. I think Jaguar will fix all these inconveniences for 2018/19 model years.

As for the tires, you can try Pirelli Sottozerro II's or Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4's. Both are very good snow tires and will fit 20inch rims. They are fairly expensive though.

Better solution might be getting new 18in rim set with regular Blizzak WS80's or some similarly affordable snow tires.

 

I had Dunlop snow's on my VDP that were Z rated and really dug into the snow. Nokian are popular snow tires in many snowy regions.