EX AWD System vs the Competiton...

[Jarob]

Hi Guys.. Really enjoyed the threads ..Good info from all. Now give me your Honest Opinion. I live in beautiful and very snowy Upstate New York. I am coming out of an Audi A6 and loved the Quattro system in our , 4 inches an hour snowstorms. I have my eye on a EX35 but am wondering how well the Infiniti AWD system will handle the slick and snow covered roads compared to the Audi. Give me your honest opinions. Thanks Guys !! or

[Obsidian EX]

Can't comment on a direct comparison with an Audi, as I have no experience driving them.

No issues with the all-wheel drive (and good winter tires), based on 2 Ottawa winters, using the Snow switch when ever the weather gets messy. Also have a Subaru. Between the 2, the Subi is slightly better, in that it is more seamless and invisible (but they are different systems). With the EX you feel the car slip slightly and then straighten as the AWD kicks in. Still, not an issue and the car has no issues in slick, snowy weather.

Great car, and still love it!

[spoonhead]

I am happy with the all wheel drive, but I have found that the car feels a little squirrely with the traction control on; when I turn it off, it feels a lot more stable. I am not sure if the car would behave better when the traction control is on, but it sure doesnt feel better. Traction control is new to me, my Honda Element w/ all wheel drive didnt have it, and it handled great in the weather. My wife has a Suzuki Grand Vitara and it does a good job, but it has snow tires.

[Jarob]

Thanks O-EX, That helps. I also have a Subaru in the family and that feels very similar to the Audi. They just go..no matter what the road conditions. I am concerned with the EX system being RWD mainly cuz the last thing I want is a RWD car in our harsh winters. Yea, Spoon the Snow tires are a must have. Without them AWD just means you spin 4 tires instead f 2. What does everyone else think? How is it in your snow? or
Modified by Jarob at 7:50 PM 2/22/2010

[ramprun]

pretty harsh winter here in Iowa with tons of snow and i found the EX handles very well. you won't get stuck because it is 4wd when starting from stop and will switch back to rwd after 12mph

[Jarob]

Any more real world experiences? I live on a private road and sometimes its not plowed. The EX will be higher than my Audi A6 but how about traction?? All comment are appreciated...

[pwlorraine]

I had a 2000 A6 2.7T that I sold a few weeks back - it was wonderful in the snow. The A6 tended to understeer in bad weather - I think you'll find a mild tendency towards oversteer on the EX35. I'd say the biggest performance impact will be the tires - get good winter/snow tires and it will do fine. The all-seasons it comes with won't match and Audi on snow tires.

Peter

[Jarob]

I am torn about giving up my 2002 Audi A6 2.7T. I was going to go with a Q5 but it's just too expensive compared to the value I see in the EX35. ANd although I never had issues with my German car, I know of people that have had nightmares. This 2002 A6 only has 48,000 miles but I am sure they will try to give me nothing for it on a trade. I always put snow tires on my cars so it is good to hear that the EX should perform admirably in our Syracuse winter.

[JCL622]

I live in Long Island, and yesterday we accumulated about 15" of snow near me - it said 13 but that weather station is lower in elevation than me.

anyway, was visiting a friends place and it wasn't plowed. The EX handled it like a champ. I had to re-adjust/back up once because i spun my wheels to fast and dug a hole. but other than that the EX was amazing on the roads.

the only down side and i think this would be the case for most cars unless they were lifted, was that on roads, cars left indents of the tires, but then there's a raised portion for the space between our wheels. That section of snow becomes ice very quickly and made it very hard for the car to maneuver, but nonetheless as long as you know which direction the slippage is going and how ur AWD is going to compensate it was a very troublefree ride.

[Marconelly]

I was a bit worried much like you that a RWD/AWD system will have some problems in the snow, but now that I had a chance to drive it a bit in the snow that accumulated on the roads here (south Canada) it handled pretty much perfectly. I even tried to make it oversteer and spin when I was in the parking lot (with 'Snow' switch off!), and it corrected itself instantly. If you want permanent AWD like I think you have on Audi , you can just enable it using the Snow switch, but from what I've seen, their automatic AWD distribution works really well when left on its own. You'll appreciate RWD in a dry weather too ;-)
Modified by Marconelly at 7:36 PM 2/27/2010

[Jarob]

We had 18 inches of snow yesterday , so immediately called my Infiniti dealer to schedule my test drive. Much to my dismay, when I got to the dealership today, our outstanding DPW had the roads all cleaned up and they were just wet as it was 35 degrees. I took the test drive anyway and was able to find a nice barely plowed parking lot along the way. I guess all my worry about the RWD/AWD thingy on the EX was unfounded. The EX did great and blasted right thru any position we put it in. I am sold, now I just need to find the right deal and the EX with the right options and make it happen !