I live on a very steep dirt road at 8000 feet in Colorado. I finally got a chance to try the Speed6 in bad conditions on Saturday. We had about two inches of slush freeze under 6 inches of snow. I went out around 10 o'clock, when the snow was just starting to melt and the slush was soft again. Really slippery. I almost fell down trying to walk up the drive.
Observations:
1) The tires really, really, suck on snow and ice. If you live where you get icy slush, get them off immediately. They just spin and glaze over, or slide and glaze over.
2) The DSC doesn't help much in really bad conditions. You are better off turning it off, unless you are in some danger of sliding sideways into something. If you are stuck, turn it off. Also, if you are applying power in tough conditions for more than ten seconds or so with DSC on, you will start to smell the ugly smell of your brakes burning up.
3) The antilocks don't kick in until you are going 3-4mph. This is great. Antilock brakes are really dangerous on a very steep, very slippery surface. If they kick in on a steep slippery surface, you will just roll and roll, because you are getting so little braking traction during the microsecond that the brakes are applied. My 2002 WRX had a recall over this issue. Antilock brakes are for controlling skids on road surfaces with relatively high traction, like dry or just wet with rain. They are a liability on really slippery surfaces, and will result in longer stopping distances. As long as I kept the Speed6 creeping downhill at under about 4 mph, they didn't activate. Even in reverse, which I had to use for 1/4 mile to back down when I got stuck and could go any further up the road. This was on a 20% grade.
4) The AWD activation was seamless. It didn't really feel any different than my WRX in the snow.
No more adventures in bad weather until I get snows on there. Did I mention the tires suck on slush and ice?
Observations:
1) The tires really, really, suck on snow and ice. If you live where you get icy slush, get them off immediately. They just spin and glaze over, or slide and glaze over.
2) The DSC doesn't help much in really bad conditions. You are better off turning it off, unless you are in some danger of sliding sideways into something. If you are stuck, turn it off. Also, if you are applying power in tough conditions for more than ten seconds or so with DSC on, you will start to smell the ugly smell of your brakes burning up.
3) The antilocks don't kick in until you are going 3-4mph. This is great. Antilock brakes are really dangerous on a very steep, very slippery surface. If they kick in on a steep slippery surface, you will just roll and roll, because you are getting so little braking traction during the microsecond that the brakes are applied. My 2002 WRX had a recall over this issue. Antilock brakes are for controlling skids on road surfaces with relatively high traction, like dry or just wet with rain. They are a liability on really slippery surfaces, and will result in longer stopping distances. As long as I kept the Speed6 creeping downhill at under about 4 mph, they didn't activate. Even in reverse, which I had to use for 1/4 mile to back down when I got stuck and could go any further up the road. This was on a 20% grade.
4) The AWD activation was seamless. It didn't really feel any different than my WRX in the snow.
No more adventures in bad weather until I get snows on there. Did I mention the tires suck on slush and ice?