I have seen that on other cars too. I think it means that the traction you have is below the ESC design parameters. That is why a locker is the best bet like what my 2020 Ford Ranger 4X4 has.

 

We e just had our first snowstorm of he season here in the northeast. We experienced nothing like what you describe, SunWizard. Up and down the hill, right through a plow bank 12” high, no loss of power, only light application of ESC with no noticeable power loss. We run in Eco mode, B regeneration, on 20” real snow tires.

 

Do you have a recommendation for snow tires, size (I know 20") and manufacturer?

 

Was your hill a crazy 35% slope 4wd dirt road with ice underneath like mine? Yea real snow tires I am getting ASAP because I know from lots of experience it makes all the difference. But it gave me a good chance to test out the ESC.

Edit: and it showed how good it can do even with horrible Alenzas on it, because I made it when I finally found that setting.

 

How tried with 1/3 of throttle steady holding on Go Pedal with ESC on?

 

Please excuse my ignorance but what is ESC?

 

Electronic stability control. If it senses any spin, it cuts the power and applies the brakes to that wheel. And then the next wheel, and the next if you keep any slip.

 

In extreme situations ESC off is definitely better than ESC on.

 

“Real snow tires”

 

One of the first things I was taught here in New England was that if you can’t move in snow then shut off traction control. Sounds like the ID.4 is the same in that aspect. The computer over compensates won’t even try if it’s too slippery.

 

Every steep road seems like 35% until you get back aways on the side and see it. I don’t know exactly what grade the average 4X4 with good off-road tires will climb but I am thinking it is only around 50%?

 

Who laid out a 30+% grade road?!?

 

A ranch family who liked to 4wd and wanted access to some of their nice pasture along a creek, and old growth ponderosa forest. Lots of great places, but steep roads are common up here in the foothills.

 

For as long as I’ve ever owned a car with ESC, my snow driving routine is as follows:

1. Grab snacks
2. Start car
3. Turn off ESC
4. Floor it
5. Hard parking brake into first turn

Seriously though, ESC in my experience is awful in snow. Thanks for this tip!

 

Interstate 70, a major through highway, has a couple of places that are 7%. Gravel Jeep roads are routinely upwards of 20%--and are driven by "casual" off roaders with the generic 4WD SUVs that are all over the place here.

 

As others have mentioned here, ESC is often not a help in slippery conditions at slow speed.

I've mentioned it elsewhere but this is certainly true of my Chevy Volt. Even with proper winter tires on it, its ESC likes to drive into the snowbanks as I turn corners on my suburban streets and the car actively fights your best efforts to avoid the snowbank. With the ESC off, it drives just like any other FWD car: more throttle makes the front wheels slip a bit and the car pretty quickly gets the idea of where you want it to go.

But I expect that learning to drive the rear-wheel-biased AWD ID.4 in snow will be yet-another learning experience.

 

I'm still amazed that you guys even try to drive in snow/ice with summer tires.

Today is the first actual snowfall, maybe two inches, and if I didn't have studded tires I wouldn't have driven anywhere but the shop to have them put on.

Edit: car is an older ICE, still waiting on the ID.

 

I'm still amazed that you guys even try to drive in snow/ice with summer tires.

I did not go anywhere except a short distance on my private driveway, and its only purpose to test the different modes and ESC. It did terrible until I turned off the ESC, and was very worth it to see how the car handles in all the different modes.

 

Actually it is the ASR ( automatic slip regulation ) that needs to be turned off for deep snow. In more recent years the ASR is embedded in the ESC system. Previously, when ESC was not available, only ABS and ASR were available and the ASR could be turned off to enhance deep snow traction in some situations. But, as previously stated, one should first try to drive with a light accelerator foot with the systems engaged.

 

Each time you start the car it resets to normal too much ESC, so I added a shortcut to it from the pull down shortcuts menu so its much easier to use, since I plan to use this often! Pull down slowly on the top white bar, then long press on any of the 4 shortcut icons you want to replace, then pick ESC.

This was really helpful.......I had no idea you could add shortcuts. I have a 2022 however and it doesn't off the option to turn off esc......only allows to engage ESC sport mode. I'll test it out during the next snowstorm.

 

ESC sport mode is what I described above when I said "turn the ESC off using ESC-Sport which is hidden away" , and what I mean by turn off the ESC, its all we have on any year. It displays an icon in the dash saying its OFF. Yes there still is a little bit of ESC intervention in ESC sport but its so drastically reduced they call it Off right on the binnacle.I could say ESC sport in every post above, but ESC off is a more accurate and simple way to describe what it does, rather than to say "ESC sport and then have to explain that equals ESC drastically reduced to almost zero" each time I mention it.

 

A quote from Consumers Reports:

The first step is to decide between rear- or all-wheel drive. If you live in a snowy climate, the all-wheel-drive model is a no-brainer. The rear-drive model has the benefit of a longer driving range, but the AWD model has an extra 94 horsepower, and feels significantly quicker.

 

So I’ve read this thread a couple of times, tried to inform myself about the vehicle and its modes/options via some other online resources, as well as experimented a little with it on some hilly/twisty public lands roads using the Car Scanner app to monitor what’s going on with the front and rear motors.

Is there a consensus yet for AWD drivers on what the best combination of modes/options is for the most challenging traction situations? Let’s exclude heavy ice from consideration and focus on challenging snow and mud conditions, particularly slopes. And let’s set the wheel/tire issue to the side and assume we’re running capable tires.

One thing I’m not clear on. Do we know what mode the vehicle shifts into when set to Traction but driving above 12mph? That would seem to matter if we’re deciding—say before a particularly sketchy section of road—which mode/settings to start with. I’m assuming that whatever drive mode you’re shifted into, the AWD is functionally normally/the same if its detecting slippage?

SunWizard it appears you ended up using the combination of Traction mode + ESC Sport (ESC not activated), driving in D rather than B/regen. This is the same as popular EV reviewer Kyle C ended up recommending during his ID.4 snow-driving review in Colorado a few months back.

profjimcom had success running in ECO mode and B/regen, and with real snow tires. I found ECO mode and its torque dampening to be the best mode for my fwd Prius PHEV, but that’s a different beast than this AWD EV.

And then VW Technician recommended “Sport mode…ESC off and don’t exceed 20 MPH spinning or moving it will engage AWD full-time.” I’m not clear what this means, and why engaging AWD full-time would be a bad thing, so I’m sure I’m misunderstanding VW’s point. I have some regular uphill (5-7%) road sections that, particularly during mucky mud/melting snow conditions, are best tackled by having enough speed (20-25mph max) to not “bog down” in the worst sections and move through to comparatively better sections of the road.

Finally, I seem to recall some posts/comments (not sure if it was this forum) arguing against B mode in traction-challenging conditions (and maybe I’m confused/misremembering). Based on my experience with the vehicle so far, I’d be inclined to B/regen at least for traction-challenging downhill sections--in combination with Traction mode + ESC Sport--to get that “low gear” feel/control for the descent. Maybe there are other factors to consider on flatter/uphill slopes?

So beyond using ESC Sport/deactivating ESC, is there any agreement on which combination of mode + D or B/regen that is likely to provide maximum traction in challenging snow/mud conditions?

 

What type of tires will you use in this demanding situations?
Reaction time for FWD propulsion unit to engage is down to single digits millisecond...
Traction off is good if you need momentum going over or want you as drivers to manage wheels spinning.....
Let's hear first what your tires are for this, and if possible provide picture of tire thread.
Going downhill on very slick surfaces.... i would prefer no regen and relay on my ability and foot brakes....this will still use regen depending how fast and how far you push foot brake.

 

I use traction mode and esc sport. I always drive in D when its slippery. First time I drove it on ice, I backed off the throttle on a down hill corner and nearly spun out.

 

So do we have any idea which mode we are in when we've selected Traction but are driving over 12mph? You can see (using Car Scanner or similar) that front motor kick off and on above and below around 12mph. But when you are above 12mph, are you "Comfort" or one of the other selectable modes, or something else?