I have a couple of questions regarding my car and winter conditions:

1. Why/when do I have/need to use the snow button. Doesn't the car switch to AWD when it needs it?

2. When I use "Auto" heat, the only option I have is to warm my feet...why can't I change it to the vents or windsheild?

3. Why can't I use the "recycled" air without the AC being on, and why can't I use it when the mode is set to the windsheild.

4. Are there know TSB about the heat controls...are my heat controls messed up, or is this just the way they work?

Thanks in advance.

 

I can answer a couple of questions
1. I have never found it necessary to use snow mode and I have owned two G35X's. The car does switch to AWD whenever required.
If you were in extremely slippery conditions or real deep snow, you could use Snow Mode to get you going, where it gives you 50/50 traction front and rear up to 12 mph then the regular AWD system takes over anyways.

2. Hit the Mode switch and it will take you to heat and defrost together or other combinations you desire..

 

Thanks...I have hit the Mode switch to cycle between the different combinations, and that is my problem. With each different mode, the airflow changes...ie I can't just keep it on recycled air, or I can't use the recycled air without AC. If I change to the mode with defrost and floor heat, I can only use the "fresh" air, and If I use Auto heat then I can only have heat on the floor...as soon as I press the Mode button to change the heat location, the Auto feature turns off.

 

I use snow mode on days like today (also in Calgary) when I want to pull away from a stop with vigor. It de-sensitizes the throttle to a pretty noticeable degree and gives a better launch than the automac AWD (IMO). If I have a bit of road ahead of me, the VDC gets turned off as well - AWD power slides are harder to learn than RWD but I like to know what my car will do in poor conditions rather than rely on the electronic nannies all the time.

Do you have snow tires or are you trying to get by on the OE Goodyears? Michelin Pilot Alpins (PA2 or PA3) are a good tire for this car in the original size. I found the OE tires to be hopeless on snow and ice - no steering or braking traction to speak of.

The auto heater bugs me as well but is usually left on full AUTO mode (AC off) unless the defroster is needed. I found that instead of fighting with it, it works pretty well if set to 20.5C and left to its own devices.

 

I do know that whenever defrost is used on cars the AC automatically kicks in to dry the air, so maybe that is what is happening.
It tells about it in the manual.
Here:
Dehumidified defrosting or defogging:
1. Push the ª º front defroster
button. (The indicator light on the button
will come on.)
2. Turn the temperature control dial to
set the desired temperature.
O To quickly remove ice from the outside
of the windows, push the fan speed
increase button ª º and set it to
the maximum position.
O As soon as possible after the windshield
is clean, push the ªAUTOº
button to return to the auto mode.
O When the ª º front defroster
button is pushed, the air conditioner
will automatically be turned on at outside
temperatures above 23°F (−5°C)
to defog the windshield, and the air
recirculate mode will automatically be
turned off.
Outside air is drawn into the passenger
compartment to improve the
defogging performance.

Here is more info concerning recirculate and air circulation:
Air recirculation:Push the intake air control button
ª º to recirculate interior air inside
the vehicle. The indicator light on the
ª º side will come on.
The air recirculation mode cannot be
activated when the air conditioner is in the
front defrosting mode ª º

Hope this helps. You can read more about it in Section 4 of your manual.

 

Thanks...for the advice. I was messing around with the heat controls while I was stuck in traffic today. What is usually a 30 minute drive was a 2 hour drive today. So that is why I noticed the heat settings. It is very annoying that you can't set the heat up they way you want it. I thought it may be a problem with my car, and was going to take it in to get checked out...but I guess that is just the norm.

On the other side of things...in the summer I guess it would be pointless to use the auto feature if it only goes to the floor, becasue I'd assume if your using the AC and the auto feature set at 18, you'd want it on the vents.

 

Thanks...now that leads me to more questions.

It says:
" As soon as possible after the windshield
is clean, push the ªAUTOº
button to return to the auto mode"

If I do this, the air is then forced to go to the feet only, because when I have it in Auto, the feet option is the only thing available.

The other this is:

"The air recirculation mode cannot be
activated when the air conditioner is in the
front defrosting mode "

I can only use the air recirc mode when I have the AC on. If I turn the AC off I can not use the recyc air at all.


Are these "problems" I'm having normal...or am I being to picky in wanting to control my own heat.

Thanks again everyone.

 

AC acts to remove moisture from the air, thus preventing the recirculated air from fogging up the windows. Auto mode will direct the air to the most efficient path, heat rises thus directing the air flow to the feet is most efficient. When cooling the car it will direct the air to the vents. These are not problems.

 

You are not having problems, mine is the same and I like the way it works. I run with the mode switch turned to bottom heat/defrost if I find my windows fogging up, then I just hit auto when they are clear and it returns to bottom heat.

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one with defrost questions ( this car really DOES make you stupid).

I rarely use AUTO (perhaps I should), but my question about front defrost is this: What is the difference between the following three modes - I've tried them all :

1) Defrost ON (and lit) ; AC on (and lit) ; Screen defrost symbol ON

2) Defrost ON (and lit) ; AC off (no light) ; Screen defrost symbol ON

3) Following (1) or (2): Defrost off (no light) ; AC off (no light) ; Screen defrost symbol ON.

Tx

TMG