I just bought an '08 g35x. Went on a business trip. My wife decided to drive 80 miles on the highway with the car, with the SNOW mode on.

Anyone have any realistic idea of how bad this was for the car?

OOOOOOH MY GOD. YOU'VE REALLY DONE IT. SELL THE CAR IMMEDIATELY.









HAHAHAHAHHA. Just kidding. This is fine. All that the snow mode does is lock the AWD up to about 18mph, after that it will be the same as without snow mode. The other thing it does is noticeably retard the touchiness/max output of the car (some may argue on that, but in my independent testing, thats what it seems to me---like the car is 50 hp less.)

You have done nothing wrong. Now turn that snow mode off, and really get to drive your car. Have fun

Wow Dude - you scared the s&*% out of me - didn't scroll down right away. Is that really true that snow mode shuts off over 18mph? I will be really happy if so (not sure yet if my marriage will survive....).

Yes you are fine. Only thing it did was give her great traction leaving from a stop.

2 gear start too - no harm done

My question is what were you doing letting your wife drive the G. She has a minivan, right??? That is her car. LOL

+100

My wife sat in the drivers seat once.... ONCE.
She has never driven it and never will.
Curbs have a bad habit of jumping right out in front of her.

...how does the x do in snow? I bought two months ago, and there's a chill in the air. I'm in Indiana...and probably 25 inches a year of the white stuff.
Does the snow mode, even if it cuts out above 18 mph, work decently with the OEM all season rubber? I'm coming over from awd VWs with Haldex and Audis with Quattro. Perhaps some winter shoes would be worthwhile?

The X is phenomenal in the snow. I've been through two tough winters in Denver and driving was a breeze.

lol..are you serious? You broke your car. It will never be the same again.

I've only been through one Chicago winter with my 2007 X, but it did really well. However, I would put it slightly behind my last car (Subaru) but I'm worried this winter is going to be rough given that I now have 18,000 miles on the bad all-season's this car comes with.

The all-seasons on the X are absolute crap once they have more than 10K on them.

I bought a set of WS-50 Blizzaks on dedicated 5-spoke wheels from TireRack for $750 and the car is an absolute tank now.