TCS: Acura vs. Cadillac

[JasonA]

We're in Virginia for Christmas weekend, and there's a fair amount of ice/snow on the neighborhood roads here. I was driving my mother-in-law's Acura TL this afternoon and was really quite surprised at the INeffectiveness of the TCS. There's a LOT of wheelspin allowed before it intervenes, and then when it does, it's not that "strong" or effective anyway. When I purposely stopped on a patch of ice and tried to get moving again, it was extremely difficult. The car did a lot of sliding sideways and very little forward/backward. Eventually, I had to back down the hill slightly to get at least one tire on dry pavement -- then it worked pretty well to crawl the car up.

I have driven the '97 under similar situations before (used to live here a few years ago) and the TCS on the Cadillac is much more effective in comparison. As "intrusive" as it may be on dry pavement, it really works on the ice and snow.