Yes. They do grip substantially better. I drove through a pretty big snowbank leftover from plows because it was left in the middle of the intersection. I thought I'd get stuck because it was pretty darn high, but DSC just blinked a couple times and I got thru alright. Also, I had to drive through a foot of ice last night because the plows left a pile along the sides of the road (which means, also my driveway). It was a bit scary because I scraped the underbody (an awful CRRRRRRRRRR sound) while the X climbed over the frozen stuff, but I got through with some wiggling.

Wagner, how come your area did such a nice job on the snow removal?! Even my main roads have slush covered (read: ice-covered) spots.