How does the nissan altima sedan and coupe behave in SNOW?

[marlin29311]

I have to say I absolutely hate the Turanza's out here. I'm driving straight and the rear end is sliding out back and forth going 25 mph...wtf. These have to be the worst tires I've ever owned. I can feel the car trying to compensate for the crappy tires by tossing the VDC on every now and then, but honestly my old Focus did a better job sometimes. I think once I get better tires this car will be much better in the snow. Overall, it's not bad (kicks the bro's mustang in the ***), but it could be better.

[CanadianCoupe]

I dont find the 2.5 to be that good in the snow and I have winter tires. Granted we get more snow than most. I launch in 2nd gear whenever I am at a icey intersection.

My dad drives a 2005 Altima 2.5SL with new all-season tires and I have my 08 Coupe 2.5s with new CooperTire Weather Masters. His car is still much better to drive in winter because of the increase in ground clearance and the increased weight helps im sure. Neither of our vehicles have VDC.

In regards to the ABS, I find it kicks in way too early. If I slide 6" I can feel it kick in, even if just for a split second.

[xfactor0707]

you guys r so lucky i wish i could see snow. right now its like 73 degrees and most of the time it doesnt get any colder than that.

[djnastie]

man ur crazy its -5 in chicago right now and my coupe is chillin outside. everytime i drive it, it sounds like its mad at me it creeks and groans and sucks. its not the best fwd winter car. but it warms up quickly hehehe il admit that...

[aimhi8199]

I live in Vermont, on the Canadian boarder, we get a lot of snow! I bought Nokian Haka 5 tires, unstudded, for my new 2.5S Sedan and it is the worst behaving car in the snow I have ever driven. It makes me want to sell it. The only other thing I could do is get studded tires, but after spending $650 on these tires, I cannot really afford a new pair and no one will stud them after they have been used. Worst mistake I ever bought buying this car. My last car was fantastic in the snow and it was just a good old American family sedan and I never felt like I was going to go driving it in the snow, but this car I do. I drive 40 miles each way to work and I am extremely disappointed. A family friend who has a coupe Altima said the same thing, so its not just me! They also live in Vermont.

[mcheddadi]

I live in Vermont, on the Canadian boarder, we get a lot of snow! I bought Nokian Haka 5 tires, unstudded, for my new 2.5S Sedan and it is the worst behaving car in the snow I have ever driven. It makes me want to sell it. The only other thing I could do is get studded tires, but after spending $650 on these tires, I cannot really afford a new pair and no one will stud them after they have been used. Worst mistake I ever bought buying this car. My last car was fantastic in the snow and it was just a good old American family sedan and I never felt like I was going to go driving it in the snow, but this car I do. I drive 40 miles each way to work and I am extremely disappointed. A family friend who has a coupe Altima said the same thing, so its not just me! They also live in Vermont.

hahaha! I laugh at you. my 3.5SE with Vehicule Dynamic Control and michelin Alpin PA3 is one of the best handling cars ever for the snow.

you need to invest in good tires from the beginning or else hate the tires not the car lol

[marlin29311]

you guys r so lucky i wish i could see snow. right now its like 73 degrees and most of the time it doesnt get any colder than that.

no we aren't - snow sucks. there is absolutely nothing good about it. give me sand and palm trees any day of the week...

[zozoka1212]

Nah, Snow is good. I love it. No bugs around and you can go ski,snowboard or just get a crazy carpet and slide down on the hill with it. I just did today with my son. God that was fun. I was the only one older dude on the hill. LOL I guess I should grow up. LOL

I love snow. I just came in from shoveling my driveway. We've got 10 inches today on the driveway. Tomorrow they call for a little rain. That should be fun rain on the snowy roads.



zozo

[ABRB228]

Interesting thread...I posted a question similar to this a few days ago after my first interesting winter driving experience with my 08 3.5 Sedan with stock 17 inch wheels with all season tires. This car provided the WORST driving experience that I have had in 35 years of driving, driving countless vehicles of all makes/models. (I rent regularly for my work). Granted, I was driving in pretty severe conditions 4-5 inches of snow on the highway and a day later with patches of black ice, but the car was awful. In the snow, the back end was loose and I was contantly correcting it as if I had one or 2 flat tires on the rear. On the black ice, the car would suddenly break loose in the rear, while traveling at a constant speed on a straight away. I've never experienced that before with any car. I'm not convinced that snow tires would have made a significant difference. Anyway, this car is not fun to drive in severe winter conditions. Others might say, well what would you expect in those conditions, - I only have other cars to compare this to and this is the worst. I'd appreciated comments especially from others with substantial severe winter driving experience.

[SniperJoe]

No problems with my coupe ... until I got high centered on a snow bank...city did not plow

My coupe drives like a champ ... studs all the way around.

[zozoka1212]

I can't think of anything else but the tires. Not sure what tires you have and what the condition of the tires. What you described seems to me like crappy all season tires. How much thread you have left on the tires?

zozo

[ABRB228]

I have to agree - that the tires must be at least part of the problem - the tires are OEM that I presume came mounted on all the new sedans with 17" mags in 2008. The tires are close to new with only 13,000 km on them. Looking at the tread design, there is no place to displace the snow, slush or water, but this still doesn't explain the rear end breaking loose on the patchy black ice. I'm going to talk to the dealer, but I doubt that will help much as the response will most likely be "buy snow tires, by the way we have some that we recommend..." ching ching....:-)

[zozoka1212]

That is weird. Tires are almost brand new FWD straight line and the rear. Sound like RWD car. LOL

Hm..just thought about .... VDC That could be another source for sure and it might be it. Not sure with Alti but with the G it cuts power and brakes each wheel if needed to correct the slipage.

Have you tried to turn VDC off to see what it does?

zozo

[marlin29311]

I actually had the same thing zozo - and I don't think it's the VDC - the slip lights never came on for me at least...

My guess is that it's the crappy tread on the tires plus the weight distribution of the car - 67/33. There isn't much pushing down on the rear...I would imagine a new set of tires and/or a nice 45 pound dumbbell or something would help out a bit.

[zozoka1212]

67/33? Wow. I guess that would do it. I never thought about it.

dumbell or couple of bas of sand would help for sure.

zozo

[ABRB228]

I'm surprised to hear about the 67/33 distribution as well!! A little extra weight in the back might help, I did have 2 passengers in the back however. The more I look at those tires, I'm becoming convinced that they are not the most desireable. I tried it with and without the traction control system on and off and didn't feel any difference.

That's another thing, at least on the Altima, I've noticed that there really isn't any difference whether the TCS is on or off. "Off" meaning that the system is being overridden. With the TCS off, and in slippery conditions, I still get the same effect - every time the wheels spin, the engine power cuts out. Comparing this to a previous car - a 99 Grand AM, when I overrode the system on the Grand Am, the car had full power and never cut out. Is this normal for the Altima?

[gordo]

We had our first snow/ice storm here in the Ohio River Valley a couple of days ago so it was my first experience with the AC driving in it. It handled ok but was still a little squirrely. I only got stuck once briefly where the snow plow had piled snow at the intersection onto a main road (I was on an upward slope of course). I finally got loose, backed up a made a run for it ... burning smell of rubber and all. I'm glad, at least in this case, it isn't dropped because I was bottoming out when staying in the tire ruts and snow was scraping under the car. It sounded like a bobsled! Otherwise I'm not too disappointed, it could have been a lot worse with a RWD.

[marlin29311]

I'm surprised to hear about the 67/33 distribution as well!! A little extra weight in the back might help, I did have 2 passengers in the back however. The more I look at those tires, I'm becoming convinced that they are not the most desireable. I tried it with and without the traction control system on and off and didn't feel any difference.

That's another thing, at least on the Altima, I've noticed that there really isn't any difference whether the TCS is on or off. "Off" meaning that the system is being overridden. With the TCS off, and in slippery conditions, I still get the same effect - every time the wheels spin, the engine power cuts out. Comparing this to a previous car - a 99 Grand AM, when I overrode the system on the Grand Am, the car had full power and never cut out. Is this normal for the Altima?

With new TCS and VDC systems it is normal - the system "stays on" even when you turn it off...however, you can beat it. When you turn off the system (always do it from Park), when it tries to cut power, just gas it a little more to break free, and it shouldn't cause any more issues after that point. Kind of annoying, but this happens with almost any new TCS or VDC system.

[indyvbdave]

I live in South central IN and we got 12inches of snow in one night and 3 inches of ice. I thought when i bought my coupe that I will get steal studded snow tires cause i was worried and I never had a new car before. Well i didnt buy them and the past 2-3 days I havent had any problems getting around. The coupe drives about like most front drive cars. I am pretty pleased with the coupe over all.

Dave

[gordo]

I live in South central IN

Dave

Hey ... you need to put a pin on the map ! There's only a couple of us listed in Indiana.

[rizzo26]

It's definitely the poor factory tires. My Altima 2.5S (2007) came with Continental ContiPros. After slipping and sliding through last winter and the early part of this winter I put new Yokohama AVID TRZ's (all season) on my car. It's like a new car - no slipping or sliding - I have traction and I'm no longer scared to go out after it snows. My ContiPro's only had 17,000 miles on them when I got rid of them, so I'm quite annoyed that I had to buy new tires, but at least I feel safe now. I've had my new tires 3 weeks now in Michigan and the snow and ice have been really heavy so they're getting a workout. Check out tirerack.com for excellent tire reviews if you're considering new tires.

[Ferguson]

The A/C is NOT a great car in the snow. At least, not with a 3.5 and CVT. The stock tires are junk, except on clear pavement. I had mine for a week in November, then it snowed and we got 6 inches in something like 4 hours - I had one of those 'white knuckle' drives to work that night. The car went wherever it wanted and I had little input to its course. It was one of the scariest drives I've ever had. The very next day I called and got winter rims and Nokian Nordman tires arranged. Dropped in the next morning on my way home from work and had them installed. Big difference? Oh yeah! But my crappy old Sunfire on Michelin X-ice tires would leave it sitting on a bad road. The A/C wanders on snow, and is very susceptible to deeper snow on one side, it pulls like crazy - I've also noticed that in standing water. I blame several things about my A/C for its bad snow characteristics - the auto trans, you need to turn TCS off (when on, it's a great way to get stuck in snow at low speeds! Works nice at speed though), the torque of the 3.5, its heavy front-weighted balance which lets the rear go anywhere while the front follows other tire grooves in the snow, and the fact that it sits on relatively wide tires which do not grip INTO the snow but rather slide around on top of it (physics law about PSI and contact patch). Anyone who thinks the A/C is good in snow has never experienced bad road conditions.... in my opinion.

[xeene]

sedan is just as bad, i blame the cvt and drive by wire accelerator. combination of those two makes car a sensitive ***** to drive.

[bravey_z12]

ya before i havent done any lower or bodykits the answer is so far so goodshoulda blame stock tires though but my 6-spd transmission save my a**

[kanekali]

I currently have a 2009 2.5sl Altima. Before this one I have a 2008 Altima 2.5sl that one had non stop electrical issues.

I personally feel that Nissan should not bother marketing these cars in regions that have snow. They are very unsafe cars to drive, even in the slightest hint of weather.

I just returned from a trip in pretty normal winter weather. Meaning yes it is snowing and we there were about 2 inches of snow on the ground.

I was not able to go above 35 mph. The car does not allow it. If I tried all I would fishtail all over the road. At one point we were slowed down to 20 mph because we had caught up with another slow driving vehicle. Woudn't you know it was another Altima. Becareful with these cars. They are dangerous.

Good luck....I am going to get rid of this one asap...

[IBCoupe]

2 inches of snow on the road and you wanted to go faster than 35mph? Not on the highway?

[devilmagic]

today we had 8 inches of snow.. i felt the "oh god my cars gonna get stuck" feeling.. but car never did..

[Bittner26]

I live in International Falls, MN....googlemaps it, we get hella snow....and I havent had any problems with driving my 07 in the winter here. I wish I had traction control becuase it would help with the acceleration a bit but for the most part as long as you are a smart driver, you will not have any problems. Just understand that you will not perform like a truck and be baja-ing across snow drifts, but you will be able to make it around in the winter

[mmkeller]

No problem here in MN this year. Of course I've had many years of experience driving in snow/ice. My 2008 is handling extremely well and goes where I steer it.

[2008AltiCoupeDan]

one of the reasons i got rid of my coupe is because of the bad experiences ive had.

i agree w/ ABRB228 like- a LOT, its bad w/ stock tires terribly. going 15-20mph in a 40 at times because lack of clearance and lack of grip. drive like i mean it, and pullin sum ebrakes and the car snapped back like it was meant to. but i felt like i had to drive safer than usual more often than not.

i also left my car outside in the driveway, and here in buffalo- a decent night of snow is about 6 inches on avg.
on a good day w/ the snow actually being plowed to about 2 inches packed, it was ok at best. it wasn't detrimental to driving, but it made me long for spring when i LOVED driving in the snow in my old 98 altima. which was a totally different experience. also- most mornings i'd have to clear the snow from my fender lining from the front wheels as well since there would be so much buildup in those already shallow wheelwells.

hope this helps