In wintery weather, what is your preferred vehicle?

[RicerX]

A lot of places in the US have been hit with snow and ice lately. When you have to get out and drive in it, which are you most comfortable with?

[Rogue One]

I should think the obvious answer would be an M1 Abrams. Abandoned cars blocking your path? Brush the smaller ones aside, and blast the larger ones to bits. Snow and ice? Piffle!

[Kompresshun]

FWD all the way, but i'd do RWD too if I needed to. Our past two SUVs have been 4WD, but when we replaced the Jeep with the KIA we decided to not waste the extra money on it. This winter is the first winter I feel like we could have used 4WD, but we have been able to get around just fine without it. The wife does have a little more issues this winter getting around because she's so used to just throwing in it 4WD and trucking right on. She got it stuck at the bottom of the driveway this morning

In her defense though, the factory tires suck on it majorly. It loses traction a lot more than I care for.

My 500 is like a freakin' tank in this stuff though. Nothing seems to slow it down. Just flip on traction control and it'll climb a mountain

[frapjap]

I rock AWD for the winter months. FWD with snow tires was just fine but mine was tired and I figured it was go big or go home.
I do have to say though- AWD snow-nuts and drifting in the open parking lots are a blast. Next year I'll get snow tires for the car.

[sx moneypit]

My MR2 handles the ice and snow very well.
The Z is going to stay in the garage though.

[WDRacing]

If you have snow tires any vehicle can be driven in the snow quite well. You don't need Blizzaks at all, they are WAY over priced. I put some Sonny snow tires on the wifes Dart, they were $98 each. That's not bad for 225/45/17s. They are Chinese tires and they are very aggressive. Our driveway is pretty steep and we have no trouble climbing it. Nor do we have issues anywhere else.

I drive my Express. It's got A/T tires and a pretty good factory LSD. We drive it when the weather is ugly and it's never been stuck.

The very worst snow tire is better than the very best all season tire when driving in the snow.

[Infinitiguy19]

The very worst snow tire is better than the very best all season tire when driving in the snow.

Nokian WRG2

I bought 4 of the above tires for less than $600 (Mounted and Balanced by me) and I have never gotten stuck in my Q45. They wear somewhat quick though!

[WDRacing]

The place I get my tires from does mounting and balancing for free also. I really enjoy finding a local shop that I can support. I almost went to Sears when they had a sale, but I happened upon a local shop while I was "on the hunt" for a good deal. The owner happens to drive a 350Z and knows all about E39 BMW's. We talked for like 25 minutes about cars and whatnot. Good guy and great service.

[flohtingPoint]

In wintery weather, I go with either the Raptor or the F1. Nope, not the truck or the open wheel vehicles, the Never Summers.

[MinisterofDOOM]

My rule has always been: Never own a car you're not willing to drive every day. Which, practically, translates to: be willing to drive every car you own every day.

I prefer RWD. I do not like the handling dynamics created by splitting the front-end workload between steering and propulsion. AWD is okay, but you get some the downsides of FWD along with it (in addition to added weight and complexity). And most AWD isn't really AWD anyway these days. It's FWD plus a small fraction of power to the back in very limited rare circumstances. AWD is certainly better from a TRACTION standpoint, but I still don't like the way it behaves (or, more accurately, the way it makes the car behave) whether we're talking dry pavement, dirt, snow, ice, or anything else. FWD is nigh-intolerable in the snow. You can't DO anything. You just point and pray. You can't throttle steer. You can tuck-in with a little gas. You can't control yaw AT ALL. You can e-brake slide but that's crude and sloppy and hard to modulate with most cars' e-brakes. An e-brake handle can't allow for nearly the finesse a well-trained right foot can.
With FWD, you're asking one axle to do ALL the work. That's a bad enough arrangement in ideal traction settings. When traction is limited it becomes a nightmare. Every input change is stressing the same tires which are constantly on the verge of losing grip. And when it goes, EVERYTHING goes. You don't lose propulsion but keep steering. FWD is all your eggs in one basket. When that basket drops, you're @#$%ed.
Note that I don't consider AWD and 4WD the same thing. 4WD is a temporary solution on already-heavier vehicles for traction-limited situations like offroading. AWD is just adding more crap to a RWD or FWD car so you can send some of your power to the wrong end of the car most of the time.

FWD sucks. The only benefit is platform packaging, and unless you're looking for as much interior space as you can get from a given wheelbase that's not exactly something most consumers care about.

As for snow tires: Hankook iPike are fantastic in snow, ice, sleet, slush, rain, and everything else that's not dry aslphalt. They're dirt cheap, too. And you can stud 'em, though I never felt the need, not even in the torque-happy Q of DOOM. A lot of snow tires suck in wet conditions because of aggressively blocky tread patterns that don't manage water well. They're designed for ice and snow in cold areas, not places that get diverse weather. Around here, where it can snow several inches one day and rain the next, it's nice to have something that does both well.

[nissangirl74]

The only thing I've ever driven in the snow has been either RWD (my Datun 210s) or RWD/4WD (the Frontier). We went several years in my part of Tennessee without having much serious winter weather at all. We had more black ice than we did snow (in town) and it doesn't matter what you're driving at that point. It's like trying to ice skate on owl s***. I agree that having good tires is the single most important thing you can do to prep for Winter driving. I always kept good tires on my 210s, even bought chains for them one year . Everyone laughed until it was used it to pull a Ford Contour out of a shallow ditch.

I've never driven a FWD in large quantities of snow (a mere dusting on the roads doesn't count) and I've never driven an AWD period so I can't really comment on either of those. From my knowledge though, I'm pretty sure a FWD is the last thing I would want to be in if I did lose control. Not getting it back in line is not an option.

[BusyBadger]

Here's the Z after our latest bout of snow from last week, no snow on the still warm hood but it sure accumulated on the rest of the Z fast enough...


...and the after-effects of the melt sprinkled on the roads once I could finally climb up the driveway and get into the garage. I like to call this colour "polar vortex white."


If we still lived in Indiana I'd pick up a third set of wheels and mount them up with some Blizzaks or Michelin X-Ices so I could more easily hoon around in the snow. Of course, if I had either of those tires here I could get up the drive when it was covered in snow. Hmmmmmm..... I think the big problem with getting up my steep-a** driveway with this last snow and the Michelin all-seasons I'm running (AS3's) was that it the skier's dream snow, all light and powdery, the Z just skated on top of it. It didn't do that with the wet, heart-attack snow we had a couple of weeks earlier, it just cut right down through the white stuff andgot to the blacktop.

I do miss the Rhino (our old Xterra) though, that thing was absolutely unstoppable in the snow. Loved blowing by Jeeps and HMMWVs (except the couple of actual HMMWVs in the area) that didn't seem to know what to do when the mercury fell.

[Bubba1]

Having driven every configuration on ice/snow more times than I can count, my favorite is RWD, especially when you get the ol' pendulum effect going while negotiating a slalom. The easiest by far is AWD. So if you're averse to drama, that's probably the one to choose, though AWD drifting is a hoot. But that's not to say FWD can't be fun too. Yes, the front wheels do all the work, but if your FWD car has a real handbrake (as opposed to those awful fun-sapping electronic parking brakes now infesting.. er...being installed by European manufacturers), you can have just as much fun rotating it as any other configuration.

And snow tires do make a huge difference no matter which drivetrain you choose. Though you might be interested to know that a snow tire's big advantage over all-seasons diminish significantly once you wear them down below 50% tread.

[audtatious]

I went out the other night in a G37x and it was quite comfortable in the snow. Hell, with traction control disabled it easily did what I wanted. Granted, you can't do donuts in it like a RWD but you can do some rear-out side slides.

[Kompresshun]

I disagree with MoD on the FWD statement. FWD is by far my favorite in the snow, aside from 4WD. I've never had a single issue at all with my sedans getting around with it and it handles all of the conditions i've ever dealt with just fine. Yeah you can't throw it around like a RWD and it may be true that you have less control, but i've never experienced it.

I think regardless of what wheels drive the car, it all comes down to tires and driver skill.

[frapjap]

It snowed a good 6-7 inches last night. While I was shoveling the driveway, the lady came home and I saw something interesting.
Her 2011 Legacy was having trouble in the deeper stuff- with brand new Bridgestone all seasons. When I looked up from what I was doing, I saw that only her front wheels were spinning, the rear were stationary. Weird. I told her to disengage the traction control (huh?) and then all 4 axles did their jobs and got her free with ease.
I found it odd that the traction control on her car had to be disengaged whereas on my '07 Legacy, (doesn't have any of those nannies aside from ABS), all 4 wheels spin fantastically to propel me out of any amount of snow that has been thrown at it so far. Personal best is 18 inches from last years "snowmageddon" storm Nemo.

[WDRacing]

Less wheels spinning for more traction aye? That is odd.

Speaking of traction control though, IMHO, it absolutely sucks in the snow. On my wifes Dart if it comes on it kills all power. I mean dead. So if you're going up hill you actually have to brake in order to not roll backwards. Once the RPMs come back down to 2000 or so power comes back, but until then...nothing. How is THAT a good idea? I told her to turn it off if she ever starts to get remotely stuck. But if your concentrating on driving and you have both hands on the wheel, trying to look down and find a button isn't a very good idea.

[audtatious]

Yeah, traction control with the RWD G's will bring it to a complete stop.

[Looneybomber]

4x4 FTW. Use 2wd until you need the extra traction, normally at intersections after coming to a stop.

[Heavy]

RWD alllllll the way. bought a set of almost new firestone winterforces off some guy for dirt cheap and it turned the LS into a monster. I do wish i had a LSD though, would really make it unstoppable. I drove a FWD car one winter back in 08... NEVER AGAIN

[float_6969]

I've been a proponent of good snow tires for years. I bought my first set of Blizzaks this year for my work truck. We are in the middle of getting 10+" of snow right now and when I was out making a service call on a spa earlier today they were unstoppable. I have a cheaper set on the MSP. They do much better than all-season's would, but after experiencing the Blizzak's on the work truck, the MSP will be getting a set of them for next winter.

[Jesda]

Here in the midwest we dont have many hills or curves so FWD is usually ideal.

Try and stop a Seville.










SUBARUS AND PICKUPS? LITTLE bishez.






-26F, several feet of snow in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas on interstates and obscure rural mountain roads that only 4x4 owners would dare traverse -- I've proven this car over and over as one of the greatest winter warriors ever built.


Honorable mention: 1990 Maxima

Dishonorable mention: 1998 Subaru Outback that constantly overheated despite new head gaskets, thermostat, radiator, and water pump. Was happy to dump that POS.

[poikaa]

More than 45 years I have been driving, learned to drive in the urban / suburban area of Flint Michigan but a Yooper most of the time. Until this year I drove mainly rear wheel drive and now own my first FWD Volvo S40 and soon to purchase my first 4x4 truck, a 1993 Nissan Hardbody. Drove many FWS and 4x4, even 6x6 but mostly RWD, sometimes with chains!
Not had much problem in Winter and just stayed out of the bad stuff. I still wonder how these Yoopers learned how to drive!? Not many Interstates up here! Plowed too much snow in a 4x4 and RWD dump truck with chains.
All this said it is RWD for me!

poikaa

[krash]

My 240 hasn't let me down yet. I'm on MoD's team with this one, well put. I've never had GOOD snow tires on my 240 and I haven't wrecked it in the snow yet. Its very intuitive and I'm comfortable with it.

FWD I'm not as familiar with so I'd prefer not to use it in the snow.

[OriginalWheelman]

Growing up in Buffalo I've done more than my share of driving in the snow. In fact, my first time driving on the road was during a driving ban. My friend had gotten his Grandfather's 4wd Tercel stuck, he walked home got me and his 2wd truck to help get it unstuck, and I drove it back.

Anyways, in my opinion, RWD / 4WD is best for snow. What we always did was put two good tires on the front wheels and if we had the money good tires on the back. Steering wheels need traction to guide the car and you can control the rear end through throttle. In a FWD, as soon as the front wheels lose traction, every hope of controlling the car is gone. In a RWD, you can still use throttle to influence the car. Even if it's not by a lot, it can make a difference. The only thing FWD is better at in the snow is taking off from a stop. This can be done gently in a RWD w/o problems, provided you aren't the type of driver who treats the gas pedal like the X button.

Yeah, traction control with the RWD G's will bring it to a complete stop.

My 91 Q45 tried to kill me one time. I had forgotten to turn the traction control off, which had to be done every time the ignition was turned on. I changed lanes when it was icy out, the traction control detected a little bit of wheel spin and at 50 mph on slightly icy road it decides to apply the brakes to the rear axle... So my wheels lock and the momentum I had made the tail slide out to the left I counter steered, but being unable to control the rear axle it slide back out right. It went back and forth so on the 2nd pass right I had to simply lock all 4 brakes and slide the car onto the shoulder.

[elwesso]

Basically with my Q45 I don't run into any issues unless it's heavy snow AND it's way above the frame rails (we're talking 12" or more). If it's less than that, or the snow is light, then there's no issues.. My Q has ABS, no TCS or any other things. IMO, having a car without traction control really makes you a lot more aware of what's going on, and you have a tendency to NOT over-drive the car. In other words, things like stability control and all that stuff give you sort of a false sense of security, so when you lose control you probably have no way of correcting it, even if you knew what you're doing.

I hate FWD, I always go into turns too fast and realize I can't steer with the rear wheels. I also think that FWD drivers have a tendency to drive too fast, because the car can get started easier, but it's not going to stop any easier.

Never driven AWD in the snow, would be nice, but IMO it's carrying around a lot of extra baggage for (in my area) about 2 months of the year.

[NolimitZ32]

Never met weather, terrain, or road that I could not conquer in my 2nd Gen 4Runner. Decent tires and you don't even need to switch to 4WD.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I hate FWD, I always go into turns too fast and realize I can't steer with the rear wheels.

Exactly. And that's not limited to just snow/wet/ice either. It's just the wrong balance, the wrong way for the car to behave.

[Bubba1]

Never met weather, terrain, or road that I could not conquer in my 2nd Gen 4Runner. Decent tires and you don't even need to switch to 4WD.

[Jesda]

I hate FWD, I always go into turns too fast and realize I can't steer with the rear wheels.

Slow down!