Not another winter car thread!

[babymog]

I don't agree that "4wd doesn't do squat on the ice". It gives you twice as much acceleration, that simple.

I do agree that four ice tires on a 2WD will out-accelerate, out-brake, and out-handle a 4WD with regular M+S tires, by quite a margin on ice and packed snow.

[Hatterasguy]

AWD is pointless if the tires are performance, like on most cars these days. My uncles E350 has freaken performance non snow rated tires on it! That thing is just going to sit their spinning all 4 wheels in the snow. They come like that from the factory, I guess everyone wants to be an F1 driver.


I remember last year watching my friends, brother in law fail to get up his driveway in his new A4. Quattro is great all 4 wheels spun perfectly...as the car was sliding backwards...on frozen 19in summer performance tires...

[DubMutant]

I used Blizzak Studless Winter tires for 13 years every winter on my 96 Jetta. I NEVER NEVER got stuck , and I was a ski bum for many years in NE before I got a "real" job!
Instead of the factory size 195/65/14, I went with a 185/70/14 winter size to get higher clearance, a larger weight to surface ratio on the pavement/snow.
Any winter tire corners like poo anyhow so I wasn't really loosing "performance" on snow, just compromising a little body roll on dry days. I still drove like I stole it most of the time on those tires tho!
Good thing I've got a new-ish set to go on the 300D. I decided to up the size of the tires to 205/65/14 the last time I purchased snows 3 years ago because I knew I was dumping the Jetta for the 300D, so those are just waiting to go on now.
I have a set of chains in the trunk just in case the 300D gets stuck..it will be an interesting winter with this car.

Anyhow, I'd totally buy a MK3 Jetta for a winter beater, I'm kicking myself for dumping it now. Only get a 5-speed, those 4 speed auto trannies are jelly.

[babymog]

Been there. Got caught in snow with the Pirelli P-zeros on the quattro, like I had racing slicks.

But with the Hakks on the winter rims, ... damn thing'll climb trees. I've driven into hood-high snow to pull out a 4x4 chevy truck once. Love winter tires.

[asnowsquall]

May pick up some blizzaks (4). They are on some other rims but they are low mileage and price....

[81300sd]

Hey are you guys sure that "red rock" isn't just regular sand with beet pulp added? Sounds like it. Its the newest thing in deicer around the northwest, cheap, works well, locally produced, and doesn't degrade our cars and bridges like salt or deicer does.

[DieselClack]

I would get almost anything for winter driving and put my beloved Mercedes Benz's in the garage for the winter! I would be too concerned that some ding dong will lose control and plow into me and total out my cars! A front wheel drive VW Jetta, Golf or something, especially diesel will give superb performance in winter snow and ice driving! Heavy front end that gets better traction than most and even better than some 4X4's.

[LUVMBDiesels]

The most important thing are the tires. I put Blizzaks on the 300SD and never had an issue. I did leave it home and drive the Suburban if it was real bad.

If you're looking to go up into the mountains why not look for a cheap Jeep CJ?

I have had two Subbies 1992 Legacy and a 2000 Outback. Both were Excellent snow and ice cars. The only drawback was the low ground clearance of the Legacy. I could not go down by cousin's driveway one Christmas until they broke through the drifts with their F150. My brother in Wisconsin managed to get all four wheels on his Legacy off the ground when he got stuck on a snow drift. Luck I was there with a rented Suzuki Samurai to pull him off. D'oh