Snow vehicles

[Mumster]

T4T must have one of the world's largest collections of individuals who know how cars handle in blizzards. We are starting to think about replacing our cars, but I draw a blank about what type of vehicle would be best.
It needs to:
1. Handle like a charm on ice and in blizzards, deep snow.
2. Be powerful enough to easily zip past the Slow-Joes on narrow roads. (and fly on the highway)
3. Have an excellent safety rating, hold at least four easily,...
4. Good mileage would help.
5. Also, not to crumble apart at 50,000 miles - our current cars are 140,000 and 150,000 miles and still relaible.

Any thoughts on the ideal vehicle? :teardrop: :hummer:

[M@]

My advice has always been to save money on the car and buy the best snow tires you can find. Studs, long german names, anything you can think of.
The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road.The rest of the requirements are covered by volvo, only car I've ever owned.

[DMC]

My 98 Subaru Forester has 100,000 on it... It's a demon in the snow - gets good milage and has tons of room...

My 95 Ford Ranger has 170,000 miles on it... It can drive through/over anything... It's getting sketchy....

M@'s right... I've seen Hondas with good snowtires(and good drivers) blast through anything...

My next vehicle will be another Subaru Forester... I need room for a drumset and skiing equipment for me and my girl...

[skicdave]

I'm not the SUV type myself.

I can speak up for the PT Cruisers capabilities however in the snow (only has about 20,000km on it)...

http://campadk.com/pjsnoozer/images/ptandpjattuckermanravine.jpg

2 winters ago I owned a Pontiac Montana. Tested it out REAL good going up to Tremblant. We heard a HUGE storm was coming in overnight, the evening before we were going to drive to Tremblant. We got up about 4am and started out. About half way (2 hour drive under good conditions) we were driving on untracked snow and didn't dare stop or we would be stuck! We managed.. barely. A snowplow eventually showed up which was useful for about 30 minutes before the snow build up again.

Would have been nice to have owned a :hummer: ... well at least for a day.

On the bright side, anything will get you to Tucks in the spring, as long as you have brakes for those mountain passes.

PS. I won't divulge the route I took up to Tucks in our PT Cruiser. :p

[TheOctopus]

Our '97 Dodge Stratus gets the job done in the snow so well I'll dearly miss it when it dies some day (100K and still going strong).

I think the real keys to success are its ground clearance (very high), that it's got a manual transmission (cannot personally imagine driving anything else on snowy roads), and that we spared no expense on some really aggressively treaded tires (lots of highway noise at speed, but bomber grip).

I love that car. And I love that's it's probably got more off-road miles on it than the majority of SUVs added together....

[RaceFace Rider]

A Jeep is the thing on the road that takes me back to my abode. It is a '92 Cherokee and going pretty good at something over 200,000 miles. I am guessing since the odometer spent the majority of the summer broken and I did a lot of driving. Probably around 210,000 real miles, 198,000+- actually indicated. I think I can get another year out of it (probably putting me at 240-250k given my fairly stable history of driving 30-40k/year. 235/75 BFG's seem to have the right combination of wear-life and grip for my winter driving, as well as the occasional mild off-road adventure. I ran Pirelli's poor excuse for a truck tire - total crap. I don't bother with studs anymore. With a good amount of tread in the right pattern, I think you get about the same level of grip, it only really matters in getting you moving from a dead stop. Once you are moving, you no longer have a safe amount of grip on a slippery road, whether you are in an SUV or a Saturn. The only exception are those driving around on bald tread. They never have grip...

M@:
My advice has always been to save money on the car and buy the best snow tires you can find. Studs, long german names, anything you can think of.
The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road.The rest of the requirements are covered by volvo, only car I've ever owned.

[RR]

New England basically made Subaru what it is today. Crusty old Main farmers, my Essex County relatives, Burlington Yuppies...the entire spread is buying Subaru wagons. Them that ain't getting Subaru and has money gets a Volvo X-C wagon or an Audi Quattro wagon.

I've asked several Jag "X" type owners about their little cars and every one of them swears by it's winter and mud handling. My Wife wants one of those...it has a ski-passthrough w/sleeve. I am holding out for a hybrid Escape as my car...college payments first, then cars.

No matter what you get, MO is right. Tires are it..forget the "All Weather" tires in wintertime. Continental makes the "Super Contact" M&S tire and is my fave. After that comes Semperit M&S then Perelli M&S. All three come in the "T-rated" type (118 mph) and can be studded. Get that if you want to be comfortable at highway speeds on dry road. Still exellent in the muck, but no squishy/wandery feel at 60-85 MPH. The "H-rated" (130) snow tires mostly have too soft a compound and don't last. They do handle higher speeds, but even I don't drive like that when there's freezing water on the roads! Besides, studded tires should pretty much stay under 85MPH.

[DMC]

M@:

The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road.nice..

[DMC]

RR:
New England basically made Subaru what it is today. Crusty old Main farmers, my Essex County relatives, Burlington Yuppies...the entire spread is buying Subaru wagons. They need the wagons to cart the carved wooden bears and buckets of maple syrup around :)

Also - aren't Blizack tires really big in New England???? I have some friends that have them and swear by them...

[DRPHIDDLEPHOS]

i have a jeep grand cherokee "orivs edition" V8 big boy, there is no snow i can't handle, and as for :ma: suggestion, he is right on! haka's with the studds will get you anywhere you need to go...and i gotem!! this rig may be unpracticle for some (10.5 miles per gallon) but i could pull and airplane up to :pinkham: , which may come in handy when it is time to haul up the :beer: :beermug: :beer: we will realize our goal, to have a ragin kegger at the bottom of the headwall!!! as god is my whitness it will be so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :beer: :beermug: :beer: :beermug: :beer: hey where the hell is :saxaphone: man

[targheehucker]

this probably isnt what you are looking for but as far as go anywhere is concerned - jeep wrangler. I have been through snow 36" deep with it - no problemo - where my friends cherokee got stuck... all these snow cars handle great in crappy weather but when it comes to clearance and handling nothing beats the small wheelbase of a wrangler. Even when the snow is past its clearance level (36" for example was up to my door) it only sinks down 1-2 feet and thus can drive through it. The only time I have ever had to turn around was this May in Colorado trying to go through mosquito pass outside of leadville when the snow was still about 7 feet deep. Since it was slush and not new the car sunk more than normal and I couldnt get clearance
http://rci.rutgers.edu/~jcklena/DVC00016.JPG

[DMC]

Nice shot!!!!

Hey my band is playing the Turkey Farm again..
Sept 6th... During the afternoon... On the lawn..

[RR]

Wagons are great for sleeping, toting skis inside so road grime doesn't mess with them, and many more practical things.

Wraglers are great for "going", being there and trying to sleep in a Wrangler...not with my creaky self...Jeep used to make a sweet short bed pickup that was a tic over the Wrangler in length...pickups are cool.

[Mumster]

DMC:
Hey my band is playing the Turkey Farm again..
Sept 6th... During the afternoon... On the lawn.. DMC - Speaking of things that are irrelevant to the topic - what happened to your mountain bike race? Has it happened yet?

[DMC]

My band scheduled a fund raiser that day... :(
It's for a good cause...

It's a party after a Motorcycle run in Jersey/New York...

We're Biker Friendly...!

[Castlerock]

This is the car Audi S6 Avant(IMHO). Drives like a dream. 340hp V8.

Audi S6 web page (http://www.audiusa.com/model_home/0,,modelId-200311,00.html)

Four Hakkas and you can go anywhere on a road. If for some reason you need to go off road, look at the Allroad version. Personally, If I am off road, I'm having an accident. THe Audi AWD system is much more stable in snow than any other. The Station wagon format is much better balanced than any SUV.

[targheehucker]

DMC - Speaking of things that are irrelevant to the topic Larisons Turkey Farm is never off topic... Ill be in Flanders during the day DMC. I might be in the midst of a normal Notre Dame fall weekend bender but what the hell... Ill give it a go seeing as I have to drive 206 to New Brunswick for a party later in the night. Is this 3R appearance special or just a regular gig?

[DMC]

Our bass player lives in Chester and got us the gig.... The only regular gigs we play anymore is up at Hunter Mountain...

[snowmonger]

It's a toss up between Volvo and Subaru.

[RR]

If you can swing it, the A6 wagon, even the plain Quattro version is a sweet ride. Castlerock is right on about the Avant...if you have to have a stealth getaway vehicle, there it is!

[kmrnskier]

I bought a new 4Runner late winter/early spring, love it so far. Only drove in the snow once, it did great. However, I agree with ?M@ re: tires - I really want to get a set of snow tires, but $$$$ - must do overtime!!!! By the way - it has a "GOT SNOW?" sticker on the back - am I corny or what????

[rollinroc]

I second (or third) the Avant, if you can swing it.

[NHski]

I was thinking about this craz on wagon/suv types and who started it all. Subaru's have been around for a while, but how about the AMC Eagle. Now that vehicle rocked!

[Castlerock]

By the way, the Passat 4Motion (preferrably the W8 w/sport package) is an admirable choice as well. Less cachet than the Audi but a lot of common parts and similar feel

If you feel you want the SUV thing, but really dont need space for more than 5, check out the VW Touareg. Looks like a SUV in a Tuxedo. I think it is gorgeous and the auto magazines are drooling over it.

And finally my last reccomendation, If you need to seat more than 5 at times, look at the Honda Pilot. We have one of those along with the aforementioned S6. It can haul most of a baseball team. (I coach when there is no snow!)

[BladeGirl]

And of course its not just the car, but how you drive it. Heading up to Cannon on I-93 the sides of the road are often filled with SUVs the last 50 miles or so that their owners could not control. One day I saw 6 of them en route! For myself I drive an Acura Integra, which is *not* a great snow car and would probably benefit from snow tires rather than the all weathers I have on it now.

-BG

[Jolly J]

I once pulled a Ford Expedition off a snow bank with my Jeep. It must have been quite the sight to see this transport truck sized vehicle being pulled out by a little Jeep. As I looked in my rear view I noticed only the back tires spinning. I told the lady next time your in a snow storm put it in 4WD. She didn't have a clue. I love people who "invest" in vehicles for status and don't have a clue with what they have.

[elwood]

kmrnskier:
I bought a new 4Runner late winter/early spring, love it so far. Only drove in the snow once, it did great. However, I agree with ?M@ re: tires - I really want to get a set of snow tires, but $$$$ - must do overtime!!!! By the way - it has a "GOT SNOW?" sticker on the back - am I corny or what???? You're not corny... I have a summer sucks sticker on mine!

[Mumster]

Jolly J:
I love people who "invest" in vehicles for status and don't have a clue with what they have. JollyJ: You describe my next door neighbors. They have four SUV-type vehicles -> the most rugged thing they do is drive to the manicurist.

[DMC]

Other than the obligatory - pull me over I'm a Deadhead Steal Your Face sticker...

I have a TUX sticker and a sticker that says "If it's snowin - I'm goin"