Slipperyness - What will you be driving this winter?

[cms206]

Mondeo has silly wide tyres, so probably walking. The Focus was bugger all use last year but I had the Cavalier which went everywhere quite happily in the snow without so much as a slide.

 

So... Cavalier back on the road, buy another Cavalier (nice battered 2.0GLi saloon on ebay with test til Sept 2011...) or dig my mate's Yugo 65 out his driveway and steal it instead if the fecker'll ever run...

[richardthestag]

This again

 

 

Brilliant in the snow, nothing stopped it apart from roads blocked with wycombe massive in their clios.

 

The only problem was being called on continually to drag neighbours cars home, fetching and carrying kids and rescuing parents in law who went our for a nice drive

[scooters]

last year I had a Shitetrak and a Shogun, both now in the Scottish Borders Museum of Agricultural Motoring Jap Shite (Aka Whitevan Man's drive)

 

this year I have got organised early and have bought a cold weather model 240 - an L reg 240 Torslanda Estate it came with a set of unused snow chains in the boot

[catsinthewelder]

I take it your 126 is a bit far gone for winter fun? Cos that would be AWESUMZ

 

I shall mostly be falling off my bicycle and travelling sideways in this

 

Glad to hear that Dollywobbler rates the BX just in case I need to get anywhere though

[cms206]

I take it your 126 is a bit far gone for winter fun? Cos that would be AWESUMZ

 

126 hasn't been on the road since 1997, still very much an ongoing thing... need to actually get better pics of it...

 

I shall mostly be falling off my bicycle and travelling sideways in this

 

Always wanted one of those little things... at 6ft 3in and about 16 stone I reckon it'd be a riot...

[catsinthewelder]

I'm 6'4" but skinny and its great fun as a work hack

[Vin]

I'll be using the Brava during the week, but when conditions get bad I'll use either of these two, which are taxed and MOT'd as I use them at weekends. They also have winter tyres.

 

The 750

 

 

and the 4x4

 

[OwdChina]

This. 4x4,diff lock and snow tyres, usually with half a ton of crap in the back.......unstopable

 

 

Kev.

[Pete-M]

As the SD1 will be gone shortly, I'm gonna be on the lookout for a winter hack. The Jag is gonna be utterly shite on snow (if we get any) and I want to get the bodywork sorted for spring so it'd be a good idea to find a winter hack.

 

Best thing I've experienced on snow was my mates Sierra 4x4 estate on winter tyres. That thing is pretty much unstoppable.

 

My Integrale 16v was a riot on snow.. Didn't like stopping, but it went well.

 

The A6 quattro didn't seem to notice the snow, but no good for sideways fun. Thing just kept telling me to behave.

[garethj]

The A6 quattro didn't seem to notice the snow, but no good for sideways fun. Thing just kept telling me to behave.

A friend of mine has an A6 quattro V8 and it was pretty good on snow. Until he turned off the traction control and thought he was Ari Vatanen.

 

The word FAIL is too small to cover a buckled alloy, dented rear wing, smashed tail light, broken bumper and tailgate knocked out of alignment, straining the hinges.

[Gompo]

I theoretically dont need to drive anywhere, apart from at work when at times I will drive a Sprinter or one of our assorted fleetshite - not of which would be particularly bad in the snow.

 

On the few fine days last winter I took my Integra out, if the weather was crap and I wanted to go anywhere I'd use my Mum's Aygo, which coped very well.

[red5]

Frontera image

 

This mostly. I fully expect my average speed to work to rise slightly in the snow.

 

Selectable 4x4 off roaders are fuck awful in the snow on public roads at regular speeds, it's often safer to leave them in 2WD due to the extreme understeer.

 

Indeed. Especially ones with no centre diff. Which is ace for real off-roading, but not for the Plastic offroader brigade. Used 4wd H twice so far, both times on ploughed field type terrain.

 

The speed thing was a reference to the Fronterrors glacier like speed normally...

[oldford]

Sierra for me, the same as last year:

 

 

it was good with the heated seats and should be better this year with the new heated windscreen and washers.

 

I learnt last year that half a tank of fuel and 40Kg of coal in the boot help you park better on a hill, especially after you've burnt the coal and used the ashes for grit.

[eddyramrod]

I theoretically dont need to drive anywhere, apart from at work when at times I will drive a Sprinter or one of our assorted fleetshite - not of which would be particularly bad in the snow.

 

When I eventually stop laughing... an empty Sprinter is one of the worst possible things you can be driving in snow! As is any empty van really, but especially those with RWD, and I speak as a confirmed fan of that layout! I remember what Murray Walker used to call "a big moment" several years ago in a nearly-new twin-wheel Iveco Turbo Daily with just a couple of empty pallets in the back: trust me, all you need is the slightest country-lane bend and the merest hint of ice, and she's away, nose into the hedge. And there hasn't been a Sprinter built yet that's 1% as good as a Turbo Daily, so tread very lightly if you get hostile weather.

[Pillock]

I managed to get a million-mile ratty hire Sprinter's arse out in the dry, so I'd imagine in the snow it to be about as futile as a very futile thing. I certainly wouldn't look on it as fun......

[M'coli]

I'll probably be on the bike again (it takes less time to clear the snow off of it) or the Cavalier.

 

However, I have a theory that for ordinary, fuckwitted, marketing-susceptible punters, the 4WD thing means that they're actually more dangerous in the snow than with 2WD. Think about it: with 2wd, there are only 2 wheels that get you up to a speed, and 4 that should allow you to slow down from that speed, so the limiting factor is traction - so you can stop on a steeper hill than you can climb. With 4wd, you can climb as steep a hill as you can stop on, except that you think that your 4wd vehicle can work miracles because you've been told it's superior,and so you expect that you can still drive as normal... Thump!

 

It's the same with ABS - it doesn't mean that the car will stop on snow and ice in the same distance as when it's wet (or dry).

[red5]

I guess so. We are fairly rural here, so a lot of people have 4wd vehicles because you need one generally. We have our fair share of Chelsea tractors on the school/shopping run mind.

[catsinthewelder]

A few years back I was caught out by some heavy snow and had to abandon my Megane at the roadside on a long straight section of road with hills at either end (155/65/15 alloys ). Built up a bit of good karma pushing other peoples cars about and managed to score a lift home in the boot of a Discovery.

 

Next morning, I hitched a lift back out with the local butcher just in time to watch a guy get very sideways avoiding my car with a Frontera. Hopped out, thanked the butcher, crossed my fingers and fired up the Renault. Found the Frontera in a ditch a couple of miles nearer home. Stopped to check he was ok and ended up giving him a lift into the village to find a tow.

 

Turns out he'd borrowed it off a mate, I thought the mate was a bit of a cock to lend him a shed with 3 properly bald tyres in those conditions

[Justin Case]

I will be driving Mrs A's Almera, as it is now the oldest and narrowest-tyred member of the fleet. She doesn't know it yet though

[Mike D]

I can see me failing miserably this winter, got either the E320 or the 928

[garycox]

I'll be using this

 

 

I've not had it long, but hopefully it'll be better than the Transit I had last year... I shouldn't have to drive too much anyway.

[Cavcraft]

Meh, I'll just drive whatever I've got and go even slower than normal. It''s not too bad round here for hills and shit and generally if I take my time and use major roads it should be o.k.

Can't see me using the scooter much though, far too cold for an old fart to be on one of those!

[shite_meister]

I'll be driving these:

 

4.0 litres of pure shit-your-pants 'is that the rear trying to kick out in the dry?' testosterone, should make the drive to work more interesting

 

As well as my Lexus LS400, good job I've just fitted some 255 section tyres on my new 18" wheels

 

I'll also alternate between those and my two BMW E30s and my Volkswagen T25 van, good job that they're all rear wheel drive eh?

[gurnsimps]

this but this Year I have some proper m+s tyres because its a bit uncontrolable on the wide tarmac tyres!

[eddyramrod]

my Volkswagen T25 van, good job that they're all rear wheel drive eh?

 

I was about to say what a good choice the VW would be, until I remembered how I managed to lock one up at town speeds on an icy day.... slid straight out of a one-way back street, straight across a side street where I should have given-way, and some distance into the next block of back street. Old bloke in the Polo coming down almost had a kitten!

[Gompo]

I theoretically dont need to drive anywhere, apart from at work when at times I will drive a Sprinter or one of our assorted fleetshite - not of which would be particularly bad in the snow.

 

When I eventually stop laughing... an empty Sprinter is one of the worst possible things you can be driving in snow! As is any empty van really, but especially those with RWD, and I speak as a confirmed fan of that layout! I remember what Murray Walker used to call "a big moment" several years ago in a nearly-new twin-wheel Iveco Turbo Daily with just a couple of empty pallets in the back: trust me, all you need is the slightest country-lane bend and the merest hint of ice, and she's away, nose into the hedge. And there hasn't been a Sprinter built yet that's 1% as good as a Turbo Daily, so tread very lightly if you get hostile weather.

 

They managed well enough last year in the snow and the years previous, I'm well aware of traction issues at times having driven Sprinters on/off for the past 7 years very often in muddy fields and the like. Sometimes getting stuck obviously. However, they're all LWB vans, and will always be loaded to some extent so have some weight to them, with narrow high profile tyres which helps. Their handling is also quite predictable. So yeah, I'm ok with driving them in the snow - just take my time and not do anything stupid.

 

A contractor who works for us has a Sprinter flatbed which when empty does struggle more-so than the vans, has more car like tyres on it too I believe.

[CIH]

I "retired" my S12 to it's lock-up last november as it was terrifiying even in the best conditions so rocked winter in a bluey;

 

 

Did okay, despite the 195 tyres.

[theorganist]

I will be driving this, and maybe another Austin Maxi if I have it on the road:

 

 

And probably using one of these to get to work!!

 

[Albert Ross]

As long as we don't get the "wrong kind of snow" eh!

[Andrew353w]

I'll be out and about in "Sid" the Citroen!

 

 

Went out to pick up a few sacks of coal in it a day or so ago; it was a 60 kg load (3 x 20 kg bags) and the watching the Citroen's suspension adjust was amazing! The back end of the car went down and up in about 3 seconds and didn't look "back heavy" as the Skoda always did when on the same errand. I didn't notice the weight and the car was as smooth as ever! Like the idea of carrying some ash and clinker in the back in a bag in the boot just in case, though!

 

The little Daf cars have an amazing ability to get through snow, although they don't quite look the part. An air-cooled engine can't freeze and the variomatic system acts as a limited-slip differential; if one tyre catches on snow and lacks grip, it moves up to a higher ratio, and the other tyre goes into a lower ratio. I remember driving to Birmingham in a humble 33 many years ago and romping past loads of bigger more substantial cars-ha ha ha!