The girlfriend now drives a pretty twisty section of road to work which typically gets affected adversley by snow, about 20 miles all in. She plans to replace her car this year and we’re trying to decide whether a 4×4 is really neccessary or whether snow tyres on a 2 wheel drive car would be sufficient? Any real life experiences?

Is the real question What car for driving over other stuck cars ?

2wd with snow tires is good on iced roads esp as typically they weigh alot less than 4x4s but come unstuck due to ground clearance ime

4x4s( unless your talking about faux by faux cars) really need to take it easy in the twistys and under breaking due to the weight and high cog

Key to remember is youll move forward easier in 4×4 but its still the same two wheels doing the steering the same 4 doing the braking as youndo in a 2wd car.

And finally , if you dont know how tomuse a 4×4 properly it can just make it more difficult to be rescued, you need to undersand their limitations.

I’ve both a 4*4 and a normal front wheel drive car, both have winter tyres on during the darker months of the year.

The advantage of the 4*4 is that it is capable of climbing the very steep hill to my house, whilst the 2wd can’t, other than that both are fine for driving in the snow.

However I’d take the 4*4 everyday if it came down to feeling more secure.

If you need a 4×4 and a small commuter then a Panda is worth looking at

Winter M&S tyres make a huge difference on both regular an 4×4

Worth thinking about the car if its got big wide tyres and you stick M&S on it it will be out performed by a standard panda on skinny M&S tyres when it gets really bad

Having used winter tyres (well, four season tyre, actually) for the first time last year, I can’t see a need for a 4×4 for most people. There might be occasions where the extra ground clearance of a proper 4×4 would be an advantage, but when the snow gets much above the bumpers, 4×4 will struggle anyway. As has been said, when it comes to braking, winter tyres on 2wd will stop quicker than 4×4 on summer tyres.

Yip pandas are fun so are those suzuki jimny things .
Get her on one of those off road courses ..
Then if the snow comes its water off a ducks back

Pick an audi of the size you like.

Buy the Quattro variant.

Stick snow tyres on in winter.

Sorted.

One of the car websites did a test. 4×4 with all season tires vs a front wheel drive with snow tires.
The 2wd car left the other fro deal in all situations.

I think it was autocar or auto express.

Edit- found the link

[video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mfuE00qdhLA[/video]

Is that the video equivalent of “caution fire is hot” sign ?

4×4 has advantage of better ground clearance if you live somewhere rural where you get drifting snow, but they do have plenty of disadvantages (economy, stopping distance in snow/ice on normal tyres).

If you don’t need ground clearance then my choice would be a 4×4 variant of a car fitted with winter tyres. The new Skoda Octavia 4×4 diesel gets nearly 70mpg I think 😯

4×4 with winter tyres?

Seems obvious…

Qashqai, 2wd, winters.

shifter – Member
Qashqai, 2wd, winters.

What advantage would that have over a normal car? I just don’t get it – higher COG, worse handling, worse economy and no 4×4. I guess you could argue that you’ve got marginally increased ground clearance, but if the snow is that deep then it’s not much use without 4×4.

Qashqui its the new people carrier isnt it . When i see middle aged men driving them i just know that their wife picked the car. A little bit of them dies each time they are seen in it.

I drive a scooby legacy with M&S tyres – which is great.

But when I lived in rural Canada and we had snow on the ground and roads (no tarmac) for 6 months a year – most people thought snow tyres more important than 4×4.

So if you have to choose fwd with snow tyres or 4×4 without – I’d take the former

My transporter on continental summer tyres gets stuck on (laughably) slight muddy inclines. It’s useless. (or rather the tyres are).
Same vehicle with winter tyres can hare around snow covered roads in Sweden and be the large taxi of choice.

No need for 4×4 unless you’re tackling steep inclines.

4WD *only* helps with acceleration (or keeping the car moving/getting up hills). It doesn’t help with braking or corners, so given the choice, I’d go with 2WD with winter tyres. Carry some snow chains and you’ll be able to keep moving up to the point that the road is blocked with cars that can’t…

I’d say get the 2wd you want – and winter tyres for the winter :). Don’t compromise the 50 weeks a year for the sake of the 2 weeks, especially when 2wd and winter tyres are most likely good enough.

This was my commute last spring – until the farmer ploughs you’re not getting through in any car 4×4 or 2wd anyway. It involves some 1-in-10 gradients and plenty of drifting snow. The car is a Honda Civic Type-R – abysmal in the snow on summer tyres but quite fine with the winters on.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku6-ZBF8ips[/video]

The 2wd car left the other fro deal in all situations.(I presume you mean: The 2wd car left the other for dead in all situations 🙂 )

Except that the 4WD with winter tyres was way better than the 2WD with winter tyres as it got all the way to the top and with summer tyres they admitted it never actually got out of 2WD mode.

I used to drive a Range Rover Sport. With summer tyres on it was useless, the wide alloys acted like skis and the weight meant it was prone to slid about. I then fitted M&S tyres which made a huge difference.
Wife drives a Seat Altea with M&S set up for winter. Her Altea was more sure footed than the RRS.
I now drive a Audi Quattro with M&S set up for winter, but it’s the tyres that make the biggest difference

Well done Dashed, increased clearance is exactly what I meant. The only thing that caused me bother in recent winters on summer low profiles was clearance.

Trailrat you have some odd ideas. You KNOW who chose whose car but think a Quashqai is a people carrier?

And – wooooosh right over your head.

The qashqai seems to be the invogue default for school run mums around here . It used to be the people carrier.

The problem with 4×4 is that you have to pay for it up front and carry it around the rest of the year where it saps fuel. And possibly pay hugely if it goes wrong.

Winters on 2WD need not cost you any fuel at all, and doesn’t cost you in tyres either in the long run because each set lasts twice as long.

As above if you have a foot or more of snow to deal with then the ground clearance is important. There are ‘normal’ cars with 4×4 that are a little higher up which might suit. The problem with off-roaders is the size costs you loads of fuel due to air resistance.

The girlfriend now drives a pretty twisty section of road to work which typically gets affected adversley by snow

Google maps link to the road?

My next door neighbour has a RR Sport. He could not get up the (steep) hill to our houses last January due to snow.

My wife strolled up serenely in her Grand Scenic with snowsocks on.

The third way.

Never run 4×4 on road in the UK, never run winter tyres. Been stuck 3 times due to my own stupidity, got my self out too. Knowing how to drive what to carry and what to do is as important if not more so than what your in. Also knowing when to stay at home, gone are the days of getting a pat on the back for being the brave idiot who made the tough journey to get to work, most sensible employers would rather you stayed at home than risk too much (and then consider where you live)

Knowing how to drive what to carry and what to do is as important if not more so than what your in.

No it’s not. If you’ve never driven winters you don’t know what you’re missing! Why struggle with the wrong equippment?

I’m not talking about getting to work either, I’m talking about going out for the day.

My next door neighbour has a RR Sport. He could not get up the (steep) hill to our houses last January due to snow.

Not quite true is it ? He stuggled due to satelite dish wheels with rubber band summer tires ill bet . Rr sport on winters wont struggle due to snow.

Not talking about struggling with the wrong equipment, driving in snow and ice is completely different, it’s unpredictable, there are idiots out there, what looks like drivable could be a bank of snow. Going out with a magic pill of winter tyres or 4 wheel spin doesn’t really help. Knowing some basics like how to get a car out when it’s stuck and all wheels spinning are much more important.

Thanks for the woosh Trailrat, and the further two sentences to explain what you actually meant!

Going out with a magic pill of winter tyres or 4 wheel spin doesn’t really help.

It really does.

Google maps link to the road?

The section of road is the A6 between Buxton and Bakewell:

Streetmap link

It’s a fairly twisty section of road with some exposed streep sections towards Bakewell.

I drive one of these in Austria

http://www.dacia.co.uk/vehicles/duster/

My girlfriend drives a 12 month old Disco. She spent a whole load more than me and they basically do the same job. Granted hers is a nicer environment to be in but for that money you would hope so.

Both 4wd. I bought mine with a decent spec, 2 years old for 8.500 Euros.
It’s a fantastic little thing for the money.
It has never failed to get to the small Gasthouses/Resorts in the middle of norhwhere.

We had a 2wd Mondeo estate with winter tyres and it was great and managed snow and ice no problem, only limited by ground clearance.

Switched that for an Octavia 4×4 estate with standard tyres and it was terrible. Traction to drive, but no cornering and no braking. Now we have winter tyres on that and I am sure it will be excellent… but we haven’t had a big dump to test 🙂

4wd in snow without winter tyres = pointless.

Fwd with winters. I’ve got the Octavia 4×4 and it’s not bad on summers, but brilliant on winters. The fwd cars that I’ve driven at work and wor lasses car on winters, would beat the Octavia on summers

Skoda 1, Army Truck 0 by ritcheyp20, on Flickr

I’ve had 3 Audi quattro’s, a Range Rover and a Jeep Cherokee, and I will always choose winter tyres over all wheel drive. Even my old 3 series Touring was good on snow with Michelin Alpin winters fitted.
I’m currently running Toyo Snowproxes on our S-Max, and cheap Goodrides (fnar) on my Saab 9-5. I wouldn’t normally have gone for cheapo winter tyres, but I got them FOC from a work mate.

Throughout the winter months its a legal requirement to have winter tyres on your car in Austria.
If you crash and kill someone without them you will be in prison for murder.

Fiat Panda Trekking, best of both worlds.

Surely, if you are taking your partners safety seriously you need the Mercedes 6×6 G wagon from last nights TopGear!

We’ve got a FWD diesel estate with winters and a freelander with winters.

Not tried the latter in snow yet but we bought it as we need something that can go off road occasionally (we have sheep).

For normal roads the FWD with winter tyres is absolutely fine and is a lot more economical. Only time I have had trouble was trying to get up this hill when the road was completely covered in ice: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.109138,-2.394863,3a,75y,60.87h,79.33t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s9YvjAChBsziJedjvri6VoQ!2e0

took 3 attempts as people kept coming down and it was too steep to start off in 2nd but 1st had too much torque. Gameskeeper we were meeting drove a 4×4 wondered how we had got up there.

Although it’s been said a million times above, I’ll say it again – winters over non-winter 4WD.

The tyres are the only bits touching the road so no matter what the car has in terms of fancy electronics or mechanicals, if the tyre is slipping, it’s slipping. Winter tyres make an absolutely huge difference on icy and snowy roads and you’d feel the benefits more than 4WD. And as others have said, you can put summers on the rest of the time and not be lugging round a huge 4WD system you don’t need.