[Closed] Best car in the snow?

Renault 4 F6 van was amazing in the snow, went everywhere.

My Morris Minor with a bit of weight in the boot was always very entertaining. You went every where sideways but it always got you there.

And the Volvo Amazon, of course, just got you there.

My Fiat Panda 😀 even when it's sideways it doesn't take half the road up..
I actually enjoy driving it in the snow..

Subaru Impreza. My missus nicked it every time it snowed and didn't miss a single days work. I on the other hand had to risk life and limb biking it to work.

My Volvo V40 with winter tyres had no problems.

My 2005 Volvo XC70 with the standard Pirelli Scorpion STR tyres. Better dare I say it than my TD5 Defender with AT tyres.

1.8 diesel mk3 fiesta on castor wheels

What it wouldnt go up forwards it went up backwards

Including the parking field at the sda where the forestry ford ranger got stuck driving up beside me 🙂

mk3 clio diesel.

sub 800kg kerb weight and driven at idle. perfect.

Fiat Panda 4x4. Not one of the new ones either, a D reg in that nice beige/green colour.

Seat Leon TDI was great if driven carefully, current outlander needs traction control off lock the diff then boot it, amazing what it will do!

Porsche Boxster. The one the twonkhead was "driving" that caused me to get stuck the other month. *shakes fist*

I had a mk iv golf TDI that was surprisingly good in the snow.

A mate moved to Morzine, took his Discovery with him and struggled when the locals were fine. Swapped it for a Defender, same problem. Swapped that for a 1.2 Clio with winter tyres - sorted.

Thomthumb, you might want to be careful there, you seem to be missing around 300kg of parts 😉

This might sound mad but best snow car I have ever driven was a mk 2 Astra, beige 1.4 petrol.

Don't know why but could go anywhere in the snow. This was 20 years ago.

Pug 205 1.9d. Epic in the snow. Passed a police 4x4 that couldn't get up the climb at sandsend, and the only car u know that'll climb out if Staithes whatever the road is like. It was superb before the winter tyres, but now it's unreal.

It would've been the R4 my mum had when I'd just passed my test, except I've had a Jag X-Type AWD this winter - and its brill, even with 3/4 worn tyres.

Used to have an Alfasud. Nothing would stop it. Nothin I tells ya

Nissan Micra. The noddy car shape ones in 1.0 flavour.

Seat Leon TDI was great if driven carefully

My GF's petrol leon was surprisingly capable in the snow. Berlingos do quite well too. 1990s superminis - light, front wheel drive, narrow, small diameter wheels all do very well with the old shape micras being the last of those before small cars got fat.

You'd have a job to find a current model of any car not fitted with vanity wheels now though.

The r4was great, mainly because its tyres were narrower than bike tyres

speckledbob - Member
Used to have an Alfasud. Nothing would stop it. Nothin I tells ya

My Alfasud did not like standing water, due to flat 4 engine layout. Mind you, you'd never roll it.
Best car I have owned in the snow would be either my old Triumph Spitfire with the transverse rear spring rear wheels would really bite, or my old Lancia Fulvia Rally. Top car that

A year back I'd have said the wife's mk1 MX5 was good. Skinny tyres, and with a careful right foot it would go anywhere in anything, albeit sometimes sideways.
Now though, after a few trips out in the wife's old Jeep (2000, J series) I've got to say it is an absolute monster. Pretty much unstoppable.

Mk1 Clio diesel, it was like a tank, nothing stopped it no matter what I tried. Currently a bubble shaped Micra with m&s tyres is pretty good... But not as good as the Clio.

Tyres make more difference than the car.

Pirelli P7's not snow tyres at all, but got them on 2 different cars and they were amazing in the snow, could get up stuff 4x4's were struggling with.

Add to that and have faith in your cars stability control systems and you can drive around corners at near normal speeds !

My mates simca truck is quite good in the snow, we use it to drive the beaters and paying guns around the estate in shoot season, kinda similar to this one below but with much larger paddle tyres and all enclosed body in the rear, very good in the snow and can cope with 3ft snow drifts with ease, tax free/mot free as well and road legal as it's classed as an agricultural vehicle so it can be driven on the road.

Not exactly practical mind you 😉

[img] [/img]

Used to have an Alfasud. Nothing would stop it. Nothin I tells ya

You took and Alfa out when there's salt on the roads. Brave man 😯

[i]I had a mini pick up with Colway M&S tyres, it was damn near unstoppable.[/i]

I had one with studded tyres, that was unstoppable!

My ex Mrs had a Panda in the late 80's, I put some remould town & countries on & it was bloody good too.

Citroen ZX 1.9 TDi

Keep it just at the bottom of the turbo, turn in and correct on throttle (lovely under steer on the turbo kicking in) or hand brake (nice feel on he handbrake on that car).

And as for traction, well skinny tyres and an engine that weighed vastly more than the rest of the car meant it was still going when the front body work was an inch or two lower than the snow level.

My dearly departed V6 Pajero was the best in snow. In 4wd it was unstoppable, or for a laugh you could select RWD. 3.0 petrol V6, short wheel base and the power to the back wheels was fun.

Other than that, as I said in the other thread I never once got stuck in my mark 1 clio 1.2. It had no power, didn't weigh anything and had tiny wheels. Even crap tyres didn't stop it (when I was a student it was getting remoulds at £8 a wheel). More than once I'd be driving through the snow and hear on the radio that the road I was on was closed.

Another +1 mk 3 clio - we were sent to rescue the numpty cheshire 4x4 brigade in it few winters ago

Peugeot 406 estate with winter tyres. Magnificent!

V6 Toyota Highlander with winter tyres. AWD, nice bit of poke, but you can still unstick the rear if you waggle the wheel a bit before the traction control kicks in.

When I was in BC, I had a Ford Aerostar, 3.0 V6 auto and with a couple of sand bags over the rear axle, it was immense in the snow!

In fact, a great vehicle and wish I had it/one nowadays here in the UK, great as a van without the seats, 8 x 4 sheets were consumed with ease and took bikes, kayaks, tents and people at weekends.

My current X-Trail is pretty good.

My civic mugen m20 on 16" winter mud and snows. Drives around 4wd on the way up the shee / lecht etc every single weekend on the way to the ski hills......

Tyres are king, not the car or the number of wheels driven / diff lock, etc.....

Wasnt the zx front hand braked ? The zantia was .

Stupid car

Unknown , ive got a frontera with rwd and 2.2 turbo diesel engine

As you say swb and boot it into turbo range and itll go round the farm track corners at my house on opposite lock.

Definitely my old beetle.

I'm defining "best" as: generated most laughs.

Capri second.

Not a Mercedes a class. 🙁

Of the ones I've had Pug 306 1.9d, worst a Hyundai Trajet.
.
Landy 110 fantastic in deep snow, terrible on ice (too heavy to stop!)
.

Golf 4x4 with snow tyres. Whenever we go skiing and rent a car that's what I ask for.

I've caned up mountain passes in the alps and dolomites in these cars like it was mid summer with dry roads. Amazing grip.

My MK1 Escort was a right laugh in the snow.
Second was my Capri and third my Opel Manta.

Never ending sideways action, wish i still had my MK1 now 🙁

Capri is in bits in the back of a haulage yard's garage waiting to be rebuilt though.

Wife had a bashed up 1.0 Corsa poverty spec, regardless of how much you tried to recreate Colin McRae, because it was the lightest thing to push out and was already a bit biffed, it never ended up in a hedge and always got us places.
Most limiting fact for the MX5 that replaced it is clearance, front of the car becomes like a plough 'round here.
Our Land Rover sits on ZXL's, narrow, wide spaced, deep tyres, so you'll find us still towing firewood in bumper deep snow.
Tractor is a bit rubbish with wide tyres and torque, just doesn't seem to bite and is a bit disturbing with high centre of gravity.

2CV unstoppable 🙂

[i]Wasnt the zx front hand braked ? The zantia was . [/i]

Eh, are you sure?

I had a company one and the handbrake would slip as it used separate calipers and as the disc cooled it would lose its grip. Sure they were on the rear.

Top car though, 160k in 4 years.

my missus used to have one of these
[img] [/img]
we got snowed/iced in when she was doing fieldwork in devon one time

it was brilliant got us back into civilization no probs and we passed 3 or 4 crashed/ overturned cars too!

Looking around ski resorts, it would appear to be this;
[img] [/img]

The new ones look pretty awesome, too;
[img] [/img]

However, can I have one these, please?
[img] [/img]

E class Mercedes estates and Focii came out worst on the other thread, so what's the best car in the snow?

I'm going to disagree with the latter, I've accomplished some feats of stupidity in mine on summer tyres (admittedly rainexperts), front engine front wheel drive, what's not to like?

Our old A6 with M+S tyres. Now our Disco 2 with ATs on it.

I'm really impressed with my Octavia 4x4 especially on winter tyres.
[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8369/8399511026_3cc4254a09_b.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8369/8399511026_3cc4254a09_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/66452821@N00/8399511026/ ]Skoda 1, Army Truck 0[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/66452821@N00/ ]ritcheyp20[/url], on Flickr

Wor lasses Fabia proves that lightweight on skinny winter tyres is pretty unstoppable too.

I'm sure the Xantia is front handbrake as it allows the rear swingarm to move when you're altering the suspension height

The works Focus estates (RRV Paramedic) prove that winter tyres make a massive difference. With the weight in the boot, they're fairly useless in the snow

Never had much trouble getting about in my old mk1 Ka

Mini with skinny tyres.

Steer with the handbrake 🙂

Dacia Duster becoming popular in ski resorts.

ZX is conventional rear handbrake. Rear disc models, like many small cars with rear discs that are for hydraulic and mechanical brake, are terrible. b r - they are not separate calipers. Separate calipers like you get on bigger cars with a drum/disc (drum for handbrake, disc for hydraulics) don't have the slipping problem and the handbrake never really wears out if you only apply it when stationary.

Back on topic though...yes any car with winter tyres and job done.

But I have been impressed by Peugeot 106s in the snow. But that is just because they are a small light car with narrow tyres.

I'd like to pick up a Lada Niva for driving around in winter though. You can get them in Russia with the Peugeot 2 litre HDI engine as used in the 306 etc and you could get them with the old 1.9 turbo diesel. Stick a bosch pump on one of those and you can run it on straight veg for nice cheap running.

Any Saab I've ever owned - and there have been a few..........

My Mk IV Golf GTI seemed bizarrely good. It had many things that made you think it shouldn't be - low profile, wide tyres, low clearance, lots of power to only two wheels, but if you started off in 2nd or 3rd and were gentle, it would go almost anywhere - also behaved very well beyond the edges of traction too. That said, all my cars I've driven in anger in the snow (MkV Escort, late model 306 and a MkIII Mondeo) coped fine in hilly, snowy Snowdonia.

Worst, by a country mile, was a MkIII Focus hire car I picked up from the airport. That's the only car I've ever driven that got stuck, absolutely fast, on a flat piece of road (on my parents' street, en route to theirs to pick up a shovel for just such an eventuality!). It took three of us to shift it even after digging. ****ing awful.

Mrs Gti's diesel Citroen C1 was brilliant in snow as it has narrow tyres and the engine over the driving wheels. It's also quite short and has a sharp handbrake so does good handbrake turns. Fitted with winter tyres it was unstoppable.

Haven't had a chance to test her new Ibiza on snow yet but I've fitted Avon Ice Touring tyres and they look amazing.

I've got a 3.0 V6 Jaguar x-type saloon which is AWD, even with summer tyres on its brilliant in the snow.
Seem to remember watching an old Jeremy Clarkson programme where he raced one against a skier down a ski run so should be good!

Edit:

Impreza Turbo on winter tyres. Unstoppable until it was actually pushing quite a depth of snow with the front bumper. Fantastic handling in the snow too, totally stable off boost and then becomes the easiest thing in the world to drive sideways when it comes on boost. On summer tyres it did surprisingly well but it's ability to get moving was not supported by an ability to stop reliably 😯

I built my Ex 2xGolf mk2 Syncros for her winter stays in Meribel, fitted with snow tyres it was unstoppable even in bumper deep snow.

Never needed chains (Although she had them) in 8 winters spent living above 1400m.

As its FWD until it needs the extra traction, it still behaves "Safely" at the limit of grip.
My Audi 90 Quattro (On snow tyres again)that I was using, was arguably more fun as you could lock the centre and rear diff, but you could also get into a lot of trouble with it as well. it was still a big lump with a lot of inertia and wasnt so easy to bring back again once it all started getting out of shape.

This winter I`ve been driving a 130i BMW..... 265hp and rwd. snow tyres meant I never got stuck and had a lot of fun.

Narrow Winter tyres have higher ground pressure and are the key to progress.
Limited slip Diffs, 4wd etc only help traction once you have grip, that is only provided by those 4 tiny tyre contact patches....

Look at tyre sizes on wrc cars in finland, or Andros trophy Ice racers in France....... 400+hp and 0-100mph in 4 seconds on sheet ice

Tyre tread widths are typically in the region of 135mm....... less than any poverty model shopping trolley standard tyres

Thats why things like 2cvs , Renault 4s etc were so good, narrow tyres, higher contact pressure 😉

[url=

Trophy Val Thorens[/url]

I have a Peugeot 107 with skinny winter tyres, it is brilliant in the snow, much better than my Hyundai Santa-Fe 4x4

My Vito with winter tyres on is bloody good. But my cousin as a Impreza (nothing flash, little old ladies 2.0l est) with rally tyres off ebay.£500 car and tyres and insurance, unstoppable!

[img] [/img]My Mitsuibishi Colt 2006 1.1 saw me mobile with no issues through the winter of 09-10. Felt some uncharitable smugness as i passed a bufoon in his brand new Range Rover stuck over Glendevon in the Ochils.

My van (Trafic) wears winters all year round too, as it really is atrocious in the snow on normal tyres despite having all the weight directly over the front (Driven) wheels

+1 2CV unstoppable

Most fun I've had in the snow, left all the other cars.

I was the only car driving down the M4 slaloming along 🙂

My Landrover Defender TD5 on winter tyres. Unbelievable. I reckon I could get it up to the top of the first ski lift here.

Last week, we had a freeze/thaw spell and some horrendous ice formed around the resort. I parked my minibus up near the top of the resort, only to have it slide sideways (downhill) on ice into the car next to it.

I took the Defender up there, roped it up to the minibus, then pulled it sideways back up the hill to get it off the other car. Getting enough traction on the same ice that made the minibus slide in the first place!

mk1 fiesta was very good.
got a Zafira with winter tyres on now and nothing has stopped me for tha past 3 years.
As stated tyres are king, followed by a driver who is used to snow, the vehicle comes a distant last.