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Wife TT with 19" alloys is rather crap
The Scandanavian flick. 😆
My mates 320d M Sport has been sat at the bottom of the hill near his house for nearly 2 weeks, it just doesn't work at all in ice/snow.
On the other hand my Mondeo TdCi 140 is pretty much ok if you're mega careful with the go pedal and brakes
mazda bongo 2.5tdi rwd auto with 17x235s, 😆 its a sledge
Saw a very brave/daft/desparate guy 'riding' a motorbike last Tuesday near Dalton, feet on floor,very slowly...........accident waiting to happen given the conditions then ......
Fiat Punto, terrible, tried going up a steepish hill this morning, it only got halfway up before losing traction.
Went back later with my rwd Iveco Daily with M&S tyres, cruised straight to the stop and could still accelerate on the steepest bit...from the tyre prints I was the first vehicle that had made it up 🙂
I live on a hill, and I'm still stunned by the number of people who try to get up the hill by gunning the engine, needless to say they only get about 50 metres before getting stuck. Everyone with a light foot who understands they need to ease off at the merest hint of wheelspin can get up 🙂
My RX8 with RE40 tyres trumps all of you. It has trouble gripping in rain let alone snow/ice.
mazda bongo 2.5tdi rwd auto with 17x235s, its a sledge
I've been pleasantly surprised by my Bongo - 4WD one though - First time I've driven an auto in the snow. Not the nightmare I thought it would be. Quite the opposite in fact. Running on 215/55/17/96 Pirelli P7's
so I blip the throttle and the back end wags. They soon back off.
This has been an amusing side effect of driving Mrs North's MX5 (now that I can complete a three point turn to get it out of our street).
My general view of RWD cars (and especially light ones like the MX5) is that one use the throttle gently and only ever in a straight line. And, if the back end starts to wag, concentrate on the steering and it will straighten up.
But a nice icy car park would be a laugh....
Our neighbour has a Toyota MR2, that thing is dreadful! I reckon she's parked into hedges backwards about 4 times this last two years she's owned it.
I noticed last night that she hadn't been out since Tuesday so went over and asked if she wanted to borrow our Rav4 so she could get to the shops and back, we live 8 miles from anywhere so me and the wife reckoned she could be getting pretty low on stuff.
Anyway she's just back from the shops and has dropped my car back with a few bottles of Leffe for this evening, bonus.
Brother in laws missus has a new MX5, It's not so much the weight but the mid engine design, there is no weight on any of the wheels, same for MG,s 911' s2000's etc etc.
I'm in an S reg corsa 1.3, yet to be totally stuck and if I do start sliding down my road I just steer into the banks, it's only worth about £50. Definitely the way forward, cars you don't care about .
I live on a steep hill in the cotswolds, I agree with the revving thing, people don't have a clue when it comes to snow.
For the last 16+ years, I've lived at the top of a steep hill.
I've had 5 rear wheel drive cars & during snowy conditions I found ( through trial & error), that placing heavy loads directly over the drive wheels ( and I do mean directly sat over the drive wheels), seem to help greatly with traction. Things like 4 or 5 bags of sand.
Admittedly dosen't really help with steering,or coming down hills but at least you can get usually get up them.
You still have to be 'sensitive' with the clutch, throttle, brake & steering, but it helped.
Chris
Reminds me of going down a street doing lock to lock in my old MX5......got to towards the end and sailed straight on....!
Incidently I drove past it today, the woman who bought it after me lives down my road!) and its now in Trafford Ford up for sale......I am tempted to become its 2nd and 4th owner.
there is no weight on any of the wheels
Cool! A floating car!
Hora wrote,
"I've only noticed a handful of motorbikes over the past two weeks- all have had L plates on. Funny that."
I'd still be riding if I had my old 125cc... Skinny tyres, no power, hardly any weight and very low centre of gravity. All these things usually made it rubbish 
My old Avensis estate, which is hugely boring and uninteresting but practical for the bikes has been great - even when sliding up the hills in second gear for a laugh. Which is much more than can be said for the road gritting in Tunbridge Wells - useless local council.
RX8!! Mate has one and EVERY day without fail at work we've spent 50 odd minutes digging and pushing him out of the park and ride! got a lift in the back on slightly slushy roads... whoop slip and slide back adn forth felt awful! My 1.2 Skoda fabia has been brilliant in this weather no problems at all!
my Zonda is struggling a little in the snow at the moment
My mom has a Nissan Serena, rwd but got her a set of Kenda winter tyres. It's loads of fun in the snow and can do nice slides. But winter tyres are a must back home as the snow there stays for longer.
Best winter car was my mums old Vento with 13" 165mm wide winter tyres. Dirt cheap to buy and it just went through everything, never got stuck. Narrow tyres are the way to go, my uncle used to have a house on top of a hill and while his neighbour left his XJ and 4motion Passat on the main road and walked up, my uncle was able to drive easily in his Kangoo with narrow winter tyres and also drive down but didn't lock the wheels just left it in 1st and rolled down slowly.
The thing is this is my 5th winter here and it's the only time I saw snow for longer than couple of days so wouldn't be able to justify buying winter tyres as next winter might not be as white. I don't have a car anyway and if it snows I just take the mtb out and the road bike stays home 🙂 You can easily get 4 winter tyres for under £100. This winter probably surprised the council because previously if the temperature was going near 0 Celsius the gritters were already spreading on the road and roads were well maintained. But the amount of snow in such a short time was a bit of surprise. But it's +4 in Edinburgh now.
Bruk - my mum has an MX5 and the old man stuck 3 concrete breeze blocks in the boot. It's made a huge difference and it now drives fine in the snow and ice. Just take it easy.
Using solely observation alone: Audis seem to be spectularly bad in this weather. A surprise really but the only alternative is that it's the drivers and that can't be the case, now can it?
Discussing this earlier today, mostly because the audis (front wheel drive ones) use a transaxle where the engine runs longitudinally. this means the engine is infront of the axle line, and hence they tend to understeer quite badly.
Why do all big car parks now have some 'furniture' in them. I have many happy memories of hand brake turning etc around in them when iced up years ago.
Could be the reason...
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I got stuck in traffic behind a 1994 Discovery sliding all over the road if 20mph were hit. 14 miles took over 1 hour (and there was no snow, just a bit of melting sludge). It's the driver, less the car (unless you're a cok and drive a beemer).
My MGB GT, by a country mile.
I pushed a guy in a Lotus Carlton the other day, he was stuggling!
Lotus Carlton
Someone took a Lotus Carlton out in the snow.
The ****ing ****. He needs a kicking for that.
I'm still stunned by the number of people who try to get up the hill by gunning the engine, needless to say they only get about 50 metres before getting stuck.
I'm not at all surprised (I'm tempted to trot out my standard comment which irritates Ernie/GG)
Brother in laws missus has a new MX5, It's not so much the weight but the mid engine design
Eh? I think you might want to check that. Start at the front... 😀
surprised people complain about the TT, my 4motion Golf has the same chassis, running gear and Haldex and is fine in the snow in terms of traction - not so much as a slip (although crap at braking due to fat Pilot Sport tyres).
Will load some bricks in the boot! Never had a problem with it getting stuck or spinning the wheels, just v light feel to the back.
Too many numpties around to feel safe when your head sits below the level of the wheels of the arctic lorry sliding around in front of you.
My wifes bmw 1 series is now stuck in a cul-de-sac (normal tyres). It got snowed in for 3 weeks of the last month. My bmw 5 series is going great! (proper winter tyres). The 205 van is ok (normal kwik fit cheapo tyres). Gets going ok but fishtails like mad when I even think about touching the brakes. And no TCS. I think there's something wrong with it!!!! Or maybe it just needs more weight in the back?
2.2cdti civic ..utter pants
snow tyres needed soon, mind you its made glenshee a few times this season ..but light on the pedals tho 😯
Not in this snow but back in the day i had a renault 5 gt turbo which had been enhanced somewhat in the engine department. Drove home from Edinburgh, well minced home, managed a beautiful pirouette backwards through the tolls (as they had them then) and the guy managed to raise the arm quick enough to let me slide through. Walked back to pay my 40p ! ****ing thing got well stuck trying to get up the bridge itself but managed to eventually get home. 5 1/4 hours from Barnton to Aberdour and about 3 kg of skid marks in my pants.
I'd imagine my 993 wouldn't be so hot in the snow either, it has enough moments on wet roads !
During the weekly phone call home my elderly dad has been talking fondly of the days when he drove mk2 and mk3 Cortinas in the snow with 2 bags of cement in the boot as otherwise they were "interesting".
The most interesting car I've been out in snow was a '63 Impala going down Highway 12 just outside Starkville MS in the heavy snow they had there in January 92 even more so when a friend in his '72 2002 tii overtook us spinning wildly. Thank god for wide American roads.
ourmaninthenorth - Member
Brother in laws missus has a new MX5, It's not so much the weight but the mid engine design
Eh? I think you might want to check that. Start at the front. 😀
At risk of being a ****, but a ferrari 599 is strictly speaking mid-engined, rather like the MX-5. The engine is in front half of the car, but its mainly behind the front axle line, so its mid-engined.
Bad car for snow? anything with tyres wider than about 195 profile.
Our neighbour has a Toyota MR2, that thing is dreadful! I reckon she's parked into hedges backwards about 4 times this last two years she's owned it.
Not sure what year you're on about but the early two models of the MR2 are stunning machines to drive and very well balanced, but a little tail happy (especially the turbo variants) - it's not that they're bad, just that people appear to be almost universally incapable of driving them properly - in the right hands they're very fast, very agile and brilliant handling, in the wrong hands they swap ends readily.
Most inappropriate car I have seen this week was a Ferrari F430 that drive past me in the snow (I was parked). He seemed to be getting along just fine on the un-gritted road.
I have been having no problems at all in a BMW 320d. Very pleased I only have standard 205 tyres on it though. I am getting much better at 10mph power slides though! 😀
Based on evidence this week - any BMW
I know 3 people with BMW 1 series all of whom are planning trips to the car dealers before next winter but on an n=2 basis the BMW 3 series cabriolet seems to have a narrow disadvantage on all the others. Saw one that coudn't get over a kerb to get into a drive and one that couldn't get up the camber of the road to turn right. Mind you the driving may have had something to do with it.
On the other hand, in these days of front wheel drive almost everything, somebody else's rear whell drive BMW may well be the perfect car for the
Scandinavian flick
Learnt many years ago on a rally school's mark 2 escort.
A) approach corner too fast
B) flick steering in opposite direction to corner while hitting brakes and changing down the gears and then wait for rear end to start to slide so car pointing in completely the wrong direction for the corner
C) try not to panic and remember that it ain't your car
D) at last, turn steering wheel in direction of corner and press accelerator and feel relieved as rear end starts to slide other way and corner comes back into view.
E) when car pointing in roughly the right direction steer into the skid, back of the accelerator so grip returns somewhat and travel off at unabated speed to the scene of the next accident.
Don't try this at home unless you have a skid pan the size of Wembley
I know 3 people with BMW 1 series all of whom are planning trips to the car dealers before next winter
Given stereotypes about 1 series owners, presumably to get one of the silly 4x4 posemobiles with wide tyres which doesn't actually work very well in snow either!
At risk of being a ****, but a ferrari 599 is strictly speaking mid-engined, rather like the MX-5. The engine is in front half of the car, but its mainly behind the front axle line, so its mid-engined.
On that basis, so is a Renault 5 (an ordinary one, not just the rally specials). Though I'm sure that doesn't suit your argument quite as well as the Ferrari.
presumably to get one of the silly 4x4 posemobiles
Not sure. On the positive side they are all good Yorkshire Lasses, either born or adopted, on the other hand they did buy 1 series in the first place.
Not an easy one to call.
My MGB GT, by a country mile.
not a chance, my midget has......
No roof, therefore colder, wetter and more dangerous
Less weight
A rear axel held in place by two great big rubber bands, put your foot down in 1st or 2nd and it fishtails like crazy even in the dry