Car for year-round driving in Anchorage - Ford Crown Vic?? (Seward: camper, living)

[IndianaMatt]

How do you think a newer Ford Crown Victoria would fare on Anchorage streets around the year? Car is well-maintained, rear-wheel-drive, and has what passes as some primitive form of electronic skid control.

When you do a Google image search for "Anchorage police car" you get a lot of Crown Vic pics, so if its good enough for the cops (assuming snow chains and/or aggressive winter tires) it can't be that bad.

Right? Or would you say a higher-clearance or four-wheel-drive vehicle is required.

[Frostnip]

Rear-wheel drive blows for winter driving. The ground clearance you need depends on where you intend to go and what you intend to do with the car. Theoretically you could drive anything in the winter, but there are vehicle options that can make you much safer and make driving much easier, particularly if you are not yet accustomed to the driving conditions.

(Also, people really don't use chains on city streets.)

[stiffnecked]

You'll also see a lot Anchorage cops driving front-wheel drive Chevy Impalas. APD doesn't use chains on their vehicles.

[AlaskaNana]

With studs you can drive anything, in town. Out of town I'ld be looking at 4x4, maybe even with studs. Have always lived "in-town" and am not actually living on my place outside of Kasilof yet so can't help there.

[GnomadAK]

A Crown Vic will do fine unless you get really unreasonable snowfalls and then everyone has trouble-you can't go any faster that the guy in front of you. A 4x4 is nice but plenty of people make do without one. And, you very rarely see CV's upside down in the ditch-it's 99% SUV's and 4x4 pickups.

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by GnomadAK

And, you very rarely see CV's upside down in the ditch

Yea, cause Old Grannies rarely drive faster than 1.212 mph on the Seward Hwy in the first place!

[AlaskaNana]

Originally Posted by Moose Whisperer

Yea, cause Old Grannies rarely drive faster than 1.212 mph on the Seward Hwy in the first place!

OUCH!! We play the "Which fool is ib the ditch today game". Usually some male who figures his truck and "experience" out do caution.

[tantajo]

I have a grand marquis which is basically the same car. It's a sheer nightmare for winter driving, especially if you forget to turn off the useless "traction control". Dumping about 10 bags of sand in your trunk helps.

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by AlaskaNana

OUCH!! We play the "Which fool is ib the ditch today game". Usually some male who figures his truck and "experience" out do caution.

That's good, then they are off in the ditch (and out of traffic) where they belong.

It's the rolling-roadblocks crawling around at glacial speeds in their CV's, Priuses, Subarus, etc that make life miserable for everyone else with an actual purpose for being on the road. And the ones who try to merge onto a 55 mph highway doing 20 are downright dangerous - with obvious disregard not only for their own safety, but for that of everyone else.

Being too timid or frightened to drive in adverse conditions is just bad as overconfidence when the safety of others is at stake.

[retiredinhomer]

I have a crown vic that I drive in the summer. With studded tires and some extra weight it drives ok in the winter for highway driving but I would not use one in the city.
get another vehicle for the winter or a front wheel drive.

Bringing up the crown vic. would be nice just for the ride. Put a trailer hitch on it and pull a small camper or trailer.