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Old 10-11-2016, 10:30 PM
 
25,727 posts, read 16,343,674 times
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Originally Posted by shells0013 View Post
Hello!! What are the best vehicles for driving around during the winters? Is it best to have all wheel drive or will all weather tires suffice for harsh driving conditions? Thanks!
Front wheel drive is fine with all season tires as long as you can just stay home on the worst days.

If you have to go to work after a heavy snowfall, AWD really helps get up hills and to plow through windrows from plows.

AWD does NOT help you stop any faster so on snow days you will see a ton of accidents around the metro, most of them caused by overzealous AWD gunners.
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Old 10-13-2016, 09:54 PM
 
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Thank you! This was a livelier discussion than I expected!!! LOL We will be living within 30 minutes of Minneapolis for those of you asking specifics. So I expect that the roads will be pretty clear from what I have read in other posts.
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Old 10-14-2016, 02:56 AM
 
2,102 posts, read 4,568,426 times
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Originally Posted by shells0013 View Post
Hello!! What are the best vehicles for driving around during the winters? Is it best to have all wheel drive or will all weather tires suffice for harsh driving conditions? Thanks!
Having AWD or FWD is good, however it is more important to have good tires. Make sure you have good tires and a good vehicle that can handle winter driving. You will see a lot of FWD cars that look nice but they are terrible in the winter mostly because they do not have good tires.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db-CjJRR0BM



Also having a car with clearance is very helpful for winter driving and for a lot of other stuff. The Subaru Crosstrek is a excellent example and just may be easily one of the top best winter especially cars to have. It is AWD and with good tires. For many years she had a Chev Cavalier Front Wheel Drive and had really good tires on that car. That was a really good car for winter driving. Many FWD cars are not good winter cars because they do not have good tires and do not have higher clearance. They are just not good winter cars plain and simple. Many mini vans are not good in the winter either and most of them have FWD. The Subaru Crosstrek is the care she has now. It has AWD and has excellent tires and is extremely good in the winter. It is also a highly popular car you will see many many many on the road. Good tires are the key and having them on a good car. Good tires make a good winter car. A good car for the winter has good tires and is able to go through the snow (within reason) while other cars are just spinning and or stuck.

However keep in mind that just having a good car with good tires is only part of the solution. knowing how and what to do is probably right up there also. There is a lot to do and knowledge that goes with winter driving. A lot of people drive around in the worst of blizzards and storms just to be out driving checking out stuff.

There are many times when you should not use the cruise control. Many times do not accelerate going around corners in snow roads. What to do when approaching an intersection with deep snow say may be at a stop sign or stop light. There are a lot of things to consider if you do not want to get stuck. Four wheel drives at times get stuck in snow at intersections because they think they are so big and strong. But you can do things to help get home.

There are a lot of good drivers in this state with plenty of winter driving experience. Accidents can and do happen/ so being prepared does help. On the highways slow down when conditions are not that great, let others pass you that is fine.

Last edited by demtion35; 10-14-2016 at 04:05 AM..
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Old 10-15-2016, 01:07 PM
 
537 posts, read 439,726 times
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Originally Posted by shells0013 View Post
Thank you! This was a livelier discussion than I expected!!! LOL We will be living within 30 minutes of Minneapolis for those of you asking specifics. So I expect that the roads will be pretty clear from what I have read in other posts.
If you lived in the suburbs you would be fine. But, I seem to recall you wanting to live outside the burbs. In that case, the first 1/4 mile or even the first mile might not be cleared and if your hubby needs to get somewhere he may need a more robust form of transportation.

I live in the suburbs and I own a SUV and it has been helpful maybe 3-6 times a year. It has a very high clearance and I have motored through 6 inches of snow without having much trouble. Also, recently we have more extreme rain events and the roads sometimes can't clear the water fast enough. It is a luxury more than a necessity though because you can always wait it out.

A couple of years ago my neighbor tried to force his way though 7 inches of snow. The snow built up under his conventional car and lifted the middle of the car up and his wheels could get enough traction to get out. I think it took about 7 neighbors and 20 minutes to dig him out. He was driving like he had a SUV but had a smaller conventional car.
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Old 10-15-2016, 07:44 PM
 
2,102 posts, read 4,568,426 times
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Originally Posted by TheGrandViking View Post
If you lived in the suburbs you would be fine. But, I seem to recall you wanting to live outside the burbs. In that case, the first 1/4 mile or even the first mile might not be cleared and if your hubby needs to get somewhere he may need a more robust form of transportation.

I live in the suburbs and I own a SUV and it has been helpful maybe 3-6 times a year. It has a very high clearance and I have motored through 6 inches of snow without having much trouble. Also, recently we have more extreme rain events and the roads sometimes can't clear the water fast enough. It is a luxury more than a necessity though because you can always wait it out.

A couple of years ago my neighbor tried to force his way though 7 inches of snow. The snow built up under his conventional car and lifted the middle of the car up and his wheels could get enough traction to get out. I think it took about 7 neighbors and 20 minutes to dig him out. He was driving like he had a SUV but had a smaller conventional car.
During the Polar Vortex a few years ago we had nowhere to pile the snow. We stopped shoveling our sidewalks, the weather channel came several times, people came here just for the cold, and snow.
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