Moving to Upstate New York

[ronnie123]

Thanks everyone for the great input!

[smalltownusa]

Originally Posted by honeychrome

The first winter after I got my driver's license we got a really big, sloppy snow storm. My father took me to a giant empty parking lot with his RWD, Japanese-whatever-it-was-econobox and basically said "let'r rip." Basically we spent a few hours spinning and sliding all over the parking lot. It was a lot of fun, but the point was to learn how to handle a car in adverse, slippery conditions. The first couple passes when the car started sliding I'd go 'Woah!!' and lose control because I didn't know what was going on. Which is exactly what happens to most people when they start to lose control of their vehicle- they freeze and next thing they've slammed into something or gone off the road. But after a while I got a feel for what 'marginal' control felt like and what to do to get full control back. It was a tremendous lesson and that several hours in a parking lot having fun has helped me avoid a number of accidents and kept me out of a couple ditches. Personally I think before anyone is granted their license they ought to spend a couple hours cutting loose in an icy, slushy, slippery parking lot. It both gave me a healthy respect for slippery surfaces but also the confidence to deal with them when I have to.

Could not agree more....did the same thing with our kids. Must be one of those odd snow-country rituals . Learning how to handle a car going 35-55 on a snow-covered road BEFORE you have to find out unexpectedly!!!! Makes such a big difference as I can STILL remember the first time old bessy fish-tailed on me!!! Not a good feeling at all.....

[Jason_Els]

What can you get serviced?

Much depends on where you live and where you can get your car reliably serviced. To me, that's a primary consideration with what brand of car I buy. I used to be big on Saabs, but the damn traction control wouldn't let me get up my driveway so I finally ditched it and got a Subaru. Subarus are the best snow cars. They all have AWD and some even have limited slip front and rear differentials. They have heated seats and weatherband radio and most have heated mirrors and wiper defrosters. They're lighter than SUVs so are easier to control and get good milage. My single complaint is that the rear wiper is proprietary and Subaru doesn't make winter blades for the rear wipers. Customer service is excellent too and I'm happy with my dealer.

Yeah you can survive with FWD and all, but why should you just survive? I don't give-up anything by having an AWD car and it's better in snow.

And I fired the plow guy.