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View Poll Results: What do you drive in a winter
4x4/AWD with street tires 4 30.77%
4x4/AWD with winter/studded tires 5 38.46%
2wd with street tires 0 0%
2wd with winter/studded tires 4 30.77%
Any car w/All Season Tires 0 0%
Voters: 13. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 09-24-2011, 09:52 PM
 
Location: Montpelier, VT
25 posts, read 92,687 times
Reputation: 17

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Quote:
Originally Posted by jackmccullough View Post
I live in Montpelier and I drive a Prius. It's generally okay in the snow, but there is a feature (traction control?) that cuts out power to the drive wheels if it senses slipping. It's never prevented me from getting anywhere, but until I figured out how to use it it was unnerving.
I've encountered that "feature" on some other Toyotas. Although I knew about it, it took me a bit to figure out how to disable it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jackmccullough View Post
On the other hand, the idea of getting a Subaru so you can be absolutely confident makes a lot of sense: if you have a Subaru you can get around if anybody is.
Our other car is a Forester, but we want to get something much MUCH more gas efficient for daily commuting and for frequent drives to NY/NJ

Quote:
Originally Posted by jackmccullough View Post
And snow tires on all four wheels are an absolute necessity.
Oh I know and agree with it. What I'm wondering is can I get by with just winter tires WITHOUT AWD/4WD...

Quote:
Originally Posted by jackmccullough View Post
Oh yes, and welcome to Montpelier! In my opinion it's the best city in Vermont.
Thank you
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Old 09-25-2011, 05:37 AM
 
Location: Rutland, VT
1,822 posts, read 5,132,285 times
Reputation: 790
Quote:
Originally Posted by SimpleLifeNY View Post
What I'm wondering is can I get by with just winter tires WITHOUT AWD/4WD...
I drive front-wheel-drive small cars (currently an '06 Honda Civic), which I change over to really good snow tires in the winter. I have never had an AWD/4WD car, and don't see myself getting one.

I plan to always live in or near a town, and I don't commute daily. I sometimes do drive long distances for work and pleasure in all sorts of weather.

Front-wheel-drive with snow tires has worked for me since I moved to Northern New England in 1988. In NH, I lived down a few miles of dirt road. I moved to Vermont in 1996, and for 2 years commuted 2-3 times a month 80+ miles each way in all conditions.
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Old 09-25-2011, 07:13 AM
 
Location: The Woods
18,356 posts, read 26,489,954 times
Reputation: 11350
You can buy regular snow tires and put chains on if you must drive on real bad ice. I'd definately get 4wd. If we got one of those 2ft dumpings of snow and you had an emergency nd needed to get out, even in the city you might find the 4wd useful. My thinking is it's better to have and not need something than to need it and not have it. I've driven a 2wd front wheel drive car on the snow, etc., and it's not an experience I care to repeat, driving on snow covered hills.
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Old 09-26-2011, 09:29 AM
 
Location: Montpelier, VT
25 posts, read 92,687 times
Reputation: 17
Thank you for all the replies - and keep them coming !!!

Any people driving font wheel cars with winter tires outside of the cities on the paved roads - please speak up, I want to hear from you
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Old 09-26-2011, 02:37 PM
 
Location: Rutland, VT
1,822 posts, read 5,132,285 times
Reputation: 790
Quote:
Originally Posted by SimpleLifeNY View Post
Any people driving font wheel cars with winter tires outside of the cities on the paved roads - please speak up, I want to hear from you
I do, I do! (Maybe you didn't mean me since I already weighed in. ) When I drive, it's out of the city and usually 50 to 100 miles or more. I live over an hour from the nearest interstate, so my driving is pretty much all on state roads and smaller byways. When I lived in NH, I drove on several miles of twisting, uneven, slightly hilly dirt and gravel roads every day.

No problem with several front-wheel-drive cars over
2.5 decades. And I moved up here in '88 after having driven only in South Florida.
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Old 09-26-2011, 07:28 PM
 
Location: Burlington burbs
130 posts, read 279,034 times
Reputation: 85
We've never had a problem with just a front wheel drive and good snow tires. Husband lived here 20+ years and all over the state. We would never bother to buy a 4wd.
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Old 09-27-2011, 03:48 PM
 
Location: Vermont
5,439 posts, read 16,859,501 times
Reputation: 2651
Diesel jetta with snow tires?
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Old 10-03-2011, 08:18 AM
 
13 posts, read 20,271 times
Reputation: 38
Quote:
Originally Posted by SimpleLifeNY View Post
Any people driving font wheel cars with winter tires outside of the cities on the paved roads - please speak up, I want to hear from you

I live in a village in the Northeast Kingdom and I drive a Toyota Yaris with winter tires. I live on a paved road. I've never had a problem, but I avoid dirt roads at certain times of the year. My husband doesn't, though, and he'll drive the Yaris through almost anything. He hasn't been stuck in it. Yet.

We used to always buy studded snow tires, but lately we've been going with plain snows and haven't seen much difference. I think snow tires are better than they used to be.
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Old 10-03-2011, 10:08 AM
 
400 posts, read 849,632 times
Reputation: 473
Quote:
Originally Posted by SimpleLifeNY View Post
Thank you for all the replies - and keep them coming !!!

Any people driving font wheel cars with winter tires outside of the cities on the paved roads - please speak up, I want to hear from you
I have a 20 mile commute, part of which is in a high snow area and the other part of which is high traffic Chittenden County. We got by fine with a FWD car with good tires. I only remember one day where they didn't plow our road and we were driving in a lot of slop that I might have wanted something more. Last years huge March storm we stayed home though, I think my work canceled anyway but I could tell from the top of my driveway that it just plain wasn't going to be worth the effort to attempt to go in.

We just got something with AWD, but honestly aside from our steep driveway it isn't really necessary. I'm sure I'll like how much easier it is to get out, but with proper driveway care and escape technique my FWD did well enough on even that.

The tires are absolutely necessary IMO. I'm a proponent of studs because Vermont's policy of leaving small amounts of snow on the roadway to melt means there's more sheets of black ice around than ever. Only studs seem to make a difference.
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