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It goes to show that one cannot always be prepared. Although I have three Jeep cherokees, one very highly modified for off road use, a Mercedes Unimog 406 with Michelin XM47 tires (the best snow tire ever made for an on/off road vehicle, and a Chev K2500 Burb 4X4 with front and rear Positraction and Mud Terrains, here I am in Cleveland Ohio with my one wheel drive Chev Cargo Van with all season tires and nothing in it and needing to drive to Cincinnati Ohio tonight in the biggest storm in 25 years to hit the midwest.
Wish me well.
I actually pity you and feel your pain!
I once had to drive from Cleveland to Cincinnati in white-out conditions in a 455 Pontiac TransAm.
I-71 is like the worst!
It took my 5.5 hours to just get to the Northern outerbelt of Columbus.
I think the "type of car" issue is overrated. 4WD, AWD...blah. What's imporant? - TIRES. A 20 year old rusted out FWD car with good snow tires with good tread can run circles around any SUV with standard tires (except when you get to the deep snow factor).
This is from a 4WD SUV owner.
I agree with this. I moved from FL to PA in 2006 and I own a Mustang. With snow tires and some extra weight in the trunk, this car is as good, and often better, than most other cars on the road in snow since most people are driving on all-season tires. A few weeks ago I got stuck behind a Lexus SUV on a hilly, unplowed road and the SUV was the one slowing me down. His tires were just spinning and going nowhere up the hill, while my tires, although also spinning, were giving me enough traction to get up the hill. But I had to lose all my momentum waiting for this guy to get up the hill. But I still managed just fine. Also there were a few people that abandoned their cars because they couldn't navigate the hills. But the rear-wheel drive sports car drove past the stranded vehicles thanks to snow tires.
Something to think about, OP, would be to try to get yourself to a winter driving school. It ain't about the arrow, it's about the Indian!I have to agree that if you have a set of winter tires *and know what you are doing*, probably whatever car you have now will do fine in NY winters. That said, the AWD of Subarus does make it easier, they are more stable in snow than most FWD or RWD cars. All this assumes you don't want to go to a 4WD setup in an SUV or truck, again if you know what you are doing this will help you on slick roads.
I agree with this. I moved from FL to PA in 2006 and I own a Mustang. With snow tires and some extra weight in the trunk, this car is as good, and often better, than most other cars on the road in snow since most people are driving on all-season tires. A few weeks ago I got stuck behind a Lexus SUV on a hilly, unplowed road and the SUV was the one slowing me down. His tires were just spinning and going nowhere up the hill, while my tires, although also spinning, were giving me enough traction to get up the hill. But I had to lose all my momentum waiting for this guy to get up the hill. But I still managed just fine. Also there were a few people that abandoned their cars because they couldn't navigate the hills. But the rear-wheel drive sports car drove past the stranded vehicles thanks to snow tires.
The contact patch of a tire is what meets the road, so having good winter tires makes all the difference in winter conditions.
The Bridgestone Winter Driving School recently did a test to demonstrate to local police who thought their 2wd cars were not adequate, what a difference it made to have great snow tires on during the winter. In normal driving conditions, a properly equipped 2wd car could do fine.
Where AWD or 4x4 comes into play is climbing low speed hills or thru unplowed areas.
Bridgestone Winter Driving School was exactly what I was thinking about, thanks for posting up the particulars. What's the tuition and how long does the school last? Is it too late in the season for the OP to get in this year?
Bridgestone Winter Driving School was exactly what I was thinking about, thanks for posting up the particulars. What's the tuition and how long does the school last? Is it too late in the season for the OP to get in this year?
I think it's around $500 for a day program which is comprehensive enough for the basics.
The school lasts until the ice surface starts breaking up due to sun and warmth which is sometime in March.
Want a real 4wd? Buy a Jeep of your choice. I can't believe the push in this thread for the always having to pull them out of the ditches subarus and toyotas.
However, while the Jeep does as well as the others on ice and snow, whatever you do don't replace the stock tires with the big and wide snow tires because it will send you on a spin. By the way, this can happen to any vehicle, too. After a certain point, the wider the tire is, the less traction on ice.
It goes to show that one cannot always be prepared. Although I have three Jeep cherokees, one very highly modified for off road use, a Mercedes Unimog 406 with Michelin XM47 tires (the best snow tire ever made for an on/off road vehicle, and a Chev K2500 Burb 4X4 with front and rear Positraction and Mud Terrains, here I am in Cleveland Ohio with my one wheel drive Chev Cargo Van with all season tires and nothing in it and needing to drive to Cincinnati Ohio tonight in the biggest storm in 25 years to hit the midwest.
Wish me well.
Thanks for the support and whoever gave rep points.
I found what was a "break" in the storm which meant just sleet, freezing rain, and iced roads between Tues afternoon and evening. The one wheel drive van was pretty poor since it barely made it out of the parking lot in Cleveland, and we probably saw 20 cars in the median or off the road on the worst strech which was between Mansfield and Washington Courthouse. The closest call I had was thanks to on Ohio Highway PAtrol car who decided to cross the median and stop all I71 traffic to get to a car off the road instread of waiting for the couple of us to pass. The road was pure ice and the van was sliding to a stop but staying in the lane and actually came to a stop. People were all over the raod and for no reason. The car was off the highway by 50 feet and there was already a tow truck there on the scene. Smart cop almost cost someone a bad wreck.
I have 4WD & AWD vehicles and I can tell the difference across numerous manufacturers. Based on your budget and being a student on a budget get a Subaru and have a set of General Grabber HTS tires placed onto it. With AWD you don't have to play with any buttons,switches, levers. If you had a higher budget than I'd say go for a Toyota Highlander or a Lexus RX350. The Subaru is not a flashy car and is highly reliable. I sold my Subi to a neighbor a few years back with around 210k on it. He currently has 350k on it.
The 2009 Forester AWD has a traction control button one can push to disable it and engage 4WD. For example, lets say that you are pulling a boat/trailer out of the water. In this case you want to disable the traction control so the maximum wheel torque is allowed. You should also do the same if stuck in the snow, since that's another example of where the traction control works against you. The 2010 Toyota Rav 4's traction control is similar, except that this one uses two buttons instead of one. One of the buttons locks the 4x4, and the other button disables the traction control. One thing that is nice about most Subaru automobiles is that because of their excellent traction control and their slightly lower price, nobody can't say that they aren't a good bang for the buck
That said, I prefer the 2010 Rav 4 V-6 to the 2009 Forester. While the traction controls work about the same way, the Rav 4 V-6 is quite faster with its 269HP motor, and fuel efficiency is about the same.
Actually, keeping T/C on most newer cars is often better, especially on Subarus. The VDC can sense when a wheel is slipping, so it uses the brakes to stop the wheel spin and apply power to the other wheel that has traction.
Here is an example with a Jeep Commander on how T/C ON is better:
The Forester has a much better AWD system than the Rav4. Toyota's system is a very front-drive biased, no power to the rear until slippage is detected. Subaru is always engaged. The Subbie also has over a 1" more ground clearance than the Rav4.
This Topgear video shows how the Rav4 struggles to send power to rear tires when it's really needed. The show also shows how much winter tires are needed.
Last edited by PokerMunkee; 02-01-2011 at 10:24 PM..
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