Do I really need a 4 wheel drive? (Boston: buying, dangerous)

[iconceicao]

Hello,

I am moving with my family from South California to Boston/suburbs by the end of this year.

We have two vehicles, a Chevrolet Tahoe and a Toyota Highlander that we really enjoy. However, we were advised to drive all wheel drive vehicles in Boston due to the snow and weather conditions. Besides, looking at the car retailers at MA, they mostly offer AWD cars, especially SUV cars. Our cars are only 2 wheel drive.

I would like to keep both my cars but am fearing they will be inadequate for the snow, and am also concerned if I will be able to sell them in the future, if people only buy AWD at MA.

Would it be dangerous to drive 2 wheel drive cars in Boston? I will be losing money by selling my cars in South California and buying new ones at Boston.

Thank you for your help!

[yesmaybe]

I would say AWD is not necessary. RWD would be a pain I would think.

Most will just WFH (even if normally not allowed to) when it snows.

[CaseyB]

You should be ok. They aren’t sedans.

[gf2020]

Put snow tires on all 4 wheels and you will be fine.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by gf2020

Put snow tires on all 4 wheels and you will be fine.

Ooh, that's actually a pretty good idea if they've never driven in snow before. I feel like plowing is pretty good here but it's not perfect, esp in January and February when melting is tough. It starts to pile up and is a pain in the butt.

[wolfgang239]

Originally Posted by gf2020

Put snow tires on all 4 wheels and you will be fine.

This. If you don't have snows on your tahoe in particular you are not going to be happy. Make sure you practice in an empty lot to see how your vehicle responds.

If you were considering trading up I would do it personally, maybe get one AWD and keep the other one. If you need to go in on a really bad day you'll appreciate it. I have one awd with snows but need to go in on the worst of days. I wouldn't consider a rwd SUV, and without snow tires you are an accident waiting to happen.

[BostonMike7]

It does make things easier if you can get at least one AWD vehicle.

My car is FWD and does ok in the snow. Tires are decent all-Seasons. My wife’s suv is Awd and with all-seasons it’s just a beast in the snow. No need for snow tires.


Snow tires do help. I’ve driven RWD with them in the snow, but honestly, I’ll take awd with quality all-seasons over rwd (and sometimes FwD) and snow tires anyday.

[massnative71]

One more vote for snow tires, and whoever has the longer commute take the Highlander.

[Amontillado]

I had a Honda Accord for over 10 years, and I never had a really bad experience in winter. There were times when I had trouble getting out of snowy spots, but you build up some experience of how to deal with that. But after the Accord's useful lifetime ended, I did get an AWD Subaru Forester, and there is a difference! Obviously there would be some depth of snow that would stop it, but on regular roads with some amount of plowing, I just know it won't get bogged down.

[redplum33]

Personally, I don't feel any of the stuff mentioned is necessary.