Best vehicle for snow (Erie) (maintenance, living, safe)

[steveholy]

Dear All,

Can you please give me some advice on what type of vehicle I should get that is suitable for weather conditions in Erie? I will be living not far from the city (possibly Millcreek area) and will commute to Erie everyday. I am looking for a vehicle with the following features in the order of importance:

1) safe during heavy snow
2) reliable - low maintenance, service costs. If a service center by the car's dealer or other mechanics capable of fixing the particular make are in the area, that would be desirable.
3) family and kid friendly. woman driver.
4) spacious
5) no truck, pick-ups, vans, just regular sized ones.

Budget will probably be around 20K. You can throw in other features that I might have forgotten to add which you think will be helpful for driving in the region.

Thank you for your comments.

[ki0eh]

The Subaru Forester seems to have become the standard snowbelt vehicle anymore, if you stick mostly to pavement. My wife drives one and likes it. Some folks who drive gravel and rough roads have trouble with crud accumulation near the fuel filler, and also if the undercarriage gets a little out of whack from hitting something on a rough road it's difficult to get the AWD completely fixed - gets out of alignment easily.

[TechieTransplant]

Other vehicles that I thought of for you

Hyundai Tuscon
Kia Sportage
Volkswagen Jetta Sportswagen

You may also get a good deal on a Volkswagen Passat Wagon, because they are no longer being offered.

[ghandi 1920]

Front-wheel drive with good quality snow tires mounted in the winter will do you fine. AWD is nice though. For 20 grand, you're going to be limited in the AWD category.

[Krisps]

I agree with the others, especially the last. Front wheel drive with very good winter tires is good, and a smaller vehicle with 4 winter tires stops much quicker than a larger SUV type vehicle. Winter tires have really improved over the years and good tires are the most important asset to winter driving. Check tirerack dot com to see top of the line tires.

[geos]

I'll have to so with Subaru. They're pretty popular here in the snow belt although my cousin's FWD Passat does pretty well. If the roads are plowed well FWD should be sufficient.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by geos

I'll have to so with Subaru. They're pretty popular here in the snow belt although my cousin's FWD Passat does pretty well. If the roads are plowed well FWD should be sufficient.

Rear wheel drive is sufficient if you have the proper tires on for that matter.

[steveholy]

Thanks for your advice. I didn't know the popularity of Subaru Forester in the area. It seems the vehicle has good performance in snow, but I wonder if it also does a good job in terms of gas consumption and/or reliability. In particular, is it to costly to fix it if something goes wrong assuming the vehicle is not under warranty?

Before I posted my question, I had the usual popular models of Honda (Civic), Nissan (Altima), and Toyota in mind, but looks like I will very seriously consider Subaru. (Any experiences with the first three makes?) As safety is my first priority, I will try to stick to AWD with proper snow tires.

Thanks.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by steveholy

Before I posted my question, I had the usual popular models of Honda (Civic), Nissan (Altima), and Toyota in mind,
Thanks.

Well those three are really nothing special, as far as being any extra safe in the snow/winter. They all rate high in holding their value and reliability, but all the other vehicles we mentioned are a step above as far as navigating in winter conditions.

[Ohiogirl81]

Any front-wheel drive car with decent all-weather radials will do just fine. The best car I ever had in the snow was a Honda Civic. My sister and I used to take it up to the Hill's parking lot on E. 28th (now Wal-Mart) and drive over the smaller snow mountains left by the plows. It was really great in plowing through all the snowdrifts as well.