Anyone moving to Florida from Wisconsin?

[ranger17]

Originally Posted by natasha123

so if you find a job a hour away as a new consumer at WI best to drive slow and cautious? what type is a 4 door Honda accord car?

I agree with AminWi's comments; I would consider living closer to work as transit time in poor conditions (winter, even road construction) can at times double how long it takes you from point A to B.
An Accord is a front wheel drive car. And yes one should always drive with caution especially when road conditions worsen.

As for type of car, tires, etc you can get a wide range of opinions.

Only speaking for my wife and i, both of us driving in Wi for decades.
Can front wheel drive work up here in winter? Absolutely.
Is all wheel drive or an suv required? Nope; but it can be helpful at times.

That said, it boils down to your competence and your confidence in poor conditions. And on the car, its the tires.
We are firm believers in snow tires on all 4 corners of our front wheel cars we've had, makes a huge difference over stock all season tires. Helps in colder temps and on ice. Heck i drive our mustang (rear wheel drive) in winter and with it's good snow tires have little to no trouble with it.

At minimum the car needs all season tires with good deep tread. Summer rated tires or those with high wear will cause issues on snow and ice.
I'd only suggest for someone who's never driven on snow, go to an empty parking lot and get used to how the braking and traction feels. And depending on how you take to it, could determine if you should get a winter set of tires, etc.

[Nicci6Squirrels]

My husband and I were planning to move to St. Petersburg, FL, but ultimately ended up back in WI. However, I could totally see myself living in that area. I liked it a lot better than Ft. Lauderdale and Miami areas.
Anna Maria Island is also beautiful, but it's kind of off the beaten path, so it would depend on where you were going to work, etc. If you wanted beach, that would be the place to be! Gorgeous.

[gbpakrfan]

A piece of advice if moving to Florida...avoid Miami. As the old saying goes, it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. Well, I actually lived there for a couple of years...graduated from college there. Problem was, not being bi-lingual, it was almost impossible to find a job. That was my experience, but as they say on this board, YMMV.

Oh, did I mention the humidity...the bugs...the traffic...the crime...the hurricanes? How about the chinch bugs? Those little chlorophyll-sucking buggers turned my lawn from green to brown in a matter of days. And if you have a dog, the fleas are horrendous.

[AreWeThereYet??]

We are moving to Appleton from Seattle. I have a RWD car that I really don't want to give up. Will I be good if I put a set of Blizak tires on for the winter and drive cautious?

[ranger17]

Originally Posted by AreWeThereYet??

We are moving to Appleton from Seattle. I have a RWD car that I really don't want to give up. Will I be good if I put a set of Blizak tires on for the winter and drive cautious?

I would say that will depend on the car, your driving skill and confidence, and the winter snow and ice conditions. We have a mustang that we picked up some goodyear ice guard tires when we moved back to WI from SC so we have a separate set of summer and winter tires. With a couple bags of sand in the trunk for extra weight when the snow flies the car is just fine. Better in fact than some of the lighter fwd cars we have owned up here over the decades. But in deep heavy snow it stays in the garage.
Now i would add if you have a small and light car like a miata or are running a hi perf model then leave it at home and pick up something else for snow days. So in my opinion there are variables that come into play but rwd can and will work up here. After all for those of us from a certain age group all we had for years were rwd so had to learn to handle it in snow.

I would add that if we had a fwd car to go along with our suv instead of the 'stang it too would run snow tires. To me tires make the difference. Last fwd car we had up here also ran snowies on all 4 corners and that made a big difference. But that too is a personal choice and opinion.

[AreWeThereYet??]

Thanks. Appreciate the advice. I have a BMW 335i which is a relatively heavy car. It also has the battery pack and such in the back to add more weight as well. I googled some BMW threads about driving in the snow with Blizzak tires and there where great reviews. So I think that is the route I am going to take. I even have the original rims that I will probably stick the winter tires on. That will make it an easy swap when winter comes rolling in.

[ranger17]

I watched some videos online (Tire Rack etc) to get some decent snow tire info for our stang and often they'd be using 3-series BMW's. Good tires and common sense can take one far in winter. Poor tires and/or idiotic driving and even awd wont keep one out of the ditch. After your first snow here and seeing how locals drive you may see what i mean (even some "seasoned veterans" seem to take a couple snowfalls to recall how to drive lol)

[Nicci6Squirrels]

I had a BMW M3 that applied the brakes for me during the worst ice storm and I pirouetted several times and ended up flying off the road backward on Hwy 23... down a long embankment and wound up in a plowed dirt field. It was the only time I've ever had an accident. I have been driving in WI most of my life and know how to do it. But those stinkin' auto-brakes did me in.
I agree about the good winter tires, too. Absolute necessity here.

[gbpakrfan]

All this talk of snow tires really comes in handy in a thread about moving to Florida.

[Nicci6Squirrels]

Originally Posted by gbpakrfan

All this talk of snow tires really comes in handy in a thread about moving to Florida.

Do snow tires work on sand, maybe? You're right, of course. We went off on a tangent... swerving all over like we have bald tires!