Due to some amazing life changes (and a series of unfortunate events) my husband and I are preparing to move our family from NYC to a suburb of Boston in the next couple of months or so. We are doing all the things you do to get ready to move (job interviews, acquiring boxes for packing, etc.) but one of the big things we are going to have to do is buy a car.
The last time I owned a car was 7 years ago and that was in Dallas. A car’s ability to handle ice and snow was about as important as whether or not it could double as a submarine so I’m not tons of familiar with how a car handles inclement weather. I’ve done some research on what cars are best for icy/snowy weather but the lists I’ve found have all talked about BMWs, Audis, and other very pricy vehicles as the best cold weather choices and we really don’t want to spend that kind of money for a car. The most affordable cars we’ve found reviewed as good winter vehicles are the Subaru Outback and the Ford Edge. I’ve driven the Outback and it was okay, though nothing special, and I’ve never driven a Ford at all, let alone the Edge specifically.
By the time we get around to test driving and buying a vehicle it is going to be spring weather without an hint of ice or snow on the ground. I don’t want to test drive something and buy it only to find out 6 months from now that it doesn’t really function well on the ice. At the same time, I’m also afraid that a car salesman is going to tell me all about how awesome a car functions on the ice only to discover that the car itself doesn’t matter much as long as you have the right tires or something. I’d hate to go in demanding a Subaru Outback or other specific vehicle when we could have purchased a car that is $8,000 cheaper and just put winter tires on it instead.
Before we set foot on a car lot I thought I would check here and ask if anyone has any recommendations for a car that handles winter weather well or if people can tell us if we are concerned about something that doesn’t really matter at all. For those of you who currently live in snowy areas, what car do you drive and how does it handle the ice and snow? What car would you recommend for someone living in a cold weather area?
Subarus are good although a little lesbian in stereotype. I live in the immediate are where you are moving and I have a 2010 Toyota Rav4 Sport 4wd. I have never had any problem whatsoever driving here even during our epic snowstorms that occurred this year. I have good all season tires but not snow tires and I don’t think I have ever needed the latter.
If you want a family vehicle, most vehicles in the smaller SUV or Sport Wagon class will work. Traction control plus ABS has made driving in snow much easier than it used to be. 4wd is recommend however if you can afford it You don’t need it that often but it will save your ass when you do. Most people don’t use snow tires here although they certainly help. The roads get plowed very quickly during storms. It is Boston suburbia, You aren’t talking about Maine or New Hampshire rural roads here. You can always get to the store in most cars and it gets warm enough during the winter during the day so that ice doesn’t stay on the road for long.
The best car for snow is one with good winter tires, and a driver who slows down when conditions are poor. Here in Colorado, the majority of cars which have run off the road in snowy conditions are heavy SUVs and trucks with four wheel drive. Four wheel (or all wheel) drive can be very deceptive, in that it helps a car go in slick conditions, but it doesn’t help a car stop, and this leads to overconfident drivers going too fast for conditions.
A skilled, or at least disciplined, driver is probably going to be better off with four (or all) wheel drive, but I don’t consider it necessary for driving in snowy conditions. I get by with a front wheel drive car and all season performance tires (worse than regular performance or all season tires). When I let the tires get bad the car was terrible in snow, but as long as the tires are good, the car is fine.
I live where she is moving and a Subaru is like one of those hankercheif signs that you may not be part of the mainstream. I hear they excellent in the snow though. The Metrowest Boston area generally isn’t that bad for snow driving because they clear the roads so quickly. I drove around it for 6 years in a 3 series BMW that was about the worst car you could have in the snow but I made it.
However, there is real risk. We had a snowstorm last week and there was ice on a stretch of I-495 South when I went to work. I didn’t notice anything in my vehicle but there were 8 separate wrecks within two miles with cars that had gone into the (very wide) median or into the trees to the other side. There were 4 more within the next 10 miles. I don’t think anyone got seriously hurt but some of the cars were destroyed. The only thing they had in common were that they were all just plain vanilla sedans. The rest of us in small SUV’s and sport wagons didn’t feel anything. We just went slower than usual.
Any front-wheel drive with real winter tires is entirely adequate unless you expect to need to regularly traverse deep snow where clearance is an issue. I get by perfectly well with a Honda Fit and I live in the land of eternal winter (or so it seems at the moment).
You need good snow tires on an all wheel drive vehicle. Stick to the big three in the US. Foreign cars can be expensive to maintain as your service options are more limited than domestic car. Chevy, Ford and Dodge all have good options. You don’t need to buy new, certified used cars get you the warranty without the new car cost.
Although I live in an area of Alaska that sees at least 5 months of mostly ice I am afraid I can only offer limited help as I live in a largely rural area. I share what I know and take what you want form it.
In our parts Subaru is a lesbian or hippy car. But they work great and our unusual abundance of cabs and cab companies almost exclusively use them. Our town of about 5-6k has usually 4+ Cabs on the road at any given time 24/7. Part of the reason is the price performance ratio is good and the parts availability at the local parts stores are really good due to the number on the road. Their down time is kept to a minimum.They are also roomy and can hold a good deal of luggage and other strange thing people haul about in cabs up here.
In rural areas your own skill is paramount. There are not so many cars as to have a major worry about the other drivers so much. If I was living in Anchorage I would actually spend much more effort and time outfitting myself with a great winter car. We have moose and ditches. The first thing most people put in their car up here when they get one is jumpers and towing rope. Those two thing cover most mishaps. A shovel, bucket of sand or salt gets us out of alot of other trouble.
That being said you might would be surprised at the number of ratty regular old 2 wheel drive cars that make it just fine. Even on the side roads.
Like mentioned up thread tires probably give you the most bang for your buck.
My wife drove an old Pathfinder for 12 years and it was a great car. One of the better winter handling cars I have driven. I have no idea about the newer ones. Avoid trucks till you get some experience on the ice.
Definitely having a set of winter tires is more important that specific vehicular choice, barring some sort of overpowered RWD muscle car. One secret I’m suprised everyone in snow country doesn’t know is that winter tires don’t cost anything-- if you get them mounted on an extra set of rims most good tire shops will change them over for free (assuming you bought them there) and every mile you put on your snows is a mile you don’t put on your summer tires, so they last twice as long.
That said, there’s nothing this side of $30k that performs as well as a Subaru in the snow. They used to be driven by people who really needed the AWD system and were willing to put up with their sub-par reliability and lackluster gas mileage, but those have both massively improved over the past 5 years or so to the point that they’re decent choices even if you don’t ever leave dry pavement.
(Also, where I am in the Northern Rockies, they’re still laughed at as hippie cars, but everyone drives them. I often see deer strapped to the top of them during hunting season.)
I’ll throw in my hat with the “how you drive is more important than what you drive” crowd. A good set of winter tires (on all 4 corners!) is just as important as your winter driving skills. Good luck and let us know what car you end up getting. So we can come back and tell you that YOU CHOSE THE WRONG ONE!.
You don’t need AWD to drive in a Boston winter. I’ve lived and commuted from the Boston and Providence suburbs for the last several years in a little Ford Fiesta. The vast majority of people drive ordinary FWD cars. Unless you’re moving somewhere that’s remote and not plowed in the winters, any car is adequate.
Essentially, in a Boston winter you won’t be driving on snow very often. The roads are well-plowed and salted. A few times a year, there will be big snow storms that dump 6" or more of snow in a short amount of time. After these storms, most employers and schools will cancel for a day or two until the roads are plowed. And frankly, everyone should stay off the damn roads. Lots of overconfident AWD SUV drivers decided that they can drive after a big snowstorm, and manage to get stuck on the road and block the snowplows.
In short, what you really need is practice driving in a few inches of snow, when the roads are slick but passable. Snow tires are very helpful and definitely a good idea if you can afford them. Traction control is also nice.
AWD is only helpful if you need to drive through lots of snow – i.e. if you work in an emergency room and cannot take a day off for a big snow storm it will be useful a few days per year. The only situation where I would consider AWD necessary is if you are moving to a remote area that isn’t plowed by the municipal plows. But there aren’t many such areas within commuting range of Boston.
I was under the impression that winter tires didn’t last very long, either in terms of miles or years. I was researching them recently, and off the top of my head I recall that a set of snow tires would only last for three or four winters. That’s less than 20k miles, versus 60k-80k miles for the longer-lasting all season tires. So by my estimates, a $600 set of snow tires would only save $200 worth of wear on your summer tires.
they don’t; winter tires have thick tread blocs but a very soft compound. They typically don’t even carry a treadwear rating. You also don’t want to drive them in temperatures above 50°F or they’ll wear faster. But IMO it makes way more sense to have a set of winter tires on cheap wheels ready to go than worrying about what kind of car is “good in the snow.”
The other key thing is that winter tires will do something that no AWD or 4WD system can do, and that is help you stop more effectively. with winters on my car, on snow-covered roads I can stop at a normal braking rate without ABS kicking in.
What also matters is having the engine located over the drive wheels. That means either front engine & FWD, or mid/rear engine & RWD. AWD counts here, too. The older American front engine & RWD cars would frequently get stuck, wheels spinning, because there wasn’t enough weight over the drive wheels. I used to own a Fiat X1/9, a tiny 2-seater mid-engine & RWD car. Even with all-season tires, not Blizzaks, I’d get through snow where a lot of SUV drivers were wiped out in the snowbanks.
With modern studless snow tires, it really depends on the climate. If the temperature stays below freezing and you do a significant amount of driving during winter conditions, they’ll last a good five years/30k or so. If you get thaws and drive a lot on warm dry pavement, they won’t last as long and that does tip the scales a bit.
I had an old Subaru & its worked great in snow. The new ones look nice too, but people tell me that they have 'belt transmissions" instead of the tried and true gear transmissions. This gets you better mileage but from what I’ve heard, once a belt goes, the car is Done.
My only issue with my old Subaru was clearance, as going down an unplowed street after a heavy snow left me beached once or twice. I actually bought an kept a flat-head shovel for the back for winter time just because of that.
I replaced that car this year with a Toyota-FJ. I like that it stands out (because its different from almost any other car on the road) that it handles bad weather really well, and it has sufficient clearance that it will never be beached. I drove through Sandy along the GSP at 8:30PM on October 29th as well as every snow storm around here since and I’ve never had a problem. There are lots of accessories that you can add-on, from over-head light bars to winches; you could even add a snorkle if you wanted to. (BYOV)
I’m sure that if you add front and rear armor-plated ram-bumpers, even the famed Boston rush hour would be a breeze.
