Yes, certainly. Upthread here in post#16, I spoke about having the engine over the drive wheels.
So you’re saying that what you’re saying is more factual than what the previous person said.. Duely noted.
‘Weight distribution’ is just your contored way of saying front wheel drive since the VAST majority of cars have the engine in the front. We can’t re-distribute that weight.
I will agree with the tires matter most though. I had a full size, 4x4 SUV that had car tires when I bought it. Then I had a 2 wheel drive pickup when I moved from OK to WI. I put M+S tires on the back, added some weight and went pretty much where ever I wanted (I grew up in MN and learned how to drive in the snow w/ lots of practice).
I always loved the first snow storm of winter in Anchorage. All the morons with pickups and SUVs sitting in the ditches thinned the herd of stupids I would have to deal with for the rest of the winter. All go and no slow, as they say.
I would venture to say not impotently, assuming you were able to go straight. Here in the English-speaking U.S. we call ABS anti-lock brakes (or anti-lock brake system), but in Germany where it was developed it was named Anti Blockier Systeme, which means anti-skid system. Its purpose is not to allow quicker stopping, but to allow steering control when stopping on slick roads by preventing a skid.
That has been my operating assumption for the last 30 odd years, it seems to work.
I didn’t weigh down the trunk with anything, had I had a FWD vehicle the weight of the engine in the front would’ve given me more traction.
I didn’t say there wasn’t a learning curve but the experiences I gave had nothing to do with driving skill other than the fact some people may have made the choice to abandon the vehicle earlier. When I tried to drive home on the side of a mountain, I thought that I could go up as far as I could and then just park and walk. What really happened was that my small truck struggled to make it up about 1/4 of a mile and then couldn’t go any further. I tried to just park and walk the rest of the way but it couldn’t hold its position on an icy road and decided to turn into a reverse sled and there was nothing about could do about it other than the last resort measure of putting it into a spin.
The example on the icy bridge was in Everett, MA. It is a drawbridge in the shape of a large hump and I couldn’t see that the downward slope was covered in ice a wrecked vehicles until I got to the top. When it was my turn to start down, there was nothing I could do about that either. It was just a luge track.
Unless you think every single driver on that bridge was incompetent, you are ignoring reality. We were going slow. Sometimes you just can’t stop on stop on ice covered roads when the conditions are just right no matter how slow or careful you are.
That happens on ice (and especially black ice) covered roads sometimes. You have to watch for clues that the conditions are there but, when they are, there isn’t much you can do especially if you are going down a steep hill unless you have a car that is especially good with the right tires and sometimes even that isn’t enough.
The 2012 Mustang Jim drives has rear-wheel drive, but traction control. My Corolla has front-wheel drive but no traction control (and snow tires on both). They both do fair here.
I too would not recommend a full-sized cargo van for snow and ice driving. Or a pick-up truck.
A 4x4 is outstanding in snow if you know how to use it.
I know this thread is a year old, but my daughter is looking at cars for driving in snow and ice,
She is certainly not in mountain country - she’s in northern Illinois. However, where she lives she often doesn’t get plowed in her neighborhood for two or more days after a storm. In a regular 3" snow her Honda Civic is fine, but in the 7" snows her street is a mess. The town gets the major roads pretty quickly, but she has to beat work early and her car is just too short to maneuver to a main road. Well, short’s not probably the word I want, but I think you know what I mean.
For some reason she doesn’t want a Subaru,n which is what seems to be the most recommended, so what is everyone’s opinion about a Honda, Nissan, or Mazda SUV with AWD?
Also, if she gets snow tires, would a garage store her regular tires for her, and then store the snow tires? She doesn’t really have room to store them herself. And, untrusting person that I am, how do you know you’re getting your own tires back when you switch at the end of a season?
No “if” she gets snow tires. Winter tires are more important than AWD or car make, period. Some places will store your off-season tires for you, but it’s not a standard practice so you should call around.
Four wheel drive is great in the snow. It does not make you immune to the laws of physics, and ice is still your enemy. I am very happy with my Jeep Wrangler.
Here in the Northeast Subarus are about 40% of the cars on the road, and the stereotype is “people who know their shit about driving in shit.”
I don’t think anyone will store your tires for you. Find a friend with a basement. 
We ended up with a Toyota Corolla and it drives beautifully here, but we live in an area that gets plowed multiple times a day in the snow. In an area with no real plowing to speak of I’d seriously be looking at a Subaru, price and reputation be damned. Everyone I know who spends any time in unplowed areas has a Subaru or a giant-ass 4x4 and I’m thinking there is a reason for that.
I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want a Subaru. They’re reliable, inexpensive for what all you get and will go anywhere.
They haven’t been really inexpensive for some time. I have a Suby and I love it, but any reasonable AWD vehicle (RAV4, CRV, Fusion, Rogue, CX5, Outlander) with good snow tires will function well in the snow. The replacement for my Outback retails for around $30K, which isn’t really cheap.
Besides, it’s not a car for everyone. I find the new interiors rather bland and I know several folks who hate Subaru’s exterior styling.
But I’m planning on buying a new Suby this spring
Like most car lineups, I suppose that you can pay as much as you want for a Subaru. My wife bought a new “almost fully loaded” Crosstrek last year for around $24k. I haven’t looked but I’d bet that comparably equipped models that you listed would be a few thousand more. Plus, the things really are mountain goats.
Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. I don’t particularly care for the looks of their sedans but I think their SUV’s and crossovers look about like everyone else’s. My only complaint is that the seats are HARD but that seems to be a disturbing trend among most vehicle manufacturers, especially Japanese ones.
The tread life of winter tires depends on how and when you wear them (true for any tire, really).
I tend to mount mine in consistent 40* F weather and colder, and the rubber is most happy at these temps. Driving harder, or in anything warmer, will accelerate the wear, but thus far I’m on my third season with this set, and could do another three pretty easily.
I’ve also ran all-seasons before and the year-round use will definitely wear them faster, without question. I don’t particularly like them for harder driving in summer, and while good in dry winter weather, they’re not as good in some of the single digits + ice.
My experiences with summer tires vary, since I drive harder and longer on them. The type of tire is the bigger deal for me, but I expect them to wear faster than any of the above, given their purpose. I’ve had the misfortune of driving these in flash winter weather, and it highlights exactly why certain tire types and compounds belong in their respective environments, lol.
That said, I think good condition all-season tires are a fine economic (as well as storage) choice for most drivers, who also have the sense to drive according to conditions and keep their driving consistent and predictable. They are by no means better than a dedicated tire, but depending on the location, workable.
Owning RWD vehicles and driving in all weather, I don’t find RWD more prone to sliding than anything else. What changes is how it slides, where the tail will fish out, which is something people don’t like because simply smashing the brakes isn’t the correct way to fix that. Most drivers react to any type of situation by hitting their brakes, and in FWD, it’s typically easier to recover from that method, though it’s still not smooth and is one example in a greater list of over-corrections, which upsets the balance of the car.
What this says, is that it’s the driver that is the primary problem, followed by the tires, as the two work in unison. The tires are the only part of the car touching the ground, and it’s this contact patch which dictates the behavior of anything else the car does.
Quoted for truth!
You don’t need AWD. Or 4WD. Don’t. As is: “do not.”
Front wheel drive does very well with proper snow tires. Swap 'em out for good summer tires in the Spring. It’s worth it.
You probably don’t need studded snow tires, if your state even allows them.
You don’t need an SUV or a wagon, although those have other potential practicalities.
You do need the intelligence to slow down when driving in poor weather, whatever you’re driving.
Understand that AWD helps you go, but it does not help you stop, does not help you going down hills, and for the most part does not help you corner. Snow tires, however, help with all of those things.
It sounds like snow tires are definitely the way to go. She does have a basement to store the tires, but her father and I are too old to get them up and down and she doesn’t know anyone who could carry them up and down, but maybe she could hire someone.
And as soon as she does that northern Illinois will have balmy winters!