BAWC Forums

My uncle has lived in the mountains here for the last 15 years or so he started out with SUV's and trucks in the snow and then he bought a Subaru and has stated on several occasions that its the best thing ever in the snow and they have the auto. he used to tell me that he would go and try to be stupid in the snow and wouldnt really get into trouble with it.

(for those not familiar with CA snow it has very high water content which makes the snow very slushy and from what i have been told harder to drive on. Also Salt is outlawed here so they only use sand)

Depends on how slushy we're talking. wet snow that clumps easy and falls by the foot can be a pain, but the really wet stuff that turns into literal slush is a breeze to drive in.

Some of the worst snow we've had, though, was the light, dry kind that blows into large drifts and completely covers highways. That stuff sticks around forever and usually turns into a nice smooth sheet of ice after a couple days.

[quote=""Jeremy C""]Depends on how slushy we're talking. wet snow that clumps easy and falls by the foot can be a pain, but the really wet stuff that turns into literal slush is a breeze to drive in.

Some of the worst snow we've had, though, was the light, dry kind that blows into large drifts and completely covers highways. That stuff sticks around forever and usually turns into a nice smooth sheet of ice after a couple days.[/quote]

I'm pretty sure its more like the first stuff you are talking about. from what i have seen it seems that the snow here fills the tread blocks and sipes thus making zero traction.

i do love watching the news and seeing the lifted trucks/SUVs with MT (mud terrain tires) spun out cause they dont realize that the grip for snow comes mostly from sipes not tread blocks

[quote=""Chris GTO TT""]My uncle has lived in the mountains here for the last 15 years or so he started out with SUV's and trucks in the snow and then he bought a Subaru and has stated on several occasions that its the best thing ever in the snow and they have the auto. he used to tell me that he would go and try to be stupid in the snow and wouldnt really get into trouble with it.

(for those not familiar with CA snow it has very high water content which makes the snow very slushy and from what i have been told harder to drive on. Also Salt is outlawed here so they only use sand)[/quote]

What model of Subaru?

[quote=""Duck Vader""]What model of Subaru?[/quote]

Legacy based Outback but since the Impreza is lighter in theory it should be better on the snow since momentum is bad when on the snow.

Thank you. Right now she is really leaning toward the Subaru. We will take a test drive this weekend to make sure.

I want to get rid of my explorer simply because im tired of the SUV, i want a DD that is smaller lighter and more agile for dealing with traffic.

I love my Jeep, and will never get rid of it. My wife likes it too, but she wants something smaller, newer, and safer.

Family has an 02 Outback LL Bean edition wagon
its tight, auto is good
Owned many subarus in the past too.
+1
even though I'm building the Jeep truck

[quote=""Chris GTO TT""]Legacy based Outback but since the Impreza is lighter in theory it should be better on the snow since momentum is bad when on the snow.[/quote]

Lemme tell you from experience: The most important factor in the white shit is the tires. If you get a heavier car, put some skinnier tires on it and it will work just fine (but make sure to put the nice ones back on after the snowy season). Weight and driveline really won't make much of a difference in normal snow driving. I've seen enough SUV's and older Subaru's in the ditches to know that AWD is NOT the answer.

This past year was a good one for me. When I bought my Focus it came with the wheels that were on in and the stock rims. I picked up a set of Blizzak WS-50's (215/40R17 - stock size) for cheap and gave them a run this winter. The car was simply unstoppable. Traction control + very aggressive snow tires = very stupid driver behind the wheel.

One particularly bad storm came through that had many people doing less than 20mph on the highway on my way home from work that night. I was happily cruising along at about 50 or so, weaving the little traffic that was on the road. I pushed the car trying to find it's traction limit, but it wasn't going to happen unless I did something stupid (or went any faster, which I consider in the stupid realm). The next morning the sky was clear, but the highway was still pretty rough. The right two lanes had clear paths where tires lay, but the left lane was still completely covered. And completely empty. Traffic in the right two lanes was going maybe 35mph. I never went below 70. Except for the extra vibration of the uneven surface of the snow, you wouldn't have known that I wasn't on clear pavement. The only time I had issue was going into a decent right bend, the car started to understeer a little. Took my foot off the gas, and within a second the car was back where I wanted it. I gained A LOT of trust in my car and a new appreciation for having tires for a specific purpose. My SL was decent in snow with it's Pilot A/S's, but it would never have been is surefooted as my Focus with the Blizzaks.

Just some advice from your friendly snow hater/MI Commuter.

I know. Tires make the car in the winter. I had some really shitty ones on my Jeep last year, and it did great though. This year I have new BFG AT's and I will see how they do.


So far it seems like everyone likes the subaru. for the most part.

[quote=""Jeremy C""]Lemme tell you from experience: The most important factor in the white shit is the tires. If you get a heavier car, put some skinnier tires on it and it will work just fine (but make sure to put the nice ones back on after the snowy season). Weight and driveline really won't make much of a difference in normal snow driving. I've seen enough SUV's and older Subaru's in the ditches to know that AWD is NOT the answer.[/quote]

Tires are always the most important factor in any form of driving. Less weight and driveline certainly wont hurt you.

From what i know my uncle used the stock OEM Potenza RE92's

[quote=""JagdStealth""]From what I've read, it's a great warranty. [/quote]
I honestly hope so, but I've heard so much about Mitsubishi voiding their warranty for the simplest stuff..hell, even some hyundai owners were revoked because they got a speeding ticket!
Hell, Mitsubishi won't even honor the damn federal xfer case recall without going through a ton of hoops!

I'm pretty jaded, these days

[quote=""Chris GTO TT""]Tires are always the most important factor in any form of driving. Less weight and driveline certainly wont hurt you.

From what i know my uncle used the stock OEM Potenza RE92's[/quote]

I use to think they were important, but now that I've had some time to try multiple tires in various conditions, they are #1 priority to me. My 4 sets (2 for each car) include: Pilot Sport A/S + Potenza S-03's for the SL and Eagle F1-GS D3 + Blizzak WS-50's for the SVTF. It's worth every penny to me, too.

[quote=""Zentelis""]I honestly hope so, but I've heard so much about Mitsubishi voiding their warranty for the simplest stuff..hell, even some hyundai owners were revoked because they got a speeding ticket!
Hell, Mitsubishi won't even honor the damn federal xfer case recall without going through a ton of hoops!

I'm pretty jaded, these days [/quote]

Mitsubishi sucks...and their company is falling apart due to a lot of those warranty allegations, not to mention the federal charges and lawsuits

I hadn't heard about the Hyundai owner, but it's against the law for them to do stuff like that.

[quote=""Jeremy C""]I've seen enough SUV's and older Subaru's in the ditches to know that AWD is NOT the answer.[/quote]


I think back to times in Bountiful, bad snowstorms, and me getting around fine in a full-size RWD Chevy van, and soccer moms stuck in their big AWD Ford SUV's all over the sides of the road.
Know how to drive what you command. +1

[quote=""Jeremy C""]I use to think they were important, but now that I've had some time to try multiple tires in various conditions, they are #1 priority to me. My 4 sets (2 for each car) include: Pilot Sport A/S + Potenza S-03's for the SL and Eagle F1-GS D3 + Blizzak WS-50's for the SVTF. It's worth every penny to me, too.[/quote]

its not that weight and drive train arent important all other things being equal (including tires) the lighter AWD car will perform better...now if you take an AWD car with A/S tires and put it up against a 2wd car with snow tires i would take the 2wd car every day of the snowy week

we are saying the same thing just in different ways