Standard car,standard tyres.
I nominate my Wife's elderly Peugeot 106 1.4 diesel.Not got stuck so far and leaves behind all the BMW's and Mercs stranded at the roadside.
Light,simple and most of the weight on the front driven wheels.
Is this the best formula?
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The old rear engined, rear wheel drive Skodas were prety amazing in snow and ice.
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2CV or a Beetle!
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Fiesta Mk1/Mk2
Ford Ka Mk1
Mini, the original one.
Fiat Panda Mk1
Old lightweight cars with small skinny tyres are usually good in the snow.
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AGree with isisalar.. We have one too.
Yaris diesle is fine: bit more pwoer so you can spin wheels easier but 2nd gear and it's OK..
Kas look OK.
Aygo/107 have a good reputation in snow.
Anything with no power and narrow tyres. and I was going to say fwd but rwd and winter tyres is fine based on prior experience..
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2CV, unbeatable. The generous ground clearance means the 2CV is effective even in deep snow which would defeat an all-wheel-drive saloon.
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2CV or a Beetle!
Agreed. My Renault 4 was good too. The more utilitarian Citroen CXs were good before the Turbo models with garden-roller tyres.
My late mum used to make reasonable progress in her Merc 280CE with winter tyres on the rear. Where were the summer tyres I hear you ask. In the boot resting on 2 bags of sand.
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>>The old rear engined, rear wheel drive Skodas were prety amazing in snow and ice.
They were hilarious! You'd turn the steering, but nothing would happen until you lifted off the throttle.
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C2's this week especially Diesels very good possibly the engine's a bit heavier, but the power delivery is excellent right down to stall revs which the petrol doesn't like, always had a soft spot for 'em, could be tempting as there should be some deals about.
Seem a good natural replacement for a 106/saxo which indeed it was.
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The old Saab 96 was regarded as one of the best cars in snow - Erik Carlsson won several rallies in one.
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The old Saab 96 was regarded as one of the best cars in snow - Erik Carlsson won several rallies in one.
I doubt whether the car Erik Carlsson drove bore much resemblance to a standard production car.
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Porsche 911 won rallies in snow.. Does not make it a good snow car for an average driver...
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Have a look at this photo. I know it 4 wheel drive, but look at the width of the tyres compared to what it would be using on tarmac.
www.autoracingdaily.com/images/featured/Subaru_Wor...g
The narrower the tyres the better on snow.
Edit. Or this Porsche www.icedriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/911.j...g
Edited by old crocks on 09/01/2010 at 15:34
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I expect they're on studded tyres. The narrower section gives more pressure to push the studs into the ice.
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Crooks
that is the general concensus - thin tyres are best and even better when mated with front wheel drive and even better when thin tyres, front wheel drive and disel engine - best combo.
even our jeep skidded sideways off our drive today - need new tyres as ther is approx 2:5 mm left on all four Goodyears
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Of modern cars, small front-wheel drive hatchbacks seem to cope best. Large rear-drive saloons like BMW and Mercedes seem to be having the worst time.
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My current car is a Vauxhaull Astra 1.8 Automatic and touch wood it has performed very well this winter and last February.
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Our Golf has been faultless in this weather, comfortably out-performing the S60. Combination I think of heavy diesel engine over the driven wheels, relatively narrow 195 section tyres with generous, flexible 65 section sidewalls, and an engine that is happy to pull the car away in second without any accelerator input needed, or tootle along feet off all pedals at 20 mph in 3rd gear.
Rather embarrassingly, I got the Volvo stuck yesterday on some re-frozen slushy snow at the end of our street and needed a push from a helpful passer-by. If anything today, the surface is even worse, but the Golf managed it with one slight flicker of the ASR light.
Well impressed. If only it had the Volvo's heater! :-)
Edited by DP on 09/01/2010 at 16:10
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In the really bad winter of 1981-2 we had a 1970 VW Beetle and it was great in the snow.
Yesterday and today I've been out in bad conditions in my Passat 2.0TDi and that hasn't put put a foot wrong - very impressed.
I had to push a colleague's 3 series off work car park yesterday and when I drove off in the Passat the traction control light didn't even come on!
Engine over drive wheels seems to be the best 2wd set-up.
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Just spotted a BMW parked up at side of road with hazzards flashing. Initial thoughts were that they were broken down, as I went past spotted that a rear wheel was hanging off! Must have spun and hit the kerb, straight road as well!
A lot of the modern high mpg city/small cars are doing very well in the snow - front wheel drive with skinny tyres again.
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re the 'skinny wheels' - just before Christmas when it snowed very heavily from 16;00hrs onwards and it took me 3/4 hours to drive home as opposed to the 20 mins in my MB - noted a push bike rider on one of those racing handle bar type push bike with very thin tyres - I thought you ruddy fool - but yes, he did have the best grip and was moving the fastest by a mile.
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one with a driver that knows what the pedals at his feet are for
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