Just tried to show my son how to drive in snow, as he has just passed his test.

We had a massive dump of about 25mm , can't believe how bad it was.

I thought a light weight front wheel drive car would be good, how wrong was I.

How have other people got on?

H A

But do you have winter tyres fitted?

I have a large rear wheel drive car and my little puddle jumper Panda.
I have two sets of wheels for each, with one set shod with winter tyres.

They make a huge difference, and the Panda easily beats my rwd car in snow conditions.

Horses for courses.

No snow here (Cheshire)

Performance in snow is pretty much down to tyres.


Use to have a Metro with metric tyres. The only ones made for it had hexagonal block tread. Snow just fell out unlike most that are designed to shift water which just compresses the snow into the grooves until you are running on ice.


Very similar to my full snow tyres except each block is sliced through to allow it to move around more. However you can't run these on tarmac as they would overheat.

Not had any here yet (south norfolk) but it's on the way. Panda should be fine even on normal tyres, but they are pretty awesome on winter tyres.
Of course if you had a Panda 4x4...

Sweetsixteen said:

Horses for courses.

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Very true I did say we should have taken the Landrover



But the panda was parked behind it, next time I will try the 500L.

H A

My Panda is fine on snow, but even better with winter tyres.
The 500 Pop I used in 2011 with BSM was great in the snow, just went where it was pointed.

Yep, even new 'summer' tyres will be much better on grip than 5-10 year old ones (as we found several years ago.....) which often stay around on Pandas.


Winter tyres are much better. Not snow tyres, winter tyres. I don't give a fig about climbing mountains, I just want grip in ice/snow when descending or stopping. Thus, my weapon of choice is old Punto wheels and 195/50-15 winter tyres.


No snow in Derbyshire...........


EDIT:
Aaaah...........it's now snowing in Derbyshire

Not tried the 2014 2wd panda in snow but the 2011 2wd was awesome leaving behind landrovers. Nissan 4x4s and a toyota rav4 on a 50 mile middle of the night dash the nissan crashed in front of me the landrover was so slow i had to overtake and the rav4 got stuck. These were the only 3 vehicles i saw on the road that night moving. 4x4 doesnt matter if you dont know how to drive in snow as most in this country dont. Ive never got stuck in snow and the mrs thinks im crazy cos as soon as it snows ill go out for a drive/fun once the other snowfearing drivers are off the road and never got stuck yet. And never had winter tyres on a car and never had any problems

I too can only sing the praise of the Winter tyre. I've got 2 sets of wheels, one fitted with Winters.

But I'll also say that if you're down to less than 3mm of tread on any tyre, I wouldn't be pushing it in icy conditions.

sandeel999 said:

Not tried the 2014 2wd panda in snow but the 2011 2wd was awesome leaving behind landrovers. Nissan 4x4s and a toyota rav4 on a 50 mile middle of the night dash the nissan crashed in front of me the landrover was so slow i had to overtake and the rav4 got stuck. These were the only 3 vehicles i saw on the road that night moving. 4x4 doesnt matter if you dont know how to drive in snow as most in this country dont. Ive never got stuck in snow and the mrs thinks im crazy cos as soon as it snows ill go out for a drive/fun once the other snowfearing drivers are off the road and never got stuck yet. And never had winter tyres on a car and never had any problems

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Exactly the same experience in a Mini (the proper one!) with summer tyres. Often drove up snow covered hills past abandoned BMWs, Jags and Audis. Drivers generally have no idea how to drive in snow and ice.

sandeel999 said:

And never had winter tyres on a car and never had any problems

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You don't know what you're missing!

My panda did amazing yesterday, having to drive 30 miles to Edinburgh, on rural roads! Even ended up passing experienced drivers on the slope leaving the estate where I live, even though I've never driven in snow before [emoji108]

Bout a quarter inch of snow on the coast here. Took over an hour to do 22 miles due to others not driving to conditions. 20 mph and 15mph when theres only a tiny bit of slush in the middle of the road and the rest is clear and puddles. Not even icy and raining lol

My old BL Mini 1000 was great in snow until it hit a snow drift and clogged up the distributor with snow. Grip was ample for whatever speed I could reasonably do. Stopping was down to how fast I could pump the brake pedal.
.
Just be careful with the loud pedal, maintain momentum and expect the car to move about.

Had a chance to try Fugly in the snow and he coped really really well and was in his element. I even helped out someone who had got stuck :slayer: in a soft roader.

I managed to exit the Motorway at Wrotham Kent after being stuck on there for over an hour and skipped the back lanes down to Kemsing and later back to London, via Eynsford.

Not being funny, but we ain't seen SNOW yet in the UK!

Several years ago I advertised a left hand drive Jeep Cherokee 4x4 unfortunately just as the snow really came down. I got one reply from a Norwegian guy who was over here wanting to buy exactly what I had. He managed to get to my place, being driven by his friend in another 4x4.

On the test drive, I sat with him. Immediately he was hurling it around the lanes, drifting, stopping and starting - and he scared the pants off me. When I commented on his skill, he just said, 'Oh, we're used to this weather - you're not.'

If we ever get six inches of the stuff, hard packed, with drifts - that's when the boys mess up while the real snow drivers keep going.

koalar said:

No snow here (Cheshire)



Performance in snow is pretty much down to tyres.





Use to have a Metro with metric tyres. The only ones made for it had hexagonal block tread. Snow just fell out unlike most that are designed to shift water which just compresses the snow into the grooves until you are running on ice.





Very similar to my full snow tyres except each block is sliced through to allow it to move around more. However you can't run these on tarmac as they would overheat.

Click to expand...

We had snow in Crewe, it was very slippy in the 100! Yeah a Metro was better.

neilwill said:

We had snow in Crewe, it was very slippy in the 100! Yeah a Metro was better.

Click to expand...

Not when I posted it

Yes a light dusting next door in Shavington. Didn't last long though.

In my part of N. Ireland we never got any 'proper' snow, or at least it didn't stay around for long!

What a shame, I love driving my Panda around the empty street in the snow/ice as even going quite slowly gives you a healthy slide around the corner! Fun to practice control. Though I'd never have such an attitude where others are about of course!

I just have all season tyres as I can't afford a winter set, though would love to see the difference in the future!

2010 was bad for snow in most of UK. Even South Wales and Devon got hit. But I had parked my car at the top of a very steep hill so there it stayed. My neighbour tried to get his 4x4 truck out for work (builder) and even though there was a less steep way down he very nearly lost it. Snow tyres crawler 1st gear and all four were ironing while the truck slid backwards. He had to leave it wedged against the kerb. To be far at 2am the ice was harder and he did manage to move it up and away.

I left the Punto right where it was. It wasn't going uphill without a winch and going downhill with zero run off distance wasn't an option.

In the really cold winter of 1981, I had a VW van on tall narrow cross ply tyres. It coped quite well on new snow but packed ice was like driving a boat. The front wheels would steer for a few degrees of turn then push into terminal understeer. I got used to steering with the throttle. A lazy engine with 40bhp when new was enough for me to manage.