Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Best/worst snow cars or trucks?

As noted by others, IMO driver error causes the majority of vehicles I've seen in the ditch during a Seattle snow storm to be 4WD, usually SUVs. They go better on slick roads but don't stop any better so the over-confident drivers push them too fast for conditions.

One other comment: on the PNW coast the snow tends to be barely at freezing temp, so it packs into slick ice and is soapy slick anyway, much slicker than snowy roads in temps way below zero where I used to live. In 25 years I never got snowed in in central BC, but have had it happen twice in less than 20 years on the coast even though we rarely have snow. In each case I could go with my Suzuki but the through roads were blocked with logjammed stalled vehicles. To get back home I drove up a hill on the sidewalk because the sloping street was full of spun-out vehicles.

Totalled my Zuki Sidekick winter before last on black ice on the Coquihalla Pass, the Highway Through Hell (re the TV show of that name).

Interesting info re the Forester.

I drive a buttload of miles in the winter all over the western US. I get a lot of unfun experience, especially driving across Wyoming, over and over.

I have driven excursions, Chevy half ton pickup, a saab front wheel wagon, Nissan half-ton pickup, 3/4 ton diesel pickups, a subaru wagon and an Audi awd wagon.

Hands-down, the Audi wagon was the best. If was like driving on rails with good, high-quality snow/ice tires. I could adjust the ride height and busted some pretty good drifts in western Nebraska and eastern Montana. The thing was a tank. Weighed more than my half-ton pickups, and was a comfortable dream to drive. The subaru was also good. Not near the machine to drive. Not nearly as heavy. But handled slick roads very well.

The front-wheel drive saab was good until you got into snow deeper than 6 inches. And it isn't often you hit that. Far more common to drive on snowpack and ice.

I drive a Nissan Titan now. Would love to get another Audi, but I do not miss the mechanic bills.

My 2005 4 door Taco is the worst on snow of any vehicle I have owned.
NO matter how much weight I add it has LOUSY traction.
Not sure what there is in the design but traction SUCKS.

We have a Pontiac Montana minivan. With studded tires, it's a much better slick road car than my Dodge 2500 4x4. It's got excellent traction. Cross winds will affect it some, though, with all that surface area. They made an AWD version, too, but I've never driven one. That would be great.
The best I've ever had was a couple different Subarus. Those things would go anywhere that didn't high center them.

Best I've vehicle I ever had in the snow is my current '15 Ram 2500 Reg. Cab 4x4, 6.4L Hemi, auto, 4.10 gears w/auto locking rear diff, plow pkg. 8.5' Fisher Extreme V Plow.

I run Goodyear Duratrac Tires and 600 lbs. of ballast weight behind the rear tires against the tail gate. If you add 1000 lbs. to the front you gotta put the recommended ballast weight in the back. A lot of guys don't. Having it makes a ton of difference not only while plowing, but while driving in general.

As mentioned, good tires and good driving is paramount above all else for winter driving.

NYH1.

Well that immediately had predictable outcome.....wasn't hard to figure out who the advertiser was..

ads like that are marketing folks... plain pure and simple...

My first job out of college was selling copy machines...

one thing you learn real quick, is how everyone tries to show how good their machines were at high quality
details.. so they would always take a 'sample test sheet' to a demo, and then tell the potential customer to
copy it on their machine and then on any other competitors that were bidding for the sale....

it always looked great on the machine of the vendor who supplied the test sample... and like crap on the
other machines...

however if a competitor was smart enough to do the same thing.. then his test sample would look best
on his copier and like crap on all the other machines...

simple fact, everyone conducted tests, that made their product look the rest, or put out the best results..

I'll guarantee you, the Subaru set the test, where it knew its vehicle would perform the best...and along with
making sure the competitive vehicles 4WD systems would fail...

in the real world, when you are dealing with Joe or Julie Everyday Driver....most of those vehicles with the same
tires, would get thru about the same slick obstacle, with the same degree of success...

bottom line it was the tires,.... which wasn't highlighted or mentioned...

the others I am sure had regular tires, that would come on the vehicle new to the So California market...

the Subaru either had, hydrophilic tires like Blizzacks or if it had summer tires like the other cars., I bet they
were siphed....


When selling copy machines, which was a real cut throat business.. if the competitors machine did the best on
a 'sample copy' than anyone elses... the way, a smart competitor learned to counter that, was to ask to look at their
competitors copier...which the prospective customer didn't care, as it wasn't theirs....then they would just pour some
of their copy machines ink.. into the ink reservoir of the other guys....kinda like throwing a 10 gallons of diesel
fuel into gasoline engine's fuel tank....

or pull the drum out of theirs like you were clearing a jam.... and then put your fingers all over their drum...
the oils in your fingers ruined the drum....and spoiled their fancy copier....

That is why you always asked the potential customer to look at yours last, if you were smart...

The Subaru Ad was just as honest, I guarantee ya... they stacked the deck in their favor...
and let the public draw the conclusions they wanted them to do...

even the best traction car on the planet, with the best winter tires available... still aren't the best period
because it is negated by idiot drivers who get overconfident... and think that their tires and all wheel drive
vehicle, turns the road into summer time easy traction....right up to the moment they spin out, hit something
or nose dive into the ditch...

any one remember the early 80s when Chevy Citations came out, that had front wheel drive.. and Goodyear
Tiempo Tires? Car salesmen were overselling their abilities in winter... at least in Minnesota... and every
snowfall, the medians and ditches were full of Citations

good point, but the best part of the system or the worst part is still the driver...

AWD and "All Season tires" ( yeah maybe for So. Cal), are bad, because they get drivers overconfident... right up
to the moment that they suddenly, are going fast enough to loose grip and too fast to recover quickly....

That is why you see so many small SUVs and large pickups in the ditch in snow country about anywhere...

and why is it that city people seem to forget everything they know about winter driving over the summer...
yet rural people don't....

Snow hitting Seattle or Potland, are one of the most hilarious things you can ever see...

even if only a couple of inches...

I 80 between Sacramento and Reno rates a second place to that....

I had a Dodge Charger SRT- not a very good snow machine, at all.

My wife's Ford Flex Limited AWD is the best vehicle we've ever had for inclement weather. Plus it'll pull your bass-boat in a pinch and, with the seats folded down, you can stuff 2 bucks in it coming home from an out of state hunting trip.

It's all about the tires!
Good tires can make an ordinary AWD seem unbelievable.
Bad snow tires can make a good AWD system seem awful.
End of story.

Put appropriate tires on your car and drive well.

That’s the takeaway?

Still impressive to go up 30* slope of wet poly.

That test confirms much of what I knew in my heart from driving that Subaru already.

In South Africa Subaru’s are considered the best farm vehicles made. Maybe Subaru paid for and conducted this test, but that independent company ran it. Much like a good lawyer, don’t ask questions you don’t know the answers too.

Subaru would not have been in my short list much of my life but watching them run circles around stock factory CJs showed me the light. No stock factory Jeep Wrangler is climbing that ramp either!

That was my 1st thought, too. It was probably a better tire test than a car test. I don't know if any of the cars tested had any kind of limited slip or something or it they all had open diffs on both ends.

The best I've had were my 1999 Ford Explorer Sport and my current '04 Grand Cherokee. Either would/will bust through a 2 foot snow bank and crawl up my driveway {as steep as that ramp in the video} through a foot of snow no problem.

Ditto!!!

Even with six sand bags and snow tires mine didn't feel planted.

The only thing I've driven that was worse was my brothers late '80's SR5.

Best rig was an 80's Blazer.

Interesting replies all.

Someone mentioned their first Subaru I believe. Mine was a brand new 1977 4WD, 4 cyl, 4speed wagon. Unbelievable for a SoCal boy of 23 years old. First real snow trip was on a Forest Service road in January on an 8000' ft mountain and we made it nearly to the top. To a spot we called the turn around because the last 1/4 mile or so was hell even when there wasn't snow. Brother and a friend were seriously impressed because they felt their full size Chevy pickups would never had made it that far, even the friend's lifted one. It served well for a winter in Harrisburg PA area sleet/snow/ice also. Had one around for years and years in places it didn't snow much but didn't feel at a disadvantage when we did get some.

Next was an 84 Wagon with the 2 speed transfer case. Used it in NW PA and the White Mountains of AZ. Always worked well there, very few sketchy moments, even with ice under the snowpack.

Had an issue with overcharging for repairs by a Subaru dealer, I got no satisfaction from Subaru of America, and when the 86 went down the road it was replaced with Toyota equipment.

Had an 86 2wd long bed 5 speed for a number of years, including a winter in Juneau AK. What a funny place that was for a guy from the lower 48. I put studs on the 'yota truck, it had a fiberglass camper shell on the back, I kept my 50lb+ tool box back there and a few other things for weight and I got along quite well up there. But I never figured on the number of vehicles in the center median every morning in the winter on the highway heading into downtown. Mostly SUV's of the Tahoe/Explorer/Highlander etc type. Best I could figure was folks thinking the newfangled AWD, anti-lock brakes, traction control etc made those things magic machines that could go 60 on ice and never crash.

Being old enough to remember when most folks got by just fine with "winter treads" on the 2wd family car I now feel blessed to have the Rav4 we got the wife last year and my '01 Tacoma, both with studs for the winter. My poor wife had to drive me back from Portland last Christmas Eve over packed snow and ice from about Oakridge OR to where we live in NE Cali. About 5 of the 7 hours the trip takes. She hated the drive but we never had the slightest of slippage, she just hates driving in those conditions.

I'll agree with the folks about the tires being the critical element, perhaps coming in after sound judgement in the driver's seat.

I learned a very long time ago that one can't get in a winter weather related driving "accident" if one is not driving in winter weather. If I don't absolutely have to go before the roads are plowed and sanded, then I don't go.

Everyone enjoy the holiday,

Geno

Yeah, but those Chevy Citations did have excellent traction in the snow.

OK I'm not gonna read thru all these... Just throw my 2 bits into the pot. Our '97 Expedition with 240,000 mile on it is as good a snow vehicle as I have driven. (Lots of room there!). Good studded tires, appropriate speed for conditions (5 1/2 hours to make 130 miles to Anchorage one time.... we really, really had to get to Hawaii.... and attention to detail has taken us thru some pretty nasty stuff.

Oh yes- 500 pounds of weight in the back helps tremendously! I just drove it down to Soldotna from Anchorage with about that much weight in the back, on roads that ranged from wet to slushy to packed snow, to pure ice. But clear of snow. Mostly in 4wd, some of it awd. And mostly at or not far below posted speed limits. It never gave me the feeling I was pushing it (I was), but I always kept in mind moving control isn't the same as stopping control. But then, I wasn't bucking snow, either. That calls for slower speeds than what I used, due to the flotation/"grab" factor.

For a 2 wheel drive vehicle, my old Dodge Duster with a few concrete blocks in the trunk was pdg going thru those CO/WY/SD/ MT blizzards. If the roads hadn't been closed yet, we went!

I hate deer!

2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee w brand new Goodyear Tracker 2's was amazingly good, snow or ice.
Tall n skinny tires, no lift.............it did 2wd when everybody else was sliding in 4wd.

My lifted ZJ with Goodyear MTRs was a beast 2wd or 4wd..........but it'd pick a weird line now and then.

The WJ was so mild mannered it was silly.

Both solid front axle rigs.

That 2004 made me and my kids ill riding/driving it. Something about windshield angle or layout........20 mins and headache.
Didn't bother the ol lady.

Kids and I spent hrs in the beater ZJ.............no probs.

Hate hate hate the WJ............but dang if it didn't kick arse in the snow w those then new tires.

Had an '84 X-11. Darn good car. Sold it at 280,000 miles and still running well.