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How the heck did we get here? Most best selling "cars" are now superzied pickups and SUVs.
(www.caranddriver.com)
this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2023
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Serious question: what's a good option if you live in semi-rural suburbs that gets snow in winter? Safety would be my main concern--something with four wheel drive and larger tires makes a difference there.
Myself commuted with a 95 Saturn SL for years out of a farm in rural Canada. People used crappy small cars for decades and still got where they need to, and today even the most basic car with basic snow tyres is extremely capable.
Needing AWD for the suburbs is a marketing myth the car sales racket wants you to believe.
Literally any front wheel drive or AWD car with snow tires.
If you ask this on any car blog, people will emphatically say that you do not NEED AWD. What you really need are a set of dedicated winter tires. Winter tires make a huge difference in snow, if you live in an area with a lot of it.
Having said this, you should check out the Car and Driver's buyers guide on their website to see what peaks your interest. Tons of great options. Subaru Crosstrek, Kia Seltos, Hyundai Tuscon, Mazda Cx-50... it goes on and on! Then check out Doug Demuro's reviews of any cars that strike your fancy. His reviews are crazy thorough and give you the best idea of what a car is like, before even stepping into a dealer lot.
I, too, love cars, so hit me up with any questions.
This right here. I drive a tiny old rear wheel drive 4 cylinder pickup which is arguably the worst vehicle for winter driving. The only thing it has going for it is that it does have a bit more ground clearance than cars. I live in Minnesota and work nights so I often get off work before the plows have cleared the roads. As long as I have a good set of snow tires on that truck, a couple sand bags in the back, and drive carefully, then it can and has trecked through roads covered in nearly a foot of wet snow like a champ. I've had to give rides to multiple people who planted their big 4x4 SUVs in the ditch with that little truck.
Also because OP mentioned it but you didn't say anything in your post, wide tires aren't necissarly better in the snow. The best winter vehicle I've ever owned was a tiny 90s Mazda pickup that actually used unusually narrow tires compared to modern vehicles. Wide tires are great for mudding or off roading because they distribute weight over a larger area and help prevent you from just getting stuck in your own ruts. However when it comes to snow you actually want to sink farther down in the snow because there is road underneath so you don't need to worry about digging ruts. So narrower tires will concentrate the weight of your vehicle better and give you a better chance of digging down to a solid surface rather than skating across the top of the snow. With wide tires they wind up distributing the same weight over a larger area so you just wind up with more less tightly compressed snow under the tires and that can make them more likely to slide in some situations.
...my wife lived in minnesota twenty years ago and did exactly the same; great little truck did fine in the winter...
(can't find compact pickups anymore for love or money)
Why not both? Both is good. But if you don't have AWD, yes, you definitely need winter tires.
Tires are for coming to a stop safely. AWD helps you get moving.
AWD cannot replace winter tires.
If you have AWD, or if you don't have AWD, in both cases, you still need winter tires. There is a reason they are obligatory for a couple months per year in Quebec. It's illegal to drive without them in winter here because if there is one thing we know, it's snow. Not only do you need them to stop safely on snow and ice, but you need them to adhere to the ground when turning, both at low and high speeds, even without snow or Ice.
The ground is so cold that even if we melt the snow using salt, your summer tires won't adhere as well as they would, and you could find yourself losing control.
I don't think telling people to buy 2009 and earlier Subarus is a good idea. I love the huge resale on my legacy but the current cars are kind of not up to the task and they haven't made a wagon since 2009 in the US. The ATS all wheel drive system can't even drive the rear wheels without front slip, not to mention the reliability issues with the CVT if you actually use the all-wheel drive or cruise on the highway.
The WRX could be up to the task, it is the only car in the lineup that can drive all the wheels without slip. The rest of the lineup is kind of just a front wheel drive car with a CVT so I would not recommend it, but if you put winter tires on it it'll be fine.
I have an 01 Forester. Its AWD is solid, snow tires make January in MT a piece of cake, but it's the damn head gaskets that get feisty instead lol
If you put the multi layer WRX 2.5 l head gasket saying and you get the heads plained it's so one time job. You should be good for a 300 to 400,000 miles from the rest of the car.
I definitely did slap the mls gaskets on this time. First owner had them done at 70,000 miles but it was before the better ones came out.
Winter tires, then a winter driving course, then AWD. In that order.
Subaru
I love mine. I just have a little Impreza and it is a beast in the snow.
Most Canadians get along just fine in normal FWD cars. Depending on how much you drive get all-weather tires (different than all season) or if you really want get snow tires. My previous car was FWD, current one is AWD, and really the AWD isn't necessary. Next car I'll go back to FWD.
Grew up in mountainous high altitude Switzerland with pickets on the side of the road to show where the road stops, pickets were over 2m high because there was that much snow and ice and even now they are buried every winter and a machine has to come everyday to salt and remove snow from the road. My parents did just fine driving a class e break with winter tires and when weather got really shitty chains. Now that I live in the rural French country with an as shit and cold weather, I got a 4wd A6 avant with winter tires because I’m a bad driver and need to carry the kids to stuff. The husband is a really good driver and has a regular A3 with just winter tires and never crashed with it. But it was another story when he was younger and drived recklessly and totalled a couple cars. Also personally dislike suvs as center of gravity is much higher and it’s a lot more dangerous on slippery roads if you loose control at some point to regain stability.
Volvo V70
Current Subaru (other than wrx) are no better than any other front wheel drive car. They can't drive the rear wheels without the front having slip and they don't live up to the old Subaru standards of symmetrical oval drive. They also have a CVT that's only good for 60,000 miles if you like to do Subaru stuff, and they have nothing but SUVs or vans other than the WRX. It's been almost 25 years since I had a wagon so I'm not sure what their brand images supposed to be anymore since I keep trying to push that they have wagons that can go off road but they don't. The flagship outback wilderness gets destroyed off road by a mid-90s automatic and Impreza.
I wish I had an answer for you on what card to get. If you can keep the battery charged the Prius all-wheel drive and RAV4 all-wheel drive hybrid are really good. Other than that I would just get whatever you want that doesn't have an engine driven CVT.