economical-ish 4x4? HELP

Lum

Last snowfall when I had the battered old Volvo 940, my boss told me to cancel all my jobs because of the snow. So I took the Volvo down to the local business park car park, which was completely deserted, and spent a few fun hours doing donuts in the snow. This was in order to practice my snow control in-case I needed to make an emergency journey later, honest

Quite a few interesting cars turned up, an E30 BMW M3, a 350Z, a Morris Marina. Wasn't until the afternoon when the chavs started arriving, that things got dangerous and all the good cars (and me in the Volvo) left.

optimus_primera

There is no substitute for experience, thats the biggest issue in this country imho.
Yes we had a 'bad' winter this yr ( or according to wifeys cousin in Canada,'a slight flurry' ....) but when was the last time we had so much snow for so long? i can't remember,i am 39 yrs old, and i cannot remember the las time i had to drive in snow,so how anyone is supposed to no how to correctly is beyond me.

Regarding 4x4's, there is a difference between 4x4's and 'offroaders'.
Most buyers of 'modern' 4x4's believe all the advertisments of the manufacturers, that you can drive off the forecourt and go take part in the Paris Dakar,or go drive across africa.

As has been said, it don't matter what you got, what power you got, how many driven wheels you have, if you have no grip, you aint going anywhere!

A Freelander on suitable tyres is ok in snow, same as any 'soft roader' in all honesty.

The advantage of 4 driven wheels is that you do not have a 'dead axle' acting as an anchor on difficult terrain.

Get a 4x4, then go and join a local off rd club, go and learn how it works, and how it handles in slippy conditions.

KillerWatt

anewman wrote: »

Because the other lane is for traffic coming the other way and if you're belting down it in snow and something wants to come the other way.... I'm not letting you back in. :rotfl:

That makes you a greater menace than the idiot who failed to read the conditions correctly to start with IMO.

As far as fuel economy goes, a 7 seater Isuzu Bighorn (Jap import) returning 30mpg works for us.

Strider590

^^ Share's it's chassis and most of it's running gear with the old Isuzu Trooper and therefore the Vauxhall Frontera if im not mistaken.

Gloomendoom

Hammyman wrote: »

Yet in Germany etc which has worse snow than us, they don't. Hell, the Scandinavians run around in Volvos which are or used to be pretty much all RWD. You don't see them parking up for 3 months of the year.

And what about lorries? In the 16 years I drove, I never got stuck in snow and I had far more torque than any of the cars in this thread.

Hmmmm... I had the misfortune to be behind an Asda petrol tanker as it slid backwards down the A6 at Shap last Christmas. :eek:

optimus_primera

Strider590 wrote: »

^^ Share's it's chassis and most of it's running gear with the old Isuzu Trooper and therefore the Vauxhall Frontera if im not mistaken.

not sure on that one.

Stigy

Strider590 wrote: »

The whole 4x4 thing is nothing more than an urban myth combined with heavy handed sales techniques on the part of the car manufacturers.

A 4x4 has:

4 wheels
4 tyre's
4 brakes

So how does that differ from my car??

On the correct tyre's a 4x4 wins hands down in the snow, but we Brits are too tight to buy the correct tyre's!!! we buy the cheapest summer tyre's going and expect them to work when the snow falls!

A 4x4 also has 4WD though...which helps, irrespective of tyres!

KillerWatt

Strider590 wrote: »

^^ Share's it's chassis and most of it's running gear with the old Isuzu Trooper and therefore the Vauxhall Frontera if im not mistaken.

The Trooper is the UK variant, and the Vx version (which they took and simply stripped it of the decent stuff) is the Monterey.

Stigy

Lum wrote: »

Last snowfall when I had the battered old Volvo 940, my boss told me to cancel all my jobs because of the snow. So I took the Volvo down to the local business park car park, which was completely deserted, and spent a few fun hours doing donuts in the snow. This was in order to practice my snow control in-case I needed to make an emergency journey later, honest

Quite a few interesting cars turned up, an E30 BMW M3, a 350Z, a Morris Marina. Wasn't until the afternoon when the chavs started arriving, that things got dangerous and all the good cars (and me in the Volvo) left.

I take it when the news reporters say "Don't go out in your car, you'll die!" etc etc etc, I'm not the only one who sees it as a challenge? I love snow driving, it's great fun!

cookieshay

we live in the highest village in the England so when its sunny everywhere else it can be snowing here. The roads leading to our close are NEVER gritted and our close is block paved and mostly shaded so the snow just becomes impacted, doesn't melt for weeks and just becomes compacted ice - we go out several times to dig it out, but it usually snows again soon after. I also work as a community nurse and go out to rural areas where elderly patients are waiting for life-dependant insulin injections etc that they are unable to administer themselves. I just want to be able to get there easily and safely.
I need a bigger car for family trips etc and thought that the size of a 4x4 would also be helpful in that way. And also won't winter tyres for an audi a4 s4 cost a bomb?