Nissan qashqais in the snow/ice?

gilbert_and_sullivan

A set of used wheels from ebay fitted with a set of winter tyres will transform any car, cost around £500 the lot depending on sizes for a proper car, half that for a something tiny.

Still it seems easier or maybe more likely to get the result you want to spend thousands on a new car, often marketed or designed to look the part, then find its still running on summer tyres, and no better than the last one.

I'm sure half of these threads are put up to justify to husbands and wives that a new car is needed, just man or woman up and say ''i want a new car and i want a bigger or better one''

Not suggesting the OP is in that category before someone takes offence for them by the way, but we've had so many question asking about which cars are good and which arn't, and the real answer is that no modern car on low profile summer slicks is any use whatsoever in the ice and snow.
Buy a car fitted with low profiles and it will usually be useless in the ice regardless of how many wheels are driven or which end its driven from...unless you fit the correct tyre compound for the weather.
Its not getting these cars going its stopping them thats the big problem.

forgotmyname

It will slide off the road into a ditch or field the same as any normal car. 2WD or 4WD.

Once in the ditch you have more chance of getting it back onto the road though. What people forget
is the larger mass of a 4x4 when it does start to lose control could be its downfall (literally).

Had a mate with a discovery that rolled after having a blowout at 70mph.

petrolhead69

My neighbour has a 2wd one, and it got stuck as much as any fwd car on the hill we live on had to push and dig a few times, no better or worse. the 2wd car that fared best was a k11 micra on really skinny tyres. Got a laugh at the bmw x6 that got stuck when we could get our rwd e38 7 series out the street with a gentle right foot, what is the point in those things?
Got an x-trail on snow tyres now, so it probably wont ever snow as bad again until we sell it. Our baby was due end of december so wasn't taking any chances this year but she came early. Still loving the x-trail its amazing how little diesel it uses for a big car that can shift effortlessly.

Hintza

petrolhead69 wrote: »

the 2wd car that fared best ......on really skinny tyres.

Skinny tyres is the name of the game for getting good grip on normal tyres. The wee Panda is great too.

Having said that I changed the front tyres this year and suspect they are not going to be a plus in the snow compared to the Contis that were on it .

cyclonebri1

Hintza wrote: »

Skinny tyres is the name of the game for getting good grip on normal tyres. The wee Panda is great too.

Having said that I changed the front tyres this year and suspect they are not going to be a plus in the snow compared to the Contis that were on it .

Your'e right, the old beetle was the only car that worked with the exception of the land rover, going back here remember?, but still very valid..

But all this is about snow driving, put your wheels on ice and you can just forget it with 2 wheel drive,

allan673

look at the xtrail, its a better performer

dieselglider

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

But all this is about snow driving, put your wheels on ice and you can just forget it with 2 wheel drive,

Not true at all, it just needs the correct tyres. All season tyres are a good year round option, whereas winter tyres are cold weaather optimised for low temperature, ice and snow use.

About 99% of cars in the uk use what are termed summer tyres, the rubber compond of which hardens at low temperature, and doesn't have tread block sipes (slits) to aid traction. Very generally speaking, 2wd with winter tyres is better than 4wd with summer tyres. Good forward traction, but also more secure braking and less apt to slide sideways.

Us in the UK seem to prefer to spend £ks to change car type to cope with bad winter weather, rather than a few hundred buying the appropiate tyres.

Easily found in various forums, the amount of BMW (rwd) drivers who have fitted winter tyres and have been amazed at the results.

sillygoose

allan673 wrote: »

look at the xtrail, its a better performer

4 wheel drive Qashqai's have the same 4 wheel drive system taken from the X-Trail, there is little difference in ability.

All the claptrap anti 4 wheel drive stuff always crops up on here, many 4 wheel drive vehicles now are fitted with all season M&S 'mud & snow' tyres and in combination with 4 wheel drive will blow out of the water any 2 wheel drive vehicle (front or rear) on winter tyres. (especially when trapped on a blocked dual carriage way and you need enough clearance to get over a drift banked central kerb to escape, even winter tyres don't work well dangling in the air!)

I am not saying winter tyres are not worth while but there are a lot of cheaper ones around that have been found to offer little advantage over decent summer tyres.. you have to spend generously to gain real advantage.

Finally the eco argument is long out of date thanks to lighter part time 4 wheel drives, at 45mpg+ there are a lot of 2 wheel drive vehicles worse!

motorguy

sillygoose wrote: »

All the claptrap anti 4 wheel drive stuff always crops up on here, many 4 wheel drive vehicles now are fitted with all season M&S 'mud & snow' tyres and in combination with 4 wheel drive will blow out of the water any 2 wheel drive vehicle (front or rear) on winter tyres. (especially when trapped on a blocked dual carriage way and you need enough clearance to get over a drift banked central kerb to escape, even winter tyres don't work well dangling in the air!)

I think a lot of people 'assume' - and there is a real risk that a lot of people will 'assume' that their shiny new 4x4 is fitted with M&S tyres when the reality is most arent.

If you are that paranoid that you have to buy a 4x4 on the remote off chance of having to mount a drift banked kerb to get out of a traffic jam when all other cars cant move, then the grim reality is you'd be safer staying in the house for those two days a year that its a risk.

sillygoose wrote: »

I am not saying winter tyres are not worth while but there are a lot of cheaper ones around that have been found to offer little advantage over decent summer tyres.. you have to spend generously to gain real advantage.

Not true, a recent What Car? study showed that even the cheapest winter tyres were significantly better than even the best branded all year round tyres.

sillygoose wrote: »

Finally the eco argument is long out of date thanks to lighter part time 4 wheel drives, at 45mpg+ there are a lot of 2 wheel drive vehicles worse!

I think the real point here is that buying a 4x4 in December / January when demand is at its peak for them and trading in perhaps a perfectly good fwd or rwd car to do so is a fantastic way to spend thousands upon thousands unnecessarily.

Not particularly MSE, is it?

Strider590

pgilc1 wrote: »

Not particularly MSE, is it?

Unfortunately, as ive said toooo many times....... People just look for excuses to buy new cars.
I respect anyone who simply says "I want new car, just because I want it". But those who !!!!!foot around trying to justify it to everyone else, they seem to spend their entire life trying to be something they're not and trying to please people who really don't care.

It's an awful lot of money to throw at something that'll be the talk of the works carpark or the school run muffia for all of 3 minutes and then called a "shed" 6 months later.


Oh and the best time of year to buy a 4x4 is the middle of summer, not only will they be cheaper, but you'll also avoid looking like one of many idiots who paid £££££'s for a 4x4 when all he/she really needed was the correct tyre's.