Small cars in winter query.....

aliasojo

Forgive me if this is a daft question but are small/lighter cars (think supermini kinda size) more likely to 'slide' on hills/gradients in winter conditions than larger/heavier cars?

wallbash

This winter , I could use my BMW or the wifes Fiesta ......... the BMW stayed in the garage when the snow was on the ground .

Gloomendoom

Small cars are a lot easier to pull out of ditches.

Hintza

Generally speaking in the winter.

Small cars = narrower tyres = more grip.

owen_money

BMW's have rear wheel drive, they are useless in the snow

Olza23

These little cars still weigh 1300+ kilograms!

Strider590

Small cars are great on snow, small cars with winter tyres will make most fashion 4x4's look stupid.

Battleaxe44

What about putting winter tyres on the car?

We used to have snow chains for the cars overseas and never had a problem with a bigger car, then again my little Nissan EXA handled the snow just fine with winter tyres and snow chans if we were driving distances..some towns did make you remove the snowchains before driving down the main street.

fivetide

owen_money wrote: »

BMW's have rear wheel drive, they are useless in the snow

So are Mercedes (RWD) but I still have one in Scotland and didn't get stuck once.

Some decent winter tyres and an understanding of how the car will behave should see most cars through a bit of snow.

Once it piles up it makes no diffrence. You could be driving a Humvee but if the road is blocked by a jack knifed lorry then you are not going anywhere.

marlot

Battleaxe44 wrote: »

What about putting winter tyres on the car?

We have decent winter tyres on a jazz, and it goes pretty well anywhere - especially the untreated road/ice rink near my wife's work.

With winter tyres, the Jazz is very nearly as good as my 4x4 on ice/snow. My 4x4 does have all season tyres on. The 4x4 is easier to get going, the jazz is easier to stop.

marlot

fivetide wrote: »

Once it piles up it makes no diffrence. You could be driving a Humvee but if the road is blocked by a jack knifed lorry then you are not going anywhere.

People always say that, but I've often found back roads that nobody else is prepared to touch. Saved me 4 hours one evening last winter. I was fortunate enough to be driving a 4x4 with all season all terrain tyres.