Ever since I made the full commitment to dedicated snow tires, I just love it. Tonight we had a good foot of fresh snowfall and I took the opportunity to go for a nice drive around the neighborhood's unplowed streets. In a Honda Fit, on skinny little Altimax Arctics. Extricated two folks in SUVs from snowbanks, one who was very VERY stoned (it is Ann Arbor after all).
It's great fun. You southerners don't know what you're missing. 
Yes I do. Don't really mind driving in the snow, if that's all there was. You're right, it can be fun. If no one else was on the road. We have ID10T that don't understand how to drive in the snow here. Here in the south there is usually ice along with the snow or just ice and no snow. It's the other people around me that causes me to stay at home when we get snow here in the south. I've lived in Pacific North West (Tacoma area) and Fairbanks, Alaska.
I've had 2 really fun snow days here:
Last night I took my Saab with snows to a friend's out in the sticks. Traffic sucked, but the backroads were great. The best part was driving around a lifted bro dozer that couldn't make it up a hill.
Today my wife took that car to work for safety reasons. I took her LS430. RWD V8 with good tires. SO MUCH FUN.
Winter weather advisory and 4-6 inches in the forecast will be fun tomorrow too!
I just put my new-to-me ugly plow on my truck, and plowed for the first time. Fun. A few hundred extra pounds hanging out front sure makes for interesting handling. 
im looking forward too the drive to work tomorrow morning to see if these grabber ap2's will work for snow season.
I drove my lifted Volvo in to work today. Even with the big chunky Falken WildPeak AT3W tires it's really no match for the Fit on Altimax Arctics. Maybe I need to air them down a bit. An alignment would probably help too.
I put new Cooper Weathermaster St tires on a 2005 Focus. Starting in 2nd I can out accelerate most 4x4 trucks and more importantly stop very well.
In reply to Erich :
There is not much better than the Altimax Arctics. I had them on my RX8, it made that car great on snowy roads.
We haven't had much snow here yet, but when we got ~6 inches a week or so ago I took my 128i out for its inaugural (under my ownership, anyway) snow drive. I've got brand new Conti WinterContactSIs on it. Traction nannies turned off and it was quite entertaining. Very controllable, reasonable limits, and even pretty decent under injudicious acceleration. The previous owner told me it was fun to drive in the winter. He wasn't wrong.
I used to have a '97 Buick LeSabre running Firestone Winterforce tires. Awesome in snow, Big body, heavy 3800 engine right over the drive wheels. The car could go through anything and gave me false senses of belief that it could truly drive through open fields of snow (though I never tried.)
Driving in the snow is really the only thing I miss about the snow. Spent four winters north of Pittsburgh in a Miata. Good times.
Snow driving is one of my all time favorite activities. We got our first dusting of snow this morning, just an inch or so, barely enough to slick the road in a few select spots, and it's got me itching for a real storm.
My XJ on Treadwright Guard Dogs is a blast to take pounding through deep snow and is virtually unstoppable. I was able to drive it out of my long gravel driveway in over 30" of snow two winters ago, and that was before it was lifted and still on crappy old passenger car all seasons. It kinda sucks though. if you're just trying to hang the tail out and have fun when there's only a few inches on the ground. The tires suck in those conditions (actually they suck in most conditions, in all fairness), steering is slow as hell making it hard to keep up with the proper amount of counter steer, and it's just not well controlled or predictable. Go figure.
I think the most fun I've ever had on 4 wheels was driving my E36 on Blizzaks in the snow. SO easy to just hang the tail out at will and control slip angle with the throttle. Completely predictable and easy to reign it back in. Never had a problem getting it moving in any reasonable amount of snow. Nothing beats a well balanced RWD car on snow tires for winter time fun, IMO, which is why I've been fantasizing about a Frisbee on snows all morning 
In reply to Erich :
You haven’t had fun until you drive a school bus on ice and snow! You’re still expected to keep to the schedule and people will call if you are as little as a minute late.
Somehow all the drivers in the state moved here last week from Hawaii or the Bahamas. Stop lights that normally let 10-15 cars through change to letting 2-3 cars through. Freeway speeds vary between 2 and 4 miles per hour. So we ( bus drivers) all have backroads ways of getting around, Roads that were laid out by a drunken snake.
Can you imagine the fun of drifting a 40 foot long 12 door high 30,000 pound bus filled with 77 excited children? All six wheels sliding as you navigate tight back roads in a vain attempt to stay on schedule?
Oh and do the math, bus 40 feet long making a 90 degree turn has to cross over the opposite lane by nearly 1/2 it’s length to make that turn. (
Nope they don’t bend in the middle and the roads are often only 20 feet wide. Yes the rear axle is 13 feet from the back end but that means the tail swings out those 13 feet in the direction opposite of the turn.
So you use one pair of eyes to watch where you are going in the front and the other pair of eyes to watch the back so it doesn’t hit parked cars or trees
My wife had a 5 mile drive across A2 to get to work. Probably take her 30 min to do that.
It's not that we don't hate driving in snow. It's all the other people. Driving would be a lot, lot, lot more pleasant if people drove in proper lanes for their speed. The guy going 45mph in the middle lane of I94 needs to move right, as they are just blocking all other traffic who actually know that glistening you see on the surface is water, not ice. Just like the drivers who are convinced that they can to +70 when everyone else is doing 55. (dude- you have a truck, which should mean that you know it snows, and if you know it snows, you know that people generally slow down in snow and ice. So leave a LOT earlier if you are that worried about being 4-5 min late.)
When I was still driving my Miata as a DD, it was a blast in the snow.
Just put Blizzaks on the FoST last weekend but haven't had enough snow to try them out yet. This will be the first winter in 20 years where I won't have power at the rear wheels so I guess no parking lot donuts for me.
Reminds me of some fun times sliding around Blacksburg, VA in my 1973 Mazda RX-2. Wow, I'm old.
Blizzak WS70's on 525xi here. This car with these tires is a friggin' snow monster. When i get home today, i'm taking my 15YO out for a valuable lesson. My only regert is that we didn't get this snow 2 weeks ago. The E38 would have been an even better demonstrator.
The ranger made it too work in the 2 inches of snow just fine. Like most small trucks too much throttle kicks it sideways with no problem. Think ill keep the grabbers on and not rock the short snow tires.
Last night in the snow I fully realized the hatred I have for my Hankook A/Ts. With just 1/2" of snow I couldn't even start moving from a stop without 4wd on a flat street.
Snow can be helpful for big buses. I once did a 1-point turn on a 4 lane non-divided highway because I missed a turn. A careful stab of the pedal sent the back end on a huge sweeping arc I was driving one of these:
In my experience, modern FWD cars with snow tires and all their nannies SHOULD be damn near impossible to crash in the snow...but people somehow will find a way.
Even with the stability and traction control turned off, the Elantra doesn't let you do much in the way of hooning when the surfaces get snowy. Good for inspiring confidence in a commute, but disappointing if you want to do handbrake turns in an icy parking lot.
I had a good time driving into work this morning. Couple of inches of snow last night and some half ass plowed roads is my jam. Of course I the plow truck battery was dead this morning so I'm going to have to deal with the consequences of not plowing off my drive way. But it's supposed to be 40 this weekend so it'll melt off.
I tend to enjoy going out with the Silverado when the winter weather is just right... It's a lot more fun vs the nanny protected, underpowered, confidence sapping Colorado I regularly DD for winter.
I love driving in the snow, its the driving with other people in the snow that are the worst. I have lost count of how many times I have passed people going 30km/h with just their day time running lights on, hands clenched at 11 and 1 and peering through the windshield while chewing on the steering wheel. If the road conditions scare you that much, AT LEAST turn your lights on!
My Fiesta is just amazing in the snow on Blizzaks. The rear seems to move out slightly, not like it is going to spin, as I drive though a corner with a steady throttle.
I went out yesterday and found some town roads that they just plow, no salt. On one sharp corner the stability control activated briefly, I think I dropped a rear wheel off the pavement. I really have to try to get the taction control to activate, when it does it is only until the tires gain traction. Of course I don't have a lot of power.
Anyway, I had fun but the car is a mess. The state roads where wet with some slush.
Love driving in the snow, FWD & Hakapaletas; it's the other drivers that scare the crap outta me!
02Pilot said:We haven't had much snow here yet, but when we got ~6 inches a week or so ago I took my 128i out for its inaugural (under my ownership, anyway) snow drive. I've got brand new Conti WinterContactSIs on it. Traction nannies turned off and it was quite entertaining. Very controllable, reasonable limits, and even pretty decent under injudicious acceleration. The previous owner told me it was fun to drive in the winter. He wasn't wrong.
I just put those same Continentals on my stick shift Subaru Baja and they kick ass. The Baja is an all-out riot in the snow, although the lack of a functioning parking brake is a bit of a bummer. The backing plates rotted out at some point and the previous owner removed the shoes, hold-downs and springs and cut the cables off.
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