Change of car? Maybe.

[Mountain Goat]

I have all weather tyres which are good general purpose tyres. They say they can be used in snow. They are not as draggy as a winter tyre. They seem fine to me.
I used to want to buy winter tyres and for years I tried as I was working on the railway and I had to make the 17 to 18 mile journey each way regardless of the weather at all times round the clock or the trains didn't run. But no matter how many times I asked over the years, they could not get any as they were always out if stock. Money was no object, but for some reason they said that the tyre wholesalers were concentrating on places in England and said there was no demand to sell them in my area of Wales.
It is why I was so surprised recently to be able to buy these tyres. Things have changed over the last ten or so years I think. It seems that now I can almost buy anything.

[brian1951]

Certain countries are very strict on winter tyres, hefty fines in Switzerland if caught, and they do regular stop checks. Here in the UK it depends on the area you live and the amount you drive in bad conditions.

[Mountain Goat]

It is hard to tell if it is the tyres or the car or both that are ok in the snow. The issue I get is with ground clearance as I have to take care as snow could slam into the diesel tank or the front bumper. Either way both these seem a bit fragile. Is ok with soft snow, but when the snow gets icy it can potentially be an issue. I was half considering some sort of plate to protect the tank as living around here I often have to go off onto verges for other cars to pass.

[yelrow]

Here in france, winter tyres are down to individual choice. I have never changed mine. Did ask when i bought the volvo, only to be told those already fitted were all weather ones. We have special insurance, with reduction as little peugot limited to 9000, kilometres. Have same for volvo, and as we never do more than 4-5000, in peugot, they allow balance to be added to volvo. Would be interesting to know annual mileage, driven, by others. No doubt, now we have our recently acquired, folding caravan, volvo will increase a tad.

[Mountain Goat]

I think I currently do about 8k a year. I put 10k on the insurance. When I worked on the railway I was doing 16 to 18k a year.
I made some mistakes while working there. I once bought a BMW 318 IS (E36). Was an aweful car to use in the winter. I was having to use warm water round the edges of the windows to open the doors as the door widows had no surround. They would go up into the car body when they closed. When they froze they would not drop down to open the door. Couldn't get in through the little boot... Then through mud or snow? Forget it! I tried it going downhill in our top field so one could come out on tarmac at the bottom... If I drove fast enough so it would not get stuck I could not steer. It was going straight on. Slow down a bit to gain control and I risked getting the car stuck. I quickly sold the car in late september before the real weather hit. One would think it was good on the road and I would say that compared to Volvos ans Audis I had, it was average. It was ok, but not as good as the competition. The engine was good though. 45mpg and was lovely. Just the horrible seating position. Set the seat low and one struggled to see over the bonnet. Put it any higher and the top of the window acted like a sun visor obscuring ones vision.
The secons Audi I had. It was one of the last of the Audi 80's which used the A4's floorpan. It was front wheel drive and was glued to the road. Was a 2.6 V6 saloon (Much better handling then the coupes). Always did 35mpg however I drove it. In snow or ice it hardly slipped. It was so good it puzzled me why rhey bothered offering it in 4WD form as it just wasn't needed. Once I was driving into work and I saw a long traffic jam, so I turned off down country lanes. I took one lane which I had not been on before. A very long straight single lane. Took the car up to 60 as there aas no junctions. Just a single track lane. Without any warning. No gate. Nothing... The hedges stopped and I ended up in the middle of a field. The field was water logged and mud. Yet the car hardly slid a wheel. I had hit the field at speed so I had gone a fair distance in. Just turned the car 180 degrees and drove back out. As it was a wet day the road and the field looked a similar colour. Hence I made the mistake.
That car could stop dead in such a short distance, but I didn't push it incase I sank! I only sold the car as I was getting bored. Everything the car did was too easy. There was no fun in driving it.
One early morning driving to work in the dark I felt the car slightly moving under me but not by much. I continued on th damp roads at about 50 to 60mph. Then came the 40's and 30's and I drove into the car park in work. Parked the car. Went to get out the door and ended up on the floor. The whole roads were not damp. It was all a sheet of ice. I had driven 17 to 18 miles on this ice ad never noticed. The car was so sure footed.

[RAF96]

We only do about 3-5,000 miles a year and declare this to the insurance for the premium reduction benefits.

Worst car for snow was a Volvo 340/360 front engine, rear transaxle, rear wheel drive, so about 50/50 weight distribution. It was so tail happy in slippery conditions.

Best cars were the VX Nova/Corsa platform. Never a moments trouble in bad weather.

I too use universal tyres all year round. Never going to Switzerland so shan’t sweat the legal need for winer tyres.

[yelrow]

Our volvo V 50, very surefooted, unlike Disco, that tended to slide on all four wheels. A tad disturbing, at times. I use Heathers peugot 205, all through winter, for my teaching classes, and have no problem with roads, just screen,, misting up, and as it is 30 years old, heater , leaves a bit to be desired. It snowed here, yesterday. Minus 1, today, sign of things to come.

[Walkingthedog]

You’d think any Volvo would be good at handling bad road conditions considering the country of manufacture.

[Mountain Goat]

It was the 360 that had the 50/50 weight distribution. The 340's petrol tank was further back, so though the 340's narrower tyres would be better in snow, they were back heavy. The 360's (I had the Porsche designed GLT's) were very good handling cars but were tail happy. One would swing out the tail in normal enthusiastic driving. It became second nature to drive that way as it was so controllable. However, I have driven on icy roads where the whole road was a sheet of ice and I do admit I had to go careful. I kept the speeds down to 50 or below. I would imagine many of them would have ended up spinning as there was just too much power on the rear wheels compared to their weight. I had mine for a few years and it had 120k on the clock. I was badly advised by workmates that 120k was high milage. Most of these engines did at least 450k. I part exchanged it and I never did manage to get a car for many years to match the 360's combination of handling and performance. I tried Volvos, BMW, Citroens, Fiats, Audi...The second Audi was the only one and that was front wheel drive. I could match acceleration with the Volvo 740GLT. Actually surpass it as the 740GLT was quicker then the T5 I later owned. Same top speed of 155mph limited though, not that I ever went anywhere near it. The 740 needed 80mph to be comfortable in overdrive so was not that practical. But the 740GLT's handling.. It was a real handful. Far too much power on the rear wheels and was not easy to correct like the 360's are. The 360's are a dream when it comes to tail happy driving. The 740's were a bit of a nightmare!
Another volvo which was hopeless in snow were the 850 estates. The back of th car was too heavy to allow the front wheel drive to gain any traction. I had both the 10valve 2.5 petrol, and the 2.3T5 versions and with both cars one was lucky to get back in snow. With the first 850 (2.5) I had to drive back from Aberdare in the snow and luckily it was all flat or downhill where the snow was or I would have never got home. Steering and braking were fine. It was the lack of traction was the issue.
Tell you one of the best two wheel drive cars in snow... Actually two cars. The first were the 3 wheelers. Such lightweight cars and the front wheel was always in fresh snow so oe had grip to steer, and the rear wheels seemed fine with traction. My dad drove his straight trough the council yard which was a large area and covered with ice. His workmate tried to follow him in his Mk2 Ford Escort and span his car through two complete revolutions!
The other car that really amazed me was the base 954cc versions of the Citroen AX. It would climb the 1 in 4 hill on sheet ice and take every corner sure footed. Snow was actually easier to climb the hill to get home as it was more grippy, as when the snow melted we had two weeks of sheet ice. Only once it failed to get up, and it really puzzled me. I drove the long way round to get home which had less gradient to it. I was really puzzled. It never had any issues before. I got home, opened the boot and remembered I had 2 or 3 sacks of coal in there! The coal weighed as much as the engine!
The one thing that was hairy with those AX's, was going downhill. No antilock brakes. No power steering. Just 640kgms of car acting like a sleigh. First gear would keep the speed under control down to about 20mph, but no way could I stop, and also, steering was more suggestive in those conditions then accurate. Some corners were slid round sideways at times where I pointed the wheels forward and dared myself to touch the accelerator! We used to be able to go down in snow with 2 wheels on the grass verge to gain grip, but the local council had erected a few roadsigns on the verge so it was no longer an option, and as it was a minor road and they had long runnout of salt, it was less of a priority. They had enough trouble keeping the main roads open!
I was told by a local man when I had the coal in the back that many 4WD's had also failed to climb the hill. I had to turn the car around on a 1 in 4 hill that night that was all ice. The front end just slid round by itself!

During the times of heavy snow I often walk up to the mountain road to see which cars make it as only some cars make it up here. One or two 4WD's and narrow tyred small front wheel drive cars. The only other vehicle to make it was the milk tanker which is a fixed wheelbased lorry with so much weight on the rear axle, that it that didn't make it, nothing will. It had a single axle with twin wheels.

Cars that don't like snow. A train driver I know... His wife had an XR2. Lovely car. He assumed it would be better then his car when it snowed. So when the snow started he used it. No chance! He had to abandon the car and walk to work.

[Steve M]

Last week the car wouldn’t start as the battery was a bit low, which in itself was a bit odd as we’d been on a reasonable run but left the car standing for about four days. Jump start soon sorted that out but I thought I’d get it checked.

Ford kindly arranged a free check (normal diagnostic fee £99) which showed a failing battery that won’t hold its charge. At least the check ruled out any other issues.

But, as expected Ford wanted an arm, a leg and various other major organs to replace said battery. I had already ordered a suitable replacement from Halfords and as the battery is a bit tricky to get at I paid for their ‘fitting service’.

Arrived at Halfords shop where I was told, “the machine is not working” - needed to reset the car computer. OK, can I get it fitted at your autocentre?
“Yes, er no, they need you to order one direct from them.” A bit odd as the battery I needed was on the floor in front of me.
The Halfords fitter then decided to ‘try’ his machine - which is now working but then decides that as the airbox needs to be removed, and that as won’t allow him to remove the ‘special’ Ford clamp holding on a pice of tube, he can’t do it after all.

So now I have a refund, no fresh battery, and a need to understand how a ‘fitting service’ isn’t actually a service or even a possibility.

I will now drive to the Halfords Autocentre (garage) as their online booking service - there’s that word again - is not available to check that 5hey have the right ‘permissions’ and tools.