OK, Im sold! Subie rules the snow

[xdeadhead]

ok so heres that pic of my license plate..i change them maybe 3x a year they only cost an extra 20 bucks down here.

[ericem]

is there one you can get called subaru?

[xdeadhead]

next one may be "chill xt" however the aw3s0me plate pretty much sums it up for a lot of different aspects in my life. but the car is freakin AWESOME...can i get a hey now?

[crazyhorse001]

Sold here too... Finally got a chance to take Kat out & play in the snow. I forgot how much fun AWD is!

[photo2001]

Lovin' the snow stories. Remember coming home in my Forester in the

first blizzard of the season years ago. Most cars pulled over on

the shoulder of I-95, my Subie tracked like it was on rails. Also,

on my street, park in certain spots during snow plowing and your

sure to get plowed in. Forester blasts though drifts like buttuh.

 

Counting down the payments!

[BruceyWV]

Coming down the interstate 79 snow hit me and my girlfriend following me(she drives an RS) and the 4 distinct lanes quickly turned into just a white fluff. I slowed down the cruise control from 85 mph to 65 mph and didn't put much more thought into it.

 

After a while we were the only things on the road, we came up on a dodge doing about 45, leading around a dozen cars. Passed it up. Once again the only things on the road, one of the guys in the group following the dodge started following us. He/she/it eventually decided 65 was too slow I guess? And passed us. Some sort of Chevy SUV Minivan thing. About 5 miles later we passed it, looked like it had swiped the guardrail. It was on the emergency lane with it's hazard lights on. Just after a big dent in the railing the same color as its paint. I actually would have stopped but someone else had already pulled them over. Don't go faster than your car can stop you.

[ogiesdad]

BrucyWV's post reminds me of a trip I made to Pittsburgh a few years ago in my old 86 Toyota truck. It started snowing really bad and I was going about 35 on I79 since the plows hadn't gotten out yet. Somebody went flying by in a new Dodge pickup--probably going 55-60, and splattering all kinds of crap on my windows. I just kept going. Four or five miles later I saw some blue lights in the distance--surprise, surprise, that same Dodge nicely teetering on its roof. I just tooted the horn as I rolled on by.

[Andyjo]

tha thappens to me every time i drive on the highway with bad weather... these huge pickup trucks & SUV's go flying by... usually see them off the road a few miles later.... do they really think they're that invincible in their huge vehicles?

[xdeadhead]

do they really think they're that invincible in their huge vehicles?

 

thats exactly what they think.

[crazyhorse001]

The first full day I owned Kat, it had snowed the day before, I went up into the Smokies to play. On the way up, I passed several SUV's (Suddenly Upsidedown Vehicles) stuck alongside the narrow roads. 4wd can get you going, but it can't make you turn, or stop. It seemed that evey mom in her minivan was trying to get up the mountain that day. They weren't having much better luck. Once at the top,there were a few Sport Brutes (full sized SUV's) & a few Jeep things. Amazingly there were more Subies than anything else. Oh & maybe 2-3 minivans, damifino.

[wondercow2]

Cruise control is a bad idea in rain or snow; if a wheel starts to slip, the cruise module will floor it and potentially send you out of control.

 

I'm almost positive there's a warning about it in the owner's manual as well.

[BruceyWV]

Oops, I said cruise control when I meant I turned it off and dropped cruising speed.

 

Yeah, I agree. Espaically in hilly WV where the interstate is still crossing down into valleys and climbing mountains.

[subihoot03]

2 weeks after the acquisition of my 03 Legacy sedan, we got our first significant snowfall here in NH. I got almost 2 feet at my house. I plowed through 8 inches on the roadways to and from work and felt like a champ climbing those powdered hills. Way to go Subie! I am a converted Toyota snob - and I don't think I'll ever go back.

[srs_49]

Last weekend we went up to our mountain house in the 2002 Outback. We got ~8" new snow over the weekend on top of a base of ice left over from freezing rain the week before. One particularly treacherous hill had not been cindered, and we sort of slide down it part way until traction was regained near the bottom. AWD doesn't mean much when you're trying to stop! That was the only place we ever had any difficulty.

 

Later on, my brother-in-law comes up in his Acura, tries coming down that same hill, and ends up in the snowbank. He calls fo a tow (has AAA), and the tow truck ends up in the same snowbank, just missing by brother-in-law's car. I meanwhile am ferrying people from the house to the cars, going up and down that same hill (the lower part where there was some traction) a half dozen times or more. Eventually, I got my borther-in-laws car freed up with a chain (the tow truck was still stuck) and we left it at the bottom of the hill. The tow truck eventually dug itself out.

 

I feel strongly that a lot of the good performance of Subies in snow is related to the tires. I have Goodyear Assurance Triple Treads on the Outback, and they have been great. Not as good as a true snow tire, but a real nice all-season tire. I would be interested in hearing what kind of tires others run on their cars, particularly those that drive in the heavy snow belt areas (Buffalo, upper state New York, Vermont, etc).

[subihoot03]

I feel strongly that a lot of the good performance of Subies in snow is related to the tires. I have Goodyear Assurance Triple Treads on the Outback, and they have been great. Not as good as a true snow tire, but a real nice all-season tire. I would be interested in hearing what kind of tires others run on their cars, particularly those that drive in the heavy snow belt areas (Buffalo, upper state New York, Vermont, etc).

 

I've got Uniroyal Tiger Paws on my 2003 Legacy. They seem to do great in the snow. Agreed - the tires do make a huge difference.

[Andyjo]

Let's just say i've gone places w/ the OBXT & Dunlop M3's on her than... well... most people wouldn't do it

we got hammered with now up here in the north country... it took it like a champ... especially a little offroad rallying... ohh how it loves life :-p

[Virrdog]

We got an ice-storm over night. Of course I pulled out the Legacy with the studs on it, this is when they have 8x the grip as a normal tire. My wife didn't appreciate the ice shredding donuts by the post office as much as I did though. You could tell how much boost was pumping by the sound of the studs spinning.

[daehttub2000]

Word of caution for new Subie owners... My first drive on black ice streets was a suprise. The Subie drove so well that I had no idea there was ice. Only when I heard the anti-lock engage when I stopped did I realize what was up. I always do a brake test when I start off because you won't get the slippage/no-go clues that you would from ordinary FWD/RWD cars. You can go faster than you can stop in a Subie. Of course, that's what some of us "Swedish flick" (rally turn) drivers like : )

 

Bridgestone Blizzaks + 95 L Wagon 5sp MT AWD + Frozen lake in the North Country = Awesome Fun. You will truly appreciate the ice capability of Blizzaks this way. The only thing I miss is a limited slip rear diff when I go on closed roads in search of XC ski trails. Yes, the low ground clearance also keeps me in check but it's fun using your Subie as a "snow plow" on the fluffy stuff.

 

Full-time snow tires make a huge difference even on Subies. If you live in real snow country I think they're worth the added expense and hassle. My salt shy WRX is garaged for the winter as it All-Season hi-performance Dunlops don't handle the ice well (big footprint = low ground pressure & low traction). Why do I garage it in the winter? Look at the rust spots on my other Subie...

[daehttub2000]

x

[kevinsUBARU]

This was posted over on nabisco a few days ago by a user from Lebanon.

 

Pretty cool (minus some traffic on the road), and the anti-lag system is

 

http://www.abdofeghali.com/graphics/AF_Subaru_Snow.wmv

[xdeadhead]

saw this early yesterday morn in stowe vermont. they got 4 ft of snow in 36 hours last thursday etc

[frag]

Last weekend we went up to our mountain house in the 2002 Outback. We got ~8" new snow over the weekend on top of a base of ice left over from freezing rain the week before. One particularly treacherous hill had not been cindered, and we sort of slide down it part way until traction was regained near the bottom. AWD doesn't mean much when you're trying to stop! That was the only place we ever had any difficulty.

 

Later on, my brother-in-law comes up in his Acura, tries coming down that same hill, and ends up in the snowbank. He calls fo a tow (has AAA), and the tow truck ends up in the same snowbank, just missing by brother-in-law's car. I meanwhile am ferrying people from the house to the cars, going up and down that same hill (the lower part where there was some traction) a half dozen times or more. Eventually, I got my borther-in-laws car freed up with a chain (the tow truck was still stuck) and we left it at the bottom of the hill. The tow truck eventually dug itself out.

 

I feel strongly that a lot of the good performance of Subies in snow is related to the tires. I have Goodyear Assurance Triple Treads on the Outback, and they have been great. Not as good as a true snow tire, but a real nice all-season tire. I would be interested in hearing what kind of tires others run on their cars, particularly those that drive in the heavy snow belt areas (Buffalo, upper state New York, Vermont, etc).

 

If you go farther north than Vermont (get a larger map:) ), you'll find Québec and Montréal, and if you look more closely you'll find my car with 4 Pirellis Winter. They are so so on ice but unstoppable on (in) snow. The only thing that stops me is when the car high centers and the wheels loose contact with the ground. The only other car I've had which had a little more traction was a Loyale with studded snow tires (bought used with rusted rims :-\ ).

[srs_49]

I didn't mean to slight our friends up north !

 

Yes, I'm sure dedicated snow tires have it all over all-seasons. But, in my area, most of our snowfalls are of the 2-5" nature, and the roads are usually cleared down to pavement within 24 hours, even the court I live on. Some years we go without anything more than a dusting. So, snow tires seem like overkill for our type of weather. I'd rather run all-seasons (on my OBW) or performance all-seasons (on my BMW) around here, with enough snow capability to get me to the mountains once a month.