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Had this for 2 years and this afternoon was my first drive in snow!
Useless would be a polite description! – fairly free of snow where I live (but forecast for heavy snow tomorrow!). Had to do a quick 20 mile round trip this afternoon, drove off the main roads into a housing estate with compacted snow.
First turning the back end went out, and no, I wasn’t going fast, driving slower than normal in fact!. Grip was almost non-existent, put the car into traction mode and a bit better but not much, gently braking it still slid coming to a full stop.
Had plenty of other cars over the last 50 + years and never had any problems, drive slowly and carefully, always anticipate road conditions etc.
I’m going to say it’s the Bridgestone 20″ tyres, I had them on my previous Ateca and they were worse than useless on that, so bad I never went out in any amount of snow with it.
Please excuse spelling/typos. Apart from being a clot it turns out I had one on my cerebellum that's now causing various problems!
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Our Suzuki Across which is a 4 wheel SUV was experiencing some problems in the icey conditions, my old 2005 Suzuki Vitara loved the snow.
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
I must say I’ve driven in the snow in many cars, including having a dual carriageway to myself in a 530D which was a hoot. I do look at the tyres on many EVs and wonder just how much grip they really have. All in the interests of noise reduction and economy. I’d rather lose 5 miles a charge all year round and know I’m not ice skating in 2 tonnes of EV at the first glimpse of the white stuff.
So much for all year round independence if you can’t fit tyres with actual grip.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
Having a AWD with summer / high rolling resistance tyres is useless if the weather turns and agree with @MFillingham point re: loosing 5-10 miles.
Not long got back from visiting family using my own 220d GC that has Cross Pilots on, which makes it so much reassuring, especially coming over Brecon Beacons over winter, such as coming home today snowing and slushy roads.
Had a diesel Honda CRV for 5 years, went anywhere without a problem.
Our local train station (Durham) has a fairly steep and bending bank to get up to it, even though the car had 4wd that it auto switched on I never saw the light come on to say it was being used even going up and down that bank. Stuck it in 2nd/3rd and let it climb slowly up with the engine just ticking over 🙂
Please excuse spelling/typos. Apart from being a clot it turns out I had one on my cerebellum that's now causing various problems!
Now imagine if the Daily Mail got their way and we are only allowed a 3-wheeler Invacar to get about in during heavy snow…
4WD or AWD + summer tyres = no better than 2WD
2WD + winter tyres = much better grip
4WD + winter tyres = best grip in snow.
A common misconception and it always makes me smile when someone says “I need a 4WD because I live at the bottom of a steep hill with hairpin bends”
Err, no you don’t 😆
2024 - BMW i4 Grand Coupe eDrive 35 Sport
2020 - Volvo XC40 T4 Inscription
2017 - Audi Q3 TFSi Sport S-Tronic4WD or AWD + summer tyres = no better than 2WD 2WD + winter tyres = much better grip 4WD + winter tyres = best grip in snow. A common misconception and it always makes me smile when someone says “I need a 4WD because I live at the bottom of a steep hill with hairpin bends” Err, no you don’t
Do you mean that I don’t live at the bottom of a steep hill or that I don’t need a 4WD?
Of course tyres make a big difference but sometimes you also need 4WD and if the snow is very deep then you could still be stuck!
Now imagine if the Daily Mail got their way and we are only allowed a 3-wheeler Invacar to get about in during heavy snow…
Nice general throwback picture 🙂
Tyres do of course make a difference and 10 days in Iceland 3 years ago during there worst winter for 30 years did prove the value of studded tyres on a Dacia 4WD. Our Enyaq is heavy and if you drive at sensible speeds and according to the conditions most vehicles including our Enyaq are fine. I do find it interesting that some people don’t seem to understand physics and often drive too close and too fast particularly in poor weather as happened today being tailgated in the snow. I calmly pulled over and let them pass to avoid being rear ended. If they want to save 1 minute on their journey with a heightened risk of an accident that is up to them.
Safe driving everyone – take your time.
PeterB
I’m going to say it’s the Bridgestone 20″ tyres, I had them on my previous Ateca and they were worse than useless on that, so bad I never went out in any amount of snow with it.
The GTE came on Bridgestones (18″ though) – and can confirm, absolutely worthless tyre. Ignoring the fact that grip was awful, and braking performance sub-par – they only lasted for 3500 miles, too.
KF fitted Sport Contact 7 on the first change (again: after 3500 miles) in the front, day and night.
That all being said: you’re driving a torque monster in icy conditions. It’s kind of a no-brainer that you have to be more careful with the pedals than with a 150hp front scratcher.
72 Dudes is almost universally correct with his statement, 99% of people who argue that they need AWD, really don’t. Contrary to what some people here believe, they don’t make the car safer to drive in the wet, better in corners, or accelerate better (this one is largely due to us not reaching power-levels where an AWD would matter). The one thing they do do, is reduce range for no objective reason.
I’ll be having my first icy drive in a minute, to the in-laws, curious to see how Pirelli P-Zero handle this (the E-variant) on an RWD. Considering that i already had it “dance” in a wet roundabout recently, at what i (apparently mistakenly) considered a not excessive amount of throttle.. It’ll be entertaining. We do live at the bottom of a hill too.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.Facelift Enyak Sportline 4×4 first drive in 3 inch deep snow last nite,car has 21″ supernova wheels with Pirelli rubber……….i live in a very hilly area of Sheffield…….drive mode “traction” and select engage “B”….off i went car never slipped once …driving style gentle on the go pedal…..passed other cars stuck or being pushed.
There are some reyt nutters about at 11pm to 12am……saw one idiot doing donuts on a main road in a Suzuki Jimny…..had one in a Mini do an exit stage left from the outside lane of dual carriageway across me …at a traffic light controlled junction onto the wrong side of the road.
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