This Month's Car Sales Customer Awards

[Seshat]

A common option here in the 'doesn't have many places with snow' great southern land is snow chains. As long as you buy tyres which are suitable for snow chains in the first place, it's a great way to deal with it if you're someone who is sometimes in the snow, sometimes not.

[wolfie]

Another would be "all weather" (not to be confused with "all season") tires such as the Nokian WGR3. They're rated for winter use (legal in Canada/U.S. in areas where snow tires are mandatory) but are also good in summer.

[Ahbugger]

...
The second Monday I did the mercy dash for some urgent supplies in my Defender, which has mud/snow tyres.
...
Buying a 4x4 for snow driving is one thing but really, it makes not much difference if you don't equip it for the snow too.

To be fair though there's a world of difference between a real offroad vehicle like a Defender and a consumer SUV 'nice car' that happens to have power to all four wheels.

I salute your style sir!

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

To be fair though there's a world of difference between a real offroad vehicle like a Defender and a consumer SUV 'nice car' that happens to have power to all four wheels.

I salute your style sir!

True! The 4x4 that was stuck was actually a real 4x4, not an SUV, but road tyres make a difference...

Oh, and it's ma'am!

(The Defender makes a nice stable-mate to my Speed Triple bike. Why yes, I like big toys.)

[Aria]

Glad you're ok and all but

Really?

Really. I only had to go into the office once a month but back when I was driving that car... yeah, it was an adventure.

[Ahbugger]

True! The 4x4 that was stuck was actually a real 4x4, not an SUV, but road tyres make a difference...

Oh, and it's ma'am!

(The Defender makes a nice stable-mate to my Speed Triple bike. Why yes, I like big toys.)

My apologies m'am.

And yes, very nice toys. I confess to being a tight git and (when I'm not driving a shiny <poshbrand> company car) I'm perfectly happy to beetle around in my Dacia Sandero!

If you don't have them where you are look them up, they're frackin' hilarious.

[otakuneko]

James May? Is that you?

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

My apologies m'am.

And yes, very nice toys. I confess to being a tight git and (when I'm not driving a shiny <poshbrand> company car) I'm perfectly happy to beetle around in my Dacia Sandero!

If you don't have them where you are look them up, they're frackin' hilarious.

Apology accepted. I'm not a very girly girl at the best of times, but I loves me vehicles!

Oh good grief, what a little cute car! Reminds me of the wee Vauxhall Cutlass? I think it was I rented for 3 weeks in the UK. Should have been called a Butter Knife...

[Ahbugger]

Vauxhall Corsa?

The real joy of the Dacia is that you can pick one up for about £6k ($12k AUD) which should give you some indication of the level of specification. I've sold cars that depreciate by twice that much in the first year

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

Yup, that was it. Thanks! Thank goodness it was manual, it would have been worse with an auto.

So what you're telling me is the Vauxhall is up-market?

[protege]

I have all-weather M+S shoes on my tiny old banger (weighs less than a ton, loves steep snowy roads others can't traverse) and snow chains for my FWD teutonic barge, in the event I get caught by surprise change in the weather. People who buy 4x4s & leave them on summer rubber terrify me!

My Corolla currently has all-season tires on it. I have no trouble with the hills here, most are easily climbed if I'm careful and drop it into 2nd. Not due to the tires, mind you. No, it's because I freaking know how to drive...and don't let the weather scare me.

99% of the time, the weather-related accidents are caused by two things--people being overly cautious, or feeling that AWD/4WD means that they can do 90mph on ice and snow.

The first group tends to slide, because they constantly slam on the brakes. I try not to use the brakes unless I have to. Downshift, and let the car's weight slow you down. Gently back off the throttle and steer your way through corners.

The second group tends to slide (and find themselves around a pole or in a ditch) for fairly obvious reasons. Too fast and a sudden ice patch mean that they'll shit their pants.

I've always found the "you must have an SUV or truck for Pittsburgh winters" laughable. Seriously? I've lived here for 40 years and been driving since I turned 16. Sure, I've had some interesting trips into work, but I've never gone off the road, nor have I ever hit anything due to ice and snow. I drive an old Corolla with all-season tires on it. I don't hit a thing, simply because I can adapt my driving style to suit the weather.

[Ahbugger]

Yup, that was it. Thanks! Thank goodness it was manual, it would have been worse with an auto.

So what you're telling me is the Vauxhall is up-market?

I wouldn't go that far. Dacias don't pretend to be anything other than cheap tin boxes on wheels that are cobbled together from whatever bits of last generation tech that they could buy the rights for on the cheap. Vauxhall actually have to fork out for R&D costs and have (comparatively) expensive cosmetic bits added so although there's a cost difference in reality they're probably on a par.

In any case no matter what you buy it's always 'upmarket' from something:

[Chromatix]

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to compare the relative difficulty of walking up an ice-covered track and cycling up the same track.

As you may already know, bicycles *absolutely* depend on grip. Without it, they just fall over.

But it was about a million times *easier* to cycle up the icy track than to walk it. Why? Because my bike has winter tyres with ice studs. My boots don't.

[AccountingDrone]

This being Finland, winter tyres are *mandatory* at this end of the year, and ice studs are recommended. They're also permitted whenever the weather calls for them.

The Finnish driving course also includes specific lessons and practice on a skid pan, at night, and actually in winter. It's rightly considered one of the toughest and most respected driving licences in the world.

So .... there is a reason that the best [and most insane] rally drivers are Finns?

Way back when I was young and foolish I dated a rally driver and learned to love driving. A family friend owns several hundred thousand acres of mixed use land [farm fields, pastures and woodland that varies from flat river bottom to very hilly in the southern tier of NY state where it is sort of the top end of the Appalachian Mountains] that has several nice [though dirt and gravel] roads running through that get treated as an impromptu rally location by family and friends. There is one route that I drove so much that I can now drive at rally speeds on [it is easy, you start out slow and repeat and increase the speeds as your comfort level rises] and terrorize anybody in the car with me. Last one was the in progress divorce wife of a friend, we were taking a short cut across the farm to get to a party [he and his wife were already divorcing, not that the drive caused the divorce...] I guess most people have issues with driving 50-80 miles per hour on dirt roads

Though there is a secret to driving like a maniac - you simply aren't a maniac, you just learn your route and the vehicle and how far you can push both safely

[protege]

So .... there is a reason that the best [and most insane] rally drivers are Finns?

At least one Swede in that group too