Epically horrific vehicles in the snow.

We've all driven one, right? I've had all sorts of cars I've driven in our mild Indiana winters. The old Elantra on summer tires was the worst until this year. I've had 1wd trucks unloaded, RWD cop cars etc. Nothing has been as terrible as the Forte is right now.

Now, I'm not sure what the issue is. Maybe it's the gearing/torque. Maybe it's the 17" tires. Maybe it's the front bumper/splash shield shaped like a cone so it rides up on the snow drifts. Maybe it's the epically terrible TCS system this car has. OR, it is everything all combined. But this is absilutely the WORST snow vehicle I have ever driven. In my 23 years of driving in all sorts of weather across the country, this vehicle has proven to be absolutely worthless in anything more than 2" of snow.

I'm not sure at this point if narrower snow tires would help or not. So, until this record setting winter finally goes the berkeley away (we're 19" above our total average snow fall for the entire winter and it's just now Feb 6), I'm driving what many would consider the worst option I own: an open diff'd, 1wd truck.

Now, don't get me wrong. I absolutely love the car in general. for 3 seasons it is absolutely awesome. But this E36 M3 sucks.

Bobzilla wrote: Maybe it's the epically terrible TCS system this car has.

My Rondo has a TCS system that looks ahead, sees potential issues, then cuts power 99% for a period of no less than 2 minutes. (OK not really, but that's what is feels like when trying to pull out) I agree it sucks.

The Rondo has the added disadvantage of being designed so that all cargo sits WAY out back, so if you have people and stuff in the vehicle your balance goes to like 75/25. Real convenient in a FWD vehicle going uphill.

Still, not as bad as Dad's old 3/4 ton van with an open rear diff. That thing was hopeless.

Yep, that's traction control. Saving you from everything by preventing you from leaving home.

the worm burners on my ranger make it pretty tough to get around in this MI weather. I've had mustangs that were better in the snow than my ranger is now. winterforce tires are in the future for this ride.

Can you turn the traction control off? I have that ability in the 5 and it helps in certain situations when I am close to stuck in the snow.

Forte > '70 Triumph GT6

5" of ground clearance sucks.

...and even with my old Ranger 4X4 (my winter/hauling vehicle) I drove yesterday with few issues, I'm still very ready for Spring!

My Miata on Azenis was horrific because it wouldn't move. I had to push it on my flat driveway to get it back in the garage.

It had a little trouble on all-seasons too:

I turn the ASC/TC off in the MINI is this weather. I HATE pulling out onto the county road and having no ability to accelerate. I also run narrower and taller winter tires.If new cars are going to come standard with traction control that can't be turned off I'll have an issue.

You can't turn the traction control off in my 06 Cobalt. My wife slid off the driveway and got it stuck in the snow yesterday, and it took me forever to get it out. Without the TC it would have been a 10 minute exercise. The car handles incredibly well in the dry, but I've had the rear end come around on me a bunch of times in the snow, even with really good snow tires on. It's been a great car, but I don't like it in the snow.

My MS3 on the factory Dunlop summer tires got stuck trying to get out of my driveway.

I'm sure the NC would be equally as bad with summer tires.

MCarp22 wrote: My Miata on Azenis was horrific because it wouldn't move. I had to push it on my flat driveway to get it back in the garage. It had a little trouble on all-seasons too:

Snowtires make it jussst right. Open diff and NO problems on snow covered appalatian mountain roads.

I had the Mazda 5 in about 6 or so inches of unplowed snow. With the TC on, it quite literally backed off the throttle to the point where I thought the car was going to just stall out. Good news is that the wheels weren't spinning, but I also wasn't moving at all. With the TC turned off, though, I could put it in 3rd and spin the wheels enough to pull the car through the snow pretty easily.

Worst I ever had was the 2wd Ranger with the small 6 and an autotragic, though. Some sandbags made it better, but pretty much the slightest bit of slickness on the roads and it wasn't going anywhere.

My normal modus operandi is to start car, turn off TCS. Yesterday I did just that, but killed it (stupid dual mass clutch) at one point not paying attention and when you restart, TCS automatically turns back on.

Yeah, my fault twice on that one.

EDIT: Would a winter/snow tire really make that much of a difference for this car? I've noticed in deep snow that the nose rises up like a boat coming up on the plane. This takes weight and traction off the front tires. Maybe I just need a splitter? lol

The Elantra Touring (similar platform to Forte, but with IRS) on a/s tires is scary...and on Nitto SN2 winter tires is no better than acceptable.

Yes winter tires will change everything and make the car easy to drive in this crud.

Never had the joys of having snow tires, but my P71 was the worst to drive in the snow. It wouldn't move.

Not really the cars fault, but my worst was when I had to drive a Trabant on slick tires (we got a snow storm the day before I was set to go buy it).

Not Racing slicks, but "I cant afford new tires" slicks. I drove it 3-hours no problem but got stuck in a parking lot when I stopped to pee.

The worst car that had proper tires was (oddly enough) my Lada 2105.

The car's controls didn't really give good feedback so you were constantly over-correcting, under-correcting and just about anything but correcting the cars desire to swap ends.

It was all fun and games as long as you were the only person on the road.

Down with electrical nannies! Up with proper tires and drivers education!

An empty 2wd diesel work van.

It's a bit of a toss up between my old VW Beetle or the Volvo 740.

The Beetle was epic due to its inability to be steered in the snow. Nothing I ever did to that car in the way of tires or weights ever made it become willing to be steered in the snow. It was nothing more than a motorized toboggan.

The Volvo was epic due to its antilock brakes. They worked, all the way down to 0.001 miles per hour. Which meant if the car was slipping as you came to a halt, the brakes would pulse constantly, ensuring you never actually came to a complete halt. We got very good at stopping that car with either the parking brake or by nosing it into a curb or such. I should have installed a cutoff switch on the shift lever for the abs on that car.

I've driven a worn out C4 on summer tires through an ice storm and I think it was better than the Forte is right now. No lie.

My wife's '98 Honda CR-V AWD on all-seasons was horrific in the snow.

wae wrote: I had the Mazda 5 in about 6 or so inches of unplowed snow. With the TC on, it quite literally backed off the throttle to the point where I thought the car was going to just stall out. Good news is that the wheels weren't spinning, but I also wasn't moving at all. With the TC turned off, though, I could put it in 3rd and spin the wheels enough to pull the car through the snow pretty easily. Worst I ever had was the 2wd Ranger with the small 6 and an autotragic, though. Some sandbags made it better, but pretty much the slightest bit of slickness on the roads and it wasn't going anywhere.

I turned the tc off of the 5 and just plowed through a couple unplowed lots. The tires were spinning and there was so much momentum that it brought me out of the messy stuff.

foxtrapper wrote: The Volvo was epic due to its antilock brakes. They worked, all the way down to 0.001 miles per hour.

My first experience with ABS was in a company Jeep Grand Cherokee in a snow/ice storm. As I was chugging along at 20-25 mph, somebody pulled out right in front of me and the ABS made it so I didn't lock up the wheels, but I didn't slow down either. I finally had to jam the thing into reverse and hit the gas to slow down and not run the other car over.

My then-new 95 Mustang GT on it's factory Skatorbacks in an ice storm was a lot of fun. I couldn't even let the clutch out without it wanting to rotate. I basically countersteered for 30 miles to get home. Then I bought an old 4WD Justy for a winter beater.