Snow time

It's that time again it would seem. Inexperienced drivers travelling on well gritted main roads at 5mph (where nothing has settled) because there's something white in the air, utter panic that they will have to sleep in their cars, messages from loved ones asking them to buy all the milk and bread in the Co Op etc etc... and 4 hours to travel 2 miles.

Then you have the side roads in deep snow (which never get gritted) which seem to attract people who drive too fast. Must be the British mentality as I don't think they behave like this on the continent.

Anyway, I'm due to set off to work for a late shift at 2pm today and the snow is still coming down. I live in a village which is notoriously ignored by gritters and has two steep inclines in order to leave. The result of which, a number of residents leave there cars at the top of the hill 1/2 mile away. However, I prefer my beloved Coupe to be on the drive thank you very much.

Now I've read some threads suggesting the Coupe is good in the snow. Is this true or should I start walking the 16 miles to work now?

Heavy front end, front wheel drive, it'll be better than most things on the road

Excellent. Come to think of it, anything has to be better than my old MX5, and the 5 series BMW was laughable - I just discovered it was best to never ever stop.

It's not bad in the snow, but it's better still with winter tyres.

I managed to get my Coupe on Toyos up snow-covered hills that were defeating 4WD soft-roaders - Viscodrive helps a lot, as does a very gentle right foot

The only time I've ever been stuck in snow was when other cars were blocking the road

having said that, I always keep a pair of Snow Socks in the car now - they are truly astounding

Can you recommend a specific pair Nigel?

yes - www.autosock.co.uk

a couple of years ago, my youngest son got his VW Bora completely stuck in about 6" of snow - it simply wouldn't move - even slipping the clutch at tickover just span the wheels - pretty sure he has a video somewhere of it in-gear at tickover - front wheels gently rotating...

I trundled over in Wifey's Grande Punto T-jet, put the socks on and towed the Bora out without even a hint of wheelspin - very impressive. I wouldn't travel anywhere in winter without them now.

Totally useless if the tarmac isn't covered in snow though - they will shred in a few miles

Just come back from Manchester area, people are crazy, especially the Z4 that found him self embedded in the centre reservation - rwd in the 3rd lane of a snowy motorway is a bad idea. He was stood there next to the car on the centre of the motorway on the phone....

I decided not to play chicken with people who had 20% viability on there snow covered cars and came home.

Yep Bimmers are notoriously useless in the snow/ice, rumour a bag of cement in the boot helped? Viscodrive has saved me coming home from Gatwick few years back at 2am with Mercs and BMWs going nowhere the trusty Coop grappled it's way home up hill and down dale

This is fantastic: it snowed in Norwich for LITERALLY 10-15 minutes earlier, hardly settled, but two people managed to spin off the A47 during the school run.

Unbelievable.

Which way did you go Dave, A264 or M23-M25? If it was the A264, that was a brave choice! all credit to your danglies if it was

Oh yes!!! Did you get caught in Bradford gridlock last night??

M62 accident, Thornton road was an ice rink at the top! I did more back roads, residential streets and scraped more speed bumps than ever!!

Aye, Thornton Road was hell (i was told). I didn't leave work in Bradford till 11pm last though so the traffic had just about gone...

No probs getting to work today mind. It had all melted! Will have to try out the coupes snow conquering abilities another day.

It was, lad at work who lives in Halifax didn't get home until.10pm, set off at 6!

I wish this snow would bugger off now!
Mine doesn't usually suffer in the cold but this morning the door and lock were frozen.
Once I'd managed to get in the bloody handbrake was frozen as was the boot and petrol cap.

long live a garage where it don't freeze

My starter motor has a hissy fit on cold morning squealing away, silent as a mouse in normal weather conditions! Could only unlock my door this morning! Partner had to climb over to her side hahaha

Just remember:

Frozen locks, frozen hand brakes, snow that slides off the boot lid and into the boot itself... they're features of the car and Fiat put an awful lot of effort into it to get just right. It's character built in. Or just damn annoying.

Snow, rain, dew, ice that slide off the roof onto the drivers lap through a very slightly open window. Another classic feature!

I will always remember my first winter with the coupe it was a 16v na my god lol i snapped the door handle when the doors froze never mind the frozen locks then later the same week my handbrake froze up and i ended up ripping the handbrake of the actual floor trying to get it off you could see the road through the holes it left ha ha and also to top it all off it would just stop driving in the snow slip dif and all just one wheel spinning while owld ladys overtook me in their nissan micras shaking their heads lol it was bloody embarassing getting people to push my car in literaly every snow filled street i turned into i actually sold the car after that experience ha ha and i dont think i would ever drive one in the snow again i assumed all coupes were like this?

Nope, mines abouts good as a fwd car gets!

I think you lost out there, Preemo!

I recall one bad winter when London stopped dead and people spent the night on the M11; I was following a woman in a BMW who had no idea; after I while I started giving her a gentle helpful push up the hills. I don't think she even realised.

Tyres are the critical thing in the snow, though...

lol i tried to drive my old omega 2.5 v6 up my snowy covered street good few years back i got it about 5 foot forwards and 6 foot sideways to the right covering half the pavement with the rear end on a busy friday i just got out and left it lol

think il look into some winter tyres this year

I drove mine one winter and it was very good even though it was lowered. A set of good wintertires was all!
The salt however.. I could see effects early. So that was the only winter.

Yes A264, balls of steel and heart in mouth stuff for sure, I was actually scared it was 0230hrs in the morning and my mind was racing with what ifs....the sense of relief when I parked up was enormous. I had spent 1.5hrs circling Gatwick waiting for a runway to be snowploughed so we could land without having to divert to Manchester...an eventful night that was.