Last few years, I've owned rear drive cars, 911's and a Lexus is200. The 911's are a nightmare in snow and ice, you have to be really careful not to blip the throttle with all the weight in the back (180-360 spins likely). The Lexus has a 'snow' setting which is a kind of limited slip, but it had to be the "right kind of snow", otherwise traction was awful.

Now the 20VT...

Amazing! I was caught out on Thursday night when it snowed and was on the A40. Other cars were sliding all over, and average speed around 15 mph. Of course, I was happy to follow and didn't do any stupid overtaking manoevres, BUT when the road opened up to a triple lane section, all the other cars kept in the left lane at around 15mph. I decided to take the right lanes and increased my speed to around 30mph (in 2nd) before the sliding became a problem. In no time at all I was far ahead of the queuing traffic for most of my remaining journey.

What I noticed (apart from seeing a mercedes obviously slipping its rear wheels) was that the viscodrive (read LSD) on my 20VT communicated so transparently through the steering wheel and although from time to time, the car did scrabble, it was all so controlled, a feeling like being in slow motion. This was the case both on the straight and on corners when some understeer began.

Experience 2:
Today, I drove the coupe to my gym, and the carpark hadn't been gritted so it was still deep with snow, and also crushed ice. As the space was large and unobstructed, not many cars, or kerbs etc, and a private space not limited by public restrictions, I decided to 'play' a little.

You can imagine the fun I had progressively sliding via the throttle, neutral and obviously understeer when pushed, but courtesy of the handbrake (newly fitted cable and also disks and pads, so quite effective and not frozen!) the back oversteered, enabling me to be precise with my planned corners. Thoroughly enjoyable, safe and probably useful confidence/training in case I ever have unplanned skidding in the future.

(Please note, I am a responsible driver and did not push it on the public roads in treachorous conditions.)

Anyway, just wanted to share my impressions of the car. as I've said so many times before, I LOVE it!

PS: I have quite new Toyo Proxes. Good tread obviously important.

I doubt fiat were thinking of snow when they fitted viscodrive but it certainly gets the job done. Helped a car stuck on ice today with wheels spinning. It had to do a 3 pt turn in confined space. The coupe did it first time no probs.

I found my Coupe pretty bad in the snow to be honest. It was too low, the tyres were too wide and it had too much torque.

However it was nice to be able to get the handbrake to lock the back wheels for once.

one things for sure ...
if you re using toyo s its increadably dangerous on the lightest snow as the grip is next to nothing.... given up on the coupe in the snow and use the megane on continentals ,which are great.

I think your all nuts!
Snow = walk, its not you making the mistake you have to worry about, its the other person who thinks there gods gift to rally cross because they have played playstation......
If you have the choice, stop in

come on sam, addmit it, you re snowed in and cant be bothered to clear 1/2 a mile to reach the roads !!!!

I wont even walk to the road when its sunny!
We simply have had nothing here, its sleeting now, more rain than sleet though. My fear is that it will clear and re-freeze over night.....and im not pushing emms car up the hill tomorrow

Gotta agree with addict an empty snowy car park is great fun and a good way of learning car control.
I dont believe that a driving instructer telling you to steer into a skid will be of any use when it first happens to you,it`s down to instinct in those situations BRAKE is the norm.
But if you spend some time sliding round a car park you can teach yourself to react instantly the right way

And it`s fantastic fun(especialy in a subaru)

Dave

I once got caught in Coventry when it snowed all day, then rained a bit, then froze. My 1-hour commute home turned into 3.5 hours, but I still made it, passing many, many cars that simply couldn't make it up (and down) some of the many hills on my route.

It was probably a bit silly of me to try, but Wifey has a Range Rover, so she could have come to fetch me if needed. However, the car was totally unflustered - the only real issue was when the car started to get beached on the snow in the centre of the road.

The Viscodrive certainly helps - in really icy conditions, most cars become one-wheel-drive, but the Coupe's simple system allowed me to keep crawling along when others were grinding to a halt. All this was on half-worn Toyos as well, so they aren't impossible in snow

Got to admit my coupe was the best car i've ever had for snow driving. The viscodrive was a god send when I was stuck a few years ago travelling from Rugely to Willenhall. However it still took me 5 hours to do a 14 mile journey! Was stuck in Lichfield for ages in standing traffic. By the end of it the coupe had used a litre of oil thanks to a knackered turbo

I found that the Coupe had really great grip on snow and ice, but it wasnt much fun. At the other end of the scale, my 750 goes past fun into scary

Went out on an old runway today covered in snow, didn't want to stop, had so much fun and coupe was on good form!

your a brave man nigel, i was coming over the top from holmfirth to woodhead on barley a half inch of snow and car just kept going sidewards/downwards with zero traction/control...I simply came over the brow at the top on clear roads to enter a blizard on the other side and was scared shi.less and vowed never in the coupe DOWNHILL with toyo s again !!!!

Would reccommend this to everyone, I usd to stay near an industrial estate so went their nearly every year when it snowed (at night so completley empty) and no have no issues driving in snow now whatsoever (apart from idiots on the road). As someone else said, you learn to react instinctively rather than just BRAKE....... CRASH

The fact its a whole lot of fun is just an added bonus

Paul

How have managed toreduce the coupes turning circle???

Get out and push the back round

Drove from Peterborough to Thetford on Friday morning then back again late Friday evening (about 1hr 15mins each way) and found my Plus to be fantastically sure-footed at all times and I never once felt like it was going to do anything unexpected...which is more than can be said for many others on the road!

Have to agree, the Coop in snow/ice/wet roads is pretty good. When I purchased my Coop it had cheap tyres on the front & well worn, even with that it handled very well.

Of course there is a limit to any car, but over the years for what it is, the Coop handles very well compared to other cars I have owned. I can only guess that some who find the Coop a handful in certain conditions are not driving properly ie pushing it to hard etc..................Hey maybe Im an ace driver...

I said it last time it snowed... And i'll say it again... Brilliant.
Passes cars in snow... Passed 4x4's in the snow.
Got up an awkward hill that was catching most cars out... The coupe didnt even spin up.
And to top it off about 10 snowball wielding chavs who were out to damage anyone and everything were snowballing every car trying to provoke a reaction... They saw the coupe coming...... And stopped... Just nodded to me as i passed them.. and again on the return journey.. Shortly before they robbed EVERYTHING from a stranded bus!! Oh and bombarded an AA man who dared to square up to them!

thats a real nice area you live in bert....

Ha.. i was visiting! Not my manor! THANK GOD!!!

But still goes to show even scumbags have some taste!

Im glad I left the coop at home yesterday, aside from not wanting to risk driving after a heavy night, I saw 3 crashes on the 3 mile walk back home at 3pm, all caused by people not driving appropriately! Plenty of chavs out snow balling too!
Great to see not 1 gritter out on my route of main roads though!

I have know how cr@p they are in the wet but are Infinity tyres any goo in the snow?

X19 which part of sheffield you from??

Broomhill, but I was walking back from City Road.

Not seen you yet but you keep spotting cars not too far from me! Where abouts are you?

Sorry cant agree too much with most of the above.

Its okay in the snow, in that i can drive places, mostly, but is that what i really want?

The tyres are too wide meaning it skates around on the snow rather than cutting through it and its probably a little bit to powerful for any proper fun, handbrake isnt very good, too front heavy and even though it spools up quickly, its a bit too laggy and ABS stops you playing with the brakes!


The most fun you can have in snow is something N/A and revvy, small engined is fine and thin tyres to cut through the snow, prefferably with a good handbrake.

With that you can really throw the car around sideways and use the front wheels, spinning, whilst sideways and the throttle to control the angle of the car. roundabouts (on private land...) are great fun

We used to have laps around a figure 8 circuit set up in and old car park and i cant get anywhere near the sort of time round it i did in an old nova a few years ago in the coupe. + not nearly of much an issue if I misjudged it!

In the coupe, even on low boost it just spins too much, and is harder to catch between understeering into a kerb or loosing 180 degrees if trying to do any real speed whilst kicking the rear out.

Coupe's viscodrive can pull you through most of the white stuff though, which i suppose as a *car* its okay.

I cant comment on the coop owl10 but I agree with you with the revvy NA small engined point, the Cinq is great in the snow, never got stuck, even out in the peaks when I used to work in a pub out there! Great fun! Handbrake wasn't great though but it did the job! Even took on the Snake pass once following a Range Rover (yes it was snowing before you all start! ) Oh to be young and brave again! (Just to add, that was over 10 years ago - and at 11+ at night, no one goes out in the snow so I had traffic free roads to find my best course of attack!) Learnt a lot about driving in bad conditions!

My Fiat Bravo is pretty good in the snow. Its nice and revvy has skinny tyres, and has no ABS so you can actually stop. Also being cheap it doesn't matter too much if it ends up in the hedge.

actually, thinking about it....

anybody got 3 space saver wheels i can borrow???

I can offer you 2! They are for a Cinq though so you will need to take an angle grinder to the Brembos!

i couldnt believe how good my coupe handled the snowy roads last nite on the way back from the carlilse meet went down the a6 no gritters had been out if they had was a long time ago anyway i sat nicly at 50 mph on the straights nay bother when there was corners again get the right angle and wheel spin it went round a treat the only problem is that when the wheels were battling for grip the abs light kept goin on then off and then eventully its stayed on started car up this mornin and its still on anyone else had this problems . scal_LE