Serious question: what’s a good option if you live in semi-rural suburbs that gets snow in winter? Safety would be my main concern–something with four wheel drive and larger tires makes a difference there.
Myself commuted with a 95 Saturn SL for years out of a farm in rural Canada. People used crappy small cars for decades and still got where they need to, and today even the most basic car with basic snow tyres is extremely capable.
Needing AWD for the suburbs is a marketing myth the car sales racket wants you to believe.
Most Canadians get along just fine in normal FWD cars. Depending on how much you drive get all-weather tires (different than all season) or if you really want get snow tires. My previous car was FWD, current one is AWD, and really the AWD isn’t necessary. Next car I’ll go back to FWD.
I don’t think telling people to buy 2009 and earlier Subarus is a good idea. I love the huge resale on my legacy but the current cars are kind of not up to the task and they haven’t made a wagon since 2009 in the US. The ATS all wheel drive system can’t even drive the rear wheels without front slip, not to mention the reliability issues with the CVT if you actually use the all-wheel drive or cruise on the highway.
I’m not in the US and haven’t needed a good winter vehicle in several years. I guess wagons have gone pretty far out of style in a lot of places - do you know if Subaru’s other models would be fit for the task?
The WRX could be up to the task, it is the only car in the lineup that can drive all the wheels without slip. The rest of the lineup is kind of just a front wheel drive car with a CVT so I would not recommend it, but if you put winter tires on it it’ll be fine.
If you put the multi layer WRX 2.5 l head gasket saying and you get the heads plained it’s so one time job. You should be good for a 300 to 400,000 miles from the rest of the car.
If you ask this on any car blog, people will emphatically say that you do not NEED AWD. What you really need are a set of dedicated winter tires. Winter tires make a huge difference in snow, if you live in an area with a lot of it.
Having said this, you should check out the Car and Driver’s buyers guide on their website to see what peaks your interest. Tons of great options. Subaru Crosstrek, Kia Seltos, Hyundai Tuscon, Mazda Cx-50… it goes on and on! Then check out Doug Demuro’s reviews of any cars that strike your fancy. His reviews are crazy thorough and give you the best idea of what a car is like, before even stepping into a dealer lot.
I, too, love cars, so hit me up with any questions.
This right here. I drive a tiny old rear wheel drive 4 cylinder pickup which is arguably the worst vehicle for winter driving. The only thing it has going for it is that it does have a bit more ground clearance than cars. I live in Minnesota and work nights so I often get off work before the plows have cleared the roads. As long as I have a good set of snow tires on that truck, a couple sand bags in the back, and drive carefully, then it can and has trecked through roads covered in nearly a foot of wet snow like a champ. I’ve had to give rides to multiple people who planted their big 4x4 SUVs in the ditch with that little truck.
Also because OP mentioned it but you didn’t say anything in your post, wide tires aren’t necissarly better in the snow. The best winter vehicle I’ve ever owned was a tiny 90s Mazda pickup that actually used unusually narrow tires compared to modern vehicles. Wide tires are great for mudding or off roading because they distribute weight over a larger area and help prevent you from just getting stuck in your own ruts. However when it comes to snow you actually want to sink farther down in the snow because there is road underneath so you don’t need to worry about digging ruts. So narrower tires will concentrate the weight of your vehicle better and give you a better chance of digging down to a solid surface rather than skating across the top of the snow. With wide tires they wind up distributing the same weight over a larger area so you just wind up with more less tightly compressed snow under the tires and that can make them more likely to slide in some situations.
If you have AWD, or if you don’t have AWD, in both cases, you still need winter tires. There is a reason they are obligatory for a couple months per year in Quebec. It’s illegal to drive without them in winter here because if there is one thing we know, it’s snow. Not only do you need them to stop safely on snow and ice, but you need them to adhere to the ground when turning, both at low and high speeds, even without snow or Ice.
The ground is so cold that even if we melt the snow using salt, your summer tires won’t adhere as well as they would, and you could find yourself losing control.
I live in Minnesota with a steep hill to go up to get off our street. My old Elantra had trouble with the steep angle after a plowing and I had to go back and get my wife’s Tucson which did it no problem. I was already considering a new car and that spring we bought a Kona. It’s small, sporty, and has proven to be just as capable as my wife’s Tucson, so for me AWD has been the difference.
Current Subaru (other than wrx) are no better than any other front wheel drive car. They can’t drive the rear wheels without the front having slip and they don’t live up to the old Subaru standards of symmetrical oval drive. They also have a CVT that’s only good for 60,000 miles if you like to do Subaru stuff, and they have nothing but SUVs or vans other than the WRX. It’s been almost 25 years since I had a wagon so I’m not sure what their brand images supposed to be anymore since I keep trying to push that they have wagons that can go off road but they don’t. The flagship outback wilderness gets destroyed off road by a mid-90s automatic and Impreza.
I wish I had an answer for you on what card to get. If you can keep the battery charged the Prius all-wheel drive and RAV4 all-wheel drive hybrid are really good. Other than that I would just get whatever you want that doesn’t have an engine driven CVT.
Grew up in mountainous high altitude Switzerland with pickets on the side of the road to show where the road stops, pickets were over 2m high because there was that much snow and ice and even now they are buried every winter and a machine has to come everyday to salt and remove snow from the road. My parents did just fine driving a class e break with winter tires and when weather got really shitty chains. Now that I live in the rural French country with an as shit and cold weather, I got a 4wd A6 avant with winter tires because I’m a bad driver and need to carry the kids to stuff. The husband is a really good driver and has a regular A3 with just winter tires and never crashed with it. But it was another story when he was younger and drived recklessly and totalled a couple cars. Also personally dislike suvs as center of gravity is much higher and it’s a lot more dangerous on slippery roads if you loose control at some point to regain stability.
While we’re all bitching about this, is there anything I can do as someone with astigmatism to make driving at night less dangerous besides buying a higher car? I like my small car but it’s beginning to feel like a legitimate safety problem when I drive at night.
They make glasses lenses and contact specific for astigmatism. I’ve got the same problem and have been looking into it. I have found that polarized clear lenses on a non prescription pair of glasses is somewhat helpful.
It’s blowing my mind that you guys don’t get the polarized lenses by default. Your glasses are going to be expensive but so is getting put in traction because you got blinded by an asshole with a micropenis.
Kind reminder to please stop denigrating people for factors outside of their control, such as skin color, sexual orientation or size of their genitals.
An antisocial asshole is a problem because of what they do, not the size of their penis.
What does the height of your car have to do with it? I have astigmatism and lights can be annoying sometimes but I drive a Civic and never really felt like it was a safety issue.
Headlights shining directly into the windshield. Vehicles overall are getting taller so more often than not now if you drive a shorter vehicle the headlights will be shining directly into your eyes. Not saying getting a taller vehicle is the solution but I’m pretty sure that’s what OP was getting at.
Yeah, I did a double-take on the headline and point of the article, seeing the Civic as the first on the list.
I’m not sure I agree with most, but I’m not counting: certainly they have a point.
I live in a part of the US where big cars are less common, but I’m truly amazed at the number of people driving full sized pickups as a regular car. I mean, I also think they would be useful a couple times a year but they look damn inconvenient every other day.
Just yesterday, I was walking around our town center with my kid, and we had a bit of a debate about whether a certain truck was parked on the sidewalk, or if there was a valid parking spot it was too big for and too poorly parked
People (Men especially) think their status in life depends on their vehicle. They just can’t get over the idea that bigger is not always better. It’s how you use it that matters.
In all seriousness, vehicles have been a status signifier ever since they were created and everyone loves to say that they are better(richer) than the Joneses next door. Being bigger and taller than others is viewed as good in society and in vehicles.
Its not exclussively their fault. There have been years of propaganda from big auto corporations where the only way you can be a productive and resourceful man, is if you own a pick up truck. One truck commercial basically claimed if you buy their truck you immediately become more dependable, resourceful, and attractive, which ulitmately implied it would increase your chances of finding a partner.
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