Driving in snow.

[Isaac Zackary]

[YouTube]

[Xist]

Awesome information! Thank you very much! I am really just concerned with visiting my clients that live down dirt roads, which are not plowed, but I feel that everyone up here wants to justify driving the biggest truck they can "afford."

Meanwhile, someone managed to flip their truck in downtown Show Low last week, speed limit: 35 MPH. I do not know what happened, but that seems far less likely if both parties had sedans.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by Xist

Awesome information! Thank you very much! I am really just concerned with visiting my clients that live down dirt roads, which are not plowed, but I feel that everyone up here wants to justify driving the biggest truck they can "afford."

Meanwhile, someone managed to flip their truck in downtown Show Low last week, speed limit: 35 MPH. I do not know what happened, but that seems far less likely if both parties had sedans.

There's nothing wrong with AWD (4WD) as long as you don't let it trick you into thinking it's less slick than it really is.

If the roads aren't plowed, yet you live where it snows enough that the other roads are plowed, that could merit something that drives all 4 wheels and has a high ground clearance. However, usually if it's a public road, the government won't let the snow build up to the point that any car with good tires can't pass through. But if it's a private road, then it's up to the road's owner to decide what to do with it.

If it is a private road problem, maybe you could ask your clients who would rather buy an SUV or Pickup to go get you at the end of their long driveways since they don't plow them.

Higher ground clearance means higher center of gravity. One day going through Texas through an ice storm on a 6 lane highway everyone was creeping at 25mph or less in the right two lanes. But every once in a while someone in a pickup or SUV would go flying by. Nearly every last one was flipped over down the road. When I drive something taller I go even slower on the highway. The height makes the vehicle less stable. Any acceleration, deceleration or cornering causes more downward pressure to be lifted off of two wheels an placed on the other two at a rate much higher in taller vehicles, making it much easier to lose control.

[Xist]

Asking them to pick me up is a good idea. I had not thought of that! Thanks!

[RedDevil]

Another problem with 4WD and higher ground clearance is the cost of tires. Buying two sets of tires (summer and winter) is too much for some, even though in the end they'd last just as long as two sets of all season tires would.

The wheels are so heavy most people wouldn't change them themselves like I do on my Insight. Then it adds to the cost if you have winter tires. So they don't and risk it at winter.

[oil pan 4]

Just wait.
In 2010 they told us snowy winters would soon be a thing of the past.
I can't wait for that.

[Xist]

Yes, but I already have difficulty driving my Civic in Phoenix without overheating.

[oil pan 4]

My leaf would over heat there.
Phoenix AZ is an inhospitable, hostile desert hellscape, only made inhabitable due to modern technology.

[Xist]

Wait, made inhospitable due to modern technology?!

So, global warming?!

I would argue the hospitality is debatable. I hear that Phoenix is a monument to man's arrogance.

[oil pan 4]

I think so.
I thought it was hot there after just spending 6 months in Qatar.