My winter driving story (Moderator: A+ would read again)

[BeamerandBimmer]

Congrats.

To all the nay sayers, maybe you could donate some of your money since you seem to be able to tell him how to spend his. Then he he could buy the appropriate "SUV".

BTW, I've seen plenty of appropriate family cars not make it through 2" of snow.

Good on the OP for being prepared(proper tires and ability to drive in the snow) with the car that he chose to have.

[paliknight]

Congratulations OP! Drive whatever you want that works for you.

[drexplode]

Congrats OP on the new baby girl.

Have the same setup rial + xi3 from tire rack on my s4. Dry performance is so much better than blizzaks.

I hope momma and baby girl are doing well!

[dds007]

Originally Posted by BeamerandBimmer

Congrats.

To all the nay sayers, maybe you could donate some of your money since you seem to be able to tell him how to spend his. Then he he could buy the appropriate "SUV".

BTW, I've seen plenty of appropriate family cars not make it through 2" of snow.

Good on the OP for being prepared(proper tires and ability to drive in the snow) with the car that he chose to have.

LOL, donate some money? When someone already has 70k+ to purchase an m3? okay.

[myzmak]

Right on OP. Good story, good outcome, congrats.

[Dinh335]

Isn't why the m3 is so critically acclaimed because it can be both track toy and family car?

In the right , smart...hands it is no more than a three series...seems the case here.

[AW BMW]

Congrats on your new born baby, you must be a very proud and happy father right now. Also congrats for having the right car for the job equipped with the right tools to get you to the hospital in those horrible weather conditions. Enjoy your family and m3 in good health, by the way I drive an M3 and have two kids and don't have a single problem hauling my family and multiple other things in my sports sedan.

[Lups]

Dear god guys. It's a baby. Not their first even, they had that down. She is an expert of her body and if she had any doubt about the time or her husbands capabilities, they would've called medics to their house.

[Arcades]

Originally Posted by Bmwguy11

Last monday we here in the midwest had a pretty strong winter storm move through. It brought us around 10" of snow, plus about an inch of rain that fell as "ice" (imagine hailing for 3 hours, but the hail doesn't melt). It was a pretty awful snowstorm, the roads were terrible, and the plows couldn't keep up as they had not anticipated to get as much snowfall as we did. Add 40mph winds and it was quite the sight.

My M3 was parked all snug in the garage, and we were snug in our house. My M3 is our only vehicle, and I have Michelin X-Ice Xi3 tires on it. 225/45R18 with Rial P10 18x8 rims square setup. I have previously used blizzaks and nokkian on RWD and AWD vehicles for winter. I like the nokians over the blizzaks, as the blizzaks are super floaty/squishy/awful for dry performance and I also felt the nokians did better in snow/ice too. But this time around I went with a package from tirerack so I couldn't get nokians and the michelins got great reviews. Anyways on to the story...

So 10pm rolls around, and my wife who is 40 weeks pregnant says "we need to go NOW". Her water broke. Immediately I'm thinking holy crap. We have a RWD car, yes with winter tires, but the roads are 8-10" of unplowed snow and ice, we live in the country, so it's hills and backroads to get to the hospital. On a normal day it would take 20 minutes.

I get the car warmed up and ready and get my wife in, and off we go. The roads are horrendous. These are probably the worst roads I've ever driven on. The plows had been through earlier but stopped plowing sometime in the late afternoon. The roads were snow and ice, hard packed and heavy, with large drifts up to my windshield in some areas. My wife's mother was here for a visit so fortunately she was able to stay with our 2 other kids.

We saw only 1 other car the entire way to the hospital. We had to go up big hills, down big hills, country back roads, and through large drifts. While I know that the kind of tires you have make all the difference regardless of what you're driving, the M3 stayed pointing in the right direction the entire time. The traction control did its job and the winter tires did their job. Never once did we feel like we were going to get stuck, even when having to stop in large drifts for intersections, or go through snowplow embankments in the middle of the roads left after the plows gave up for the night. The car performed amazingly, and the tires were fantastic. I had full control at all times, traction every time I needed it, and we made it to the hospital safe and sound. And 5 hours later our 3rd child was born. Someday we'll have a story to tell her about the worst snowstorm we ever had to drive in, and that story will have an M3 in it to boot.

Wow Congrats!~

What a story to tell hehe. Congrats

[ronanz]

You'd think OP put "M" badging on his car.....


oh.....wait.....

[Arcades]

Why is there always ONE person making up random assumptions and what ifs?

dds007 You sound like my parents with the what ifs. It didn't happen so it didn't happen. Stop making up scenarios that probably won't happen. It didn't happen, the OP is nice and safe with a healthy baby.

What is wrong with you people? 3 days in 2016 and half of you have lost your mind.

[Xtabi]

Congratulations!!!

Glad to hear everything worked out perfectly.

[MSportTune2]

First of all, congrats on a new addition to the family.

20 years ago I was sent for 2 months training in Silicon Valley. I brought my Wife and one year old Son and my Brother in law tagged along. We took a vacation to Grand Canyon by flying to Phoenix and stayed in Flagstaff. It was early Spring then.
It was a beautiful sunny day when we headed to GC. By 5pm, we had snowstorm when we were heading back to Flagstaff. We were in a rented Bonneville with all season tires. We managed to reach safely to our hotel in Flagstaff.

Next morning the rental was covered in a few inches of snow and iced up. We had to catch a flight in the afternoon from Phoenix to go home. Road conditions were icy and I was really stressed out. We decided to head out. I drove with care all the way and followed the path cut up by 18 wheelers. Along the way, we could see many big SUVs in the center median ditches and cars with so call better abilities,...skidding and loosing control.

We were praying all the way and managed to reach safely and even had time to spare for a meal before our international flight home.

The moral of the story is we had divine intervention and I drove cautiously within the limits of my rental and not thinking I have a SUV that can defy the law of physics.

Things can go very wrong in any situation and not only snowstorms.

Why can't we take what was shared as a great story and be happy for his new addition to his family. I normally only read what interest me but have for the past few days explored other threads and I am wondering why so much "hate" and negativity in the forum. There are many ways to feedback constructively,.....

I recently drove my first M car ie F80 M3 in Incheon Korea BMW Driving Center on my first track experience and was really impressed with the F80 capabilities even with my mediocre track driving skills. With OP driving skills and a great car like his M3, he took a calculated risk which I am sure he took into account his family's safety as well.

Sorry for being long winded,.....

[Vigilant]

As a native Floridian, all I can say is wow. For the OP, congrats on the baby and mommy being ok. As far as driving conditions, I cannot even begin to profess any expertise in the OP's scenario. I'll stick with my PSS Michelins for four "seasons".

[Naz24]

Congrats! what's her name? (the baby, not the car)

[ASBSECU E93]

OP - congrats on the 3rd child. Enjoy in good health!!

Regarding the idea he had to drive on/in snow - driving in snow is not that difficult....driving in ICE is what kills.

I drive in the white powder every winter in 4x4, FWD, RWD, and AWD, no issues...

[Lups]

Originally Posted by Naz24

Congrats! what's her name? (the baby, not the car)

I read that and wondered why you had to specify. Then I remembered we are dorks.

[s0ul]

Congrats! Ignore the haters.

[S65V8]

OP, congrats!!! Thanks for sharing this great story. I agree, amazing how well these M cars actually do in the winter with the some winter tires.

[04cobra]

Most AWD cars on the road now have all season tires or bald tires, they don't give anyone an advantage in snowy weather. At least here in Minnesota.

I got all seasons on my Explorer Sport and they suck when its snowy out. I just drift around the turns :-)

[Bmwguy11]

Originally Posted by BeamerandBimmer

Congrats.

To all the nay sayers, maybe you could donate some of your money since you seem to be able to tell him how to spend his. Then he he could buy the appropriate "SUV".

BTW, I've seen plenty of appropriate family cars not make it through 2" of snow.

Good on the OP for being prepared(proper tires and ability to drive in the snow) with the car that he chose to have.

This experience taught me that tires matter far more than the vehicle. My old X3 had all seasons with xdrive and did not drive as well in the snow as our M3 did with the snows.

Eventually we will add a minivan to the stable, but until it becomes necessary we are good with just the M.

[Bmwguy11]

Originally Posted by minn19

I normally agree with almost everything you say, but I think we are still allowed to have our own opinion. Like I said, I'm obviously very happy the way it turned out, but IMO, OP got somewhat/very lucky they didn't need EMS to come help deliver a baby in the ditch or side of the road. 10 inches of snow is no joke with the clearance issues of these cars. Happens all the time in cars that are supposedly better equipped for the snow.

Well one would not generally buy a car based around the need to drive to the hospital in the middle of a snowstorm. The stars aligned and that's what happened. We made it without a hitch. My wife and I both work from home so having a RWD car as our only vehicle is a non issue 99.99% of the time. And given my experience here this car is plenty capable with the proper tired, clearance being the only possible issue. 8" was ok though.