[Tunna_uk]

Went to see the old man today, about 30 mins from my house, a scattering of snow here.
Got to his house, after about an hour it started snowing, had the kids with me, so decided to get off home, two big hills to negotiate, got up the first one (just), snow coming down like hell, got to next one, and cars were stuck all over the place, snow pouring down, got stuck trying to go another way, eventually parked it on a housing estate outside somones house, snow by now about 6 inches,

The guy in the house was OK about it and car is fairly safe, but gutted about it.
Luckily Dad has a landcruiser so he picked us up in that and took me home.

Car was totally useless in the snow.
Nightmare
But I suppose could have been worse

[ECBMW]

Originally Posted by Tunna_uk

Went to see the old man today, about 30 mins from my house, a scattering of snow here.
Got to his house, after about an hour it started snowing, had the kids with me, so decided to get off home, two big hills to negotiate, got up the first one (just), snow coming down like hell, got to next one, and cars were stuck all over the place, snow pouring down, got stuck trying to go another way, eventually parked it on a housing estate outside somones house, snow by now about 6 inches,

The guy in the house was OK about it and car is fairly safe, but gutted about it.
Luckily Dad has a landcruiser so he picked us up in that and took me home.

Car was totally useless in the snow.
Nightmare
But I suppose could have been worse

My cousin had a similar experience.....He said why should he have a car expensive as a BMW which cant be driven in snow as when he had a corsa it would be drivable in any condition. My only response was get some winter tyres to which he replied that his corsa never had to have winter tyres

[Ham09]

Yep, our cars are more summer performance cars than winter off roaders. However I am assuming you were using your regular summer tyres rather than winter tyres?

I just picked up a some 17" rims to go on mine, just need to order some good winter tyres now. Another plus is that my 18" get a rest from all the salt thats on the roads this time of year

..oh and driving with a higher fuel load helps apparently, more weight to the rear.

[Carrera RSR]

Originally Posted by ECBMW

My cousin had a similar experience.....He said why should he have a car expensive as a BMW which cant be driven in snow as when he had a corsa it would be drivable in any condition. My only response was get some winter tyres to which he replied that his corsa never had to have winter tyres

Engine weight over the front driven wheels. FWD is marginally easier to drive in snow than a RWD.

[Tunna_uk]

Yes, I have not been using car while snow about, I have it on 17inch wheels at the moment because the 18's got painted just before xmas.
But the tyres are not snow tyres, I am going to look into getting the 17's shod with snow tyres for next year, when I get it home, its going to have to stay away from any longer trips till weather improves...

I just got completely caught out today, wrong place wrong time and all that

Seriously thinking about buying a 4X4 for when we change the missus toyota Corolla. My dads landcruiser is awesome in this weather....but its like a tank for the other 10 months of the year

Maybe we are going to return to the winters we new as kids now in the UK????
Global Warming???

who knows

[Carrera RSR]

Originally Posted by Tunna_uk

Yes, I have not been using car while snow about, I have it on 17inch wheels at the moment because the 18's got painted just before xmas.
But the tyres are not snow tyres, I am going to look into getting the 17's shod with snow tyres for next year, when I get it home, its going to have to stay away from any longer trips till weather improves...

I just got completely caught out today, wrong place wrong time and all that

Seriously thinking about buying a 4X4 for when we change the missus toyota Corolla. My dads landcruiser is awesome in this weather....but its like a tank for the other 10 months of the year

Maybe we are going to return to the winters we new as kids now in the UK????
Global Warming???

who knows

A Winter set up would be the way forward for us all if we keep getting consistent snow and ice conditions to justify the outlay. Especially for our BMW's. Have you seen the BMW or Porsche Winter Driving Experiences. With a Winter tyre set up they can drive through most conditions.

[Tunna_uk]

Got it back this morning-all OK-Just in time its snowing again!!!!

[Petem95]

To be fair it's hardly normal conditions. It must be well over 10 years since we've had so much snow, so chances are this is just an exception.

Also it's not just BMW's which are difficult in snow. Back in Feb '09 when we had snow I had an A3 Sport and thats front wheel drive but with pretty wide tyres and I struggled getting up hills in that. My current BMW is certainly worse, but you'd expect that with 255-section rear tyres.

A work colleague ordered some 'snow socks' for his 325i m-sport just before Christmas so I'll be interested to see how he gets on with those.

[the_rangdo]

Yep, back in the day your average family Cortina had 175 R13 wheels, none of this low profile wide as a barge stuff

My wife's Mazda 2 with 175 wheels managed pretty well in this weather, my 320 never left the drive.

And s0d's law, snowing heavily today and my new winter tyres are stuck in the local fitters waiting for me to arrange an appt - no answer on the phone so I'm guessing he's not made it in either :|

[Brock]

lots of rwd vehicles in the snow when I go to mountains....our cars problems are due to the tires rather than the car itself. The Summer High Performance tires that are W rated just are not suited for anything but rain and hard driving....mud or snow and they are instantly racing slicks.

I suppose if we did like in Germany or Holland when I lived there and changed over to winter tires with more aggressive tread that they would be as usable as the others out there. Snow tires or an aggressive All Season tire with a lower speed rating and I bet it doubles the capability of the car.... I know it did when I lived in Europe in 80s and drove in snow.

[Dave_3]

Been running around in a wee Ford Fusion the last few weeks. Drove some distance in it, up and down Scotland. Including on snow and frost covered roads/car parks - where my 335D would be absolutey useless and flounder. With its wee tyres and FWD it kept going.

Great wee car. Nice and nimble. And has a quickclear front windscreen.

And I can park it anywhere and nobody notices it.

D.

[MEGA]

Snow tyres = no problems. So thats your answer. If you don't want the outlay then you can't complain imo

I've not got snow tyres, so if I get stuck, its my own damn fault. I know that full and well.

This car, in its home country, its ILLEGAL to drive the car on summer tyres during the winter months. So in Germany, where the car is produced - they have some sense. But our govt. are idiots and thus our cars get stranded

I do plan to get winter tyres asap to be fair. But its a big expense around christmas. I'll either sort it for next month; Or wait till next year but get them in oct/nov

[Tunna_uk]

Originally Posted by MEGA

Snow tyres = no problems. So thats your answer. If you don't want the outlay then you can't complain imo

I've not got snow tyres, so if I get stuck, its my own damn fault. I know that full and well.

This car, in its home country, its ILLEGAL to drive the car on summer tyres during the winter months. So in Germany, where the car is produced - they have some sense. But our govt. are idiots and thus our cars get stranded

I do plan to get winter tyres asap to be fair. But its a big expense around christmas. I'll either sort it for next month; Or wait till next year but get them in oct/nov

I am almost certain thats the way I am going, I already have some BMW 17 inch alloys so just need to source some tyres. At least then if it has to come out for work etc, then it might be safer.

[Martin 335d]

Well up until last night I was very impressed with our car having never been stuck yet in this recent bad spell of weather (our previous E46 M3 was particularly hopeless last year)

Then it happened my fiancé got stuck, on a hill that she shod have never attempted driving up in this weather, she called and I went to retrieve her in the Golf, and that's where it went VERY wrong, I stopped opposite where she was, stepped out of the car and proceeded to slide down the hill unable to stop myself. The inevitable happened I fell and I now have a suspected broken wrist (too swollen currently too be certain) so I might be off work for another few weeks yet (I'm a truck driver)

Not a great end to my holidays, but in retrospect she now knows if she can't get up a hill turn round and find another route.

[dxb335d]

Oh no Martin. That sounds like a load of shizzle for you.

You get sick pay I hope. Did you manage to get the cars home?

[Martin 335d]

I hopefully will get full pay as im salaried, but if not ill need to tighten the purse strings somewhat this month

Yeah Clare went off in the VR6 down the hill and took an alternative route home, and i managed to 3 point turn the BMW and went back down the hill and found an alternative route too

In hindsight, we had just picked up the VR6 from town as we left it there when off out for a meal on new years eve, but its road tax had ran out (i forgot to renew it) and i wasnt keen on Clare driving that home, hindsight is a wonderful thing, she should have taken the VR6 home, me the bmw and i wouldnt be in this situation

Work will not be impressed on Tuesday when i go in with a sick line for a week as i have been off on holiday since the 11th of Dec

[Tunna_uk]

Bad Luck Martin
at least no damage to cars as well..

[MEGA]

To be fair to you Martin its not like your faking an injury. If you go in with a wrist bandaged up its a fairly clean call. I'd be surprised if they gave you any crap for it.

What a shite situation though. Sorry mate. Hope it heals quick..

[Kal]

I just got stuck going up a slight incline on a road wide enough for one and a half cars.

I had cars behind me and they all had to reverse so I could roll down the hill back on to main road

[craig2859]

I was posted to Germany for 10 years, and we had some serious winters, but I still always went up to the Hartz Mountains each weekend in my 323i ?

Answer = Snow Chains ..... I know you may think extreme for the UK, but the way its going at the moment, they are an investment worth throwing in the boot at this time of year?


.

[m@rk]

Actually this year I have found myself with no choice but to drive in these conditions (last 2 years I just hid indoors too scared to go out in the white stuff after reading of all the tales on here).

With DTC on and a steady hand I have actually been really impressed just how well the car has behaved considering fat tyres and an auto box.

Having said that, I was in Berlin the week before Christmas and apart from being very very VERY cold and wondering how on earth we were going to get back home for christmas after the weather closed down most of the airports, one thing I did notice was that even though conditions were really really bad, the Porsche drivers, BMW drivers and every other single driver were having no problems sticking to the road. Sure a 911 with steel wheels looks a bit odd (as did all the E90s with wheel trims) but it's simply a case of using the right tools for the job.

Having said all of that.

No matter how well you are prepared, if the council can't be bothered to grit the frigging roads and leave the A16 and A52 untreated like they did this morning, winter tyres or not, sheet ice is still sheet ice. Thanks for that Lincolnshire County Council

[bakili]

Dont forget in germany and rest of europe, you must have winter tyres on for winter, not in UK.
That would help bit
First time in my life i had to leave my car on drive and walk to work.