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Seattle is the land of snow wimps and minimum numbers of snow plows.  Being from the midwest, snow doesn't faze me much, although I'm careful to avoid hills when there's snow and ice.  I didn't know what to expect from the TC in this stuff, because I got it in October.  I have to say it's a great little snow car.  It was a surprise how well it handles snow, because the tires that are on it now are awful.  It just powers through axle deep piles of snow, handles icy spots, and acts better in snow than it does on wet pavement.  Go figure.  So far, this little van has been making me completely happy to have bought it.

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  • 10 months later...
   
On 2/10/2019 at 4:17 PM, WillMartin said:

I have to say it's a great little snow car.

I have say I didn't get the same impression from my '16, which makes me wonder if there is a significant difference between the snow handling of the Gen I vs Gen II. In all fairness the two times I have even had it out in the snow (and not much snow at that) the tires were not made for snow. Couple weeks ago I put some snow tires on it even though we don't get that much snow in Virginia. We'll see how much difference that makes.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 1/2/2020 at 2:44 AM, OLDSCHOOLFOOL said:

I have say I didn't get the same impression from my '16, which makes me wonder if there is a significant difference between the snow handling of the Gen I vs Gen II. In all fairness the two times I have even had it out in the snow (and not much snow at that) the tires were not made for snow. Couple weeks ago I put some snow tires on it even though we don't get that much snow in Virginia. We'll see how much difference that makes.

The tires on my van are awful, but they are narrow.  That helps.  The absolutely suck on wet roads.  There's a couple steep hills with traffic lights I have to navigate fairly regularly, and I spin up nearly every time I have to start on those hills.  In one respect, it's kinda fun.  But, it's a graphic demonstration of how absolutely lousy the tires are.  I still haven't bought tires for the alloy wheels and put them on.  It's getting closer though.  I lost a hubcap a couple days ago.  The stock steel wheels sure are ugly.

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Glare ice here the other day, and my series one spun a bit going up a slope, but kept on going. OEM tires too.

 

Traction control? Didn't even know these had that feature. I'm used to my older vehicles clicking and whatever whenever that engages. Can't say as I've noticed any of that on the TC. I'd actually prefer to have that sort of response to give me extra warning that I should maybe consider being a bit more careful.

 

Long as we're on the subject of snow, anyone carry extra weight for traction? Seems a couple sand bags behind the front seats would give the front tires a bit more bite, and extra weight on the rear axle could help keep the back end of the van where it belongs ... behind you.

Edited by sKiZo
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11 hours ago, WillMartin said:

The tires on my van are awful, but they are narrow.  That helps.  The absolutely suck on wet roads.  There's a couple steep hills with traffic lights I have to navigate fairly regularly, and I spin up nearly every time I have to start on those hills.  In one respect, it's kinda fun.  But, it's a graphic demonstration of how absolutely lousy the tires are.  I still haven't bought tires for the alloy wheels and put them on.  It's getting closer though.  I lost a hubcap a couple days ago.  The stock steel wheels sure are ugly.

We haven't had any snow here yet. I put the ugly, skinny snow tires on my 2013 Focus 7" rims for winter wheels and they don't look TOO bad. Not too good, but not too bad. I'll have to re-familiarize myself with turning off the traction control too.

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I figure the weight in my Gen 1 is as balanced as it's going to get, and any more weight will just be more inertia for the crap tires to deal with.  So, no extra weight in mine.  The tires that are on it were on it when I got it, and they are government issue cheap junk Firestone tires.  There's a lot of tread left, but the wet traction is so bad that even my cheapskate soul cannot complain about throwing them away as soon as I can scrape up enough to replace them.  On the alloys, of course.

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On 1/2/2020 at 6:00 AM, OLDSCHOOLFOOL said:

BTW, I need a refresher course in how to turn off the traction control feature. I know, I know, try the RTFM command first.?

use the steering wheel control and go to settings and scroll till you find the Traction Control and switch it off,  get use to doing it because it resets when the Ignition switch is cycled.   It makes the TC a good not great snow car regardless of the tires

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38 minutes ago, G B L said:

use the steering wheel control and go to settings and scroll till you find the Traction Control and switch it off,  get use to doing it because it resets when the Ignition switch is cycled.   It makes the TC a good not great snow car regardless of the tires

I don't find the menu to be exactly intuitive and have to commit to memory of the sequence only. Mostly I just stay out of there. Couple weeks ago I actually got hung up and it would not let me back out. Had to stop the truck, switch off the ignition to get it back to the default screen. PITA.

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