Suresh

A dilemma for you. Need some strong arguments to support driving the Scoob to England this coming weekend . We live in Holland and will be visiting family & friends in the UK over Christmas (provided the ferry company don't go on strike).

Me : MY99 Scooby, Half-worn Potenzas (summer tyres)
Her: MY00 Pug 306 1.8, almost new winter tyres and snow chains if needed.

Scoob performed badly on exceptionally icy roads in Zurich last weekend. Going sideways at 5 mph whilst climbing a slight incline did not inspire too much confidence. Motorway trip back through Germany was good fun though .

Clearly, I would prefer to take the Scoob. 'er in doors has some pretty powerful 'safety' reasons why her car would be better. I can't see how I can get to take the scooby without splashing unnecessarily out on some new boots.

Any ideas?

Suresh

Robertio

iTrader: (1)

The odds are there will be little if any snow this weekend in the southern section of the UK, so unless you are driving via the alps I can't see much reason for the snow tyres, just cause unnecessary wear.

Usual disclaimer: don't blame me if it snows lots, unexpectedly, I'm just saying what I expect

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

There is an art to driving in snow, but on ice both the pug and the subaru will do the same thing, slide.
Its all a matter of traction, in winter you cannot go as fast, have as many revs or brake as hard as you can in summer.
I would take the scoob (having owned 2 306's and even thou they are not a bad car they would still suffer a little compared to the scoobs better traction).
The hardest part about driving in snow is not getting stuck in it the bigger tyres of the scoob may well hinder you but if the road has been partially cleared by a snow plough its going to be better going (this is a man who took a subaru justy over the pennines when it was snowing hard and had no problem with it ) but unless you venture into the deepest regions of scotland or up into the hills you shouldnt have any major worries (except for the cost of fuel over here )

Tony

boomer

Suresh,

keep checking http://www.meto.gov.uk/weather/europ...kforecast.html for the latest weather forecast.

mb

Reffro

I'd check the weather forecast, but it does look like snow in the north at some point, how much isn't easy to say.

If I had to choose, I'd go for the winter tyres, 4wd or no 4wd, winter tyres win out. Sports tyres are absolutely useless on snow in comparison. Plus you'll save a bit of dosh on your fuel, which means more beer money.

Dave T-S

Spending up to five weeks a year driving in ski resorts in the Alps, i'll take the winter tyres every time.

Of course, as to whether it will actually snow here or not.......

But the forecast seems to think it may be quite heavy in the East and North...

Yippee, both the 205 GTI and Carolyn's Scoob have new Toyo's on, which ARE a good tyre in the snow

dowser

Suresh

Take the winter tyred car - you don't even need to ask! Oh, and Zurich wasn't just icy last week - it officially became a skating rink ; snowed at lunch time with temps above freezing, started to melt in afternoon....then temps plummetted to -8 degrees within a few hours. You couldn't even walk! Glad I took the train

Richard

SecretAgentMan

Umm...Dave U big ol' muppet.
Toyos are c*r*a*p on real snow.

When they loose grip, you'll be happy to get it back before something nasty happens.

Fully studded Hakkapeliitta 2's on the other hand, yeah baby yeah!

/J

Dave T-S

Mornin /J





Studs rule I agree, but for normal tyres on snow, anything with open diagonal tread blocks that will self clean is best. So, for example, a Toyo T1-s would work better than a S03 (oh, here we go again, tyre wars..... )

Brendan Hughes

Suresh, just where in UK are you likely to go? Then we can answer better. Snow chains in the South are probably used by drivers one day per year if that, but the north is a different question.

ga33a

Hi Suresh,

Two wheel drive ... four wheel drive .... two wheel drive ... FOUR WHEEL DRIVE.

Nuff said

Gazza

[Edited for spilling]

[Edited by ga33a - 12/20/2001 10:24:39 AM]

Luke

Still remember Skiing near Prague. Skodas having no problems on the snow covered roads. They had snow tyres on. All the tourists in their big 4x4's with factory fit tyres etc having a terrible time. Its the tyres not the car.

Dave T-S

ga33a
Unfortunately, you couldn't be further from the truth - and like last winter a whole stack of Imprezas will be written off again this winter through people thinking 4wd makes them invincible.....

Toerag

AWD/4WD make get you up a hill, but you're ****ed going down it!!
Snow tyres mate. Or get chains for the scoob.

Suresh

Oh well, given the informed responses, looks like it 2WD and no scooby to be on the safe side. Thanks guys.

Will be visiting London / Bedfordshire only.

Oh yeah, Dowser / Richard, we actually managed to arrive last Thursday night at 2300, so had the full ice rink experience driving up to the Uni Spital!


Merry Christmas and drive safely!!

Suresh

Shark

Personaly I think AWD is perfect for driving on british roads. The scooby would be far safer that a pug on winter tyres, in the hands of a responsible driver.

You don't say where your going in the UK, but mostly it dosen't snow in the south, and main roads normally clear quickly.

David

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Agree with you Dave T-S,
Most people do think that having AWD makes them invincible but it doesnt
Driven carefully a scoob will be doubtedly better than most cars with winter tyres as long as you adheer to the following:-
Change gears sooner,
keep in low gears going down hill (engine braking)
dont rev your car too high (3k is more than sufficient)
drive slowly!!
If you cant see the road, stop! (important one as when i was in the army i had a white out in a landrover, i stopped and a good job too as i could no longer see the road, another 20ft thou and i would have been down a 50ft drop!)
Also if you are going out in bad weather, take the following!

Food (chocolate is very good!)
Water (a bottle of the stuff)
Mobile Phone (with charger)
Warning triangle.
a shovel (only if you plan on going right high up in the hills!)
a blanket/sleeping bag.
Can of spare fuel.

Always nice to be prepared
Oh and if your only driving down south, dont worry about snow, those ploughs get out day and night and clear more roads down there than anywhere else in britain!

Tony

ga33a

Tony, Dave T-S,

Goes without saying.

If you drive like a pr1ck then it doesn't matter if your driving a tank.

As you say, it's a different driving technique in the snow.
But four wheel drives still better than two

Gazza

CraigD

No-one's suggested AWD with chains on the front.

ga33a

Take a plane

DavidRB

Four-wheel drive with fat low-profile tyres will not grip as well as two-wheel drive with skinny high-profile tyres. Just look at the pictures of the rally cars in Sweden, they're all on space-savers!

Dave T-S

But it's still all down to the tyres.....!

If I had the choice of taking one of our Imprezas on the snow on dodgy tyres (if they had them), or the 205 GTI on its new Toyos, I'd take the Pug every time.

And that was what the original question was about - if, however, it was the choice of Carolyn's car on its new Toyos, or the Pug on new Toyos, then no question - the Impreza!

zooey1234

I just spent a few days in a MY01WRX with little used Potenzas (4000 on the clock) in snow, and it is a nightmare. I also have a Pug 106GTI (OK a bit smaller than 306) with no-name winter tyres on. The Pug is uncomparably better in snow, that's it.

I am also picking up my MY00 with perfect winter tyres tomorrow, which I expect to be better than the PUG.

cheers

stevencotton

I plan on spending Christmas day, if enough snow has settled, in the middle of a deserted car park doing doughnuts.

Steve.

Mick

iTrader: (1)

Haven't ScoobySport launched the 'Impreza Cat-Track' conversion yet ???

NENO

Are you all mad! It's never going to snow, it may be winter but the worst we get is a heavy frost!! 'preza wins everytime, just watch out for those gritters!

Suresh

Never going to snow? Was chucking down big gobs of snow flakes in Utrecht last night. Didn't settle 'cos it's just not cold enough, yet - and we're not that far away from England. . . .

The scooby can stay safely wrapped up in the garage to live and enjoy another day. In any case the Pug has a CD changer, which I have yet to fit in the scoob (only bought it two weeks ago). Looked at buying winter tyres in Zurich last week, but didn't fancy doling out 500 quid and chucking away a set of half-used tyres. BTW Toyos will be going on the car once the Potenzas wear out. No question about it.

LOL at stevencotton. I guess we are all kids at heart. How else can you justify a car with such apalling fuel economy and short service intervals??

If you see a Clog DBM (really) 306 around Ealing / Dartford or Amthill please feel free to wave, flash or moon at us.

Suresh

Dave T-S

Suresh
We're not far away from Ampthill - i'll keep an eye out!