What make/model car would you choose to drive to ski resort?

Admin: I think rally cars have a hydraulic handbrake and one way traffic allows you to give them a flick.

4x4 cars inherently push on. I had an Impreza in Norway for 3 x years, driven in a legal manner was not a great tool. Absolutely get on last 5 km to Myrkdalen was fun but you cannot drive like that on normal roads. For the yearly winter driving skills course we had to do a Prius performed better, moose swerve, stopping and slippery corner (work car so 20+ drivers back to back). Only area Impreza was superior was going up a greasy metal plate hill.

Normal resort conditions would go with a front wheel drive which is exactly what 99% of locals do.

Of course some people feel a need for a 4 x 4 in London / the school run. If we apply this logic then we will end up with a topic on ski wellies and wax jackets.

Wow! Thanks for all the replies. We've settled for a Golf estate - now to get the tyres.

It's a front wheel drive, so, will I need all 4 as winter tyres, or just the front ones?

thanks again

skite wrote:It's a front wheel drive, so, will I need all 4 as winter tyres, or just the front ones?

All 4. Having grip both ends of your car will make for a much better day when the snow comes... 8)

I had snow tyres on the front and summer tyres on the back once...... never again!!! It was very exciting though..

You need to fit them to all 4 wheels, don't be tempted to skimp and buy cheap no name brand ones as they're usually hopeless. Every year the Austrian, German and Swiss motoring organisations test winter tyres, here are the results of the 2015 tests http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2015-ADAC-Winter-Tyre-Test-205-55-R16.htm Before you set off have your antifreeze checked to see if it's good for -30°C and get some screen wash that's also good for -30°C.

There are problems with winter diesel in France when it gets really cold, as in the UK the additives in it only stop it from freezing down to -15°C so if it's very cold it will freeze. You can get additives that lower the freezing point to -30°C, but they have to be added before it freezes.

As you're going to be out here for 3 months you will likely have to dig your car out at some point so a shovel will be useful, a plastic one won't damage the car as much as a metal one if it slips, you will also need some chains or snow socks as it's compulsory to fit them when the blue snow chain sign is displayed unless a sign with the words "pneus neige admis" is also displayed in which case you can proceed using winter tyres only.

Due to all the salt and grit they apply to the roads and footpaths your car will get filthy, inside and out, some rubber mats will stop most of what you carry in on your shoes getting ground into the carpets.

A BMW in the snowy mountain sounds great fun!! haha. Maybe not the safest though...... Maybe an Audi A4 would be a safer bet

skite wrote:Wow! Thanks for all the replies. We've settled for a Golf estate - now to get the tyres.

It's a front wheel drive, so, will I need all 4 as winter tyres, or just the front ones?

thanks again

pleased to hear you didn't got for a Chelsea tractor. Or a Vauxhall Victor.

Apologies if I repeat some of what has already been said. We've owned an Audi A6 quattro estate the last 6 years and I've always been impressed with its handling on snow and ice. We swap it over to a winter tyre set each winter. The grip is very impressive and it feels secure due to the low centre of gravity compared to a tall 4x4. We took it over to Norway one Christmas for a 10 day ski holiday and whilst not as good as a car with studded tyres, it handled well enough on roads covered with snow with temperatures down to -25. We were able to drive along at 40 to 50 mph with the rest of the native traffic. We were also pleased to be in petrol car at those temperatures (we witnessed a couple of diesel cars that wouldn't start). See pic below of the car parked up outside our cabin in Hemsedal:



What's particularly interesting is the drop off in performance once the tyres have worn down a little. There is huge amounts of grip with a new tyre (choose carefully. We are currently on Vreidsteins but will swap to Continental or Michelin at the end of the season). However, once down to 4mm, most of the grip has gone and even at 6mm the performance is much worse. There are lots of s/h winter tyres on ebay shipped over from the continent with only 4mm tread. The reason they are on ebay is fairly obvious!