winter driving....

with winter fast approaching i was just wondering what peoples experience driving their MR2 in the winter have been?? especially with snow or ice on the ground? how safe? any recommendations?

i love winter in arizona!

no ice, no snow... nice 50 degree weather :)

ah, winter in AZ be perfect fer DRAG RACIN'!

lol it reaches the high 20's in las vegas when it's its coldest but only snow about one day every other year and then its melted within 24 hours

ok anyone with some real answers?

I will learn just as you will. it will be my first time driving a mid eng rd car in snow and ice. please someone reply

It'l be my first time as well... lol

I would highly recommend a dedicated snow tire if you see "real amounts" of snow.

I would recommend not doing anything sudden: start, stop, turn, etc ...

I would recommend heavy object in the rear trunk :)

Take your time and you should be fine.
Rush and you will be spun around looking at where you came from :D

I drove my MR2 daily last winter here in MD, never had a problem and I didnt even have snow tires...

Get some snow tires, obey the law, dont push it in corners and you'll be fine...

The money you would spend on Snow tires, wheels, and possible repaires to your ever rarer MR2 I feel would be better invested in a $1000 dollar beater car and a good car cover. But that is just me. Good luck!

The money you would spend on Snow tires, wheels, and possible repaires to your ever rarer MR2 I feel would be better invested in a $1000 dollar beater car and a good car cover. But that is just me. Good luck!

Hopefully my gfs impreza will last until spring 2006...since I dunno if I want to be one of the many people testing their mr2 in the winter lol...

Let alone the fact that I live in maine and winter is like 6-12" of snow on the road sometimes...

Plus all that salt on my underbody :eek:

i've only driven an mr2 (it was a friend's mk2) about 20 miles in the summer, but i made the conversion from fwd cars to 2 rwd porsche 924 and 944 turbo about two years ago right when it suddenly decided to snow in the UK... i rare occurrence in the UK for january, as it's usually just wet and cold.

anyway i never took the turbo out (255 rear tyres do not work well in snow). the 924 only has little (205) normal wet weather road tyres and these weren't too bad. the main two things i used to keep me out of trouble was planning and smoothness. look as far ahead as possible and watch the side roads and other cars. plan your path around them as well as where you think you are going to have to stop, turn etc. then be as smooth as possible when you do it. no sudden breaking, steering or acceleration. obviously don't drive over the speed limit (and in some cases stay well below the limit) as you will have next to no chance to stop if something unexpected happens. also (and this is a matter of personal choice) i take out the abs fuse on any car i'm driving when there's snow on the ground. you need to lock the wheel to stop on snow in my experience. (try stopping quickly on snow in an abs car and you'll see why - but make sure you have a LOT of room).

since then i've also been on a skid pan training day which was immense fun and very informative.

however, at the end of the day you are putting your life even more in the hands of the other drivers on the road. being in a small 2 seater sports car when a 10ton+ lorry is sliding towards you out of control won't seem like such a good idea... yes, i'm being a bit dramatic, but you need to be aware of the extra risks including the emergency services taking longer to get to you if you do have an accident. personally i'd buy an old beater 4wd like an audi 80/90 quattro or an old land rover. sorry this seems to have turned into a bit of a rambling post... i'll shut up now.

I live in the Middle of Nowhere, Arkasnas and drive an '89 MR2. The last couple of winters we've had some decent snows--a couple or few inches covering the roads and I've managed alright, but I wouldn't advise driving in that stuff if you could avoid it. Driving a snow-covered country road home from work one night I passed several cars nosed into embankments or abandoned on the way so obviously it went better for me than for some, BUT the car is NOT stable on snow. IT spun and swapped ends a couple of times even while I was driving irritatingly slow, and there were several occasions where I managed to correct out of a developing slide or spin. The problem isn't the rear wheel drive so much as the mid engine. My car has a weight distribution of somewhere around fifty something percent forward and forty something aft (I think). The car also has a wide wheel base, which means the MR-2 is shaped and weighted about like a top. That makes the car Awesome when it comes to handling and cornering, but when that thing lets go of the road it does it spectacularly. If you want some good practice, play in an empty parking lot where you can't hurt your car yourself or anyone else. That way if you MUST drive in the snow you'll know how your car feels, but I certainly wouldn't advise taking it to work on a snowy morning without any experience in those conditions. A good, careful driver can probably handle the car in the snow, but a REALLY good driver won't try it in the first place.

IF you absolutely have to drive in the snow forget about appointments, plans, and getting places on time, the slower you go the more stable the ride, and the more time you have to react. It's more important to get there intact than in time. Hope this helps!

and you couldnt just add this to the thread that already exists on winter driving because...?

Because that's what I had in mind initially, but I accidently hit the wrong button. Never used a forum before, just thought I'd try to help...in fact I explained that in the existing thread when I noticed my mistake. Appologies for any inconvenience.

Its cool, good work fixing it :)

you are welcome.