Good small car in snow

[coccinelle]

After the snowy weather we've had I've decided I need to change my car. It's an old Ford Fiesta and is hopeless when it comes to driving in snow. Fine on ice though.
Can anybody tell me which small cars (from experience) are good in the snow or does it all boil down just to tyres? I noticed that Nissan Notes didn't seem to be having problems in the bad weather, has anybody else noticed this ?
Hope you can help.

[daftgrandad]

We bought a Nissan Note 08 reg in March last year,second hand,just under a year old.It has been a very reliable car,so far.
I drove it quite a lot,during the bad weather and found it to be very good,in road handling and traction.
I dont know how many miles you drive a year,but they are very comfortable.

[Toureman]

As you say, it's all down to tyres !

A 20 year old Lada with the correct tyres on would be better than a 4x4 with road tyres on !

[chas2008]

tyres and the way its driven !!

[Panic Button]

It's mostly down to the driver.

[Coobeastie]

Our little Panda coped admirably and was one of the only cars parked in our sloped town centre car park. Saw quite a few large cars struggling to get out. I thought it was great though as for an entire week I pretty much had the car park to myself and was guaranteed a space (not that you could see them with all the snow).

[oxo]

I have a1999 ford fiesta and I didn't have any problems in the snow, where as my husband's car, a 58 plate citreon c4 seven seater was sliding everywhere, I can,t count how many times he has been stuck in snow. Give me a fiesta anyday, I wouldn,t change mine

[annie0000]

Got to be a clio - front wheel drive not sure if the newest models still have it- snow nae bother. We got up a hill a pretend 4x4 had to give up on.

[annie0000]

My husband is an ambulance driver and in the snow and ice he always "steals" my clio if he want's to go hillwalking - his car can never get close enough to the hill - it's gutless and like bambi on ice! He's well impressed with it.

[boxtops]

I've got Daihatsu Sirion and it coped very well with the snow and ice.

[AlBags]

Fiesta's are fine in the snow!
I have a banger .. Diesel .. with skinny tyres .. It was going up icy hills as well as anything recently.

[coccinelle]

It's one of the reasons zacsmaster. I was stuck in my village for a few days and it's old anyway (1994)

[coccinelle]

Thank you everybody for your feed-back. That gives me a few cars to look into. Albags, there's no way my Fiesta would have managed a hill, it slides everywhere just on the flat and chas2008, my husband who's a good driver says it's hopeless too.

[123everton]

Panda 4x4

[kjn2]

I think the main thing is to make sure it is front wheel drive, I am aware that most small cars are front wheel drive but best to check, have seen many Mercs and BMW (rear wheel drive) cars that were having big problems down here when the snow was bad, also a personal experience, had to lend my son my old P reg Corsa for four days as he could not get up the road where he lives in his Merc,no problems in the Corsa. Also know of a friend who was unable to get up his road in BMW and used his old front wheel drive van for a week.

[coccinelle]

I wonder if it is a question of the tires and not the make of car...

[johnk]

My Fiesta went everywhere I wanted to go unlike most other peoples cars. Have a look at your tyres and also your driving style, you need to think differently in snow and that's the main reason for all the problems.

[coccinelle]

johnk, what tyres have you got?