The best in ice

[burgess3334]

what does anyone recommend as the best of the medium size cars in the icy conditions. I have a Mazda 3 and just the slightest ice in our car park and you just have no grip

[jake-the-peg]

Never driven one but there are a lot of people who are big fans of Fiat's panda 4x4

[flip_flop]

Don't know about the new one, but the old 4x4 Panda, with its skinny tyres, was excellent in the snow and ice.

[razza]

Most people put it in 1st gear and rev the s**t out of it,best to put it in 2nd and gently rev,that way you will move a lot better.

[sara3]

I knew someone with a big fat Jag. it had hooks in the back to attach your skis (handy!), but couldn't get up a snowy road!

[redcrx]

haha sara. My dad bought a jag 2 days before the snow hit.
he parked it on road outside his house the day of the snow and when he went back to it it had slid sideways and was resting against the kerb

[Dris]

Ive got a wee fat Jag and its useless in the snow :(.Shanks pony for me at the moment.
Agree tho -2nd gear and gently does it until you get a grip.

[redcrx]

my little crx was great in the snow and ice

[chas2008]

most front wheel drive cars are usually ok, any issues are a combination of gears & driving style but at the end of the day no vehicles are bomb proof on sheet ice not even 4x4s ,as a body repairer some of the first vehicles we get in during snow/ice are 4x4s mostly written off !! ,drivers being over confident.
Studded tyres are the only real answer ,common practice in sweden/Finland/Denmak etc.but for the amount of bad ice/snow we get here its just not worth the hassle and expense and to be honest im not sure they are legal in this country.

[woofgang]

Its not just overconfidence. Vehicles that are great in snow will slide like anything else on sheet ice, unless they have special tyres.

[Booldawg]

in scandinavia they tend to have a spare set of wheels in garage with mud & snow tyres fitted. these get put on come October.

4x4s do have a big advantage traction wise, alot of it is technique; for example in the old days when most cars were RWD it was simply a case of reversing up steep hills so you're effecting turning your car into FWD. Simple.

Unless you have spiked tyres nothing really works on sheet ice; mud and snow tyres are only useful in snow, not ice.

Snow chains are also a very good purchase; they make the difference between getting there and not. They can be time consuming to fit and can only be used on bad roads. Once you're out on clear roads you need to remove them. Not sure how the 'snow socks' perform as I dont know anyone who has them.