snowmaggedon starts

[steven wilkinson]

that is indeed a top tip for all sorts of situations! You can move your car on the starter motor to get you off the road in an emergency, should your car die and you are on the road in harms way! (I wouldn't have thought it does the starter motor any good for pronlonged use, but if it gets you to a place of safety, then its got to be worth a go!)

[Guest]

Turn the engine off and use your starter motor for a few yards to get out of trouble. Swedish tip.

 

cept that is an X5 and highly likely to be an auto box - my BMW 3 series wouldn't turn over on the key unless it was in N Neutral or P park.

[Max Sinclair]

Been cool & clear all day here in Nottingham. We filled with diesel on the way here Wednesday and got 125kg Taybrite from the coalman's lorry this morning. Hope it doesn't turn nasty but if it does we are 200m from Sainsbury's and as well prepared as can be!

Yes its all too easy to forget in 1941/47/63/82 it lasted for over two months.Canal skating is lovely, but it doesnt freeze in tunnels as the Pardoe twins found out in Dunhampstead Tunnel.

[steven wilkinson]

And my sons Evo won't turn over if the clutch isn't pressed down! However - his is one 4x4 car that can get traction from his massivley wide tyres, even with massive power too!

[Guest]

And my sons Evo won't turn over if the clutch isn't pressed down! However - his is one 4x4 car that can get traction from his massivley wide tyres, even with massive power too!

 

Nice car..

 

Half the battle is won with a manual - it often just needs a careful right foot and setting off in a high enough gear and good (not well worn tyres).

 

Daughters boyfriends Astra ground to a halt in our road the first day the snow came - both front tyres were just the right side of legal which renders them virtually bald in the snow.

 

My daughter sailed past in hers (new tyres last month)

 

After I extricated him we had a 'discussion' about the wisdom of driving in winter on such well worn tyres.

[Athy]

Correction Red sky in the morning, Shepherds warning

Alternative rather than correction. I have heard, or read, both.

[tillergirl]

Three daughters - 1 with Clio, not too bad in the snow. One with an 06 plate Fiesta - brilliant in this weather and a back up car for Clio daughter as she teaches in a village school, Other daughter also has a Fiesta on a Y plate. Hadn't been started for a week on Thursday so she swept the snow off the locks, jumped in and it started first time. My old Fiesta was much the same, always started first time whatever the weather and snow was no problem. Pity the heater matrix was broken!

 

Favourite car in the snow? My old mini. ..... started first time every time providing there was a marigold over the dizzy cap...........cruised through the snow even up hill when others in modern cars were struggling. Even better the heater worked including the rear screen heater!!

[steven wilkinson]

no need to go for full winter tyres for the few days a year we get a little bit of snow. New 'ordinary' tyres will be nearly as good - and 100% better than worn 'ordinary' tyres!

 

Plan ahead (hahaha) and if your tyres are going to need replacing in Dec/Jan/Feb anyway, get them a little early, and you will have a strong set of tyres for winter, and these will do you for the 99.5% of the time that you will be driving on tarmac!

 

 

 

 

 

Oh no! I have turned into my dad!

[BEngo]

Three daughters - 1 with Clio, not too bad in the snow. One with an 06 plate Fiesta - brilliant in this weather and a back up car for Clio daughter as she teaches in a village school, Other daughter also has a Fiesta on a Y plate. Hadn't been started for a week on Thursday so she swept the snow off the locks, jumped in and it started first time. My old Fiesta was much the same, always started first time whatever the weather and snow was no problem. Pity the heater matrix was broken!

 

Favourite car in the snow? My old mini. ..... started first time every time providing there was a marigold over the dizzy cap...........cruised through the snow even up hill when others in modern cars were struggling. Even better the heater worked including the rear screen heater!!

 

When I was working in Bulgaria at the turn of the century the company "car" was a 10+ year old Fiesta. It seemed like it was the second one off the production line it was that old, and was missing much of the unnecessary exterior furniture such as mirrors and trim but it started reliably every day, even at -15C, mainlined neat screenwash in winter and dug itself out of the car park after a metre of snow over the christmas break. It even survived the event when the thawing snow slid off the roof of my apartment block, landed on the back windscreen and stove itin , also blowing the front windscreen out in the process and leaving me with a car mostly full of snow. That day was a chilly drive to work!

 

It was cr@p at potholes though, so you had to learn to spot and dodge them. That is a skill becoming increasingly useful in UK today.

 

N

[Ally]

I have a nasty old berlingo, that everyone takes the pee out of, but yep, skinny tyres, front wheel drive, low power...I frequently go past Audi's skidding away on the road! And she's a great work car & shed!

[Teakbank12]

My old daewoo matiz got us through all sorts of weather a couple years ago whereas other cars couldn't handle the roads.

[PiRSqwared]

Can anyone tell me how the GU is doing from Buckby southwards? Is it proper frozen over?

 

Can anyone tell me how the GU is doing from Buckby southwards? Is it proper frozen over?

[Naughty Cal]

no need to go for full winter tyres for the few days a year we get a little bit of snow. New 'ordinary' tyres will be nearly as good - and 100% better than worn 'ordinary' tyres!

 

Plan ahead (hahaha) and if your tyres are going to need replacing in Dec/Jan/Feb anyway, get them a little early, and you will have a strong set of tyres for winter, and these will do you for the 99.5% of the time that you will be driving on tarmac!

 

 

 

 

 

Oh no! I have turned into my dad!

 

Fully agree. No need for winter tyres in this country. Our weather isn't bad enough for long enough to warrant the outlay.

 

Also budget tyres are a waste of time. They don't wear as well, don't do as many miles and handle like shite. We don't even entertain them. Currently running continentals on the Datsun. The front ones were changed last month but the previous set lasted in excess of 30k miles, not bad on a front wheel drive car. The rear ones still look like new after that mileage.

[Caprifool]

Being the only one in the family who owns a car. I have noticed how differently it drives depending on who's driving it. Wierd though, how it's ALWAYS the cars fault if it spins.

[luctor et emergo]

I have a nasty old berlingo, that everyone takes the pee out of, but yep, skinny tyres, front wheel drive, low power...I frequently go past Audi's skidding away on the road! And she's a great work car & shed!

 

 

Yep, my Saxo ( the berlingo without the shed ) is coping supebly with the current conditions.

 

Fully agree. No need for winter tyres in this country. Our weather isn't bad enough for long enough to warrant the outlay.

 

Also budget tyres are a waste of time. They don't wear as well, don't do as many miles and handle like shite. We don't even entertain them. Currently running continentals on the Datsun. The front ones were changed last month but the previous set lasted in excess of 30k miles, not bad on a front wheel drive car. The rear ones still look like new after that mileage.

 

 

Well, just to counter that, I regularly get over 25000 miles out of budget tyres, in a frontwheel drive Saab 9-3. Best I had was at least three years, and close to 36000 out of a front pair, thatcost me about £80, fitted, balanced, etc

 

 

It's also down to how you drive....

[jelunga]

Just finished work. Great fun driving 32ton truck down backlanes and farm tracks. All milk collected without drama, but the the Volvo FM12 is a suprb tool for the job. The Scanias are crap. The often struggle for grip on the level, in the dry.

 

Not sure what all the fuss is about

I feel the same about their buses and coaches. BM12 is a great chassis.

Better than Scanias too

[Naughty Cal]

Yep, my Saxo ( the berlingo without the shed ) is coping supebly with the current conditions.

 

 

 

 

Well, just to counter that, I regularly get over 25000 miles out of budget tyres, in a frontwheel drive Saab 9-3. Best I had was at least three years, and close to 36000 out of a front pair, thatcost me about £80, fitted, balanced, etc

 

 

It's also down to how you drive....

 

We dont drive like ms daisy!

 

As a comparison our continental tyres cost us £50 each fitted and balanced. And despite what some people seem to have convinced themselves quality tyres do make a difference to the handling of a car. When we bought new Datsun it had a pair of brand new budget tyres and it handled like a pig on roller skates. We quickly switched them.

[mrsmelly]

Being the only one in the family who owns a car. I have noticed how differently it drives depending on who's driving it. Wierd though, how it's ALWAYS the cars fault if it spins.

 

Hi

A very sensible post. The driver is 99 percent of what matters not the car. As for bunkum about manuals being better then that also depends on the car/driver. I have a manual car and my decidedly superior Volvo auto. Volvo are made in a pretty chilly country with lots of snow. My auto box is superb and when the Winter button is switched on it will not set off in too low a gear for the conditions. We go evrywhere in it without any extra problems over a manual box. the main problem we have in the uk is lack of driver training. Peeps pass a basic course at about age 17 then think that makes them set up for life When I was trained as a police advanced/pursuit driver I soon realised that I new nothing about driving before then !! I did show my pupils years later as a Driving instructor some techniques but realy people should further their techniques by more training through life. Skid pan training is an absolutely invaluable aid to driver training but how many people on this forum have ever done any? not many I would suggest. I took a young girl I was teaching just a few years ago out in the snow one day for two hours and took her down a totaly empty side road and showed her just what happened and why and which wheel skidded first at various times and why and she was well chuffed with the lesson. She told her dad when she returned home who foned me straight away and as I had finished early that afternoon I went back and took him out for a 2 hour lesson ( He had been driving over 30 years ) and he was astounded how much i taught him in 2 hours.

In short take some lessons, you all need them ( nearly )

 

Tim

[steven wilkinson]

I did the same when my boys were learning to drive. It snowed so we went out for a lesson. We did hundered of miles in the snow - main roads, estate roads, county lanes, uphill, down hill, car parks. You name it, we tried it. It cost me a tank of fuel each time, but the experience it gave them has proven to be invaluable!

[Guest]

Hi

A very sensible post. The driver is 99 percent of what matters not the car. As for bunkum about manuals being better then that also depends on the car/driver.

Tim

 

Sadly Tim it's not all bunkum - it does very much depend on the car too. BMW's which I have experience of in auto form are 'rubbish' in the snow as I said in another thread it had a 'manual' function but if you tried to set off in a higher gear it would decide that you were an idiot and override your decision immediately drop you back down into first, leaving your wheels spinning going nowhere. No matter what you did as a driver it made no difference.

 

So I suspect your 'winter' button which obviously is borne out of the country of origin of you car actually prevents yours setting off in it's lowest gear and doing what you would do if it was a manual.

 

So whilst not all autos are crap in the snow - they certainly can be.

 

PS - I can also mange to park mine in a parking space without encroaching on neighbouring parking spaces....

Edited January 20, 2013 by The Dog House

[mrsmelly]

Sadly Tim it's not all bunkum - it does very much depend on the car too. BMW's which I have experience of in auto form are 'rubbish' in the snow as I said in another thread it had a 'manual' function but if you tried to set off in a higher gear it would decide that you were an idiot and override your decision immediately drop you back down into first, leaving your wheels spinning going nowhere. No matter what you did as a driver it made no difference.

 

So I suspect your 'winter' button which obviously is borne out of the country of origin of you car actually prevents yours setting off in it's lowest gear and doing what you would do if it was a manual.

 

So whilst not all autos are crap in the snow - they certainly can be.

 

PS - I can also mange to park mine in a parking space without encroaching on neighbouring parking spaces....

 

 

Cheeky sod.

 

BMWs are crap anyway I learnt that some time ago. I think the difference is in education and training and knowledge. I have been highly trained in two of my occupations in regard to driving. You and I are actualy two people that prove this point !! I have done a 3 day first aid course quite recently re my boatmasters licence. You have many years experience as a qualified nurse. I liken my knowledge of life saving to be about as much after my 3 day course as your and most peoples qualifications haveing passed a basic driving course.

 

Tim

[Guest]

Cheeky sod.

 

BMWs are crap anyway I learnt that some time ago. I think the difference is in education and training and knowledge. I have been highly trained in two of my occupations in regard to driving. You and I are actualy two people that prove this point !! I have done a 3 day first aid course quite recently re my boatmasters licence. You have many years experience as a qualified nurse. I liken my knowledge of life saving to be about as much after my 3 day course as your and most peoples qualifications haveing passed a basic driving course.

 

Tim

 

On a point of order Tim I have to say with a 3 day course behind you I reckon you will be better equipped than your average nurse to deal with a 'first aid' situation. We used to get a half day annual update (it may have changed). It's a horses for course thing and intense 'first aid/emergency' type training is reserved for nurses working in the likes of A&E and ITU.

 

I always say if I ever have a serious accident and somebody strolls up and says to me.

 

'don't worry I'm a nurse' I would (if I could) respond with 'actually would you mind seeing if you could find me a paramedic...'

 

 

..

Edited January 20, 2013 by The Dog House

[steven wilkinson]

very true! Training is the key! The best thing people can invest in! And then go and waste a tank of fuel by going out and driving in the snow! The experience will pay off handsomely!

 

And - BMWs are shit in the snow! I had a 3-series auto! Dear god - what a nightmare! It did get further than a lot of other Beemers, and I would like to think that was down to me!

[matty40s]

Well, with more snow on the way just remember driving in snow is like having sex .

 

If you dont slow down and pay attention you could slide into the asshole in front of you.

 

Take care out there !!

[Kiwidad]

Well, with more snow on the way just remember driving in snow is like having sex .

 

If you dont slow down and pay attention you could slide into the asshole in front of you.

 

Take care out there !!

 

Experience?