Psychoblur

I've done a search and read most of the threads about winter driving in Canada. Being a Subaru owner I'm still very skeptical about other sedans handling better than a WRX in the winter.

However, since S2K is my past dream car, I simply can't park it all winter and not drive it. Besides from dents, salt and such... I'm most worried about HUGE piles of snow/ice that haunts Edmonton roadways. There are TONS of roads that have irregular roads. Meaning bumps everywhere that is all ice and ground clearance will be a huge problem with S2K right?

Is there any Edmonton S2K drivers that drive in the winter? Or some that have driven in Edmonton Winter?

Any reply would be helpful, thank you!

4doorj

im with u..... i cant stare at my baby being garaged.. its fun in the winter..... except for when the roads are like ice rinks (i just take the slower roads) and winter tires.... will be perfectly fine

doodlebug

I'm not sure you can assume that Edmonton roads are the same as ours (here in Calgary) during the winter....no chinooks means you can have deep snow/ice ruts throughout most of winter. I lived in Red Deer one winter and I was surprised at how poor the residential streets were compared to Calgary....Dylan would have a better feel for this.

S2000_rider

I drove my S2K this past winter. If you have some good snow tires it's managable. Highway driving can get quite scary at times however...especially switching lanes. Weigh down your backend and good tires is my suggetion but don't forget that it can still get scary!

4doorj

you can say that again!

koala

Edmonton roads are probably approaching the shittyness of red deer roads in the winter. (red deer gets more snow than edmonton, and substantially more than calgary- plus calgary gets the occasional chinook) I drove mine through the last winter in red deer and it was fine. I even switched to 17 inch winter rubber in Jan/Feb still without issue

Drive on top of the ruts whenever possible, and if not, drive slow, at angles.

koala

Careful with adding weight to the back end... if you do still end up losing it in a spin, extra weight back there is going to make things even worse

xviper

What kinds of tires were you running for the winter? If you were running performance summer rubber, you had shitty handling. If you were running all season radials, then you had "adequate" handling. If you had dedicated winter tires, then I will believe you. If you had one of the first two I listed, then my S2000 with aggressive snow tires will smoke ya.

I've written about this in detail once before and I rarely take the time to do it again but since you are "local", I'll do it.

Let's take a bit about "handling" shall we? ................ With particular emphasis on power induced wheel spin.

FWD, if you over power your drive wheels, your front end is controlled by gravity. That is to say, you would generally head towards the gutter on a high crown road. The only way to save it is to let off gently on the gas, BUT, if you are on a bit of ice, you will have to stop because you have no traction to propel yourself forward. You will continue to slide and head for the gutter with your front end. The back end simply follows. If you are trying to turn with power, you are toast.

AWD, if you over power your drive wheels, BOTH ends of you car is controlled by gravity. That is to say, BOTH ends of your car would generally head for the gutter on a high crown road. The only way to save it is to let off gently on the gas, BUT, if you are on a bit of ice, you will have to stop because you have no traction to propel yourself forward. You will continue to slide and head for the gutter with BOTH ends of your car. If you are trying to turn with power, you are toast.

RWD, if you over power your drive wheels, the back end of you car is controlled by gravity. That is to say, the back end of your car would generally head for the gutter on a high crown road. There is more than one way to save it. One way is to let off the gas gently and come to a stop. The other way is to continue to apply power, counter steer and continue to drive down the slippery road with the car "yawed" against gravity. The beauty of this is that you can continue to motor along. If you are trying to turn with power, you simple keep the power on, counter steer and go where you want.

Of course the crappier the tires you have, the helpless your car is. Certainly, for general stability and driving down flat roads, AWD with dedicated snow tires will be superior to all others. However, when the conditions get real bad, which one do you think has more control? And in winter, "control" can be just as critical (maybe even more so) than "handling".

I've owned FWD, AWD and RWD throughout my life. FWD is great if you don't want to change tires for each season. AWD is great if you care to put on snow tires. Most people think AWD makes them invincible and don't bother buying snow tires. In this case, an AWD is your WORST choice for a winter set-up. My AWD TT Stealth was a POS for winter driving and I had to drive it like p u s s y when the streets got slippery. That is, till I put snow tires on it and even then, it was not possible to "performance" drive and really have fun. RWD cars I've owned have been the most controllable and the most fun for winter (when properly equipped). You can use the car's performance in controlled skids and drifts. AWD lulls you into thinking you can do things with your car that it really can't. Don't get fooled.

Psychoblur

After owning a Subie for 2 years, I know AWD can't perform as well in all seasons. I have all seasons and it still is scary driving in near ice roads. All your points are well taken. In the end it does depend on the driver. But being a Subie owner does come with arrogance being the king of the winter roads. (Whether that's true or not)

I've never driven an RWD car before but have been in a couple. I just have to say, doing donuts is so easy with RWD!! haha..

So I gather form the replys that Edmonton winter driving is "DOABLE"? I'm not going to kill the car am I?

Oh and another question, I live in a condo with open parkade. Will that be a problem with the S2K being outside constantly? I see a '04 TT parked there over winter with a cover on, and it seems alright.

koala

When I had my '01, I parked it outside all the time (no garage). It was fine... just plug it in below -20. Run mobil 1, 10w30... or 5w30 if you really want to be on the safe side.