MR2 in the snow... wow

[HughesR1]

Considering we've had almost a foot of snow around here I thought its only fair I let her have a play in the snow and see how far she gets but wow... I was shocked how good it was.

Put the standard 15" wheels on and it just kept plowwing through, the skinny front tyres seem to work really well as skiis in the deep now!

I'm an ex scooby WRX owner as well and am certain this is better than my WRX, it obviously can't put the power down but it handles and stop great! Wish I had invested in some winter tyres and it would be a proper hoot! Everyone should get out there and have a play

[Magic Beans]

I get palpitations when I think about trying to drive mine in the snow

I've heard good things about stock cars being pretty good though. For a RWD car anyway.

[Ryan S]

Considering we've had almost a foot of snow around here I thought its only fair I let her have a play in the snow and see how far she gets but wow... I was shocked how good it was.

Put the standard 15" wheels on and it just kept plowwing through, the skinny front tyres seem to work really well as skiis in the deep now!

I'm an ex scooby WRX owner as well and am certain this is better than my WRX, it obviously can't put the power down but it handles and stop great! Wish I had invested in some winter tyres and it would be a proper hoot! Everyone should get out there and have a play

no chance man, i had mine in the snow the other day and it was useless, totally usless, I had my impreza out up the hills yesterday and there's no way the Mr2 would get through the drifts I was going through, I also had to do a 3 point turn in deep snow, the Mr2 deffo would have got stuck!

[craig]

Snow = hang MR2 keys up.

[Magic Beans]

Snow = hang MR2 keys up.

Snow also = hang BM keys up and go out in Adrienne's car

[Kongaroo]

Get some winter tyres on - it makes a huge difference

Mk2 MR2s actually have quite good traction in the snow with the right tyres. I prefer the MR2 in heavy snow over my MX5 (which has poor traction in the snow/slush even with winter tyres) and the wife's C2.

I even managed to drive to work just fine in that really heavy snow fall a few years back when my Rev 6 bumper was acting almost as a snow plow at some short sections of the journey

[HughesR1]

Yeah don't get me wrong it was no 4x4, but for a RWD car its brilliant.

Engine over the rear wheels means as soon as power is applied the rear squats giving your a bit of traction and then the fronts cut through beautifully.

I have no doubt if the wheels were aftermarket and wider it would have been awful. I borrowed a Citroen C1 with 155/65/14 tyre size before and it managed to get up my road whilst the rest of neighbours got stranded at the bottom

[Ryan S]

Maybe na cars are different but with the limited slipp diff on the turbo it's awful

[Kongaroo]

I know people advise to avoid wide tyres for snow but from experience on my tubby I know that 215/40/17 or 225/45/16 both work well on the front in heavy snow. I always run a 255/40/17 winter tyre for the rear which works very well too. Not that 215 to 255 is particularly wide by today's standards anyway

The tubby on these tyres has much better traction than my Mx5 on 225/45/16 tyres (Toyo Snowprox) on the rear because of the weight being over the rear axle. In bad snowy/slushy conditions the MX5 struggled a little to drive up a long moderate incline at slow speed - rears kept slipping and then catching traction so it needed very low revs/speed to make its way up (this was a dual carriageway).

PS - I love my TRD diff in the snow. It makes nice donuts

[HughesR1]

Limited slip diff should make it even better!

And yeah to be honest I wasn't meaning this thread as in it has tons and tons of traction, more just that the handling is nice and predictable and it seems to stop in about half the distance of my WRX!

[Andy Champ]

... almost none down here. But the last time we had some heavy snow (and it took three hours to drive home, when it's normally 30 minutes) the MR2 was OK. My wife's shopping trolley car, OTOH, was great fun. The lack of power didn't matter any more, it's got decent ground clearance, skinny little wheels...

Though I really think it's the old problem with most cars. The failing component is the nut behind the wheel.

[raptor95GTS]

...

Though I really think it's the old problem with most cars. The failing component is the nut behind the wheel.

so true for most incidents! I also consider myself in that category sometimes, too easy to let the mind wander at slow speeds

[Gordy75]

I was dreading the snow bcoz everyone goes on about MR2's and theyre handling but when the snow came I found myself going out everyday even just for the sake of a drive! also not saying its a hilux but surprisingly good compared to most other cars on the road!

[CRAIGROBBO]

I had a N/A a couple of years back and use right threw the winter! I honestly never got stuck once! Great car in the snow!...

Craig

[SySanguinary]

Indeed. The weight over the rear wheels helps and you can steer it on the throttle.

I used my car up here two and a half years ago through the winter. (The really bad one) I travelled from Newcastle to Sunderland each day and always made work. Some colleagues (one in an Audi Q7) couldn't / didn't make the two mile commute in from Sunderland itself.

A little bit of anticipation on the hills worked well. The LSD helped, although setting off gently would result in some sideways movement before forward momentum occurred. Previous trackdays were certainly beneficial to predicting what the car was going to do.

[toxo]

I drove mine about 15 miles through a snowstorm and the resulting 6" of fresh snow a few years ago at about 1am. The back only stepped out when I stood on the pedal to wind my girlfriend up Got up and down hills just fine and that was 285bhp w/LSD and aftermarket alloys. I thought it was quite fun actually! That was the same winter a friend of mine beached his IS200 on a SPEED BUMP and had to leave it there.

[tonigmr2]

Spent 8 hours on the M1 in a snow storm in a rev4 turbo...then got up my steep drive no problemo

[Ben]

A little bit of anticipation on the hills worked well.

Yep! I managed a 17-mile cross-country trip last winter in a 5-series on summer tyres. Who says you can't drive a BMW in the snow?

[nickg07]

Snow problem here.

Got a bid dodgey when i got stuck on some ice and the car just slewed from side to side instead of moving forward or backwards..