How bad is the snowstorm this weekend going to be? That depends a lot on where you live, and I’m definitely in that borderline space between a fairly pedestrian six inches and up to two feet of utter insanity. I’m already at the point where I’m just listening to online meteorologists 24/7 in the background, I’ve found parking for my press car (FWD on all seasons), and there’s a beef stew going in the crockpot.
It’s a Snowmageddon-type vibe, and I want to be ready. The last time New York got hit hard by a record-breaking storm was, coincidentally, almost exactly ten years ago to the day. I remember this well because my wife was eight months pregnant, and our planned delivery hospital was on the other side of a river. This meant my options to get there in the event she went into labor early were: Ambulance (iffy), CitiBike (lol), train over the bridge (probably going to be shut down), or train under the river.
The storm came and went without too much drama for us, and my daughter ended up coming a little late and on a day with no snow. It did get me thinking about what kind of vehicle would be ideal for a huge snowstorm. If the world goes The Day After Tomorrow on you, a Golf GTI with snow tires might not be enough. OR maybe it is! You tell me!
For my part, one of the SPECTRE-created Land Rover Defenders done up by Bowler Motorsport with 37-inch tires, a hydraulic handbrake, and a tuned motor (a whopping 180 hp) is what I want. Not only is it going to be safe and rugged, but the handbrake sounds like a lot of fun for when it gets too safe.
What about you? What are you into?
Top graphic base image: Silverstone Auctions
A yacht in the Caribbean or at least the keys. At 8 inches of snow right now and still coming
Weirdly, an old Renault R 4. When I was living in the hills and working on the plain, it started to snow heavily, so I picked up my wife, and we thought we would chance it.
At the time we definitely had no money to stay in town in a hotel.
That little, very rusty R4, pulled like a train through knee-high snow drifts and I was able to drive around the large SUVs with four wheel drive which had ended up in the ditch.
Combination of front wheel drive, with the gear box in front of the engine, and reasonably new skinny little tyres meant it felt very secure. I only had to watch out while braking where snow had packed into ice.
It was the “lux” model, so had a sunroof (not used in the snow) but also a heater, which always gave out a burnt dust smell when used.
Unfortunately it ended when my wife missed a bend on a dark, rainy summer day, bounced over a ditch hard, then hit a tree.
She was relatively unhurt — cut knee, but the rust counted and the car was bent like a banana…
Lancia Stratos
That’s an inspired choice.
I’d add a lancia integrale
Never driven either so that would be an experience with exploring
An original rally spec early Saab 92 and rally spec 912 too
Volvo C303
The only option is a Sherp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX6WpSsAnuc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_6dMQ44W5o
80s K20 Suburban with skinny E range snow tires wrapped in tire chains.
I already have a 1981 Jeep J10 (4.2, manual) and a 1986 Toyota Tercel SR5 4WD wagon, both with studded winter tires, so I already have my ideal vehicles.
Though, if we are dreaming, then maybe one of those large, van-like Bombardier snowmobiles.
(I recently had a dream were the local museum let me fix up and use their large FWD snowblower truck – with a second engine out back just to run the blower. They also have the aforementioned large snowmobile.)
A rental Subaru Outback.
Just aim the wheel and it’ll pretty much go there.
And if not??? It’s a rental. 🙂
Im sticking with my 4th gen 07 4Runner add snow tires, leveling lift, and 4wd, has locking center diff. I wish mine was the v8 though. It’s ideal to me because it’s cheap, it works well and if I dent it I won’t cry or be scared to put it to work. Not trying to impress anyone in snow and ice..but at least my butt will be warm by the half seat heater. Yes I’m biased.
My current truck, 05 Excursion Diesel with BFG KO2 tires. I have had this truck in very compromising situations with both snow and mud and it always finds plenty of grip despite weighing about 8k lbs. Tires are stock 265 wide and I think the smaller contact patch with all the weight helps, along with flexy leaf springs on all four corners. I have drug a loaded (probably 6k tandem axle) trailer through 8+ inches of mud with this thing, a foot of snow will be no problem.
The logical answer is “some type of purpose-built tracked vehicle” but an Icelandic 80 Series snow truck would make me really happy.
If I really wanted a thrill, I’d try a snowplane like the ones they developed in Idaho and the Canadian prairie decades ago. The smaller ones are pretty much just a cockpit, skis and an aircraft engine.
Literally anything with snow tires. Tires matter WAY more than the vehicle.
True, but the vehicle still matters. My Impala will cruise on snow-packed roads no problem, but will get stuck immediately in a drift because it has an approach angle of like 10 degrees. And for some forsaken reason, the people from DETROIT, MICHIGAN didn’t give it any tow points, so have fun digging it out!
2005 Artic Cat Black Magic SnoPro 440!
It’s an old school cross country racer and more fun on trails than any newer snowmobile I’ve had the chance try.
My old Land Rover Disco 1. Went through a number of nasty New England winters with it. It just bullied its way through snow. If it got deep, you could just keep on it and it would churn its way through, shooting huge plumes of snow out of the wheel wells. It did tend to terrify other drivers doing that…
If I came home from work after the plow had piled a big, bumper-high or taller pile of slush and snow at the end of the driveway, it didn’t matter. “Ramming speed” made short work of it.
My wife was driving it, merging onto a highway right after a big snowfall. Plows had piled up big banks of snow and ice. Some distracted idiot changed lanes right into her as she merged, forcing her to swerve to the shoulder straight into the hard-packed snowbank at 60MPH… The Disco just kept going straight and true, carving the bank into an impressive shower of snow and ice chunks that went up and over the Disco and sent traffic behind scattering… Including a state cop car that kept going, apparently after the idiot that started the whole mess. Didn’t even scratch the Disco.
Subaru OBW with Blizzaks, until you need a triple-locked 80-series Land Cruiser on K02s, until you need a dogsled.
I live in the mountains and canyons above Denver. “Snowmageddons” happen regularly for us. The real issue is when we get snow and the people down in the flats don’t. Somewhere between here and there lie dragons… Black ice, always in the middle of a sharp curve with either a stone cliff face or icy mountain stream awaiting you and your vehicle.
From EXTENSIVE experience, the best snowmageddon vehicle, bar none and without peer, is preparedness and a nice comfy recliner. Because no matter how much ground clearance you have, how lockable your axles are, how many studs and how much tread on your tires, you can’t stop stupid.
Some jackass in a lifted Ford with mud tires WILL dramatically overestimate their abilities, and plow right through you. There’s no if to it. Once during a storm, I had a full on snow plow do a 360 through an intersection right in front of me to where I had to steer around it over the shoulder to avoid disaster. On my way to the hospital. With my wife in labor with our first child. You can NOT stop the stupidity of other people.
If you MUST venture out, stopping is what you need to worry about. If you can’t stop, don’t bother going. That’s in the tires 1000000000000%. Studs if they’re legal. Chains if they’re not. At LEAST actual snow tires with actual tread. Nothing else matters nearly as much. I swear by my Nokians.
It’s 2026. We have weather forecasts (for now…). Pay attention. Be prepared. Stay home.
Maine resident here. We call them Winter beaters with heaters. You take a cheap AWD/4WD vehicle of choice, add studded snow tires and a tow strap and some jumper cables and SEND IT. Make sure you’ve got a washer reservoir that holds fluids because salt spray on the roads sucks. A decent ice scraper with a brass edge for frost is helpful, and a snow rake (foam preferred).
We just wrapped up my son’s $400 Subaru for Beater status. It’s a 1995 Legacy wagon. Manual, with the handbrake button removed so it’s a skid stick/happy handle now. Heat works, it now drives and stops. It leaks a little oil from the patch we slapped on the rusted oil pan (aluminum foil and JB weld). I’ll beef that up and fabricate a skid plate to protect it. It will be fun this weekend with the forecast calling for lots of fluffy snow. It’s fun to work on a car that costs about 1/2 of the average American car payment. No worries about bashing through snow banks or sending it into the ditch. It’s a $400 car. Maybe $750 with all the parts and registration included.
Gov fees must be much better up there. Nobody would bother with a $400 car here in MD when a title is $200, one year of registration is another $200, and one year of basic liability insurance is $500.
Gov fees still suck, but there is no title required for a 1995 since it is an “antique”. Yeah, I once paid $247 to register a vehicle I purchased for $200. But the value of having a vehicle you can drive without worry of corrosion, depreciation or even dents is priceless.
I have lived in South Dakota my whole life and have never seen an ice scraper that wasn’t plastic. Is brass really worth it?
I had to order them and get them shipped to me. Yes, they do work better if the edge is kept even (not dented). Imagine a clean gliding sweep with no frost left behind. It’s not necessary to scrub back and forth to get the remnants of frost. You just push in one direction and it gets scraped off.
Colorado people say yes! A brass edge is key, but don’t scrape anything painted
Bought an Acura TL last year with 6-speed and SH-AWD and set it up with 4 Blizzaks for the winter. It’s unstoppable. The torque vectoring rear diff will pull the car around with or without the front wheels gripping.
Niiice.
I cleared snow from my hood that was past the cab during a Colorado snow storm. Then it was off to home, thirty miles down Colorado River Road (dirt). The snow was around two foot deep and still coming. With nothing special A/Ts and no chains, I made it with no problem, but a bit slow. What beast was I driving? A 1976 3/4 ton PowerWagon. Camper Special. 400 big block, Full time four wheel drive, four speed and 4:10 Dana 60 rear Dana 44 front.( Tiny for a PW rated at 8500 gvw) Basic stock truck, but it had a 12 foot Cab over camper on the back…two foot overhang past the gate. So with tools and a Honda 110 Trail, the rig probably weighed 9000 lbs. I had to run her in low lock, because the week before I blew the motor. Lol it ran, took a battery or two to start it and had to clean the plugs… Everytime, if it fired, but failed to start. Probably wasn’t even making a 100 hp that night. That being said I would probably go with a 1970 Power Wagon with the same set up, a utility bed or Holmes 300 tow bed for weight. And of course, first and foremost a set of four tire chains. A set of chains will take a Ford Escort thru most winter driving that new Jeeps in A/Ts would rather sit out. Yes that was a hairy ride. Not many places to go except into the mountain or down the side into the river. Two months later I was driving another 76…quite different vehicle, a VW Westfalia pop up camper. Bald summer treads with a Pinto 2.3 that never made 90 hp when new. Definitely not fun on ice, but hey…it was sloooow.
The car I already own. 95 Audi S6 Avant. Here is one passing everyone.. in a ditch. With about 2-3′ of snow.
https://youtu.be/S0ul5GUFeoo?si=w7Zk0trpjY2bNGrF
The car is ridiculous in the snow.
My old B6 S4. Capable in snow, manual, roaring V8, super comfy, and i wouldn’t have been THAT sad if i had wrecked it (but my mechanic probably would have cried)
From my years in Maine, you want something older and simpler. Like an 80’s K30 with manual shift transfer case, manual hubs, tall skinny studded snows and a v plow.
I was in Iceland and met a guy with a Diesel Jeepster (71-73) riding on 475/75R17 Nokians. It was SO COOL! I would love to snow wheel that.
A few years ago I had to drive my wife to her ER job in my JKU. We hit so much snow getting on a highway from our side street that snow went over the hood. I live where 1.5 ft snow would make for 1 inconvenient rush hour. I would need better lockers and a bit more lift for true snow-wheeling.
lancer evo with a slight suspension lift and blizzaks