How's your car in the winter?

LeVeL

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Go away Aussies and Californians! This thread isn't for you! :shakefist:


Acura:

Starting:
No problem - turn the key and it fires up.

Warming up:
About 3-5 minutes for the needle to move from the bottom, depending on just how cold it is outside. Once it budges, it goes to the middle pretty quickly.

Heater:
Mediocre. Seven speed settings but it takes a while to warm up the interior thoroughly. The biggest downside is that the footwell vents aren't aimed very well so toes remain cold for a long time.

Features:
Two-stage heated seats. Both the bottom cushion and seat back are heated, which is very comfortable. The "high" setting gets really hot. The downside is that it takes a good 10 minutes before you feel any heat at all.

Performance:
Snow tires + manual + LSD = no significant issues. Downsides are FWD and weight so the car isn't downright impressive in the snow but it does well enough to make it easy for me to go up the steep driveway at work in the snow.





Miata:

Starting:
What's that? There's a battery drain I need to diagnose because if it sits overnight in below-freezing temperatures, it doesn't start in the morning. Not really an issue while it's in storage though.

Warming up:
Warms up quickly, about the same as the TL.

Heater:
Melts your shoes within two minutes. Seriously, it gets hot inside very, very quickly.

Features:
:|

Performance:
Very impressive on narrow snow tires with an LSD. As long as it's not bottoming out in really deep snow, it's basically unstoppable and a ton of fun.





Jeep:

Starting:
Never an issue.

Warming up:
Warms up as quickly as the others, maybe a minute longer.

Heater:
Excellent and warms up the large cabin quickly.

Features:
Heated seats don't get as hot as in the Acura but they warm up much, much quicker, which is great. Remote starter is nice to have too.

Performance:
The Jeep just has all-seasons (albeit good ones) and does well in the snow. ABS kicks in more frequently than in the Acura but not enough to be a concern. Driving around on hilly streets isn't a problem.
 
Xterra:

Starting:
No problem - turn the key and it fires up.

Warming up:
About 3-5 minutes for the needle to move from the bottom, depending on just how cold it is outside. Once it budges, it goes to the middle pretty quickly.

Heater:
Pretty good, takes very little time to warm up a rather sizeable cabin

Features:
Seats are things you sit on...

Performance:
Proper 4WD + manual + locking diff = what snow? even on all seasons. Of course braking requires a bit of forethought though ABS rarely gets tripped.





Mustang:

Starting:
Fires right up

Warming up:
Warms up quickly, faster than the X due to bigger higher compression engine.

Heater:
Super hot, super fast, small cabin helps with that.

Features:
I can change the colors of my gauges :D

Performance:
Summer tires + RWD + Muscle car = parked till it gets above 46 ;)
 
Jeep

Starting:
Fires right up

Warming up:
Needle stars to move up in less than 5 minutes. Gets up to temp slowly, but without problems.

Heater:
8-10 minutes until full heat. 10 minutes at full heat and you're sweating

Features:
Bears on the headliner. 3.5mm aux input baby.

Performance:
Big mud tires aren't as good in the snow as you'd expect, but the ones I have (Goodyear Wrangler MT/Rs) are the best snow rated mud tire and are pretty decent. When it does start to slip, drop it in 4H and go anywhere.

Miata

Starting:
Sure, after being connected to the Jeep's battery for 5-10 minutes.

Warming up:
Faster than you'd expect.

Heater:
Gets there eventually.

Features:
Ripped rear window that lets snow in.

Performance:
No.

Mustang

Starting:
No problems. Sounds good too.

Warming up:
A couple of minutes, I don't usually pay attention

Heater:
Don't know. I don't sit in the car while its warming up when I start it periodically as I'm doing other stuff in the garage.

Features:
Bright green paint. Side pipes. Huge 'fuck you' fog lights.

Performance:
Rolls in and out of the garage like a pro.
 
Starting:
Fires right up, like any fuel injected car should, regardless of temperature or fuel type. Someone from Siberia might not agree but -30?C or so shouldn't pose a problem for any maintained car IMO.

Warming up:
Yeah, about that :lol: without pre-heating, it takes forever.

Heater:
Like I said, the engine takes forever to get up to working temp on its own which means there's very little left over to heat the cabin. When the engine is at proper working temp I give the heater a 7 out of 10. I don't freeze, but the Volvos all required less effort from the heater fan to keep the windows clear, etc.

Features:
A remote-started 5 kW fuel-powered heater pre-heats the engine and makes the cabin nice and toasty in 30 minutes without having to plug anything in. An expensive investment that's so worth it when winter comes around. It also has seat heaters (like all cars do around these parts) and heated mirrors. I don't miss anything.

Performance:
Well, it's partial wheel driven and has a tiny engine block made from aluminium so off the line traction isn't the best. I'll try to address that with my next car purchase. It simply doesn't make sense to not have AWD when you have snow on the ground several months every year. I don't get why people seem to prefer manual transmissions for winter driving though... automatics work very well in every possible driving condition IMO. I've had four over the last ten years :dunno:

That said, they've all been FWD. An accidental downshift (and subsequent wheelspin) in an RWD car without electronic aids might put you in the ditch but that isn't a problem with FWD or AWD.
 
Audi A3 with filthy dirty Diesel engine:

So far it always started and the seats get warm* within a couple of minutes. Cold leather on the steering wheel feels odd for a minute or so. That's about it. Everybody else is driving way too slow when there is only a hint of snow anyways, so no issues there.

*6 stages btw, from comfy to more comfy. Unlike the hired car we had in Sweden (some hybrid, I forgot from what manufacturer), which only had three settings: "off", "oscillating between warm and cold", "oscillating between HOT and REALLY REALLY HOT".
 
Go away Aussies and Californians! This thread isn't for you! :shakefist:

:dance:

Palio:

Starting:
Injects ethanol automatically, so as long as I keep the secondary fuel tank full, no issues here.

Warming up:
Warms up almost as quickly as during the other seasons.

Heater:
Works. Takes a while.

Features:
:|

Performance
:
Squealy when it rains, as in ?all the time.
 
How's your car in the winter?

Patriot:

Starting: has remote start, takes about 5 minutes for the needle to move. Never struggles.

Heating: 3 minutes for the air the become slightly warm. Actually does a pretty decent job warming the car as long as it's not below 0?F.

Features: seat heaters, it goes from barely noticeable to burn the hairs off your cheeks. Rear defroster is connect to heated mirrors. Has 60/40 front bias AWD, can be locked to 50/50.

Performance: it plows forward if you try and turn, accelerating doesn't help. That's how I ended up in someone's front lawn. If you're in a curve and accelerate, it will pull inward. If you catch a dry patch while sliding, you will fold the wheel. No upper control arm, just a bolt that connects the hub assembly and whatnot to the side of the strut.

Colony Park:

Starting: also has remote start though, I'm not using right now because lately, it's been holding the starter in far too long. Has no temperature gauge.

Heating: heats the front drivers area up nicely after 10 minutes. No idea about the rest.

Features: it has a heater.

Performance: better than the patriot and great for plowing through snow banks due to the high ground clearance.

No abs so, that's fun. :)

I only drove it once in the snow.

Mustang

Starting: as long as it's on the tender, it's reliable. Needle starts moving after about 10 minutes.

Heating: it's like a Finnish sauna sans water bucket and ladle.

Features: it heats a tent very nicely.

Performance: never driven in snow.
 
Last edited:
E 220 CDI T:

Starting:
No problem.

Warming up:
Without preheating takes about 10 km to warm up. Grill blocked, without the block about double the warm up time. With use of Ebersp?cher naturally already at operating temperature before start-up, and with electric block heater at ~40?C and few km to get to the normal 90?C.

Heater:
Works fine after the engine has some heat to distribute

Features:
Heated seats that have decent warming areas both for ass and back.
Remote controlled Ebersp?cher
Electric block heater + interior preheater

Performance:
No issues with proper tires. ESP works better than many other from the same era. No need to disable it to just get going, like some ESP systems require. Just floor it and system takes care of the rest, no matter how slippery. Also proper ESP Off button is a nice thing to have in a RWD. Not like in W204 when you could turn it off, but it would still kick in when you go sideways enough.


Odyssey:

Starting:
No problem.

Warming up:
Even without preheating just a couple of kilometers from ice cold to hot. Big (by European standards) petrol engine rules in the winter.

Heater:
Works fine, even though it fogs up windows a bit at wet moist weather with 6 people inside.

Features:
Heated seats that only heat your ass. Owner's manual says the backrest cannot be heated because of the side bags. Which is a lousy explanation. Leather are cooooold without preheating, so effective heaters would be welcome.
Electric block heater + interior preheater which makes heated seats unnecessary

Performance:
Not the most sofisticated traction control systems. First it allows too much wheelsping to lose all grip, and then suddenly restricts wheels too much. Pretty easy to get stuck if driver is not careful.


220 D:

Starting:
Needs full battery to get started at cold (below -20?C) weather. Super slow glow plugs take a lot of juice.

Warming up:
Don't know yet :rolleyes:

Heater:
Fan does not work

Features:
Electric block heater with battery charger and interior heater

Performance:
60 hp is more than enough to slide around silly due to the 14-year-old studded cheap Semperit tires it has.
 
Odyssey:


Heater:
Works fine, even though it fogs up windows a bit at wet moist weather with 6 people inside.

This could be an indication that the A/C is shot. You're not de-humidifying at the moment.

Or you have the blower on low and the temp selector all the way to hot. I've been finding that turning the temperature selector to somewhere midway while keeping the blower at a higher speed can help that.
 
Had some fun in the snow yesterday, 4LO + Locking diff = parked in a snow bank that my neighbor had to dig himself out for an hour, drove out no prob either ;)
 
The Polo starts in the cold without block heater, but it's not great. Even if when I pull the choke all the way, the first moments I have to adjust the idle with throttle so it doesn't die. Then it sort of picks up and after a while it doesn't want to stall anymore. It also takes a little while to produce heat; the 405 produces hot air instantly but the Polo isn't really that warm. And the vents in the ends of the dash mostly blow fresh air, meaning cold air. The only center vents are under the dash.

Luckily it's very sharp to drive on icy surfaces, the brakes feel positive and you can see out if it nicely well, so it's not problematic. Just carbed car things with 1970s design solutions.
 
Subaru usually sits inside overnight, but when it stays in the cold for long period, it feels like it struggle to start a little bit, but in the end it always does (even after sitting for one week during the cold spell last week). I did change the battery a few months ago.

Once started, it usually gets to operating temperature pretty fast, less than 5 minutes.

It is of course super fun to drive in the snow, once you figure out it's behavior (carry too much speed or get on the gaz too soon and it will under-steer, time it correctly, and it becomes a 4 wheel drift fun wagon).

The winter tires are on their last leg, so I have to keep quite a good safety margins.
 
Taurus:

Starting:
No problem - push the button and it fires up.

Warming up:
I dunno, I'd imagine few minutes. Remote-Start all the way.

Heater:
No issues. Once it gets going (10 mins I'd say) it heats the cabin, and keeps it toasty all day long.

Features:
Three-stage blow-style heated seats (bottom only). They take their sweet time to warm up. Lowest setting is comfy enough, highest will burn off you hemorrhoids in 5 mins.

Performance:
255-wide A/S + slushomatic + ETC = you better watch out. Sadly I've no place to store proper winter set so on all-seasons I must go. It's not as bad as I thought it would be but the front loves to slide like mad in the snow.
 
the 405 produces hot air instantly

I wonder how they do that. My friends Xantia TCT was the same.

- - - Updated - - -

Sadly I've no place to store proper winter set so on all-seasons I must go.

I don't understand this. Surely everyone has to have a shed, a storage closet or whatever to put a stack of tires in?

Here, every tire shop offers storage for like 40-50eur/season including the change if you absolutely can't store them yourself or you can't be bothered.
 
How's your car in the winter?

As a coworker found out and because our boss is Canadian, he does not comprehend how most of the US gets along with all seasons and how nobody really gets winter tires, only the VW dealers seem to provide tire storage. Regular tire shops do not. I cannot confirm for other dealers.
 
As a coworker found out and because our boss is Canadian, he does not comprehend how most of the US gets along with all seasons and how nobody really gets winter tires, only the VW dealers seem to provide tire storage. Regular tire shops do not. I cannot confirm for other dealers.

Depends on where, my friends from MN indicated that winter tires are a thing there.
 
Subaru usually sits inside overnight, but when it stays in the cold for long period, it feels like it struggle to start a little bit, but in the end it always does (even after sitting for one week during the cold spell last week). I did change the battery a few months ago.

Once started, it usually gets to operating temperature pretty fast, less than 5 minutes.

It is of course super fun to drive in the snow, once you figure out it's behavior (carry too much speed or get on the gaz too soon and it will under-steer, time it correctly, and it becomes a 4 wheel drift fun wagon).

The winter tires are on their last leg, so I have to keep quite a good safety margins.


When was the last time the fuel filter was changed?
 
Sure but, do tire shops offer storage of summer wheel/ tire sets?
 
106 Rallye: winter hibernation

MX-5: winter hiberation / engine swap. Drove it briefly last winter to a body shop. Yokohama AD08Rs were... memorable on ice :lol:

924: winter hibernation now. Previous winters: warms up quickly, but heater is poor. Also cold start problems due to most of the K-Jet sensors missing. Fantastic handling on winter.

406 Coupe:

Starting:
No problem. Big battery helps, fires up normally even after 3 weeks hibernation in -28?C. I use 0W40 oil to have at least a bit of lubrication in those temperatures.

Warming up:
Not as quick as Peugeot Citro?n XU four cylinders like public's 405, but still quick. Reaches normal coolant temperature in a few minutes, oil might take 10 minutes if it's -20?C. Keeps oil temperatures even at highway despite of missing winter grill block.


Heater:
Plenty of warm air, but automatic control waits a bit too long before it starts.

Features:
Driver's seat heating broken. Leather is surprisingly high quality, so it's not as cold as it could be. It's still pretty cold for the first few minutes, so I usually use the electric preheater. That also helps to get inside the car: frameless windows should drop down when you open the door, but the lower seal usually freezes against the glass. Preheating prevents that. I wonder why only Subaru seems to know how to make frameless windows which doesn't drop and still stay quiet in highway?


Performance:
Great steering feel builds up confidence in slippery conditions, but as a FWD gran turismo it's not engaging drive. If needed, it has decent balance for an FWD V6 car, so you can lift off oversteer or balance it with left foot braking. It's powerful enough to offer relaxing drive, no more powerful than that. It's still plenty enough to overpower front wheels on icy roads, which shouldn't be surprise.
 
This could be an indication that the A/C is shot. You're not de-humidifying at the moment.

Or you have the blower on low and the temp selector all the way to hot. I've been finding that turning the temperature selector to somewhere midway while keeping the blower at a higher speed can help that.

AC has been serviced a year ago by the previous owner, but I have not been able to test it yet due to cold weather. Could also be a case of pollen filter in need of replacement, but haven't had time to check it yet.

Temp selector is never on "full hot" because it makes no sense in climate control. I know some do that thinking it would heat quicker, but it just does no difference compared to keeping it at 72F all the time. Pushing the demist button clears the windows quickly when the issue arises.
 
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