What vehicle and tires to buy that can survive the next blizzard like the one we had in Toronto yesterday?

UrbanPoet wrote: ↑ What vehicle and tires should you buy to survive the next blizzard like the one we had in Toronto yesterday?

Just stay home. Not many people actually have to leave the house.
It doesn't matter what you drive, you're going to get blocked by idiots who get stuck.

If the roads were clear, ideally you want an AWD with winter tires and the most ground clearance you can get.
Unimog would be ideal https://www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com/en ... -5000.html

STI with studded winters

My grand Cherokee with Blizzaks had no problem at all in even the deepest, unplowed areas. My issue ended up being all the stuck idiots with their all seasons blocking the roadways.

You need a manual trannny Subaru, preferably an STI. But that vehicle is horrible to be driven on dry pavement, clutch too heavy, piston ring land easily blown up...

I voted SUV + Snow tires but the answer is a bit more complex than that. You need two things - traction and ground clearance.

Snow tires are designed to cut through the snow and get down to the pavement to grip, so your tires will always be pretty much on the pavement at ground level. They don't float on the snow as a lot of people think they do.

What provides traction is the weight of the vehicle on the tires. When you start driving in deep snow, the risk is that the body of your vehicle starts to sit on the snow, taking the weight of the vehicle off the tires. Less weight on the tires = less traction = you get stuck.

So the trick in deep snow is to have a vehicle that has enough ground clearance that the bottom of it is not sitting on the snow. Obviously, all SUV's don't have the same amount of ground clearance. Something like a Jeep Wrangler or Toyota 4Runner is going to have a lot more ground clearance than a Nissan Pathfinder or Ford Explorer. So if you want something that will almost never get stuck in snow, get the highest ground clearance AWD SUV you can find, put snow tires on it, and you should be good (at least until the snow gets up to your bumper).

Or just stay home and wait for the snow plow, then drive your front wheel drive compact sedan around like normal.

Going to be contrarian here and say stay home if you are that scared driving in the snow, what most people do. Otherwise any car with 4 snow tires and a decent driver can 'survive' a regular snow storm in the city. Plows here have no trouble keeping the roads clear on a day like yesterday (got 20-30cm) so unless you are going out in the sticks, ground clearance not a problem.

Wife drove the Golf R to work yesterday with no problem apart from the people that can't drive when it snows. First cars off the road here during the first snow in winter are SUV drivers that think AWD works when you brake.

Ford Bronco with Sasquatch package
Jeep Wrangler with Xtreme Recon package

Both come with 35” all terrain tires that work well enough in moderately deep snow.

But, no matter how capable your vehicle, if there are hundreds of stuck vehicles blocking the road, you’re not going anywhere anyway.

Winter tires at a minimum but if the snow is higher than your belly pan, you're going to have a bad time.

UrbanPoet wrote: ↑ What vehicle and tires should you buy to survive the next blizzard like the one we had in Toronto yesterday?

There is no point if you are buying for a 1 in 15 years event.

As long as electricity and gas is flowing and your fridge has a few days for food, there's no reason to be out there in this weather unless you are in charge of providing those essential service to others.

But if insist:

cheapest beater you can find with a set of snows.

that way you just DGAF.

esoxhntr wrote: ↑ cheapest beater you can find with a set of snows.

that way you just DGAF.

Except you may still get hung up on snow route and you'll be towed and fined.

Come on guys, join us Albertans and get lifted trucks and roll coal.

Vehicle don't matter, just get a set of winter tires.

AWD w/ winters will give you more traction than a 2WD vehicle w/ winters, but no one is going to replace their 2WD for AWD vehicle just for winter. So, as above, buy a set of winter tires regardless of what you got. I've always owned 2WD and have never had a problem when I'm driving with winters. Heck, neighbours and I had to push a AWD SUV out of the snow yesterday. Vehicle had no traction because of the All-Seasons on it.

Xtrema wrote: ↑ Except you may still get hung up on snow route and you'll be towed and fined.

Come on guys, join us Albertans and get lifted trucks and roll coal.

ok my favourite beater was an 90 XJ Jeep. It was unstoppable. That was more what I had in mind.

Now I drive a truck.. diesel even. But no lifts and rolling coal.

In deep snow you need ground clearance. Period. We have a Wrangler and would have no issues driving around yesterday. But there were too many idiots that could have easily ruined our day. We just stayed home.

Even the best winter/snow tires on RFD's favourite Toyota Corolla would be no match against 40cm of snow.

esoxhntr wrote: ↑ ok my favourite beater was an 90 XJ Jeep. It was unstoppable. That was more what I had in mind.

Now I drive a truck.. diesel even. But no lifts and rolling coal.

XJ may clear the snow but you'll probably freeze to death inside.