koji126

I'm interested in buying a 2010 Fit Sport to bring with me to grad school. I'll be going to the University of Utah at Salt Lake City and I've never lived anywhere where it snowed. How safe is it to drive in the snow? Should I get all-season or just winter tires to swap in during winter?

And does anyone have any advice for someone who will be living in a snowy area for the first time? Anything I should buy? All those commercials on cars not starting because of the cold and videos on youtube of cars basically sliding around during winter pretty much got me worried. Thanks.

vinn

Stock wheels should already be all-season.

Well...you should get chains and wait for a bit if you want to warm up your car up in the snow

E-AT_me

are you serious? the stock wheels and tires will do ok in light to moderate snow. anything heavier, and you'll need either winter tires or an excuse to stay home. the fit starts just fine in 0 degree weather..all cars will slide no matter what. you can't change physics. anything on ice will slide regardless. the fit does good because it is fwd an a lot of the weight is placed over the front wheels, aiding traction. my wife has not had a problem with her fit in snow this year, and neither have i. as long as you learn to drive using your head and not being stupid, any car can drive in the snow. heck, i've driven my lowered miata in 6 inches of snow without a problem.

it's less about the car, more about the driver..

office2222

I had no problems with my fit in the snow...even on the crappy stock tires.

Any winter tire will turn it into a tank just like every other car. It's all about the tire.

631 Teggy

My wife owns a Legacy, I own a Fit. Lets just say she got around a hell of a lot easier this winter than myself. Actually, I would drive her to work in her car just so I could use her car all day. Honda's are never going to be "good" in the snow. AWD if you are worried.

94EG8

Here in eastern Canada Hondas always had a reputation as being awesome in snow, and the older civics at least really are, they'll go anywhere. I haven't tried a fit so I really can't comment. A manual tranny will make a big difference though, I can tell you that.

der Mond

I have experienced two winters in Interior Alaska with no issues if I don't try to go up steep driveways in snow that's too deep for the car. I got a Tire Rack tire-wheel package with Pirelli Winter Carving studded tires. I did drive to Anchorage once with the OEM Dunlops in a snow and ice storm, 360 miles and made it. The biggest factor IMO is how proficient you are driving in slippery conditions with front wheel drive. If you can avoid sudden throttle changes it helps keep the tires adhered. If they do spin, acceleration tends to make the front end veer left lightly (if my fading memory serves me) and sudden deceleration spin makes it veer right. It would be good to practice playing in the snow in parking lots if you can do it without getting busted. If you really want to have fun, turn the wheel all the way to lock in the snow while stopped, then mash the throttle. It spins the car right around. They say that the best way to corner with Front Wheel Drive is to slow sufficiently before you enter the turn and then proceed around the turn with ever-so-slight acceleration. The slight power tends to aid steering, pulling the car in the direction you want to go. If you do get snow tires, I'd go with a tire-wheel package from Tire Rack or Discount Tire Direct. They use Hunter Road Force balance machines that result in ZERO vibration in the steering wheel right up to 100 mph.

matt0807

2 winters under my belt with no issues. Stock tires do OK in the winter, but not great. If you purchase some real snow tires you'd be surprised at how you get out pretty much anything.

2_Envy

I live in Alaska and i deal with snow just about half of the year. AWD gets you around hands down but it certainly doesnt help you stop one bit. One the main things is your driving. dont be dumb and you'll be fine. leave earlyer than you normally would to go to places. take your time and drive safely. Studded tries are a good investment for winter time. If your used to winter like i am you can get around with summer tires/all seasons just fine. driving a M/T in snow is a bit more tricky.

ive owned FWD hondas all my life and never have i gotten stuck in snow. I live in Alaska and we get good amounts of snow. if its obvious that your car might not make it through dont try for it. good luck

chawski

at the end of the day, you can drive anything in the snow with simple common sense. Ive driven awd, fwd, and rwd in the snow. they all act differently, but in my opinion, fwd is just about as good as awd as far as control goes (keep in mind im referring to driving at a safe speed, not snow rally haha). if you have a standard tranny you are going to be at an advantage. A lot of the time i will just avoid 1st gear all together if im starting flat.

the biggest thing to keep in mind is if the tires are spinning at a different speed than the car, you do not have control. you have to anticipate stops and feather your pedals. no sudden accelleration, no sudden stops. As long as you keep in mind that common sense will get you from pt A to pt B, chances are youre gonna be fine whether youre in a fit or a golf cart. Also remember that your mistakes will put a steak dinner on the body shops dinner table

redskull1944

mine spent 1.5 years there and it did better in the winter than my old AWD santa fe did, just be careful on I-15 people drive like idiots

sooteal

Very true--I had a Ford Escort years ago that handled well in the snow. Have had both 4WD and AWD, they handled a bit better, but not that much. The worst is a rear wheel drive car. I expect the Fit to handle as well as my Escort did.

aniva

Most reviewers say that it's not stable on hw in crosswinds, it's probably because of tall body shape. This will be a negative factor for winter driving, I would get really good tires such as Gislaved...

E-AT_me

when it's snowing out, i'm rarely doing 50mph.. anything below 45 and crosswinds aren't that big of a deal.

more than likely, if crosswinds are blowing hard enough to move the fit, you won't be able to see anyways because of blowing snow.

koji126

Thanks, I ended up buying a Fit Sport just last week. I'm still reading this thread from time to time to check for replies. I think I'll invest in another set of wheels for the winter just to be safe. I'll mainly be doing city driving though and shouldn't be going above 40mph for the most part.

redskull1944

the stock tires did great in utah for me, the abs on the fit is really helpful in the winter

baller status

I live in Salt Lake (originally from San Diego) and my wife works at the U of U. First of all, SLC is really good at getting all the major roads plowed quickly. Most of the time you will never be driving in raw snow. The exception is the smaller neighborhood streets. Depending on where you live, they might not even plow these at all. But even still, this isn't much of a problem and you can limp your car out to the nearest main road and get going. You'll have to shovel your driveway every time it snows, but it's not like that's every day.

Up around the U they get more snow then the lower parts of the valley, and depending on which route you're taking there are some roads that become a concern with snow. So learn some alternate routes and always leave early when there's snow on the ground. If you have a good head on your shoulders and a fear of snow in your heart, you'll be fine. But guess what? Someone will probably hit YOU so just be prepared for that.

BTW SLC doesn't get nearly as much snow as say Denver or other places to the north and east. It's fairly mild and it usually melts out of the roads in between snow storms.

A second set of wheels and snow tires are a great help. Michelin XIce2 are absolutely awesome. A lot of people have one set of wheels and they have the tires swapped once the snow comes down. This is probably a better option for you unless you're going to have tools and a garage to store and swap wheels. Tires are absolutely critical and more important than 4wd.

You will never need chains within the city. That's ridiculous. You will almost never encounter ice except maybe for very brief patches underneath the snow. What you will most often encounter is slush from the cars driving through the snow. Slush is really nasty.

boostlag

get some snow tires, should be good.

p nut

I'm also in SLC. First, yes, get some snow tires. You can use all-seasons like 99% of the people here, but I see plenty of slippin-n-slidin to use anything but snows in the winter time. Like baller said, they're quick to plow the roads, but I'd say I get caught "in between plows" like 10 times per year. And there are times that even if you're behind a plow truck, you still get the slush or still-frozen snow on the roads which the snow tires help a TON.

As far as tires go, personally, I've tried everything from Blizzak's to cheapo Hankook's. Honestly, I found those Hankook's worked just as well as Blizzak's or Nokian's. One year, I took those Hankook's up the canyon (skiing) in a snow storm in my old E30 BMW. There were some sketchy moments (BTW, I do not condone this and personally will never do that again), but I made it. I've got Hankook's for my GSR and they've been great over the winters.

BTW, if you like outdoor stuff (hiking, biking, skiing, etc.), you'll find Utah is one of the best places around.

CRX Si69

well i live in montana, and we get alot of snow in the winter. I suggest snow tires and maybe throw a couple sand bags in the back to help with traction on the ice.

p nut

Sand bags really don't help, especially on a FWD car. In my experience, anyway. RWD trucks with a super light rear ends may be a different story.

hollywood7

Snow tires help tremendously. I started putting them on a few years ago and now i do it every year. The only downside to snow tires are dry traction wear and usually a low speed rating (but your going to be speeding to much in the winter).

RJonathan

I had a 07 fit and I live in Salt Lake and I went to the U of U. and I was rocking low profile
its not as bad as everyone think, its like driving any other fwd car, dont drive crazy and watch where you're going and you'll be fine.

Racebrewer

Hi,

I'm in northern NY up on the Canadian border. I've driven over 40 years in snow and ice. The ice bothers me more than the snow,,,,,,, any day. Especially "black ice" which is usually a thin coating of ice on pavement which doesn't look like ice. More of a gloss black.

Some snows are better on ice and some are better on snow. Talk with the Tire Rack folks.

4 snows are a must. Front snows will make the fronts bite real well and the back won't.

As to driving, when you come to a stop, try and start slowing early. Don't wait until you are at the intersection, intersections are often the slipperiest parts.

Suddenly letting off on ther gas going around a corner can cause the rear to go light and break free. Always be prepared to steer into a skid.

Be especially careful on the first snowy days. Some folks get squirrelly and panic easy during the first snowfalls.

John

LoveCity

We put chains on our Fit last year in Oregon, but I don't think we really even needed them.