Well we are getting dumped on here in the northwest. More than a foot of snow in the past few days. I am wondering how capable are our 6th gen civics in the snow/ice? I have an 07 LX coupe 5at. I plan on throwing on a set of dunlop wintersport m3 tires before I start driving it.

I am asking because I also have an 01 Impreza RS which of course is awd and has a set of new tires. I currently drive the impreza, but will have to sell it soon because I don't want to be paying for two cars insurance plus the civic payments. My commute is 70 miles a day 5-7 days a week with the majority of it on the freeway. I'm just worried about getting stuck somewhere because I've never driven in this severe of weather before with a fwd vehicle. I am wondering if it would be wise to keep the impreza until winter is over. I will keep the civic over the impreza because I still owe 11k on the civic and it would be way easier to sell the impreza for a good price.

Thanks

 

the current civic models are 8th gens. sorry i had to correct you.
to be 100% honest with you, the impreza is way better in the snow/ice than the civic.
i just drove my si through snow and ice last weekend, and it was slipping and sliding everywhere. my vsa light was on for majority of the time. but i have 225's on my car so its not very ideal for frozen conditions and i think the lx has like 205 or something so its better than the si for these conditions.

 

Yeah I knew that, doh!

Gee, now I'm having second thoughts. I love driving the Impreza and I don't mind the Civic due to it being able to go 100 more miles on a smaller gas tank and I did an hid retrofit on it, but I can't have both!

I guess I'm not asking the Civic to be just as good as the Impreza, but will it be more than adequate for severe snow/ice?

 

It all really comes down to whether or not you know how to handle the vehicle.

If you're ever parked in anything more than 8 or 9 inches, you will most likely get stuck.

 

Even in the impreza, I drive slow and keep in low gear/high rpm when I don't trust the road conditions I'm on top of. I try to go easy on the brakes too. I highly doubt I will face 8-9 inches of pure snow that no one's driven on yet.

 

Haha good thing you dont live in New England. Never had any issues with my Si in the snow with either the lame all seasons or snow tires.

 

The civic is in its 8th generation, but OP was not entirely wrong because the Si's (fg2/fa5) are the 6th generation of the Si series.

 

It's the OP with the win on a technicality

 

lol. sorry guys. I used to have a 6th gen, then an 8th gen. Typo!

 

my si is a ****en death trap. i was driving home today in the snow going about 25 and the car would randomly start fishtailing. this is with the stock all seasons. my integra that's lowered with kumhos on it drove 5x better in the snow than my si.

 

Stock AS are crap to begin with. My EM2 was also better in the snow than the Si.

 

seems a waste to get rid of tires that're still pretty new (i've heard of people getting 30-40k out of the stockers and i only have less than 6k) but i don't think i can wait that long. i'm going skiing tomorrow, gonna be driving 5 miles an hour up the mountain.

 

Oh, I wouldn't get rid of them, but rather get a set of blizzaks on steelies.

http://www.tirebully.com/bridgestone...FQwDGgodJVsgCw

 

i don't know if i want to get another set of wheels for snow tires, i'm thinking some good all-seasons on my stock wheels. i've had falken ziex (discontinued now i think) and kumho ecstas on my integra and both tires were really good in the snow. between buying the new tires, wheels, and tpms sensors it's going to get expensive really fast.

 

He never said he drives an Si.

 

That's true. But at the same time, they'll last that much longer.

 

He never said that he said that he drives an Si.

 

can't beleive you guys are still arguing over this, the op said he made a mistake. get over it. k5 is the guy who went off about it being the 6th gen of the si for some reason, when the op clearly has an lx.

 

driving in snow is not fun

 

to answer the op's question, the suby is 10x better in the snow. maybe even more. i have been driving a 2000 legacy sedan with both AS and blizzaks, and when i picked up my new civic this past weekend, i immediately put the blizzaks on it before it left the dealership. my initial thoughts? i thought i was going to die driving the civic home (even with the snow tires).

let me add i have taken numerous driving courses and feel very confident behind the wheel.

long story short, if you are at all worried about winter driving, stick with the suby. if you are driving ~70 miles daily and the weather's often crap, the extra in gas costs will be the last thing on your mind.

i may be taking a job in northern wi next fall where they get a lot of lake effect snow, and having experienced how the civic handles in the snow for this past week, i will not think twice about trading it off for a suby come next winter.

 

wrong lol
i have them in 225/ 45 17.
you also dont need to buy new tpms sensors

 

in the state of washington if you're getting tires is it required for all wheels to get snow tires?

 

op im in kent and its about 7-8 inches right now.. my si is somewhat drivable still in this type of weather on these crappy all seasons.. only on hills is my major issue.. the only thing i hatge about winter time is that this is the time of year for you to burn out your clutch since you're only feathering and doin stop and go traffic which is g@@@@@@@Y

 

(Civic Sedan)
I have 195/65R-15's, no VSC and no TPMS but I do have a manual trans...

The traction is not "impressive"...
(compared to a front-drive Grand Caravan on 215/70R-15 winter tires)
It feels the car is "floating" a lot over the deep stuff.
(small tendenancy to sliding sideways over uneven terrain; easily correctable)

However I never had any problems getting going in this deep, slick mess.

 

^Thanks. I guess I should have mentioned that I was asking those who are using dedicated studless winter tires on their civics and not all-seasons.