I am about to move over to Okotoks in the new year. Everything is booked and am thinking about what car to buy. As you only get a few days 'snow' a year and the roads are cleared quickly (so I am told) do I really need a big 4 wheel drive truck. I would like to work with the environment, and get a smaller car or a hybrid.

I won't be doing too much driving, just around town and trips to calgary.

Unless you do a lot of 'off' road driving then no,

Pretty much anything will drive in winter (even smart cars).

No, any car with all season tires will be fine, if you are ultra cautious, then have winter tires fitted. Very few people in Calgary and the surrounding areas have 4-wheel drive simply because of the snow.

If you want to work with the environment, you are moving to the wrong country. Here it is virtually mandatory to leave your huge car running whilst waiting 15 mins to be served at the local drive-through, to use your vehicle to move from one end of the parking lot to the other, and to have your home heated to 25 degrees all day and night, even though you are out working for most of the day

I have a hybrid...Toyota privis and love it. Not had a winter in it yet, but wouldn't go back to the all gas cars now. When you stop at the traffic lights it seems to go 'off' it is so quite.

I was never one for having to leave the engine running whilst I was nipping into the shops, though I do know it is a canadian habit which is hard to break. The calgary police leave them for hours!

Typo alert.

That's a Toyota Prius.

When the engine is warm and the battery fully charged it doesn't seem to, it actually does shut the engine down when stopped at lights and such.

The only real advantage of 4-wheel drive is that gets you moving, it wont help you stop.

You don't need a big old 4-wheel drive truck though, normal size cars come with 4-wheel drive too.

I use a front wheel drive car and that is fine, my son has a small 4-wheel drive (normal size car, but 4-wheel drive) and he is delighted with it.

Two totally contradictory statements.

I'm with Almost Canadian on this one. If you want to live in a Single Family Home in somewhere like Okotoks, and drive around town and occasionally up to Calgary, then by all means, do it and enjoy it. Get the 4x4 or truck - because you know it is what you really want.

Don't try to offset the absolutely horrendous environmental impact of the average Albertan suburban/commuter town lifestyle simply by driving a hybrid and thinking it makes you green. It's a mere drop in the ocean.

But all those drops add up.

It's surprising how many hybrids you see on Calgary streets.

Hi maggieg,

Best wishes with the move across. Hope that goes well. As Okotoks residents, we're with the others re not NEEDING a 4WD although we do actually have one (not a truck, an SUV). The only thing that popped out at us from what you wrote is "as you only get a few days snow a year". We could check the stats but I would imagine there were about 40 days last winter when it snowed. Sure, it's not an everyday thing and sure, not all of these are major dumps of snow, far from it...but equally, compared to our former UK experience, it's a lot of snow and not all roads are cleared. Main roads, yes and there are a number of significant roads in Okotoks that get priority treatment but side roads in the communities do not get cleared. With careful driving, that proved way less of a problem than we imagined it would be, but just wanted to ensure you had accurate information.

Kind regards,

Eamonn & Janet.

If in doubt

Snow tires are much more use than 4x4 (and cheaper)

I am with the others - a huge SUV or truck or even 4WD is not mandatory. I had a PT Cruiser (manual) last winter and it was fine - no probs apart from when I pulled in on a side street where the residents had been shovelling snow into the road rather than on their garden - said residents helped push me back out though I would have no worries having another PT Cruiser.

We are back to huge SUV's though, one came up dead cheap, blah, blah, blah - any mechanics wife knows where I'm comming from Hubby was glad of his range rover a couple of weeks ago when some idiot decided to do a left turn into on comming traffic - range rover is a few inches shorter than it used to be - PT Cruiser would have been toast, as it was a huge lifted truck that hit him.:curse:

I have a front wheel drive car and when I bought a set of winter tires, it made a HUGE difference in my starting and stopping ability. After all, the tires are what connects the car to the road and the cost of a set of winter tires might be a life saver for you and others on the road.

I know in Quebec (I think its Quebec) they have made winter tires mandatory, and even around here if you don't buy the tires at the beginning of winter they often sell out pretty quickly and they don't get any more in until next winter.

Absolutely!!!!

Interesting side note, I have noticed much, much more advertising pushing winter tires this year than in any other years past.

We now have winter tyres on the AWD Element. They have improved the handling of that thing immeasurably, without them it was like a "Vespa on ice", it's now as safe as the Beetle is on all seasons.

Ha ha! You just reminded me of being 16 again, in Scotland in the winter!

I came off my Vespa on a stretch of sheet ice, and me and the scooter slid along the road for about 100 yards. When we stopped, I picked it up, and there wasn't a scratch on either of us.


Happy days!