Hi all, I'm after a bit of advice. I will be looking to buy a car/SUV when we arrive in Regina. I Have been looking but am unsure what to settle on, especially knowing how the winters can be there. Would love to hear your suggestions and thoughts. Thanks in advance.x

This

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car is not important winter tyres are and so is front wheel drive or 4x4. driven 2 winters in saskatoon in a Front drive passat with winter tyres never been stuck.

suv is nice/preferable but not needed. most of the winter you dont need to worry about the snow as it is to cold to snow.

I'd say whatever car you feel comfortable driving, that you like the look of and what you can afford. Front wheel drive would be preferable over rear wheel, if Regina has more trucks than cars (like central Alberta) you may feel safer in something bigger as apposed to something smaller. 4x4 isn't a necessity but can be beneficial - look at the multitude of what car threads, you'll see the same answers year in year out, everyone has their own preferences, I prefer a smaller vehicle and drive a PT Cruiser, but have had F150's, Expeditions, Explorers, Jeeps etc too.

As suggested above, FWD or AWD with winter tires. The all-seasons that most cars come with are pretty useless when temperatures get down to -30/-40, and stop worse at higher temperatures than that.

With AWD, just remember that it gets you going more easily, but doesn't help you stop. That's why we see so many SUVs stuck in snow at the side of the road in the winter.

When it's stupid cold the tires freeze and the flat spot at the bottom goes ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump when you start driving - 'square wheels' we call it.

Crock of shite mate , you were here during the winter 12/13 when we had record snowfall . You telling me the temps were mild ? Err no .

Grr don't remind me.

It really doesnt matter as long as its got winter tires and heated seats.

The whole safety aspect of an SUV is largely marketing BS. An SUV wont stop or steer well in the snow because of its greater mass, AWD or 4x4 may get you going easier but can lull you into a false sense of security as far as traction is concerned, and there is no extra traction for stopping and steering, so the rubber you have in contact with the road is the critical factor when push comes to shove.

Heated seats? Really?

Not a lot of vehicles come with heated seats standard. A luxury at best and certainly not a necessity.

Lots come with heated seats and it really is a very nice thing to have, I would prefer to have an older vehicle if meant having heated seats. Apparently according to OH as I have yet to experience myself, heated steering wheels are a wonderful thing (most of the time he doesn't wear gloves).

When we were test-driving earlier this year, heated seats seemed to be standard on all but the base models of many new cars. The complaint now seems to be that they don't come with heated steering wheels.

Haven't had a chance to try the heated seats in the Forester, but given how slowly these new, more efficient engines warm up the car, I'm sure it will be nice to have. Not so sure about the heated wipers.

The Beetle, which coped admirably with winter, had variable temperature heated seats. Now we have Fords which have only one position for their heated seats; on/off, I view the coming season with trepidation.

The ones we have had seem to heat up really quick, but you do end up toggling as you can get a burny bum.