Pulaski

This. Be prepared to stay home.

We have very little snow where I live, but I know enough about driving in snow to get out and drive safely - I drive a front wheel drive car. A few years ago I was driving along an unploughed snowy back road towards the interstate. The snow was rutted, but soft, and I caught up with a white knuckle driver, driving a Discovery, which is a very capable vehicle. She was barely driving at walking pace, when 15-20 mph was reasonable. ..... So I pulled out, across the ruts, and passed her (which is why I know she looked scared $4!tless). So in short, having "the best vehicle" is no reason to go out in bad conditions if you don't know how to drive in those conditions.

IMO If you can afford it, you might consider having a "winter vehicle" for when you need to get out in bad conditions i.e. a used Jeep (Wrangler or Grand Cherokee), one that you wouldn't worry too much about hitting something with or running into a ditch.

JHolden47

From personal experience I would avoid a Discovery at all costs. They are very unreliable, parts in the US will be expensive. Also diesel won't be too easy to come by, not all stations stock it.

For the record I like Landrover and there is nothing better off road however, there poor reliability is a deal breaker. A Toyota Landcruser is the best 4x4 if you want off road performance and reliability.

Pulaski

This has been discussed several times recently, including here (#4, et seq), and diesel is much more widely available than many people realize. Most stations now sell it, you may just not have noticed it.

Cardienscarf

If I remember rightly, you're moving to Fort Collins? If that is so, there will be very few days when you won't be able to drive. Sometimes I-25 is closed but not very often and not for very long. It might snow a lot but it's very dry and the sun shines a lot too so the roads clear up pretty quickly. I drove extensively for work through all of Colorado, South Dakota, Eastern Wyoming, Western Kansas and Western Nebraska. I found myself in some fairly unpleasant situations when the weather called for 'flurries' but turned into a white out. I drove a RAV4 V6 and she never let me down. I had two sets of tyres and I put the winter ones on mid-October and changed to the summer tyres late April. That's something to prepare for because the tyre places get really busy.

Poppy girl

After having a RR I would never even consider another SUV they just do not even come close in drive class and craftsmanship, just my 5c worth and most of the Tahoe locals
Sure there are nice looking SUV's out there like the Cadillac but in all honesty they are to pimped out looking for me.....once a country girl always a country girl and LR goes with the territory

Scouse Express

Ford F150 Crew-Cab (4 Doors) with a Topper on it. Very capable in the snow, and room to put your stuff in if you need to.


Jim.

Pulaski

4x4, I presume?

scrubbedexpat099

Not sure if they sell non 4x4's here.

Fort Collins, then no problem.

You may wish to consider a DUKW if I 25 gets closed due to flooding.

Scouse Express

But, of course.

Best operated in conjunction with a Brain.

Pulaski

Unfortunately that is not a standard fitting, and all too often seems mutually exclusive with the 4x4 option.

Scouse Express

Friday Night, I had to drive to Chicago in an ice storm, in the Coach. It was something seeing all those 4x4s passing me and ending up in ditches they couldn't get out of.

At one point, I had to wait to wait 30 mins for two Salt-Shakers to come and treat the road ahead of me, due to the Hilly Terrain.

Was hoping to beat the Storm, but, it showed up earlier than predicted.

yukichon

Think that in all honesty it seems that extreme conditions will be few and far between so am getting drawn to a great deal on the Merc GL470

King Gimp

I have both the Grand Cherokee Jeep and the Subaru Outback (both 2010)

The Subaru walks all over the Jeep when it gets snowy - even with nearly worn out tyres it out performs the Jeep in the slippy stuff. The Subaru feels really tiny compared to the Jeep though, even though they are fairly closely matched size wise.

As Mr Pulaski said - try and get a winter vehicle - one that you wont worry about getting wrecked when some dummy in a huge Tahoe or Hummer smashes into you in the snow.

Traction is good but you have to be able to stop also and I dont think there are any special systems out there apart from ABS which will make you stop any faster on snow and ice. Maybe an ejector seat could be useful here

Pulaski

When ABS first became common I read that ABS actually increased the stopping distance on ice and snow. I don't know if the system has subsequently been enhanced to change that.

sir_eccles

Considering how ABS generally works, it's unlikely to shorten the stopping distance in any circumstances.

Driving in the snow in Kansas City in my 2013 Outback felt pretty good but I certainly felt the ABS kick in when I was clumsy with the brakes.