King Gimp

We had plenty of snow and I have a nice long sloping drive to 'test' the abs

It doesn't seem to do anything apart from make a loud noise and vibrate the brake pedal - you can still feel the car sliding - same in both my abs equipped cars. I guess the ability to retain some steering was the big sell when it first came out..

scrubbedexpat099

I do not know anybody with a winter vehicle. I do know people who have summer vehicles including motorbikes. Colorado is not soemwhere you could commute year around on a bike.

If you use summer tires, like I do on my Miata, then a set of winter tires is a good idea. Preferably on separate rims. Most people, especially on the Front Range just have all season tires.

That is partly due to operational temperatures as well as having no grip when icy.

Tarkak9

abs was introduced to prevent a driver from locking up the brakes therefore still be able to come to a controlled stop (obviously depending on road/surface conditions) whilst maintaining the ability to steer to avoid a hazard. Prior to abs one would merely pump your brakes; which is what the abs system merely does very quickly; but in a panic and reactionary stance you a more likely to seize up and kept the brake pedal pressed - hence why people would lock brakes ...

Having 4x4 doesn't make a person stop any better nor quicker than a 2wd ... bottom line, if you're sliding, you're sliding despite what vehicle you're in - especially on ice.

Traction control is a supplemental system to ABS to help prevent wheel spin; esp in cornering where the wheels are revolving at different rates. It doesn't guarantee traction, it assists with it.

kins

I had a Subaru which was OK in snow but not particularly better than my 2WD Odyssey with studded snow tyres.

Our other car is a Nissan hybrid - didn't really think too hard when we bought it and forgot that the weight is in the back whereas the 2WD is in the front. It still gets there in snow since we put good tyres on it, but I prefer the Odyssey if the weather's looking a bit iffy (ie if we've had 6" or more of snow).

studentgwant

I like my f250 crew cab in the snow, its big, heavy, and can manually lock the hubs if the snow looks deep, and get good tyres. Added bonus of it being 11 years old, and if someone else hits it I dont notice

Bob

It costs a bucket load more per gallon though, that the premium cost of getting a diesel motor in the first place just doesn't make sense unless someone else is paying for petrol on top of the motor.

Down my way, busy little suburb area, diesel is still pretty hard to find, limited to a couple of stations that aren't open late or easy to get into/out of and up where the in-laws live in Maine, limited to the summer only for a lot of the places in the sticks.

I wouldn't jump into buying a diesel without knowing what the local conditions for getting it actually are.

Anyway, end of day, as mentioned, it's not the motor, but the tyres and the way you drive that make the biggest difference. Plenty of crashed SUV's all over the place around here when it snows/ices up as people don't realise that 4x4 doesn't change how well they stop or turn.

scrubbedexpat099

In Co it seems most places have it, just confuse you they use green to denote it on the pump handles that still occasionally causes me to think twice.

Lot of Diesel trucks, F250's etc.