Living on a similar sounding hill (which never gets gritted/cleared) front wheel drive and skinny tyres wins. Alfa 164 (front wheel drive V6 big tyres sat at bottom of hill making vroomy sounds but getting nowhere. Taking a good run at the hill got it up but it was quite exiting. Jaguar XJ8 Supercharged big tyres rear wheel drive - forget it until snow melts.
Old Honda Civic front wheel drive smaller tyres drove up hill without a problem.
The Panda was actually originally designed as a 4x4. They removed the RWD for UK sales initially (but kept the wine-carrier rear seat).
For a 1L (or thereabouts) engine, the 4WD performance was outstanding.
This is the 1980-1991 version. I have no idea about what's current.
Think it depends on the type of snow. How close it is to melting.
In the Artic, a wide wheel with a special tread may well be best.
Best car I ever drove in heavy snow was a pre-war Austin 7. Large wheels with skinny tyres, good ground clearance, and not enough power to spin them easily.
A front drive trying to go uphill is not ideal due to weight transfer. Turn it round and back up the hill will likely work better.
Why would a mediterranean country design a small 4x4 for domestic use then modify it to FWD for sales to a colder country? Seems rather odd to me.
Its a pity neither have a lockable diff, as from friends experience this gets cars out of more trouble than anything else. Brian
Rough ground and farmers.
Best 2WD car I ever drove in the snow was a Renault 4 on skinny tyres. Definitely seemed to "carve" its way more accurately on deep or packed snow.
Tim
Because at the time there was a debate as to whether FIAT should sell to the UK at all, or follow the lead of Lancia, and pull out ...
The only thing less likely to sell than a basic Panda would have been a
4x4.Ironically, towards the end, the 4x4 Sisley was the top spec Panda ....
If it is steep neither. I have noticed that in for example ski resorts the roads are never that steep, and that winter tyres fitted to hire cars have been all that I need. Last year I failed to make a right turn on a local road because my car would not slow down. This year I have decided to use winter tyres, on a separate set of rims. I plan to keep the car for more than 10 years - if I last that long.
little thin ones. And AWD or 4WD
SIPES (small slits
They have Alps and ski resorts in taly, you know.
Best ever snow car was LR MK III with military style 'tractor tyres'.
Better than the defender, and better than the freelander that succeeded it.
What he says. All other things being equal, the narrow ones. Also I would strongly recommend a set of AutoSocks. I was forced to drive in the recent snow and ice because of livestock committments, got slightly stuck twice (on inclines) before I had a pair, on the third day with similar conditions these made it a doddle.
My dad had an Austin 8 and drove from London to Cornwall in the "big freeze" of 1963 without getting seriously stuck. :-) But as I think I've written before, my favourite snow car was my Mk2 Escort.
Yes I imagine a 2WD with a lockable diff is a lot better than a 4WD where none of the three diffs are lockable so one loose wheel is enough to remove traction from the other three.
Whenever I've got stuck, it's always been the wheel closer to the kerb/verge that's spun. In one case, the other wheel was on firm dry tarmac - but no use to man nor beast since the other wheel couldn't get a grip. Carpet mats worked wonders. Turning the steering wheels towards the tarmac seems to help with mud because if the tyre does dig itself deeper (even with very slow controlled turning) it is more likely to find tarmac buried beneath the mud.
Of course the best thing is not to get buried in the first place. If I have to move off a single track road onto the verge to let an oncoming ca pass, I try to keep moving and not to come to a complete halt.
In message , charles writes
And the 4x4 Panda was built in Austria.
I think I've posted this before. We had 2 of them, Mk1's. Excellent in snow, sand and mud, with the narrow tyres and the 'creep mode', brilliant visibility with the back open and really cheap insurance.
Pretty unreliable and extremely hairy when having to be push started on a tidal causeway with the tide coming in, but that made them great, challenging cars for the children to learn in.
Usually kitted with wide treads compared to SUVs straight out the showroom with road tyres.
In article , Tim+ writes
Nothing beat a DAF - IME
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