Originally Posted by Brian.

I think the confusing part is that most of us with winter experience (I was boring and raised in Wyoming, have a couple hundred thousand miles worth of winter driving experiences in the Rockies, maybe another 20k in WA and 20k in MD) is that we don't have ABS come on, ever. I'd actually intentionally try to get it to come on every now and then just to make sure it was still working.

My general thoughts is that if ABS is coming on, you're not driving to the road conditions (or your tires). Speed is irrelevant. 5mph is too fast on glare ice, and I destroyed the front end of a Subaru in proving that (stupid -20f and snow berm, plastic exploded everywhere). That you're talking about how Often yours comes on just raises a ton of red flags to me.

But I haven't driven in PA in the winter. The closest I've done is ride a motorcycle around WV in the winter (accident, was nice in DC/VA, started snowing on me after I got into WV). I know that East coast snow is completely different than Rockies snow. And West cost snow is more similar to Rockies than the East coast. No clue on how PA cares for its roads... in the Rockies there are so few that it's not difficult to hit them all with sand in the spots that need it. With the multitude of paved-over goat tracks that make up most roads in the mid-Atlantic and NE states there may simply not be time or money.

Bottom line, without having a better comparison, it's silly to cast judgements about driving.


As for the Original point of this thread and that $10k "ultimate winter vehicle"... I just gotta LOL. Lights are irrelevant... it's perfectly possible to drive without lights in the middle of the night in the winter, safely. All that white and a full moon, it's brighter than some overcast days. Make it a heavy snow and more light is just reflecting back at you/making blinding conditions. It'd almost be better to have the lights on a rheostat to "dial in" the amount of light that's useful. Front winch mount/winch/bumper is laughable too... drive to the road conditions and you can navigate Anywhere paved in a car with 4" of ground clearance (been there, done that, put 300k miles on a VW Jetta in the Rockies, going skiing, snowshoeing, and generally being outdoorsy in the winter).

The 2 best things I've ever done for winter driving are Good tires and getting some professional winter driving coaching. Tires are easy, anyone can get good tires with next to no effort. The driving education is harder, but the main piece of information is knowing how much traction you have to spend, and only spending it on One thing at a time. Be that acceleration, turning or braking. Combine 2 of those things and you're bound to find the limits of your traction. That driver education happens to be cross-vehicle compatible (and a lot of it was familiar from my road-racing days if any of you have done that), so move from the 4runner to a FWD commuter car to a RWD sports car, you can still get around without being a hazard on the roads. Well worth the money and time spent.... I'm going to refresh when I get back into a state that has a winter to live full time.