small suv good in snow

[wa-loaf]

I still can't believe the Golf All Track is going to be available with AWD and MT. Pretty awesome alternative to the MT Forester.

Only thing missing is a diesel version ...

 

[BenedictGomez]

If-your-inspection-is-due-in-the-summer-you-can-just-ignore-the-light-saying-low-pressure-in-the-winter,and-skip-the-moniters.Just-make-sure-summer-tires/rims-on-when-inspection.

Can I even buy wheels/tires without sensors anymore? The two tire places I tried online made it seem like I had to buy sensors with the mounted tire packages, I just assumed it's the law now that they cant sell them mounted without sensors. Not so?

I'm a Chevy guy too and didn't care for the Traverse at all.

Only had the Acadia a week, but loving it so far. Very similar to my beloved Envoy, just a bit bigger and fancier.

As for the tire sensors, why do you not like them? I've had them for almost 10 years now and can't imagine going back to not having them. I just need to always remind my mechanic to relearn the sensors after swapping between my summer and winter tires.

That's why.

You need your "mechanic" to swap tires for you? Seriously? It's ridiculous.

 

[cdskier]

You need your "mechanic" to swap tires for you? Seriously? It's ridiculous.

Need? No. I could do it myself...but why waste my time? What takes him a few minutes with an impact wrench while my truck is up on the lift would take me a lot longer jacking each wheel up individually and changing each tire by hand. I don't need to "prove" something to anyone by swapping my own tires.

 

[dlague]

Oh well, guess that rules that one out as well.

Good thing for now is that my 2009 S40 is still running well at 112K miles. Not in any hurry to take on a car payment. Did have some front wheel bearing and transmission leak issues a few months ago but those seem to be resolved.

If I were in the market, I think I would be looking at a CUV.

My wife drove her S40 with all season tires during the winter and never really had an issue but I had my truck to skiing. She finally gave it to our starving college kid with 211,000 miles on it and still going strong.

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[Scruffy]

This will be my first vehicle where I have to buy tires with those stupid *** tire sensors in them, but I'm going to do it because I'll be danged if I'm going to have to pay someone to change my tires each winter.

Don't get me started on those TPM sensors. It's another nanny state/grease the pockets of the tire mfgs. ruling.
Stupid Feds making them required is insane.

How many years did we have a simple valve, that worked just fine? Technology that stood the test of time. If a value went bad, it cost you a few bucks at garage or tire store to have replaced. It was so cheap to replace them, tire stores usually replaced them when you bought new tires for the price of mounting and balancing. People managed the air in their tire just fine when they had to. If a TPM sensor goes bad now, it can cost you anywhere from $100-$175 per tire, depending where you go to have it fixed and whether it's part of a tire purchase and install or just a TPM repair. That's just crazy.

 

[dlague]

Don't get me started on those TPM sensors. It's another nanny state/grease the pockets of the tire mfgs. ruling.
Stupid Feds making them required is insane.

How many years did we have a simple valve, that worked just fine? Technology that stood the test of time. If a value went bad, it cost you a few bucks at garage or tire store to have replaced. It was so cheap to replace them, tire stores usually replaced them when you bought new tires for the price of mounting and balancing. People managed the air in their tire just fine when they had to. If a TPM sensor goes bad now, it can cost you anywhere from $100-$175 per tire, depending where you go to have it fixed and whether it's part of a tire purchase and install or just a TPM repair. That's just crazy.

I agree whole heartedly. When I asked if they would take the out and put in normal valves they said they could not due regulations.

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[bigbog]

Think the best vehicles in snow I've owned were my Xterra in 4WD and my front-wheel drive vehicle(92', low-profile Honda Accord), both with good snowtires. Not much enlightenment to offer.
Think your choice really depends on what most of the conditions you'll want to be driving in/on.

 

[yeggous]

I agree whole heartedly. When I asked if they would take the out and put in normal valves they said they could not due regulations.

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Did you guys forget the whole Firestone tires / Ford Exploder ordeal? Many, many people died as a result. Your disregard for safety is concerning. Feel free to risk your own lives, but I'll be pissed when you kill my family after your under inflated tires explode and you lose control of your vehicle.


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[JDMRoma]

Can I even buy wheels/tires without sensors anymore? The two tire places I tried online made it seem like I had to buy sensors with the mounted tire packages, I just assumed it's the law now that they cant sell them mounted without sensors. Not so?



Only had the Acadia a week, but loving it so far. Very similar to my beloved Envoy, just a bit bigger and fancier.



That's why.

You need your "mechanic" to swap tires for you? Seriously? It's ridiculous.

Yes you can buy them without the TPSM
I honestly hate them and won't buy until they are required in the state inspection

I'll gladly look at the little warning light all winter.

Tire rack suggests you buy them ..... it's a money maker for sure.


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[MEtoVTSkier]

I buy them on Ebay for $68 for all four sensors for my pickup trucks. Work great. Take the original sensors out when I buy new summer tires, and put them in the winter rims, and put the new ones in the summer rims. I used to look at the light all winter, but it was driving me nuts. I'll take having them over not any day now, and I don't find it that difficult to take the 2 minutes to manually reset the location when I swop them over or rotate. Put it in learn mode, drop 5lbs out of each, in order, confirm, then re-air. Should be checking your air pressures a couple times a year at least anyhow. Especially this time of year when the pressures drop due to cooler temperatures.

When in stock, they'll accept offers of $68, or they did for me.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181749107291?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

[SkiFanE]

I haven't read replies - but I'm a Mazda CX-5 owner. Bought first year they were out. Absolutely love it. My hesitation with buying it was that it had shortest warranty of all. But the split seat arrangement won us over and overall driving. It has 90k miles now and has never been to shop but for oil change and brakes. First new car I've ever had never needing a warranty repair. My daughter got in accident over summer - boohoo - but $6k front end fix and I can't even tell driving it. Ours has small engine so it does drive like a dog. Going from a BMW to this almost killed me once trying to pop quickly into high speed lane - oops lol. But they now make a 6cyl which I would get. But it has manual override so can use that if want to be a quicker dog lol.

Only bad thing in snow is the front wheel wells tend to clog with snow. After a few hours of driving in snow and need to clear them out.

I once rented a RAV4 when our van was broken and couldn't wait to get back to Mazda - just didn't feel "one with the road" like I do with mazda.

Oh Bluetooth with iPhone is good but husband complains about his droid - we could probably get an upgrade ??? But it's a 2013 and I suspect it's better now. But compared to a recent Prius we rented it was much easier to operate I thought.

 

[SkiFanE]

Buy yourself a 4 door toyota tacoma, put a cap on the back, some decent tires, and about 3-400 lbs of sandbags in the back when it snows. And then never worry about getting anywhere, anytime, in any conditions ever again. Best ski trip vehicle ever.

I am on my 3rd Tacoma, each one went well over 200K miles with nothing much more than tires, brakes, and maintenance.

We think this is our next car - to replace Sienna van. Has 190k and no signs of slowing down so - hoping for 2 more winters with van. Definitely need something to carry stuff with and we are always transporting bikes in back of van, so it'll be easier in a pickup.

 

[KD7000]

Need? No. I could do it myself...but why waste my time? What takes him a few minutes with an impact wrench while my truck is up on the lift would take me a lot longer jacking each wheel up individually and changing each tire by hand. I don't need to "prove" something to anyone by swapping my own tires.

Ha! I consider my seasonal changeovers to be like a personal Nascar pit-crew contest. Full size floor jack and cordless impact gun are fun toys.

 

[wa-loaf]

Ha! I consider my seasonal changeovers to be like a personal Nascar pit-crew contest. Full size floor jack and cordless impact gun are fun toys.

I'll be over after the soccer game Saturday ...

 

[cdskier]

Did you guys forget the whole Firestone tires / Ford Exploder ordeal? Many, many people died as a result. Your disregard for safety is concerning. Feel free to risk your own lives, but I'll be pissed when you kill my family after your under inflated tires explode and you lose control of your vehicle.

Nice to see someone being sensible. I really don't get the arguments against the TPM Sensors. Sure people made do for many years without them, but that can be said for thousands of innovations over the years. Doesn't mean we should keep going back to the way things were years ago. Unless someone is manually checking their tire pressures every day, then TPM sensors give you a HUGE heads up on any potential problems earlier than you would notice on your own without them.

 

[JDMRoma]

Nice to see someone being sensible. I really don't get the arguments against the TPM Sensors. Sure people made do for many years without them, but that can be said for thousands of innovations over the years. Doesn't mean we should keep going back to the way things were years ago. Unless someone is manually checking their tire pressures every day, then TPM sensors give you a HUGE heads up on any potential problems earlier than you would notice on your own without them.

When a tire is off by 10 PSI and it's not going off warning you ..... that's the problem. I've observed this over the years on Chevy,Kia and Toyota.

They're for people who don't know enough to check their tires.

Sorry don't need them for $200 extra



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[SkiFanE]

Nice to see someone being sensible. I really don't get the arguments against the TPM Sensors. Sure people made do for many years without them, but that can be said for thousands of innovations over the years. Doesn't mean we should keep going back to the way things were years ago. Unless someone is manually checking their tire pressures every day, then TPM sensors give you a HUGE heads up on any potential problems earlier than you would notice on your own without them.

ours have too any false negatives. In both cars they always seem to be on at some time. The day after getting brand new tires on one car it went on. So I wouldn't rely on them at all.

 

[Smellytele]

I hope your luck with the Acadia is better than my dad's with the Traverse. His had to have been a few years older than yours though, so maybe they worked out the kinks on that platform. He was a Chevy/GM guy for years and was severely disappointed in the Traverse. I'm a Chevy guy too and didn't care for the Traverse at all.

As for the tire sensors, why do you not like them? I've had them for almost 10 years now and can't imagine going back to not having them. I just need to always remind my mechanic to relearn the sensors after swapping between my summer and winter tires. Takes him about 60 seconds with the programming tool. To do it manually without the tool is a pain as you have to either increase or decrease the pressure in each tire by a few PSI within a set amount of time on my truck when it is in sensor learning mode.

We have a 2009 Traverse and while it has had some issues - Timing belt replaced under warranty and a recall on the steering - it now has 170000 on it. It goes (and stops) well in the snow, fits all our gear(skis included) inside and has 3 rows of seats which is nice with 3 kids. The audio system has been the biggest pain in the ass. Water leaks into the wiring harness in the doors and shorts out individual speaker channels on the amp. I only half 3 out of 8 speakers left working. Well a 4th works sometimes.

 

[wa-loaf]

Don't get me started on those TPM sensors. It's another nanny state/grease the pockets of the tire mfgs. ruling.
Stupid Feds making them required is insane.

How many years did we have a simple valve, that worked just fine? Technology that stood the test of time. If a value went bad, it cost you a few bucks at garage or tire store to have replaced. It was so cheap to replace them, tire stores usually replaced them when you bought new tires for the price of mounting and balancing. People managed the air in their tire just fine when they had to. If a TPM sensor goes bad now, it can cost you anywhere from $100-$175 per tire, depending where you go to have it fixed and whether it's part of a tire purchase and install or just a TPM repair. That's just crazy.

VW (at least mine) has simplified the whole thing. Instead of fancy sensors it uses the abs and traction control monitors to check the diameter of the wheel, if something changes the light goes on. Check the tires and if everything is ok, just hit the reset button.

 

[dlague]

Did you guys forget the whole Firestone tires / Ford Exploder ordeal? Many, many people died as a result. Your disregard for safety is concerning. Feel free to risk your own lives, but I'll be pissed when you kill my family after your under inflated tires explode and you lose control of your vehicle.


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Maybe we need to bubble wrap all the vehicles. I get safety but if 100% of the vehicles had all the same safety features but they don't in Colorado there are no inspection s even. You can drive a complete shit box.

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