I live in Madison, Wisconsin and we get some snow. Not a whole lot, but a good 45 inches per year with occasional heavy snow-fall. I live in the city and they will plow the main streets, but they get to our side streets a while later. For the last two years we have happily driven our Saabs (a 9-5 Wagon and a 5-speed 9-3 Convertible -- both FWD cars) though the snow. Between the Winter Mode (a low gear, 2nd maybe) and Traction Control my wagon was a champ and my convertible was only stuck once. However, I had to use the Winter Mode on the wagon more than once and the Traction Control light went on a few times on both cars.

I would really like to buy a FWD FEH, but concern is that the FEH does not have Traction Control . I really don't want to pay $2000 - $2500 more for AWD if I really don't need it.

Has anyone had a problem with their FWD in the snow?

 

Living in Michigan, I went with the AWD, better to have it and not use it during the summer than slide off the road in winter, especially considering the road I live on is unpaved.

 

Regardless whether you go for the AWD or the FWD, I would highly recommend buying new tires or at least winter tires. The stock tires for the FEH'06, give you better fuel economy but at the expense of traction. They are rated for only flat surfaces clear of rain, ice, snow and sand. Consumer reports rated the tires the worst for slick surfaces but the best for fuel economy. I bought myself goodyear assurance tires and they are amazing. They do affect the mpg though because of tire friction. The better (deeper) the tread the more surface friction there will be and therefore you get worse mpg, although we are talking about a small amount here.

 

I agree completely. AWD or even traction control is next to worthless on the wrong tires. Around here we see plenty of 4WD/AWD vehicles in the ditch because they thought that their summer/all seasons made them invincible.

 

I have both an '05 and an '06 FEH, both are front wheel drive only and both have the factory LRR Continental tires on them. I drove the '05 at the tail end of one winter and drove both of them through this past winter. We probably average a little more snow than you (60" or so this last winter).

I never got stuck driving the Escape. I never felt out of control and never once felt that I really wished I bought the AWD version. Like your area, our main roads are plowed pretty well and the side streets take a while so I have driven on a good amount of unplowed roads. I also live on a pretty good hill and had no problems with the car or the tires going up or down the hill.

The deepest snow I drove through in the Escape was about 12" of fresh stuff. I had to go to a remote rail crossing, about 2000' off the paved road, turn around and get back out. The wheels barely slipped at all.

Hope this helps.

Ray

 

Thanks everyone! I drove a '95 Toyota Celica Convertible through NINE Wisconsin winters by putting on snow tires, or "biters" as the tire guys called them. Between my 5-speed and the biters I could get through just about anything except snow banks. I think that many SUV drivers feel that their car is supposed to be able to plow through snow drifts or zoom down a road in a blizzard. I know better: I drove an Toyota 4-Runner SUV for 10 years. I think we used our 4WD a few times every winter.

 

There is that... and the fact that some people don't understand 4WD helps you GO... when frequently STOPPING is the "real" problem and last I checked we ALL have 4 wheel brakes!

Tires will help with that alot.... 4WD/SUV tends to just mean more weight and a more difficult stop... I often wish on icy roads that everyone would just take it easy....ESPECIALLY the Hummer/Escalade/Yukon crowd.

 

Just to add my own experience to the good advice of others posted here, with the stock tires i was able to navigate through about a foot to foot and a half of fresh very wet snow up a very steep grade this spring with no problems with my AWD Escape. i also went on a succesful rescue mission to recover my stuck brother in a similar amount and type of snow earlier in the winter with no probelms other than a slight hesitation while backing up in some deep snow to turn around. Better tires alwasy give and edge but i stressed the factory ones and came through alright.