Hi all. Any of you had any experience in the snow with your nah. I am being told the tires are the main culprit (continental). I am curious if anyone went to snows or anything else- Thanks, Andy

 

Last winter I put on four Blizzak snow tires. Between the tires and the NAH traction control it was just about unstoppable.

We had a huge snow storm in MA last Dec where everything came to a standstill but my NAH could start moving on packed ice and snow going uphill from a dead stop. The problem was all the other cars that couldn't.

 

I had no particular problems with winter driving in MA last year, even though I left the stock tires on my NAH. Traction control and ABS worked great.

I didn't really push my luck though - I tend not to drive in the really bad weather.

 

I guess this is just another benefit of hypermiling!

 

Mine are pretty bad... Even in light rain the car feels like its on skis, not on tires. I can't imagine taking it anywhere near ice and thankfully I don't have to worry about that in CA.

 

my only gripe is when the car is in EV mode and you're trying to rock the car out of snow. the EV mode makes the car feel unresponsive...it's a weird feeling. does anyone know if I step on the gas hard, would the engine go out of EV w/o jerking too bad?

 

Danny, not sure because I never tried it, but mashing the accelerator should not be much different in EV or ICE because the EV motors have more torque (346 FT lbs ?)than the ice. Again, theoretically speaking.

 

My dad got stuck today going up our driveway. The car started spinning the wheels and then he slid DOWN the hill toward my car parked at the bottom. I'm not exactly sure what happened next but I had to go out and help him get the car away from the house brick wall. There's a nice scrape on the quarter panel now... He had me drive while he and my brother pushed. It spun all the way up, and before I realized it, the pedal was on the floor. This is one situation where a VDC off button would have been handy since the car was hardly revving. I think the Continentals need to go.

 

Later today, I am going to have Goodyear Ultra Grip GW3 snows put on all four wheels. I have read very good things about them. Not cheap, and I'm sure they'll impact my fuel economy a little due to increased rolling resistance. But, safety comes first.

They're not cheap, and are hard to find, but they got great reviews:

Goodyear site

Tire Rack Review

 

Eph, how are the ultra grips doing? Any change in the dry traction/handling?