Snow Ability

[Wagonlover]

My wife and I drove home from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport in a winter storm warning. We live 160 miles from the airport in north central Minnesota. The temperature was hovering around zero degrees and there was blowing and drifting snow for the entire trip. The 4 lane roads had been plowed earlier but plows were not present due to the high winds. There is almost 30,000 miles on my TourX with the factory Continental tires. The last 30 miles were on 2 lane roads that had also been plowed several hours before we passed. These roads had many areas of blowing and drifting snow in depths varying from say 1” up to 5 or 6”.

Even with the near blizzard conditions I was able to run at the speed limit most of the way which varied from 55-70mph. I never experienced any slippage or loss of control the entire trip. It obviously would have been different if the roads had not been plowed at some point and if there was deeper snow on the roads but still I was impressed.

Approaching home we did not know if our road had been plowed. We live in a small neighborhood with only three full time residents. One of the neighbors said the road had not been plowed and had 6-8” of snow piled up. When we got to our street at midnight the plow had made a pass through our street which also has a curved steep hill. No problem getting on the road or up the steep hill. My driveway had the 6-8” of unplowed snow with an 18” drift in front of the garage door. Without hesitation I was able to drive in the driveway and right in to the garage.

Bottom line: I was amazed at how the TourX handled in these conditions and never gave me any lack of confidence in its ability!

 

[D2R]

I am surprised the wagon is so clean afterwards! 😍

 

[PrincipalDan]

It's a pretty darn good AWD system although I appreciate it more for it's torque vectoring ability. I really love an AWD system that makes dry roads more pleasurable as well.

 

[bloomer]

My wife and I drove home from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport in a winter storm warning. We live 160 miles from the airport in north central Minnesota. The temperature was hovering around zero degrees and there was blowing and drifting snow for the entire trip. The 4 lane roads had been plowed earlier but plows were not present due to the high winds. There is almost 30,000 miles on my TourX with the factory Continental tires. The last 30 miles were on 2 lane roads that had also been plowed several hours before we passed. These roads had many areas of blowing and drifting snow in depths varying from say 1” up to 5 or 6”.

Even with the near blizzard conditions I was able to run at the speed limit most of the way which varied from 55-70mph. I never experienced any slippage or loss of control the entire trip. It obviously would have been different if the roads had not been plowed at some point and if there was deeper snow on the roads but still I was impressed.

Approaching home we did not know if our road had been plowed. We live in a small neighborhood with only three full time residents. One of the neighbors said the road had not been plowed and had 6-8” of snow piled up. When we got to our street at midnight the plow had made a pass through our street which also has a curved steep hill. No problem getting on the road or up the steep hill. My driveway had the 6-8” of unplowed snow with an 18” drift in front of the garage door. Without hesitation I was able to drive in the driveway and right in to the garage.

Bottom line: I was amazed at how the TourX handled in these conditions and never gave me any lack of confidence in its ability!

Very similar experience driving from Stillwater to Fargo in Feb. of 2019. It was truly impressive. We also have a Sante Fe with awd. No contest..

 

[RegalMN]

My wife and I drove home from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport in a winter storm warning. We live 160 miles from the airport in north central Minnesota. The temperature was hovering around zero degrees and there was blowing and drifting snow for the entire trip. The 4 lane roads had been plowed earlier but plows were not present due to the high winds. There is almost 30,000 miles on my TourX with the factory Continental tires. The last 30 miles were on 2 lane roads that had also been plowed several hours before we passed. These roads had many areas of blowing and drifting snow in depths varying from say 1” up to 5 or 6”.

Even with the near blizzard conditions I was able to run at the speed limit most of the way which varied from 55-70mph. I never experienced any slippage or loss of control the entire trip. It obviously would have been different if the roads had not been plowed at some point and if there was deeper snow on the roads but still I was impressed.

Approaching home we did not know if our road had been plowed. We live in a small neighborhood with only three full time residents. One of the neighbors said the road had not been plowed and had 6-8” of snow piled up. When we got to our street at midnight the plow had made a pass through our street which also has a curved steep hill. No problem getting on the road or up the steep hill. My driveway had the 6-8” of unplowed snow with an 18” drift in front of the garage door. Without hesitation I was able to drive in the driveway and right in to the garage.

Bottom line: I was amazed at how the TourX handled in these conditions and never gave me any lack of confidence in its ability!

Is your TourX AWD?
I have an AWD sportback and I can't say mine is great in the snow. I have Goodyear Eagle all-season tires. My issue is the AWD is almost trying too hard in the snow and it causes the rear end to kick out even when I'm pointed straight.

I have had 2 AWD Chevy Traverses that seem much more capable in the snow.

 

[shs92645]

I feel very confident and safe in my GS with both the AWD traction and the brakes, which are equally important. The handling is outstanding.
Glad you got home safely in the bad weather!

 

[DrFaustus]

I've had mine on some pretty slick mountain roads now. It's done really well. I'm running dedicated snow tires. Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3s on 17" wheels. But I knew I was going to be driving sketchy mountain roads covered in snow. I wouldn't want to be on some of the roads I was on without dedicated snows.

 

[delorean92]

The GKN Twinster AWD system is truly impressive. I also owned a Focus RS that had a version of the Twinster system and it works very well.

It is such a blast to drive a FWD based car like the Regal and be able to get the rear end to break loose, even on dry pavement. You really have to push it into a tight corner, but you can feel the AWD working to help pull the car through the turn.

My AWD 2014 GS would simply push through a turn with plenty of not so fun understeer.

 

[D2R]

Is your TourX AWD?
I have an AWD sportback and I can't say mine is great in the snow. I have Goodyear Eagle all-season tires. My issue is the AWD is almost trying too hard in the snow and it causes the rear end to kick out even when I'm pointed straight.

I have had 2 AWD Chevy Traverses that seem much more capable in the snow.

AWD is standard on the wagon.
Perhaps your sportback lacks the extra weight we got on the back end of our wagons? 🤔

 

[RegalMN]

AWD is standard on the wagon.
Perhaps your sportback lacks the extra weight we got on the back end of our wagons? 🤔

Maybe. Or also my Goodyear's are terrible in snow. Will probably switch to Cross Climates before next winter.

 

[liuby33]

I went to a "winter driving" trackday event a few weeks back after a major snowstorm here in Toronto region, we had probably 10 cars with 5 Subarus and others like Golf R, Q60 (AWD), A4, etc. Pretty much all of them had stuck in snow at least once, except my GS. Possibly partly down to the fact that I'm more careful and drove in a way that never lost momentum, but there were occasions where the car was in snow that was basically as deep as the ride height and the car never hesitated to move on. Overall I was impressed. The GS also had a lot of lift-off oversteer which was fun, but if you just make a turn without lifting off, it's going to understeer like crazy. Not surprised.

Now for the snowstorm in question, we had about 40 cm of un-plowed driveway and I didn't dare trying the car lol. Stayed home for a day. I'm pretty sure only a tall pickup truck can make it out when the snow is deeper than the ride height no matter the AWD.

 

[greenne]

The TourX as a vehicle does really well in the snow. I can feel the awd drive system working well and the weight balance is good. My only complaint is the original Continental Tires are not so good. Have no complaints with them in dry and even rain--smooth and quiet-- but they struggle in the snow.

 

[adam728]

I'm pretty sure only a tall pickup truck can make it out when the snow is deeper than the ride height no matter the AWD.

Depends heavily on the snow. Used to do a lot of off roading with clubs and such. I've been stuck in 4-5 inches of wet packy snow on a frozen pond, and also driven through ~3 feet of extremely light and fluffy lake effect snow that was rolling over the hood of my truck. Also have spent nearly an entire night digging out of a 2.5 ft deep drift in the bottom of a small valley.

That's why I laugh when people will start arguing in absolutes about how deep of snow a vehicle can go through. Big difference between light and fluffy, wet and heavy, fine dense windblown, granular sugar, and the 65 other kinds of snow.

With snow tires on the TourX I easily drove through approximately 8 inches of the stuff in the yard a few weeks back, dragging the whole way. With no base under it there was no real challenge.

 

[DrFaustus]

Sastrugi is terrible to ski on. But that cold smoke blower powder is wonderful.

 

[Oscarr]

I put Michelin ice x tires on my 2019 GS and it works startling good. This winter I have done a dozen 2 hour commutes to the ski hill and back in Ontario Canada. When there is snow I go, nothing rattles it, deep snow, glare ice, white outs, all handled comfortably. I'm not used to a car that's this good in the snow. Switching the Continental all seasons to Michelin snows made a big difference and cut my braking distance in half on ice and snow.

 

[shs92645]

Those are amazing tires. My wife had a 2003 Outback that was not great in snow until we put on 4 X-ice tires. The car would then go anywhere with ease.

 

[liuby33]

Depends heavily on the snow. Used to do a lot of off roading with clubs and such. I've been stuck in 4-5 inches of wet packy snow on a frozen pond, and also driven through ~3 feet of extremely light and fluffy lake effect snow that was rolling over the hood of my truck.

Interesting experience 🙂 I fail to envision what 3 feet of snow look like - 40cm (~16") is the most I've personally seen

 

[adam728]

Interesting experience 🙂 I fail to envision what 3 feet of snow look like - 40cm (~16") is the most I've personally seen

My second year of college we got 303.6 inches of snow that winter.

My last year up there was a record 105.5 inches. Just in January. And mountain states can crush that.

 

[Wlepse]

Been a while since we have gotten 3' feet in NJ but this was about 2.5' a couple years ago

 

[regfootball]

I live in the SW portion of Mpls area, and I agree the TourX is a great winter car. The AWD system is very good, and my Michelin X-Ice tires have kept me on the road very well. I think the AWD system on the Regal is better than many other systems and the car is very nice to drive in all weathers but still does the job when the weather sucks..