The 92 STS is a FREAKING BEAST in the snow. That nasty storm the pacific northwest got last year? I plowed through all of it and never got stuck once. I went through the mountains on small winding roads in Montana during blizzards. Goodyear all-seasons.

Its just an incredible car.

I liked the first-generation LHS a lot. It was big, comfy, and cheap.

 

I liked the first-generation LHS a lot. It was big, comfy, and cheap.

Oh sure. If i had to live in a car id choose one. but they are awful to drive. under powered and poorly built. same for the intrepid. i swear 100% of the power went to one wheel.. ugh,, sucked so much in the snow.. i never knew a car could suck so much in snow, esp fwd one.

 

My 1991 Brougham with three 50lb bags of sand in the trunk is pretty damn good in the snow. Never got stuck in the 6" of snow and ice we got about a month ago. Although I couldn't make it up this 30 degree inclined hill in my neighborhood. I could get almost to the top, then I'd start spinning. Stupid hill was so slick your car would start sliding backwards down it while you were stopped.

Plus it being RWD really brings out certain juvenile behaviors in empty parking lots:lildevil:

 

The deVille is a beast, never been stuck in it

 

LOL! The STS is great in the snow but I prefer my Escort wagon

 

The snow and me...

Not acquainted for quite some time.

I learned to drive in snow at 14 in a '91 Mercury Grand Marquis. RWD, ridiculously large, 5.0 power. Dad woke me up, handed me a shovel, and said "Get in the car, we're going for a drive". We proceeded to go to a K Mart parking lot that was empty, and he told me to try and drive in the snow. I asked why I needed the shovel, and he goes "You're ****ed in the head if you think I'm digging your ass out." :lol:

 

hmm...

My father took me out in the Chevy Corsica up to the local mall(with a KMart, BTW) in a blizzard and showed me how to drive. It had a hand brake and he would make me drive in large, fast circles and then would yank the brake whenever he chose. I had only a learners permit and I could countersteer a skid better than most...

 

I learned to drive in the snow on full size vans and pickup trucks with the beds filled with snow for traction. The best car I've driven in the snow was my '88 Fleetwood d'Elegance. It was FWD, 4.5L V8, and built at a time when handling in an American luxury car was non-existent. This means it had a heavy front end and very skinny tires, perfect setup for driving in the snow. I could accelerate almost as fast in that car without spinning the tires as I could in my 4wd Rodeo with mud tires.

The worst car I've had is my Lincoln. Holy hell this thing is bad. I have around 250 lbs of weight in the back and still if there is more than 3 inches of unplowed snow on the street I'm not going anywhere. Granted I don't have the best tires, but they are all seasons and I've got a posi as well. There have been times it was so bad that my car would start to slide sideways just at idle. If I have to stop on even the smallest hill I WILL NOT be able to get going. The power is very easy to manage in this car, but it takes so little to start spinning the tires it really doesn't matter how well you can control the throttle.

 

It's really all in the suspension setup and ride. Our mid 90s Town Cars were deathtraps in the snow. With all-seasons. My '04 and '07 TCs are/were serene. They do have T/C which makes them idiot-proof, but even without, they're worlds better than the older ones...

 

^ Sounds like you need a decent set of tires. The ones on my 1991 are new.

 

^ Tires only had a few thousand miles when I bought it. They are a set of Michellin all seasons, not sure exactly what. Aside from throwing a set of Blizzaks on there I can't do much else. Its too front heavy and not designed for adverse weather conditions.

 

Winter tires will certainly make a noticeable difference

 

My deVille was excellent. I remember driving through a snowstorm where we got 8-10 inches to go to a car-show downtown a few years back. I piled all my friends in the car and headed down there, without any problem what so ever. With it's weight, and having FWD with that big V-8 up front, it was sure good, aside from the trouble I'd have accelerating from a dig because all that low end torque.

Now, the Astro.....that's unbeliveable in the snow. High ground clearance + centrally located engine/trans/transfer case & full time AWD makes it unstoppable.

 

Except when attempting to do off road work with trailer attached !

 

It was only 2WD then, my transfer case actuator motor was inop when that happened. I've been told by the senior tech at the GMC/Buick store in Rochester that if I had working AWD, it wouldn't have happened because of the added stability from the driving front axle.

 

My STS did ok when I drove it last winter. Right away I was used to my 89 chevy with 33" tires and 4wd, and no ABS haha. The cadillac took a day or 2 of snow to get used to, the front was so heavy the back end was weary...lol. But after I got used to it, it did very well. The ABS saved itself one day when someone decided not to use a stop sign (at the top of a hill nonetheless they have no excuse!) and I missed them by about 6 inches. It even pointed me down the street they were going and I followed them awhile haha. This year I've got my '00 silverado and it does quite well in the snow, also more fun to bust out the donuts because the fwd/traction control caddy was a pain to do donuts in lol

 

sorry, double post

 

My 1993 60 Special has never ever been in even 1/2 inche of snow, NOR ever in rain.
We use our 2001 Jeep Cherokee Limited 4X4 wagon in the winter.
I love that Cherokee !!! Heated leather seats, 4X4 - pulls like a trogen horse and is extremely comfortible.
Jeep should have never stopped making them. The Patroit does not measure up, with its 4 Cyl. engine.

 

Amen to that. Its one of the best-looking, best-packaged, and most dependable SUVs ever. No wonder it was built for two decades.

 

The Patriot sucks. lol Really badly.

 

FWD + 4.9L V8 + New set of Dunlop SP-60s = F**k you, snow!

Even my dads '93 does well in snow, and it's on Yokohama Avids. It does tend to slip a little bit in the deeper stuff though. My '91 doesn't get driven in winter.

 

Living in AZ Sun valley, we never ever see snow! However I guess my STS can handle snow in a very good manner, but never been in Snow with her!

 

Amen to Ben. Snow is for quitters. :thumbsup:

 

My 03' sls does amazing in the snow up here in jersey. Outta the 3 cars in my family, im the one driving my mom and dad around cause the altima and ford windstar cant even make it out the driveway. Stabilitrak is the way to go

 

And we still got no snow out of that double storm that lasted all week. But it was still bad enough this morning that I couldn't risk taking the V2 out today in case it did accumulate. It can't move in the snow. BTW...















Forester XT > all in snow...

 

What's with some of these cars with traction control being bad in the snow. My 2002 Mercedes CLK with TC was terrible in the snow. I drove my 1962 Cadillac convertible all through a terrible Madison, Wisconsin Winter in1966 and never got stuck despite heavy snowfall, ice and -20F temperatures. The mercedes was bad in two inches of snow and immobile in snow exceeding that amount.

Having borrowed my wife's 1993 Seville STS during the heavy snows of 2003 here in Virginia because it was super in the snow and icey roads, I got rid of the Mercedes and bought my 1995 STS (and have never regreted it!). Even Road & Track admitted that next to a good FWD vehicle the front drive Cadillacs were super snow cars ... greta on the Summertime interstaes also! For luxury cars to be driven under all American driving conditions front drive Cadillacs are hard to beat!

 

I've had enough of this shyte...the ground around here is finally pretty much free of snow cover but there are still huge mounds in the Walmart parking lot, etc. 72 freaking inches since mid December is quite enough.

I learned to drive in the snow in a 55 VW Bug, and a 66 Volvo 166, I think it was. My first car was a 65 Plymouth Fury II wagon, and during one big ass snowstorm in West Chester in the winter of 71/72, i drove it up a hill BACKWARDS, because it kept slipping and sliding the normal way. First documented use of Front Wheel drive in a RWD car:bouncy:

The worst car I ever drove in snow was the E-type, for obvious reasons.

 

I'm lucky enough to live close enough to work that, when the white stuff falls, I can walk if necessary.

That being said:

- The Mazda 3 did horrible during the last snow storm*. Absolute disaster.
- I happened to get caught in the snow* in the Deville once. Caught me by surprise; I was going to go out but turned around and headed back. The thing was an absolute beast; the only trouble I had was going up a very steep hill near my home. The traction control kept turning on, attempting to minimize wheelspin. Turned it off and shifted into second and continued with ease.

* NW snow hardly ever severe, but no one in Seattle (it seems) knows how to drive in it.

Embedding is not enabled, but this is a good example of snow predictions in Seattle.

 

So your Mazda3 wasn't any good in the snow huh? Makes me more glad that I didn't buy that '08 3s back in July. That was really nice for a compact car...