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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Snow time, what can I expect?


neo2810
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Last year I drove a Celica GT (FWD) in the snow and although I had the odd issue with inclines, generally I managed to drive to and from work every day through the winter.

 

Having never driven a RWD in the snow, can I expect the Sup to handle the conditions better, or worse than the Celica?

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Worse, the FWD will drive better in the snow.

 

Though saying that I got around fine when I needed to in my Supra early in the year when it snowed.

 

The main thing is the area of contact, it is better to have skinny tyres in the snow, rather than big fat tyres. With most RWD cars they tend to have a large tyre width which is not helpful when driving in snow.

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Worse, much worse!!

 

Supra + Snow = Ditch + Fire + Hospital

 

:rlol:

 

Hmmm... I'm slightly concerned about the area around work which will be less travelled but I guess I could always ditch the car for the Metro on the really bad days :)
How far do you travel for work and am I right in assuming it is country roads?

 

What about a very cheap run around? You can pick them up like a couple hundred with tax & mot!

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I drive my Supra in the snow and ice every year, I've yet to die or end up in hospital, or even crash.

 

Even slight inclines are troublesome in the snow though, I had to reverse out of the works car park every day since trying to go forwards was getting me nowhere.

 

Edit: I should however add that I am awesome, and therefore YMMV.

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I drove mine in the snow last year and it was less than a laugh. It would move in SNOW mode but any slight incline led to my sphincter tightening like a Scot's wallet.

 

My advice is walk, take the bus or buy a very cheap FWD runaround for the 11 months of winter we have!

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I have a Ford S-Max as well which runs quite happily in the snow. The wife uses it for work 3 days a week but the metro runs right to my work so she only has to drive me half a mile to the metro station in the morning. I think I may take that route. I don't need a 3rd car ffs :)

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I too am slightly apprehensive about driving my new Supra in the snow.

 

We had some torrential rain the other night and driving back from a mates house the back end was more than a little twitchy at anything other than featherlight throttle.

 

I put it in the dreaded "snow" mode and that cured all problems up until around 80% throttle, although it did mean the Supra was slower than my old old 1.4 Corolla. Decided to floor it in "snow" mode and the back end really tried to get away from me.

 

So overall I'm apprehensive about the upcoming winter months and feel that getting the Supra around is going to be a case of very careful throttle response, and no boost!

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I drove mine in the snow last year and it was less than a laugh. It would move in SNOW mode but any slight incline led to my sphincter tightening like a Scot's wallet.

 

My advice is walk, take the bus or buy a very cheap FWD runaround for the 11 months of winter we have!

 

:rlol:

 

I wouldn't take the bus in the snow. Surely thats worse!

 

I'd stay home.:tongue:

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It's ok if you live on the flat on roads that clear quite quickly because they are busy like I used to. Just be very careful. Last year I was stuck at my parents house.

After turning right out of the drive the road goes down hill for maybe 25m then does a sharp 90deg left. My car refused to go back strait after the initial right turn and slid down at 45deg facing the opposite direction I wanted to go. Blocking the entire road. Had to stop trying to mak it turn as the front wheels just slid. And the rears didn't get traction. Had to clear the slow infront and behind and under the car then grit the road. Then when it has melted i did a 100 point turn and got facing the correct direction with help of pushing. Then cleared the snow so I had wheel tracks out to the main road which was 100m or so. That last bit was still hairy as it was narrow with a wall one side and parked cars the other. I now have a 4x4 galant vr4 estate swell :)

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The supra will handle the bad weather provided it has been set-up to do so.

 

The right tyres, the right rims and the proper suspension settings will transform an evil twitching nightmare into a calm collected and ultimately safe journey.

 

It's ridiculous to ask a car thats been dropped and stiffened to within an inch of being a classed as a sled with swamp shoes for tyres wrapped around 19" or 20" rims to behave itself in all conditions.

 

Proper driving practicess will help too of course!

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I too am slightly apprehensive about driving my new Supra in the snow.

 

We had some torrential rain the other night and driving back from a mates house the back end was more than a little twitchy at anything other than featherlight throttle.

 

I put it in the dreaded "snow" mode and that cured all problems up until around 80% throttle, although it did mean the Supra was slower than my old old 1.4 Corolla. Decided to floor it in "snow" mode and the back end really tried to get away from me.

 

So overall I'm apprehensive about the upcoming winter months and feel that getting the Supra around is going to be a case of very careful throttle response, and no boost!

Sorry to be blunt but if the back end is as twitchy in rain as you say there are 4 things wrong.

1) Your skimping on cheep ass shitty tyres that could kill you by putting you in a ditch.

2) Your driving like a cock in inapropriate road conditions. full throttle (or anywhere near it) in wet weather is not a good idea in a RWD car unless you have a good set of tyres, the geo is set up correctly and your pointing in a very strait line on a nice flat bit of road with no manhole covers or changes in surface. :p

3) Your geo is screwed up.

4) All of the above :p

I'm starting to get the feeling driving a Sup in the snow is not a good idea :sly:

Not not realy no unless the roads are clear and you can be reasonably certain its not going to snow a lot more or you are prepaired to go very very slowly.

Edited by Guigsy (see edit history)
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It's ridiculous to ask a car thats been dropped and stiffened to within an inch of being a classed as a sled with swamp shoes for tyres wrapped around 19" or 20" rims to behave itself in all conditions.

 

Oy!!!:D

 

I didn't ask it, I commanded it! Still didn't listen though!

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