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Snow


Bobr
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Had about an inch of snow in Nottingham yesterday afternoon.   As it hadn't been forecast the gritters hadn't been out.   Had to take my daughter across town to collect her car and the roads were really treacherous.   There were cars sliding all over the place and I saw one really nasty collision.   However, my automatic Fiesta had no problem at all and I was really impressed with the way it handled in the snow.

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I Imagine it was also about your driving style (or the others lack of) than just the car.

 

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When travelling in slippery winter conditions here get a bit dicey we stay put regardless, the forecast being more accurate days in advance, that's if you take any heed of it, forewarns of conditions which lets you plan your movements. No matter if you think you can drive in the conditions there is always the idiots that drive as if they are on a mission and make it difficult for others, getting stuck, blocking roads, crashing into others, it's the inconvenience of having your vehicle bent and the following consequences when there is no need to take the risk, we have a lot of single track roads here and people like to go out in their cars and play in the snow, get stuck, abandon their cars or smash them which prevents farmers getting to feed their stock in the fields, we have to drag or push such vehicles out of the way to go about our work. In the winter 2010 there was an incident where a father was pulling his young son behind his car on a sledge with a rope, car had to make a sudden stop, child didn't and was killed. The same time I was feeding sheep with a tractor and where they were was in a field at the bottom of a hill that had a sharp corner at that point, coming around the corner I encountered a man with his 4 year old child pulling him on a sledge (walking) up the hill, he was tobogganing down the hill, I took the bloke to task and asked him what would of happened to the child if he had been hurtling down the hill as I came around the corner, doesn't bear thinking about.

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Yes I saw a few idiots in the snow yesterday.   Some people (like the guy I saw embedded in the back of the car in front of him) don't seem to realise that it takes longer to stop in slippery condition.

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32 minutes ago, Bobr said:

Yes I saw a few idiots in the snow yesterday.   Some people (like the guy I saw embedded in the back of the car in front of him) don't seem to realise that it takes longer to stop in slippery condition.

ABS doesn't help in theses conditions you need the wheel to lock and form a wedge of snow.

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Do you have a snow mode on the Powershift box?  Can't remember seeing a button for it in the Mk7.5. :g:

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7 minutes ago, sussamb said:

True, in snow turn it off if you can

In most new cars you cant it drives me nuts, Makes negotiating my steep lane a nightmare.

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are there any cars where the ABS can be turned off short of taking the fuse out?  I was doing some troubleshooting on a 2008 focus on the ABS/ESP and I found that they had made it quite difficult to get the fuse out as it had a plastic cover over the top of it which was not easy to remove.

"ABS doesn't help in theses conditions you need the wheel to lock and form a wedge of snow." I totally agree with this, when I come down my road in the snow it's like the brakes have failed as the ABS just releases the braking force.

And yes there are too many drivers out there who don't realise that they need to adjust their driving style for poor road conditions. As a young driver said to me. When I came round that roundabout my car slid all over the place, do you think I need new tyres? I said it's raining hard, did you come round it at your normal speed?   they said yes,  I think they did not need new tyres, they needed to drive in a sensible manner in accordance with prevailing road surface conditions, that is what I told them. 

No sign of snow where I live (south coast), and I hope it stays that way

 

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1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Do you have a snow mode on the Powershift box?  Can't remember seeing a button for it in the Mk7.5. :g:

No Tom, there isn't one.

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Driving on fresh snow is relatively easy as long as it's not too deep, it's packed snow and ice that causes problems, in these conditions you can't build up a wedge in front the wheels, the only way you'll stop is when you hit something. The only way you can reduce the chance of 'taking off' is to pump the brake pedal or better, change up to a higher gear and let the vehicle run out reducing momentum, as long as the wheels are turning and you steer straight you should be okay, it's when the wheels are locked up and not turning is where your problem starts.

I hate snow, anyone that has to work outdoors in it day in day out will tell you the same, we have not had any significant snowfalls in many years now so people are not prepared for the worst or know what to do, I remember the 1962/3 winter, 12 feet of drifted snow, walking over the tops of the telephone poles and not being able to get any vehicle in or out for 9 weeks, that's snow!

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