Handles Snow Very Well

[p38fln]

This thing is awesome in the snow. It snowed about 6 inches on Friday, three more inches last night and it's still coming down today.

As I mentioned before I traded an F-150 XLT 4x4 with Off-Road package in to get this car - and it absolutely kicks the F-150's butt in the snow.

[Preee]

Looks like you had some fun there :)

[p38fln]

I took it down every unpaved snow covered road I could find :) I need some mud flaps before the snow melts, I winced every time I heard a rock bounce along the undercarriage on the bare patches of dirt.

Both the roads in the pictures are paved with asphalt, the dirt roads don't really offer any convenient areas to pull off and snap a photo.

[Devils advocate]

So do you think the tyres that come on it are good as well, mines got m&s I take it means mud and snow.

I ask only cos, the motor might just push it through the snow as posed the tyres are also good. I remember a guy whose land rover would go in a straight line, no matter how much he turned the wheel.

[p38fln]

Any vehicle with traditional 4WD will want to go in a straight line when 4WD is engaged - there is no differential between front and rear axles. They are locked together and at least one wheel on both axles will turn at the same speed. It won't matter how good the tires are - in deep snow, with 4WD engaged, a traditional 4WD vehicle is not going to turn well.

These Kugas/Escapes have all-wheel drive (Ford calls it Intelligent 4WD over here) - they dont exactly have a differential between the front and the rear, but the clutch pack system should just be called a differential for lack of a better term. The system works very well, and you can turn with ease even in deep snow.

The tires themselves look like they would hate snow - no cross-siping at all, just three grooves al the way around. I'm really surprised at how well they perform. I'll try to get a picture of one on here to see if they are the same pattern as yours.

[Devils advocate]

That's good news, this is exactly what I thought, the tyres seem to be a standard road tyre. I got used to seeing. Dirty big grooved tyre to at least spread the tyre over a bigger area. But you know, you had fun in yours.

At least if the snow falls here, it's good to know it can cope with some snow and not just as you say intelligent all wheel drive system as word and no substance. Cheers for that.

Believe it or not, I was going to ask this exact question, great minds and all that.

[p38fln]

The tread design is a bit odd to say the least. Never really looked up close at it before. Pictures attached.

We actually wound up getting quite a bit of snow - I think one of the roads I was on had over 8 inches on it. I probably should have slowed down a bit :)

[Devils advocate]

Looks like you took some damage to your tyre. Perhaps too much FUN.

[p38fln]

Where do you see tire damage? I just see snow, ice and water.

[Devils advocate]

Right, it's wet it looks to me bit of rubber had a cut. Mind you I'm up in the morning at 04:30, so forgive me my sleepy eyes, I can now see.

[Devils advocate]

Eric, do you have any inside shots of your vehicle, just to see what did not come over to this side of the pond, that's if your not busy, or not snowed in of course

[p38fln]

Sure, I can snap a few - I'll make a new thread

[p38fln]

I just remembere this thread while looking through some old photos - here's a few more pictures from that Escape in snow

​

This was after taking it down a road with snow high enough to blow over the hood as we drove along

​

This is one of the dirt roads that I liked to drive on, as you can see it is plowed but really sloppy

​

This road just got BAD after this point. It says "Minimum maintenance road. Travel at your own risk" on the sign. It got really, really muddy. There was mud on top of the car after driving on this road, it was like driving in soup.