Best winter car ever, lol =)

[AlbertaBeef]

OMG, best friggin' winter car I've ever owned. Best $500 I think I've ever spent!!!

OK, y'all know I've only had this car since the very end of November... and only really tested the 4wd in the back alley (dirt/gravel)... well, today we got a nice dump of snow... that caused horrible roads because it's relatively warm...

Snow removal doesn't really happen in my town on Sunday ... so on the main roads, everything is getting hard packed into pure ice, slippery as heck. Then, there's a small layer of melt water over that, with snow still falling on that... The side streets are just covered in deep wet snow (without the ice)...

I'm so impressed - this thing is a friggin' winter BEAST!!! I have decent winter tires on it, but never expected it to perform like this. Just drove my son to work... people are having problems moving out of the intersections, etc. and this little Tercel just digs in and goes past all of 'em, lol. My street has a stop sign at the top of a little hill... several people have had to be pushed off of there today... not my Tercel... just digs in and goes.

What an awesome car!

[Neu]

In the snow, watch out for 2 things.

Snow will get packed into your fender wells and you wont be able to turn much.

Also, it could high center you. It happened to me once.

Otherwise, the only thing that will stop you in the snow is the damn snow dam that you'll build up from pushing snow. And I'm serious. The only things that stop me in the snow are the fender wells building up, and pushing snow to the point to where my tires still just spin. I've had snow covering my radiator and grill, and i was still going. I stopped cuz it started to go over my hood and covering my windshield.

People see it and they're just like "Wow..." and this was all with light duty tires.

[AlbertaBeef]

BTW, I've decided that since it's a WHITE car... and a Snow Beast... It's officially being dubbed "The Yeti".

[takza]

When and if that snow thaws and freezes you might find the limitations of the T4WD...when the frame gets up on packed snow...you stop. In powder you can plow it.

[hberdan]

OMG, best friggin' winter car I've ever owned.
I'm so impressed - this thing is a friggin' winter BEAST!!!
What an awesome car!

Yep, these cars are perfect in the snow!! Just today I had to get out onto the highway from my unplowed drive that has 8" of new. No problemo. EL gear up & out the drive, plowin' the white stuff, on to the snowpacked highway. Kept her in 4wd into town until the plowed roads were reached...never a problem.
Last weekend I drove 10 miles up a snow-covered dirt road, headed up to ski. The plow let me pass on by--almost a mistake, I think, in retrospect. After driving a 1/2 mile with nearly a foot of snow cover I finally pulled over on to a windswept shoulder, to let the plow catch up!
Ha ha, if i'd not let him pass I would've hit 3' of snow around the next bend. Good call.

Everyone is right about the steering with snowpacked wheel wells, you gotta watch that; some people take off the mudflaps for winter driving but I'm not sure it helps much. I spray the inside of the wheel wells with car wax, which does help a bit. Snow also gets up into all the undercarriage; after the last wet heavy fall snowstorm I had probably 200 lbs. of snow and ice dragging underneath. I noticed the mileage dropped waay down, but as soon as the temps warmed up and melted off the junk the car became it's normal peppy self and mileage returned to norm.

[AlbertaBeef]

Yeah, I'm having loads of fun in this... it drifts pretty well for an old beater 62hp car too, lol.

I just found another one for sale ... somebody wants $1000 for their '85 SR5 4wd with only 90,000km on it. I think I might snatch that one up too... that way the wife can drive one in bad weather instead of her Avalon. (Although she'd miss her heated seats terribly...)

[Neu]

Yeah, I'm having loads of fun in this... it drifts pretty well for an old beater 62hp car too, lol.

I just found another one for sale ... somebody wants $1000 for their '85 SR5 4wd with only 90,000km on it. I think I might snatch that one up too... that way the wife can drive one in bad weather instead of her Avalon. (Although she'd miss her heated seats terribly...)

seat cover with a heating pad installed through the 12 v, make her happy that way, lol.

[scotisha]

$1000 for an SR5 with 90k??? I would totally snap that up! Where is it from? Rusty?

[SR5 Tercelerator]

Absolutely amazing performance in the snow. Might as well be a snow cat...that can go 65 mph.

Just went from Eugene to Portland and back last night...fastest car on the road (of those that stayed on the road!).

Fun adventures.

[brianp]

Absolutely amazing performance in the snow. Might as well be a snow cat...that can go 65 mph.

Just went from Eugene to Portland and back last night...fastest car on the road (of those that stayed on the road!).

Fun adventures.

Yeah, it's the other cars that slow me down in this weather, not that I can't go faster if I was alone on the road.

[Logbear]

I have 3 vehicles for the snow and they all have certain characteristics. The big F350 Crew Cab 4X4 diesel with chains on all four wheels has pulled 3 cars out of the ditch on our road. With all four wheels chained, it digs in and acts like a tank. But without chains it's so heavy it makes an ice hole for the wheel and then you're sunk. The wifes Highlander acts sort of dainty on the snow. It goes OK but it has trouble getting out of the snow ruts the truck cuts.

But the Tercel is the best of both worlds. It seems to dig in, but it also kind of rides on top. If I need to get out of the rut the truck cut I just turn the Tercel and give it some power in EL and the fun begins. I've never put chains on the Tercel. In fact I don't even have any for it. The only thing that will stop the Tercel is really deep snow. I've driven it in snow so deep I had a hard time pushing snow with the drivers door to get out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45257111@N ... 839880456/

[terceldude]

swerd!

[terceldude]

Thanks for sharing!