[droque]

They are calling for snow here in Maryland and I wanted to find out how the Mini handles bad weather?

[Tom F.]

I'm going to see how pretty it looks parked safely in my garage, doors open, with a snowy driveway. :-)

[XSmall]

let us know how it goes in the snow!
I'm in KY ,supposed to get 5-8 inches
I don't have my Mini yet and my Miata stays garaged. But I'll get my Mini (hopefully) by Christmas, so I may be driving it 150 miles home on a snowy day!

[stryder]

Cleveland got a few inches of snow over the past few days and my general view on MINIs in snow is its tire dependant. The actual city plowed really poorly on the side streets, and I tried to stop from 15 or so and skidded 3 feet engaging abs. Not exactly good, so I'm very much considering buying snow tires + extra wheels in the next few days. So the car handled fine, the rubber was well, pretty bad, and somewhat scary if I actually had to panic stop.

FYI: I don't have DSC (or traction since its a cooper) and I have the 16" Dunlop tires.

Other people with snow tires seem to say the car's been just wonderful.

[GordonD]

there is a long canadian thread a couple of weeks ago when we got a 4"+ snowfall around Toronto.

the absolute consensus is the MINI is great IF you have 4 snow tires.

[Pamlico]

Quote:

Originally posted by GordonD
....the absolute consensus is the MINI is great IF you have 4 snow tires.

I'll second that. I have an MCS and the combination of 4 Blizzaks, traction control, and DSC is quite impressive. The only thing I noticed is that while driving in fluffy snow (e.g. lake effect snow which is quite common here in Rochester, NY) the rear of the car rapidly becomes totally covered. Without the rear wiper the hatch window would be totally useless.

[HarryHBMCC]

I've got 4 snows on my ASC+T equipped MINI Cooper and it handles excellently in snow and ice, almost never engaging the ABS but often engaging the traction control. When I first got the car with the summer tires on it in a few freak storms in April/May, the ABS came on frequently.

Harry

[Grinder]

Well, i'm glad i got a set of Blizzaks, cuz it looks like i'll need 'em tomorrow! Actually, hopefully i won't...that is if they close school

[elmadi]

Quote:

Originally posted by droque
They are calling for snow here in Maryland and I wanted to find out how the Mini handles bad weather?

I live here in Chicago & my MC have run-flat Pirelli & no DSC.

It handles very well---as a rule always slow down & extra cautious in driving in snow.

Hope this helps.

[jlivingood]

Quote:

Originally posted by stryder
Cleveland got a few inches of snow over the past few days and my general view on MINIs in snow is its tire dependant.

This is, quite frankly, the case with any car or truck. It's all about the tires.

Jason

PS - A key winter driving reminder: don't forget to use that handbrake for fun or cornering assistance. It's a good thing.

[stryder]

Quote:

Originally posted by jlivingood


This is, quite frankly, the case with any car or truck. It's all about the tires.

Yeah, I think I got spoiled, (the MINIs my first new car), so I had performance all seasons on cars previously, and they would do decently in the snow and well during the summer. I was living in scenic snowy Rochester NY, so I still had snows for 6 months of the year. I expected the MINI's tires to be better since they're not amazingly grippy in the summer, you'd think winter traction would be better. I was naive, I was wrong. I ordered some blizzaks + 15" rims today from Tire Rack, I'll manage.

[NJ mini USA]

Oh no not snow!!!!! ok now I have to get 4 rims and 4 snows. ok this is a good excuse to get some real nice custom rims to have the summer tires mounted on and the snows on the stock rims.....hmmmmmm this works for me.
Jim

[Pamlico]

stryder - I'm in "scenic snowy Rochester NY" and replaced the 17" performance tires (Dunlops) with the 15" BLizzaks from Tirerack. With those tires the MINI feels quite secure in snow and slush. I wne out for a drive the other night during a snowfall and had absolutely no problems getting around. The $$ spent for the Blizzaks is well worth it.

[noahe]

I think the overall consensus in the Canadian thread was that the car does slide around a good bit, but it's really predictable and you just seem to know that it's about to slide before it does.

I drove a demo MCS quite awhile back with all-season tires and it seemed adequate, but 4 winter tires is a night and day improvement.

The BEST news is that DSC assists you in re-gaining control of the vehicle. Unlike ABS, which just takes over (i.e. if you threshold brake, or pulse the pedal you do a worse job that if you just stomp) the DSC seems to work best if you also try to correct. So I don't have to re-learn how to drive in the winter.

It's not the best car I've ever driven in the snow, but it's pretty good, and WAY better than you'd expect by looking at it.

[sdmidget]

I have the 16" all-seasons. Will see how it goes tomorrow (calling for 3-6" in south central PA).

If it's too "exciting" - I can either drive the [MINIVAN] - or work at home

[mtnMINI]

sdmidget - let us know how it goes!
I'm picking up my MINI in a couple weeks (yeah!) and have the same snowy day concerns. I'm debating the snow tires, but with my flat tire paranoia, I'm worried about not having a spare if I get a flat! I figure snow tires will be much better than the 16" all-seasons, so I should probably just get some. Another concern I have - I grew up driving in snow and this will be my first car with ABS...so it might be hard for me to let go of the desire to pump my brakes if I start to slide. Also, I will have DSC, but I'm not so sure how or if that will help?! Silly question, but how do you know when traction control or DSC are kicking in?! I might have to take him out for a spin in the middle of the night for a snowy test run...when there are no huge suv's tearing down the roads!

[HarryHBMCC]

If you're worried about runflats in winter... get winter runflats! The Dunlop SP WinterSport DSST (Dunlop Self Supporting Tire) is just the ticket. I have them on my MINI Cooper and they are great in snow, ice, slush, wet, mud and dry. Got them for $128 USD each in 195/55R16H size.

Harry

[Pamlico]

Quote:

Originally posted by mtnMINI
... but how do you know when traction control or DSC are kicking in?!

The DSC lamp on the speedo will flash and you'll feel a corresponding loss of power. There are times when a little wheelspin is desirable in the snow, so you switch the dSC off via a tooggle switch.

[jlivingood]

Quote:

Originally posted by mtnMINI
Another concern I have - I grew up driving in snow and this will be my first car with ABS...so it might be hard for me to let go of the desire to pump my brakes if I start to slide.

Do what I plan to do today (or anytime I have a new car and it snows). Find a big, open parking lot and test out how the car reacts to locking the brakes, slides, etc. Try to be low-key about it but it is essential to learning how a new car will react. As for ABS, the MINI system is pretty advanced. Just keep that foot planted on the floor - seems totally wrong at first but it works.

Jason

[jlivingood]

Well, I DID go for a quick drive and got stuck several times with my run flat, 17 inch, summer performance tires. Big surprise, eh!? I think 16 inch winter runflats are in order if I intend to drive this winter.

I finally got stuck on a hill and the only way up it was to go up in reverse. During this exercise my flat tire indicator, DSC error light and ABS warning lights all came on. Just checked the car again and the tire light is off but DSC and ABS errors are still showing.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the ABS sensors and the DSC program had no idea why my wheels were spinning at 20 miles an hour in reverse with no traction. Planning a morning trip to the dealer to have the error codes reset. Ah well - the price of fun.

This car definitely needs snow tires.

Jason