Blizzard 03 New England - MINI Cooper Forum

MINIRANDOLPH · #1 (**permalink**) Dec 6th, 2003, 11:32 AM

1st major blizzard this year. how did your MINI do? Stories?

GadgetGav · #2 (**permalink**) Dec 6th, 2003, 11:41 AM

One stayed in the parking lot at work, on in the garage at home..!

Our driveway is VERY steep - in the ice / snow mess we had on Tuesday it took 5 attempts to get the Cooper up the driveway and into the garage..!

356mini · #3 (**permalink**) Dec 6th, 2003, 08:05 PM

Put a set of Blizzaks on the "S" today and went for a test drive around snowy southern New Hampshire. Compared to the original runflats (runflats were terrible) the Blizzaks were great, looking for a few snowy hills to give it the real test.

NEMINI · #4 (**permalink**) Dec 6th, 2003, 08:12 PM

16" goodyear all-season runflats did fine in the snow today

xplode · #5 (**permalink**) Dec 7th, 2003, 12:10 AM

16inch performance runflats = i drove the gf's bmw 325xi, which handled very well indeed. but the MINI looks way cool half covered in snow, because it's parked facing the wind and the way the snow accumulated it looks like it's doing 200mph standing still. wish i had the camera handy. i'll dig it out tomorrow.

snid · #6 (**permalink**) Dec 7th, 2003, 12:20 AM

Mine got me to Smuggler's Notch ski area today, but the storn hadn't really hit northern Vermont yet.

Back to Smugg's tomorrow, then, if the roads are decent, back to Lowell.

I did a little "experimenting" today, though. Slaloming (the MINI, not the skis) at speeds that seemed dumb didn't cause anything wierd to happen, not even DSC kicking in - but I've got monster snow tires from Finland. So, I turned harder

After three or four direction changes, I finally got the back end loose - DSC kicked in on the brakes to bring the car in line, but my head had alread had me compensating by countersteering, so I got out of shape in the opposite direction. DSC kicked in some more, and I was less active with my attempts to bring the car in line, and everything was fine. To get this out of whack, I had to cut the wheel back and forth harder than I would on dry pavement. I'm not sure what the results say about driving style and DSC... Trust the computer and don't try to correct myself, or continue driving like my brain wants me to. Probably the latter. The over-correction I got wasn't that bad.

pincity · #7 (**permalink**) Dec 7th, 2003, 01:28 AM

Indy is sleeping in the garage with her blanky. Waiting for our postponed toy run to take palce December 20th.

Stay safe.

thehotrock · #8 (**permalink**) Dec 7th, 2003, 01:57 AM

Took my car out twice today in the snow, I live 2 miles outside downtown boston, and my street is a steep hill. I had no problem driving around the unplowed streets...only real problem was the low clearance of the front of the car, but it didn't really hinder much. I think the DSC really helped out taking those sharp turns and rotarys (roundabouts...whichever). I was a little worried about the 16" all-season run flats, but they seemed to have done really well. Now i don't have to spend money on gettin some snow tires.

also, i have to say, i love the heated mirrors and washer jets. it's a big plus on days like today when there's snow falling 2" per hour.

uptick · #9 (**permalink**) Dec 7th, 2003, 02:33 AM

10:30pm:
The snow fall has subsided here in the lower Hudson valley, after something like 20 inches of accumulation over 30 hours!

Now that the driveway is cleared and the roads passable...hmmm, I think I need to do a Milk RUN.... will be tough finding a store that's open right now.... but all the more driving in search on one!

(anyone care to join the RUN...?

)

...will report back and let you know if the milk went sour...on the way back home!