With snow tires - Good!
Without snow tires - Bad!

Personally, I store my MINI in the winter, but I've seen MINI's on the road in very bad snow storms and such. As long as you have good snow tires, you'll be able to plow through the snow without a problem.

-Adam

 

Some of us rally in winter in our MINI Coopers and they do very well. As Adam just said, with snow tires it is a great car but with performance (either summer or all-season) tires it isn't so good which isn't a surprise really.

Please come and check out the wheels & tyres forum for previous discussions about snow tires.

Harry

 

I drove in the middle of one of the worst snow storms we had last year (Christmas day, upstate NY) and had no problems whatsoever with the base 15" all seasons. I do have the ASC/DSC option though which I know helps. There were a number of cars off the road and one SUV that had given up and pulled off under an overpass. Just motored on by. At some points it was so deep that the snow was coming up over the hood and it just kept plugging along. So personally, the all seasons seem fine, but I'm sure snows would be a big improvement. Might be different too for the folks with the bigger tire/wheel combos.

 

I was driving through Christmas day as well, several times, on unplowed roads. But I had snows on.

Define upstate NY. If you live the lower hudson valley, you could probably get by with all-seasons, if you can avoid driving during the few really snowy days that happen. If you live the capital region or farther north, you're probably better off getting snow tires. If you live anywhere in the western/upstate part, you positively better get snow tires.

When in doubt, get snow tires. They're cheap and your MINI will be a great winter car. And you can save your summer tires + rims for dry weather, since they'll be worn less and you can get higher performance onces.

There's a ton of other threads on snow driving try a search. I like to summarize it (with snow tires) as very predictable and quite capable for a FWD car if you're careful and go slow, but you can't plow snow. So don't try to drive in anything over 4" deep or you'll get stuck and probably break something.

 

The 175/65R15" all-seasons are not 'performance all-seasons' which is a bit of an oxymoron and the narrow tires probably help compared to the 16" and 17" all-seasons. Still, some claim the 205/45R17 all-season Goodyears are fine in snow. I wouldn't chance them myself though.

Harry

 

I brought up this thread again as I had my first real snow experience in my MINI today. We had some snowfall last night (barely an inch), but our "Mr Plow" road service was not prepared for this (we have approximately 5 snow days a year) and when I drove to work this morning the roads were all white with a nice layer of fresh or compressed snow.

I was really impressed how well the MCS handled - I had expected much more understeer. But instead turn in with a little verve (according to the grip level) and the rear end starts moving, just enough to compensate mid-corner understeer. Quite similar to what I´ve experienced in the dry or the wet but of course much smoother and funnier. On the other hand a significant amount of traction wasn´t really present, but with a reasonable top speed of 35 mph there wasn´t much power to put down either.

BTW: I´m driving Goodyear UltraGrip EMT tires in 195/55 R16 H and now I can say that they feel quite good under all conditions.

After all, as far as I am concerned the next snow storm may come.

Klaus

 

All season fun.

I don't know anything about DEEP snow...

I had my first snow experience today actually. Just a couple of inches of the white stuff. I have an '04 MCS JCW with factory all seasons. I thought it did well. It is my first front wheel drive car and I understand that makes a difference in the snow. My 3 year old daughter (tucked neatly away in her MINI Isofix car seat) shouted "WEEEEE!" with every bootleg (handbrake) turn we pulled in a large parking lot.

 

I live in the Rochester (NY) area and drove my MCS all last winter fitted with steel wheels and Blizzaks. No problems at all. We have a relatively steep driveway and I had no difficulties climbing it in the snow - several neighbors actually commented they were surprised to see how easily it managed it.

Once the performance run flats were replaced with the Blizzaks the car was transformed.

 

The Goodyear all-seasons are 16" tires BTW and thats what I used last winter, and will be using this winter also. A lot is down to how one drives.

 

The Goodyear all-seasons do fine on Iowa snow...

 

winter tires a must

I drove my MINI to work in 20 cm. (about 8") of snow three days after I got it and had no trouble, except I wasn't crazy about the way it bottomed out on unplowed roads where the snow had accumulated between the tire tracks (athough the dealer assured me that the important components on the underside of the car are protected). I now take my wife's SUV to work in snowstorms. I have a 65km (40mi) round trip while she takes the kids around the corner to school. BOTTOM LINE: in normal winter conditions and with the winter wheel package, I have complete faith in the MINI.

 

The power steering fan (at last check) is rather unprotected, so if you do snow plow (in 4" or more of snow) for a long time, you run the risk of having the fan overheat. Its pretty obvious to see the fan if you look under the front of the car.

But yes, if you don't have over 4" of snow, you're perfectly fine..