All cold weather drivers'
My wife wants a mini but is terrible concerned about clearance and driving in snow in the South Bend Indiana areas. Help me with this concern.

Thanks,
Fred

 

As someone who has driven his MINI every winter for the past 7 years, in the Lake-Effect snowbelt of Syracuse, and with frequent trips along the NYS Thruway to Buffalo, I can say with absolute confidence that the MINI is a wonderful car in the winter, *(with real snow tires; NOT all-seasons).

Not to take anything away from all-season tires, (I never tried them in the deep snow we get here). I just cannot comment on all-season tires' capabilities on a MINI, in the winter snow.

I don't know if you get the snow levels that I'm used to seeing, (for instance, we got around 280" this winter), so I cannot tell you if you need dedicated snow tires for South Bend Indiana. Only you can answer that one.

But for my area, the MINI with snow tires works awesome. Yes, the car is somewhat low to the ground, so ground clearance may make you queasy, but even in the deep stuff I regularly encounter, the MINI still was great, and never had problems or damage...

I say, buy with confidence, and don't even give it another ounce of worry.

 

I've driven my MINI evry day through 2 Madison, WI winters with no problems. My MINI goes up snow-covered hills that many other vehicles cannot.

 

with a set of Blizzaks, the Mini is damned good in the snow.

yep it has less clearance than a SUV most certainly.

if there is more than 6" of snow on the roads though, I'd not be driving unless I had to.

with the exception of deep snow (e.g. during the blizzard!) the Mini benefits from the usual virtues of a FWD car having two thirds of the weight over the driven wheels. In addition the car is very controllable and has a pretty good traction control system.

so I'd just ask - how many days out of the year will require driving while the roads are essentially un-plowed?

(Ps: I enclose a picture of my personal snow plow setup, used here in New England)

 

Hey....that's cool. I didn't you can do that.

 

Thanks for the info. South Bend gets around 130 inches a year, so we should be fine. Was considering the Clubman for the snow.

 

Thanks. I was considering a Clubman for the snow.....neat snow plow!

 

Thanks for the help

 

Real snow tires are all that you need....

 

I just completed my first winter in Buffalo, NY and can say that with 4 snows I had no issues.

I did snowplow a couple of times but never got stuck...

I'm sold on the MINI in winter.

 

My Cooper does awesome on deep snow equipped with proper winter tires (Falken Espia EPZ.) and heavy-*** wheels. This is me atop a network of winding country roads that are outside of city limits and unplowed, we had about 14" of snow that day. Buses weren't running, University was closed, Cooper was owning the road.

 

I grew up in North Dakota and now live in Seattle, so I have had experience driving in two very different types of winter. Haven't had the MINI in a ND winter yet, but I can say hands down this is the best car I have ever driven in the snow. It's an '02 R50 with the 195-75 R15 tires, M+S. Stock or base level Continentals are what I have and they do good with the snow we have around here, which is usually wet and slushy but not very well plowed or cleared. Due to the hilly terrain, I keep cable chains in the boot and put them on when needed. With those chains there's almost no hill around here that will stop the MINI. During the '08 two week snow/no plowing event that we had, I was even giving co-workers rides to work. Embrace driving a MINI in the snow!

 

... and see if you can channel Paddy Hopkirk at the Monte Carlo!

 

The MINI is only a half inch lower than a Prius, I would not trust my Prius in deep snow, that's why I have switched to my MINI.

Buck

 

Just finished my 3rd Winter driving 100 miles/day between Angola, IN and Fort Wayne, IN. I have run summer tires all 3 winters and only got stuck once in about 8" of snow trying to pull into my driveway. The Mini handles as good as any FWD car I have ever driven in the snow! BTW, I hate snow! Florida sounds awfully good around the 1st of Feb.....

 

Which is exactly why I no longer live in Indiana (monticello/west lafayette area). I moved to Jacksonville, FL this past January a week before the winter got real bad up there! I was lucky haha. However, I will be wishing I was back in Indiana when July and August come around. 110 Degree heat ... ughhhh.

Can't say that I've missed the snow and winter at all so far. I love Indiana, but Florida is a nice change of pace. The big downside is florida is all flat and Indiana has all the twisties :(

I bet the mini is a blast to drive in the snow. Maybe someday I'll make it back up there when there is fluffy white stuff on the ground still. I'll be flying back up in a few weeks hopefully it warms up a bit.

 

I have an 05 MCS here in southern NH and we do get a bit of snow. A good set of snow tires (Blizzaks are awesome) slow down a bit and you'll get through just fine. Where it snows a lot or at least more than here, the plows take care of it. If not, everybody has a snow day and world continues turning tomorrow.