I have yet to read any comments on how the Mini drives in the snow. I would appreciate any comments. I plan to get a MCS in mid-2005. Thanks!

 

I really hate to drive in the snow because of the salt. It gets especially nasty under the bonnet!

That said, the MCS handles wonderfully in the snow with the 16" all-seasons. If you don't drive in snow that's high enough to hang up your belly, you'll be fine. As long as you have tread on the road, you'll go.

 

Forget the runflats in the snow - they stink!!! As long as the snow is not too deep - you'll be okay - we survived a pretty nasty winter back East last year. Anything over about 6-7 inches on the roads will be tough going.

Chow!

Donna

 

There are LOTS of threads here on the topic of handling in the snow. Use the search button to the right of the drop-down menu, and search for "snow traction" or something like that.

The MINI handles about as well as other small front-wheel drive cars I've driven in the snow and ice.

 

I MINI seems to handle decently with out traction control or DSC on. Meaning, you'll slide like any car. With traction or DSC on, though It does pretty well. We had a couple of bad snows and it managed better than I though it would. Like Donna said, if you get past 5-6 inches, though, your not drive through the snow, your plowing it.

 

It all depends entirely on the tires and how you drive with them.

I originally had the 17" Pirelli Euprhora summer runflats... and they were almost frightening how poorly they tracked in the snow, at least in fresh snow. Seems after it had a chance to set and freeze a little it bit into it better and wasn't too horribly bad, but while the snow was falling just forget going anywhere in that car.

I bought a set of 15" rims and Bridgestone Blizzaks from TireRack and they are AMAZING! The car can go nearly anywhere with them, the only problem being the car's low rdie height. The only thing that caused problems for me this winter was snow getting so deep that the car became a snowplow, but that was some extreme driving into areas even the police couldn't get to easily.

All season tires will do better than the summers, but for true peace of mind just buy a set of wheels with dedicated snow tires on them. Once that is done this car is amazing in the snow.

 

Addendum....

the wheels cost me about $25 each from tire rack but if you go to your dealer they often have tradein wheels that customers didn't want laying around, might be worth asking around for an old set of 15's as they'd look better and probably last longer. Might be cheaper too...

A couple weeks ago I saw a set of 15" MINI wheels with nearly new runflats on them sell for a little over $200. Drive the snot out of the runflats, replace them with Blizzak's or another good snow tire (cheaper for 15's that 17's) and you are set for the iwnter.

You can get snow tires in other sizes, but I found the larger you went the more limiting the choices and the more epensive the tires. For me, it was cheaper to just buy a new set of rims with the tires than it would have been to buy tires in 17" and pay to have them swapped out. Cheaper and easier, plus if something ever happens to my stock rims I have a backup set in the garage.

 

Here we don't have much snow, but we have more icy road condition.
My tires are all-season runflat and one day we had almost 3/4 inch ice covered all over the place and it was tough to drive when I get out the garage.
I tried DSC off and found out that it was almost impossible to forward.
Again switched DSC on, then I could drive slowly, but safely.
My conclusion here is DSC is must-have function for bad road condition.
Of course we can't go beyond the physics, but it helps a lot. It works!

I know tire is another important factor for driving under bad road condition.
I made a lot of investigation when I ordered my MCS and concluded all-season would be the best if I had no winter tires.
That was correct.
A friend of mine who owns BMW 330i also says summer tire is only good on dry condition.

Get all-season and order DSC for your future MCS!

Happy motoring!