Well, two more nice things:

1: There is so much separation between the headlights and my eye level that driving in heavy snow I can still use the high beams. Try that in my Chevy truck and I am blinding by the back glare!

2: There is literally nothing behind the rear tires, so driving in wet or snow produces awesome rooster tails. Not only does this look cool, but by aiming for the slush I can completely cover the windshield of any idiot tailgaters behind me!

Pete

 

It is snowing right here (WI), right now, and I have my new Blizzaks on my MINI - we're going out. I've been out in some trace snow and it went very well, I'm going to see the capabilities of the tires today now that they're broken in!

Yay snow!

 

You'll be pleased with the Blizzaks, they pull like a snowmobile. The front air dam is a plow, watch the snow depth and watchout for "leaks" (idiot winter drivers). Bring on the snow.

 

One thing I have found in deep snow is that as the MINI plows through it, snow flies up over the bonnet. This can blind you even on a clear day, be ready with the wipers, they help.

But it sure is fun

One thing I have done at the beginning of every winter, no matter the car or truck, is find an empty snow covered parking lot, and practice turning, hard braking, braking and turning, and playing with the e-brake

I also get used to going from dry highway to snow packed shoulders. The MINI is the best car I have owned making that transition

 

This is an obvious one, but this is my first car with a useable e-brake, so that is proving to be great fun in the snow.

 

what's snow? You mean that cold stuff they used to truck from the mountains and dump on the soccerfield in elementary school? None of us had licenses back then, so we never thought to drive in it. And it was usually just a wet spot on the ground by the time we got out of school and could get our bikes out there.

 

I've got a dumb question... what is a rooster tail?

 

A rooster tail is the rearward expulsion of all the slushy stuff you just drove through as the channels in your tires - at higher speed - do their thing and move the liquid matter away from the space between tire and road.

Without mudflaps and with a sufficiently short tail on your car, the trajectory of the stuff coming off your tires is pretty vertical behind the car, leading to the rooster tail formation as the slush flies high and comes to earth in a long rearward arc behind the car. Usually, you never stay in prolonged slush long enough to enjoy a persistent rooster tail - but like the northern lights it can be a periodic thing of beauty.

Bill