I can report similar snow success. I live in a very snowy belt of Michigan, Subaru country, and we've had significant accumulation since before Thanksgiving. That includes several mornings with 8 or more inches on the roads. I have a set of Hakkapeliittas, 16-inchers, that went right on my standard rims. [They took my run-flats off and differed in opinion as to whether they would ever work again- I don't care...]
Anyway, the Clubbie just scoots everywhere, and the DSC with the automatic works like a charm. I get the braking effect from my automatic [in Sport] to an extent as well. Interesting is the fact that pushing DSC button seems to have no effect; like I can't turn it off.
The Clubman's worst winter problem is the rear, which is solid white every day, and despite the constant melting of the rear defroster, my rear view is often obscured by an icy mix. I end up manually cleaning it. Also the window dip is thwarted by the frozen moisture, so they struggle to dip against the icy glue.
My front wipers miss parts of the window when they get icy.
The 4x4's here are known for being involved in more than their share of spin-offs due to their high center of gravity. I like being low and stable. I doubt that I'll have a problem unless I hit an extreme situation in which case I'd miss a Subaru's talents.
Lots of topics in this post. Is there a better winter thread for it all? I like the story that started this one!

 

I'm not that surprised since the car is front wheel drive. The Swedes have driven similar vehicles for years and never had any major problems with roads up there and trust me, it snows a lot more there! A front wheel drive car handles pretty well in the snow. My old car was a Dodge Intrepid and it NEVER got stuck in the snow. I'll stick with front wheel drive forever if I can't afford AWD.

 

I think the driver would commit suicide instead of subject him/herself to that kind of humiliation!

 

Great story, Schatzy.

I just posted about our experiences today in the snow storm in our automatic Clubman with snow tires here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...27-post77.html Soooooo glad I got the snow tires and while an unbelievable number of cars were either stuck or had spun out...or little Sliver Sleigh had narry a problem.

 

Wow! I am impressed! I too came from a large V8 chevy SSR with 20" tires that was just great fun to drive, when the weather was good. But even in rain, that beast slid out terrifyingly easy on every turn. You really had to be super careful. ON snow it was the worst ever! The tires just did not stick to the road. My clubman really sticks like glue in the rain. Have not had it in the snow yet and hope I don't have to but nice to know it does well in that kind of muck.

 

I nearly scared myself to death in my clubbie with stock all-seasons the other day. So I took the car to the Mercedes Benz dealer and fed it to a Blutec GL. Bye Bye Clubbie, Bye Bye... Ill miss you when the snow melts.

 

Zoomed around literally all day yesterday in and around NYC on All Season 15's with no problems. Uphills, downhills, icy roads. Left a few large SUV's behind.

Kept it in manual mode and usually turn DSC off in the snow (i feel more in control with it off)

 

We got 12" or more in Kenmore NY last night. My clubman with just the all season tires did fine coming home from work. LOL I amazed workmates who were trying to dig their cars out in the parking lot by just getting in my car, starting it up, and plowing through the 20" high plow drift to motor on out of there. I will probably pony up for snow tires next winter for the extra grip, after I recover from just buying the car. It really does fine so far with just the all seasons. Ground clearance would be my only concern. Much over 6 or 8 inches on the road and I foresee problems. (But hey, for the high taxes in Kenmore they can just keep the roads well cleared!)

 

I live in LA and go to mammoth all the time, so I too needed to buy chains/cables for my '09 justaclubman.

I got the SCC Shure Grip Cable Z. for my stock 15" wheels/tires, the manufacturer recommended the SZ319 size. (I might recommend the next large size up for installation convenience) I just used them for the first time last weekend and they were incredibly snug/tight/small. Very tricky to install. But once i got them on, the car drove great in the snow. Mammoth had gotten 30 inches in the two days before I got there.

**I turned of DSC with the chains, that seemed to help when driving in heavy snow and ice-covered roads with chains.

**while driving with chains the "Low Tire" warning light came on. I've read about this on NAM so I considered it a normal occurance. but now that I'm back in LA with the chains off, the "Low Tire" light hasn't gone off. Is this something I have to go to the dealer to fix?

 

This story made me giggle. I'm totally emailing this to my friends that drive huge trucks.

 

PepperSClubman, Are you no longer a Clubman Fan? Do you like your Mercedes?

 

I ended up ordering the SZ319 size because of the manufacturer's site, and will just have to struggle through installation. They are arriving tomorrow (I belong to Amazon Prime, so everything gets sent second day) and I need to use them as early as Xmas day.

As to the low tire pressure light, it is resettable by the driver using the button at the end of the directional stalk. Check the drivers manual, as you have to scroll through a number of menues to get to the right display.

Thanks for posting your experience.

 

I love the clubman however it just couldn't survive in my garage. It was neither practical enough nor sporty enough. I have 3 cars that are more fun to drive than the clubbie ('09 M3, '99 M Coupe, and '94 348 Spider). Both my AWD vehicles are more practical than the clubbie ('08 328xiT and '09 MB GL 320). Only one of the above cars speak to my heart like the clubbie did (An F-car destroys all comers in the visceral experience department). I should have traded the clubbie towards the M3 but I thought the the clubbie would get me though the winter. I'm just not gonna pick my daughter up from daycare in a MINI if I'm scarring myself on the way there.

The Merc is boring... If it weren't for the fact that I can do fun things with my family at the destination having carried with us everybody, everybody's gear, and the dog. You just can't do that in a clubbie unless you have max 4 persons, a tiny dog and all your gear consists of D&D miniatures.

I wish the clubbie had worked out for me. I really enjoyed road tripping in that car. I might just order a vert for the spring.