Hey guys,

My gf is interested in getting a 1st gen xB. We just have a question for you guys:

How does the xB fare in the snow? I know that no car is really invincible in the snow, and as long as you drive sanely you should be ok, but....is it average like any other car? below avg? We are located in Jersey btw.

Thanks guys

 

Last winter was my first winter in Wisconsin with my xB (record-breaking snow, to boot), stock everything. Not bad at all, but I did get stuck once on an unplowed road with about 6 inches of snow on it. Moral: don't drive on an unplowed road with 6 inches of snow on it. Overall, it was pretty good. Keep your tired properly inflated and make sure they have tread on them, and try to avoid driving in a blizzard.

 

It's fantastic in the snow. I'm lowered two inches and did great in a Chicago winter. The traction control and VSC are fantastic.

 

Chicago, three years. Fantastic. Handled better than my 4X4 Blazer. Buy one.

And, of course, VSC saved my life.

I was about to start whining about how nobody uses the SEARCH function anymore, but *I* just searched for "xB snow" and the only relevant topic in the first few pages is this one. o_0 What the hell? this topic comes up like every four months.

At any rate, the xB is surprisingly capable in the snow. It's low weight makes it a freaking jackrabbit. I've only ever been stuck once, and that's because I got to work at 5 in the morning and it snowed an additional 12 inches before I got off work.

That's not really THAT unusual for Chicago (nothing closed, for instance), but I imagine more than you're likely to get in Jersey. And about 20 times what you'd need for any Texas city to be declared a federal disaster area.

 

Yea i tried searching earlier and wasnt too successful. But at any rate, thanks for the responses...we are going to the toyota dealership to look at xBs later. Same dealership i got my tC from back in '04...ahh memories

 

With the crappy walmart tires that came with mine, it was ok in the snow. This winter with the Kumhos, it should be a lot better.

FWD + relatively limited power = excellent traction if you don't do anything stupid.

 

Winter One: fine

Winter Two: EXCELLENT


Difference: BFGoodrich Traction T/A H High Performance All-Season 185/65HR15 tires



With the tire change, my '06 xB became the best winter commuter I've ever driven.

 

I have to say it's good in the snow stock, and gets alot better when you make sure you are not running the goodyear tires from the factory.

I'm still deciding what tires i want to run on my 15" alloys this year.

 

BFGoodrich Traction T/A H High Performance All-Season 185/65HR15 tires . . . if I may say . . . . .

 

The first 2 years mine saw snow it did great. Now it no longer will see snow or salt. Got a beater for the trips up north at Christmas and Thanksgiving.

 

I have a Nissan Sentra beater for the winter. Our winters are brutal, especially with all of the damn salt they put out!...

Anyways, I can't answer the ? but I've heard it handles well!

 

I'm putting my Blizzaks on after Thanksgiving. This winter should be a blast with those tires.

XB is great in the snow. -- traction control, stability control, ABS,
- just make sure there are deep treads in your tires, My Goodyears are down to 5/32 and I wouldn't trust them this coming winter.

 

What year Sentra you got. I got a 96' GXE 4 dr. with 122K on it.

 

The only issues I've ever had with my xB in the snow were because of the non-stock tires I bought it with. I can't recall the brand but despite being "all season" the tread pattern looked like a performance tire and was useless in the snow. Even with that the only time I actually got *stuck* was trying to take a left into my driveway from a dead stop on a street with 6-8" of unplowed snow (during a storm so bad it took me over an hour to do my 15min commute).

 

It does great. I spent last winter working at a ski area in Montana. Drove through snow, ice, etc. everyday on the way to work and my wife or I had no problems.

One suggestion, though....Bridgestone Blizzaks...tirerack.com

 

Been so long since it's been winter (though it seems like yesterday), I forgot about the traction and stability control. With those, the box handles better than my fiancee's Santa Fe.

Speaking of stability control (and slightly off-topic), I had a weird experience last summer. I was driving on the freeway during a nasty tornado outbreak, and a tornado alert came on the radio saying radar was tracking a funnel cloud on the ground and it was expected to cross the intersection of the freeway I was on and a cross highway in three minutes -- right as I passed a sign saying I was 3 miles from that intersection. No sooner than I said to myself "This is not good," the box started violently shaking and shimmying like I've never experienced before, and the stability and/or traction lights (I don't know which, I was too freaked out) lit up like a Christmas tree and started beeping like crazy. It felt like I was hydroplaning, but it wasn't raining at that moment and I was going downhill. I had no control of the car for a few seconds, then suddenly, it all stopped. And despite the apparent loss of control, the Box kept on going straight and true. I never saw a funnel cloud or anything, or even noticed any trees blowing, but it sure felt like I might have gotten caught in a mini tornado or some kind of crazy intense wind event for a few seconds.

So apparently the xB is good in tornadoes, too.

 

So, it'll handle snow AND tornadoes! Makes it an IDEAL Minnesota car, then . . . .

 

Two years ago, I got stuck in the parking lot of my condo running all season tires when it was packed snow/ice. It was pretty lame because there was only a couple small ruts where another vehicle had parked, but that was all it took. My previous vehicle had AWD and would pull out of anything as long as it was below the bumper. So last year I got Blizzaks for the winter. Then we had only one day of bad ice/snow.

BTW, I hate the traction control in the snow or rain. With it on, it'll hop and jump all over if you try to accelerate quickly from a stop. With it turned off, it may give a little spin and smoothly be on it's way. Also, the traction control did nothing to help me get out of my parking space. And I haven't had the stability control come on since swapping out the stock Goodyears.

 

Don't quote me on this, but I believe you had an encounter with the OUTFLOW BOUNDARY.

On the leading edge of a supercell (a giant organized thunderstorm that produces tornados), you will find all the air that's coming OUT of the system. The system is drawing air in on the other side (which is what forms the tornado), and it's all spewing out on the leading edge. The wind can literally go from 0 MPH to 60 MPH or more in a few seconds...it sounds like that's what you encountered. Especially if you'd just crested a hill and exposed yourself to airflow.

The box has always been vulnerable to high winds, especially in wet conditions...I got blown all the way off the road once during a sleet storm with very high winds. The traction control may very well have saved you from a high-speed 360.

Traction control is not designed to help you get out of a parking space. In fact, that's why it has an "OFF" button.

Getting out of a stop in slippery conditions is one of the few places you wouldn't want TC. If you NEED the tires to spin, just turn it off.

 

I'm pretty sure getting the car moving from a stop in slippery conditions, whether in a parking spot or on the road, is precisely where the traction control is intended to assist. The switch to turn it off is for conditions where it's preferable to "dig" through to a solid surface or to spin.

In this case, I was on ice. I don't think there was enough traction at either wheel. But the traction control didn't seem to do anything despite the light coming on saying it was working- the same one wheel kept spinning. It'd have thought it would use the brake to stop the one wheel and at least make the other wheel spin a little. Maybe I expected too much from a system in an economy car.