Hi,

I am thinking hard about buying an Xb with a 5 speed. I am wondering if anyone has any experience driving one on snowy, icy backroads like the ones we have here in upstate New York?Is there enough ground clearance to get through snowdrifts when the plow guys pack it in at 8 p.m. and I am still on the road at midnight? Any other advice to a wannabe newbie Xb owner? Thanks!

 

I haven't drove through much deep snow yet, but with the relitavely skinny tires it handled the snow we get here quite well. I was very impressed with the VSC system.

 

well ican say they drive well in the snow suprizingly, but mine is def going to be plowing im sitting about 4 inch off the ground with steelies and tein springs and i live in minnesota

 

start in 2nd gear for more traction and less wheel spin thats the only thing a auto wont do and while in 2nd gear you can zoom right off the line in the snow ;) just a little hint

 

On packed snow, the xB is fine, but the first drift that you try to go over will cost you about a grand in replacement plastic.

 

hey guys i live in cincy and we just had a pretty good snow storm and we got about 18 inches or so...any way ive been doing a little bit of last minute xmas shopping and well since the snow has been plowed off the highways ive been driving and have noticed a horrible vibration at about 60mph...i think its some snow and ice packed underneath there but im not too sure so if anybody has some ideas or has experieced this let me know

-X

 

At four am Thurday morning as the northern edge of that big winter storm invaded Detroit I as on my way to work. Road crews were working to clear roads but the storm was pacing them good so roads continued to be nasty. I was pleased with how well this xB performed. Top speed for safe movement on the freeway was 30 mph, but I dropped to 20 when other cars were around, (the danger from spinouts was very high).

I never spun out. Traction control kicked in quite often, (and I discovered that it beeps sometimes...I'll have to check the manual to see what that beeping is for). But I never swerved and never got stuck.

Back home later that day I found that the county had plowed a nice wall of snow across my driveway. It was high enough for my front skirt to hit it but no harm was done. Just slow down, drop to first gear, and steady on the power and I'm moving through it.

I feel very confident in the bad weather in this car.

 

i live in Colorado, and we got a good little bit of snow the last few days, and i was wondering what it was going to be like with my xb. it did not let me dwn at all. never really slide or slipped too much just once when i wanted to. (i had that same beep sound in mine) i think that it is just a warning sound don't know why, you know when you lost control of your car

 

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The Beep-Beep is your warning that the skid control is actually putting on the brake on the one wheel that is causing the skid. It works much faster than that though. It really works in the blink of an eye. It is a different system than the TRAC control which can be turned off with the switch on the dash. You can't turn off the skid control. You can see it work at night. As soon as you try to make it skid sideways on a snowy road at night, the lights dim. That system pulls big power and amps to work. For a 14,000 dollar car, it's a hell of a system to have, and most cars that cost twice as much don't have a skid control system.

 

I live in Anchorage, AK, so I have had quite a bit of experience with snow since I bought my xB in August. I have studded tires, which helps a lot for stopping and a little bit for going. The traction control kicks in a lot when I try to start moving, but once it grabs it goes just fine. The vehicle stability control (the one that beeps) only activates when I am going around a slippery corner or over a very bumpy stretch of road.

The one thing I have to watch out for is curbs/other hard obstacles in the road that get hidden by the snow.

Overall, it's great in the snow!

nick

 

i've noticed that too but it goes away when the tires throw the packed snow off them selfs, at least thats what i think is happenin

 

I've had a problem like this on another car when I got a lump of frozen snow/ice inside the wheel that unbalanced it. This seems particularly likely with the Xb's small brake/large wheel combination.

Try parking in a heated garage overnight and see if the problem melts itself away!

George

 

Whoa. If it works well in AK (at least from the pictures and shows I've seen).. then it shouldn't be too bad around here.

Thanks to all the input I've seen here.. I've been feeling safer in the xB even more so.

 

I live in upstate NY an as of yet we haven;t had as much snow as usual in my area but in the few snowy days the xb has handles suprisingly well. I did buy 4 snow tires for it as I am a fanatic sbout the suckyness of all season tires, but it is stable and grippy in the e vsc keeps the parking l ebrake fun to a minimum, and there is no way to turn it off which is a hassle. I often turn the traction control off in deep snow because I am more comfortable controlling the rate of spinning wheels with my right foot than having the computer do it for me with the brakes.ALso the ABS system works very well in the snow, quite impressive. Overall, a good snow car and that's from someone who drove a WRX with 4 snows for the last 3 winters.

The problem with vibration from ohio is definitely snow and ice buildup on the inside of the wheels, if the person does not have access to a heated garage, go to a car wash that uses hot water .

 

The NYC area just got hit with some snow.. glad I took the xB out today to test what everyone's been saying.
Up the Taconic, thru the Sprain, etc.. It ran well through some unplowed areas and slipped a little but not enough for the VSC to kick in.
Hitting one local road with only one tire track line was fun. Like Davestoaster said, the amps kicked in when I tried to skid out on purpose. I'm beyond pleased..