The Canadian Winter Has Begun!

[Solostian]

Over the last 24 hours, we received 30 cm (1 foot) of snow in Montreal.
I took out my Hybrid FWD Maverick out for a milk run to my local Home Depot in the city.
(Time to get a new shovel!)

As expected, the Mav was snowed in and it took me a good 15 minutes to clear.
Getting it out of its parking spot was similar to any other FWD vehicle I've had in the past.
Switching to "Slippery" drive mode did reduce wheel slip somewhat.
It felt like it was balancing the power between the two front wheels.
Stop signs and traffic lights were a bit trickier than ICE vehicles because of the constant attempts at regenerative braking which only involves the front wheels.
It feels like it exacerbates the known issue of "grabby brakes" the Hybrids have.

After a few more sorties, I'm sure I'll learn to adapt.
A positive experience for this first snow drive.

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[Solostian]

Over the last weekend, I did my first highway drive during a heavy snowfall. The road was snow covered and I couldn't see 10 feet ahead on this one hour drive.
I kept the drive mode on Slippery all the way.

I drove at speeds varying from 60 km/h to 100 km/h and did not experience a single loss of control. Even had to do an emergency break at some point. Flawless!

All in all, very positive experience.

Next challenge will be drifting in the empty parking lot of a near shopping mall at night.

 

[McBear]

You drove 60 to 100km/h with 10 feet visibility ?
Now i know why those 70 car pile ups happen

 

[icegradner]

You drove 60 to 100km/h with 10 feet visibility ?
Now i know why those 70 car pile ups happen

Sounds about right for crazy people. I wonder how he'll do when the freezing rain hits?

 

[SLINGSHOT]

60 kliks is 25 mph. 100 is 65 mph.

 

[RedRider]

60 kliks is 25 mph. 100 is 65 mph.

I assume that he is greatly exaggerating the actual visibility. The first thing to do with only 3m visibility is get those headlights off to stop reflected light from blinding you. Anything over 10km/h with only 3m visibility is just plain incompetent driving. Try it and see how long your stopping distance really is, including the absolute minimum 200msec recognition time and 500msec to get your foot over to the brake, and that's without skidding to a stop. Here's a very simplistic calculator for stopping distance on dry pavement:
https://www.random-science-tools.com/physics/stopping-distance.htm

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