Back in early 2010 we had a lot of snow in southern England when I had to drive a lot, preparing for a new job while finishing off my previous work. As I drove past stranded rear-wheel drive cars, especially BMWs, I felt smug in my Cougar which was surprisingly capable in the snow. Even an alloy V6 puts a fair amount of weight on the drive wheels.
So what about this winter? My beautiful new machine will be my only car. Although I don’t drive so much I need reliable transport. How does the MX-5 drive in the snow? Do I need to go to the expense of winter tyres?
Never had a problem .while others have been stuck,i go flying past, i do have winter tyres on rims for easy cleaning and a set of snow tyres on some OE metal rims if it gets to deep as i live on a slope out.
It is like anything you change the way you drive to the conditions your faced with, i have never been stuck in all of the years of dealing with the Mx/Roadsters
They are very good in snow. If they are not…then it’s a driver issue. Harsh, but true.
We have run 2 Mx5’s in Scotland for 7 years without issues…or snow tyres for that matter. Having said that we are ancient and have had to deal with snow driving most of our lives. I was on the road for decades with Cortinas, Capris, etc as company cars going up and down the dreaded A9 so it’s pretty much second nature. I’ve found those who have had a steady diet of front wheel drive vehicles equipped with driver aids are the worst prepared but that is not their fault. The 5 is perfectly balanced…it’s not “light at the back end” at all. I’m not going to get into the usual pre-winter thread clash of what’s best but can only advise from decades of experience.
Keep the fuel tank full, keep the revs down, use the highest gears possible without labouring the drive train, ensure your tyres have plenty tread, and drive the Jackie Stewart School of Motoring way. That is, imagine there is a dish on the bonnet with an orange in it. The task is to drive so smoothly the orange does not roll out the dish.Some will smirk at that or discount it as twaddle. Crack on. It kept me going for 35 years in the worst Scotland can chuck at you, and I was trained by a Norwegian.
You will find your 5 will “talk” to you through the seat & steering and let you know the score. It’s lovely & communicative when the going gets tough.
I would say, if in doubt…a set of cheap steelies with winter tyres are cheaper than paint swapping or worse but remember they will wear quicker on metalled roads.
Good winter tyres essentially transform the thing to like driving with normal tyres in rain. But, if you are doing low miles as you say…it’s a matter of money over benefit.
Of course if the snow is say alloy rim depth you would have to question the wisdom of driving at all! There will be some imbecile waiting for you.
I also ran one for 2 winters in Scotland, a mk1. It was fine, even in some alarmingly deep stuff (well, deep for a 5).
To satisfy your inner hooligan I recommend finding an empty car park (that you know doesn’t have any hidden curbs) and spend the next hour looking out the side window. Great opportunity to learn how it handles.
Winter tyres ,even on rear are a great benefit and people here in Ireland put them on ( sometimes good used secondhand ones from tyre shops like ex Germany tyres etc)in October and drive till Fabruary etc no issues.What I have learned over the uears is that standard tyres start to stiffen up and start to lose grip once temperature is less that +6degrees ( yes less that PLUS 6 degrees) but are ok to use to 0 degrees etc.BUT winter tyres only stiffen up and lose grip from MINUS 10degrees!!So mich better traction etc from 6 degrees downwards.Ideal for UK climate.The winter tyres seem to wear slightly quicker because of softer rubber but no real issue as they are cheaop especially used ones.Also dont forget winter tyres star out new with 8mm thread as standard tyres new are only 6mm so half worn winter tyres maybe 4/5mm still left on the tgread so well usable.
Sounds like she will be fine. I have driven in some pretty awful conditions in FWD cars, learning as I went by starting out very carefully and getting more confident. January 2010 was brilliant for that, as the roads in the SE were empty! Managed to do so without incident or more than a brief, controlled loss of traction so I will treat it as a new kill in RWD car, start cautiously, and shall take the advice.
Of course the safest thing to do would be to find a wide, empty area such as a car park and practice deliberately drifting and losing traction, to learn what she feels like (and yes, she is very informative) as she is about to lose traction and to learn how to control it and recover. Nothing to do with my inner hooligan. At least that is the reason I shall give the missus
Pupstar (scottishfiver) is right mind you - i stll have mine of winters come the season
And, winter tyres are for precisely that - winter and not just the white stuff Certainly helped me move forward in my relationship with beloved - who is also now the proud owner of a 5
Winter tyres simply work more efficiently below 7C
You need snow tyres, or you’ll probably get stranded, especially with an open diff. The best driver in the world can’t get a car to move if there is no friction between the tyre and the road.
I had a NB last winter and had no problems getting home from work in the worst weather (and I live 350 meters above Sea Level) As a previous poster has said, keep it steady and be sensible - I was lucky as I work shifts so was driving home after 10pm when the traffic was light but the car is remarkably communicative, you know a slide is coming & the cars are easy to control.
The only trouble I has was because the car is low in comparison to other vehicles I could get “grounded” and have to try to dig snow out from underneath the middle of the car !!
Now I’ve upgraded to NC with 17" Wheels and an LSD/DSC it could be completely different - guess I’ll have to report back in April … ;@
My brief sugestion is Bridgestone A001 all weather tyres. My missus has to work late some evenings so to be sure she is safe and sound when its winter or raining heavy I put 4 on her Seat Altea Sport, the noise levels are low, these are now into their second year with plenty of tread and you can use them all year. I’ve read reviews where they have also transformed poor traction BMW 3 and 5 series motors when the white stuff comes.
The rubber is the only thing that keeps you on the straight and narrow so when it comes to tyres and cars with the family in I don’t mind spending a tad more.
Well I have the NC with the limited-slip differential and the DSC driving 17" alloys, so will be learning alongside croppedbear! I can assume the technology will help (most of the time the ESP on the Cougar seemed to help). I’ll certainly look at all-weather tyres.
Of course another problem I’ve just thought of is that I can’t fit a shovel in the boot in the emergency kit (should manage some carpet for traction, blankets, food and water). Might have to look out for a second-hand entrenching tool.
Any car with winter tyres will perform far better on snow than a 4x4 on standard tyres. Please buy yourself an early Xmas present of four decent winter tyres.
FWIW, I bought Nokian WR A3 tyres which are available in 205/50R16 (they’re XL rated although you don’t need that).
The independent reviews suggest they’re as good as the Michelin Alpins but they cost a lot less. They’re also good for rolling resistance and wet grip.
However, any winter tyre is better than a summer tyre if it snows. I had very cheap Nankang SV-2 winter tyres on the Mk1 and they did what they said on the tin.
The problem is if it does not snow much and we get a mild winter. Here it will mainly be rainy and the odd bit of sleet and so premium summer tyres can actually be better than winter tyres in the wet. Certainly they will be better than cheap winters.
Winter tyres actually stop you getting stuck though so they are useful at times. I’ve never bought any but to be honest only needed them about 3 times in the last 20+ years so not really value for money but then I do live in the SE of England and not the Cairngorms.
For driving tips my advice is
Avoid gradients
If you cannot avoid gradients avoid losing momentum, if you stop you will be buggered.
Main roads even if they are clammed up. Once you go off on B roads you might bite off more than you can chew.
Stay in the middle of the road if nothing coming the other way. If the roads are really bad then you might slide on the camber and then get stuck against the kerb.
Have you hand on the handbrake, if you start to understeer correct it with the handbrake rather than the brakes as with the handbrake you can cover the throttle better.
Oversteer into a spin ? Jump out of the car whilst videoing it for youtube. 10 000 000 views
