Firstly, 8 inches of snow is too much for nearly any car. I dont care what you say about your 325is or 240sx, my Audi a6 would have had a hard time in 8 inches of snow with winter tires. And that thing was a tank... literally.

Secondly, you cant complain about the nannies not working when it's so easy to turn them off. TRAC and VSC are primarily designed for icy conditions, not mounds of snow. It's normal that you may have to turn them off from time to time.

Maybe you need to re evaluate what the reasonable limit of a car should be. Because if you think tracking through 8 inches of snow is reasonable, then you need a jeep not a car.

@hmong337, don't worry about all of these "amazing" drivers, everyone is Sebastian Vettel over the internet...

To me you were screwed no matter your driving abilities. 10" of snow in a car with just over 4" of ground clearance is going to be a problem for anyone. Some people must have just gotten the hover car version.

No, more of a Colin McRae (rip)

I'm not an f1 driver but I am a studded ice series hot shoe lol.

Sent from, The Frozen North

Not for someone with some common sense, as they'd never drive a car with less than 5" ground clearance in 10" of snow. What did you expect? That the car would plough the snow away? And it was more like 10cm last night than 10".

My old Jetta sure worked well as a plow :D It had less clearance at the bumper than my FRS does, but because the lip was vertical it would push stuff out of the way instead of just lifting up and sitting on top of the snow.

http://vnc.thewpp.ca/photos/misc/height.jpg

If that is how you really feel, why wait til the spring when the conditions are better to enjoy this type of car, sell it now and get a winter car that you feel would perform up to your standards.

I can't say I know how you feel b/c we get nothing remotely close to your weather here in Florida...but I also bought my car knowing that too.

s3 Tapatalk

I don't see why there's so much fuss about this. It's snowing and icing over like crazy this year, I won't deny that. I know this is an enthusiast forum built around the love of a car platform. That said, let's be honest here.

Said car is not built for a Canadian (and especially an Ontario) environment. Let's face it. We've got shit, sorry excuses for roads with more potholes than a teenager's face. We salt more than McDonald's. Our highways are populated by dump trucks and assholes driving F-150s with no mud flaps. Our police force doesn't want us going faster than snail pace on our main arteries of traffic.

Having said all that, I knew all of this BEFORE I bought the car. Years of living (and you sound like you've been driving longer than I've been alive or something) here means you should have known what you were getting into. Your super low light sports car with shitty paint isn't doing well in the winter? No one should be surprised. I still bought the car knowing all of this. Yes, it sucks the bumper scraps coming out of plazas. Yes, your bumper is going to look like someone hit it with a shotgun. Yes, all my friends roll my eyes when I say someone else has to drive, because I can only take one other person. And yes, you're going to have trouble in the snow, whatever your opinion of the nannies are. Such is life with this car. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. There are definitely a few too many people on these forums willing to defend the platform to the death. The "cheap 28K sports car, hence you should live with creaks and crickets" defence doesn't fly with me. You can't have it both ways. It might be a great toy in the warmer months, but it's going to suck in the winter. No one is saying it isn't going to. You're just going to have to live with it, or buy another car, as you've already suggested.

My personal opinion on cars is that there's no single "all-purpose" car. Even if there was, trust me, it wouldn't be something with a micron of ground clearance, only two functional seats, and barely enough trunk space for an overnight trip.

Endnote: I'll close with an admission that I've had no trouble getting around in the winter with the 86. If you drive it like any other (econobox) car, it performs exactly the same. Use common sense, carry some salt/dirt/kitty litter with you, as well as an emergency kit and a shovel. That applies to all cars, not just the twins. My street is covered in snow and ice, and I still get in and out just fine.

No, Torsen can do this basically forever.

If I could thank your post twice @Taro, I would.

This thread went viral while I was at work. Drove the BRZ today to get the snow melted off in my nice warm and dry underground parkade. The awd Jaguar XF lives in my heated garage at home. The poor old Subie gets to freeze itself outdoors. Those of you familiar with my thinly veiled contempt for the winter driving capability of this car may be surprised to learn I do leave the awd Jag at home some days in preference to the challenge of skating to work in my Subie.

Calgary has had more snow this winter so far than at any time since 1902 or something. Proof is the city announced today that they would be removing snow from the roads (not just pushing it into parked cars) since spring was three months away. Really! Calgarians actually paying for snow removal!

These cars are not as good as the could be and should be in winter. They are too difficult to drive in slippery conditions.

However, I did notice today that the traction is actually quite good if you don't mind a little fishtailing as both drive wheels spin up.

The VSC and TC are also excellent as those systems go.

One thing I did notice is when left to right traction difference gets really disparate, as in one wheel on snow and the other on bare road, the TC is very effective in controlling what would otherwise be wildly uncontrolled wheelspin.

The Achilles heel of Torsen is torque bias rather than limited slip. Low grip on one drive wheel means low torque applied to the wheel with some grip even if that wheel can take more torque. Subaru elected to retain some TC even if it's switched off. The TC applies some brake to the spinning wheel allowing maximum transfer of torque to the wheel with grip. Nifty.

My experience with this car now tells me that keeping your foot in it even as the drive wheels spin can be very effective in getting unstuck. Assuming you have snow tires, and you don't really hammer the gas, just keeping those drive wheels spinning moderately can get you unstuck in conditions where you might be tempted to give up and shovel. You don't need to switch TC off but, in extreme conditions it works well if you do switch it off as the TC still operates to control single wheelspin. VSC isn't so helpful in winter, it's more of a track setting.

I tried this this morning in fairly deep loose snow (much more than 5 inches deep) and by persisting the car basically dug itself out from the curb, slowly but surely. . I left the TC completely on and the Subie seemed to allow just the right amount of wheelspin to get unstuck. I was impressed, frankly

I'm not a big fan of this car's ability in winter but I will concede it is a talented little beast with some tricks up its sleeve. I have put a collapsible mini shovel in the trunk after taking out the sandbags. I don't think weight in the trunk helps this car. However, getting to know it better I do think persistence is worth a try before breaking out a shovel.

da fuq what were you expecting. at least you dont live in winnipeg.

Spend another 3-6k and buy a used 4x4 winter beater with good tires and store the car for winter....plus insurance won't be that much more. Problem solved!

I live on an acreage north of Calgary. With this years snow being heavier than normal I'm happy to report I've only been stuck once. In my drive way. I live about 2 km off the pavement and had to plough 8" or so of snow the other night to get home. That's up a couple of fairly steep inclines. TC on no issues. Snow was powdery. Pulled in the drive way, down grade, and parked it. I cleaned out the whole driveway around the cars in the morning. Got called for work just after midnight. 30 minutes screwing with it to get it to move, I just left it and grabbed the wife's car. It took me 45 minutes to unstick it the next day. It was high centred. Would I sell it over that……yea right. It actually does pretty good passing cars when you hit that slushy stuff between lanes. You have to drive it like a super light car that it is. Good winters are a must. I had to wait 10 days extra for pick up day because the snows were coming in from Montreal. I can't imagine trying to drive this thing with out them.