BRZ/FR-S in the snow?
 

Hello everyone!

I'm new here and I'm getting ready to get my first car. Once I saw the Subaru BRZ/Scion FR-S, I fell in love. However, I live in New York, and this past winter was rough. My parents are worried about the car being RWD, and many car salesmen are telling me not to go with it. I read up on it and it says that the car should be perfectly fine as long as I drive slow and maybe get snow tires during the winter. Would anyone be able to tell me about their experience with their BRZ or FR-S during the winter and in the snow/rain? Thanks!

snow tires are a must. Have driven through 2 winters in Canada with no issues.:cheers:

In before the "I garage my car during the winter" posts

I'm in St. Louis and we've had a few big snows since I got the car. With Blizzaks, I'm fine as long as the roads get reasonably plowed and/or the snow isn't higher than the bottom of the car. I think 5-6" was the magic number for me still being really mobile, and I never slid like I did in my Genesis coupe with all-seasons.

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I live in north east jersey, drove around tri state all winter. This was my first winter in the BRZ, did fine with dunlop snow maxx on the stock wheels. Had no issues going up steep hills, even from a stop. Highway felt fine, didn't have any issues changing lines, braking, etc. Yeah, this winter sucked pretty hard, but survived quite well haha even on cheap winter tires... Absolutely terrible in the dry though haha

A good set of snow tires and you are good to go! :)


Depending on your experience a wide open unplowed parking lot is a great place to get the feel of what the car will do in slippery conditions.


I say go for it!


:cheers:

It's certainly passable during winter with snow tires but by no means is it great. I bought brand new Blizzaks this winter for my BRZ and was disappointed. In light snow it did fine, but if the plows didn't get out fast enough and the roads/tire tracks started to get icy, it became scary.

The car struggled mightily on any kind of incline. During one of the worst storms I was on the highway approaching a hilly section where cars were slowing to a stop. Once I was forced to stop and restart I could not get traction, spent about a full mile opposite-lock.

My advice would be this, if you need the approval of your parents to buy the car, I'm guessing you're fairly young, which I would then assume means you probably don't have a ton of winter driving experience. This is not a good winter car, and if you don't know what your doing, you can easily get in trouble.

I'm in Cali, so no snow advice here.

If I were in your situation though and was looking for something in that price range, I'd get a '15 WRX.

There's a button:

http://www.cars101.com/subaru/brz/brz13-console11.jpg

Although, I have a feeling that it really summons snow...and that's why it snowed so much this winter. People thought it was for something else. :p

Thanks for all your replies! And for the record, I'm 16 years old (my birthday is in October) and I'm driving frequently with my father in his car. Come winter time I'm going to practice driving in the snow, just to get some experience with it and to make sure that I'm ready to take on a BRZ in those conditions.

HONESTLY, its better then my Camaro and Trans Am were in the snow...BUT being your first car...Id be extra cautious

It's perfectly fine (better than almost any car running all-seasons) with a good set of snow tires and safe driving habits. Some people on here will tell you that it's perfectly safe to just drive carefully with the stock tires.... don't listen to them, they're morons. Like most things, it's all about having the right tools for the job. You can grab a set of steelies for very cheap and in the long run, having a dedicated set of snow tires will be no more expensive than just having one set.

It's not going to be as good as a land rover on dedicated snow tires, but IMO, this car on snow tires is better than most cars on all seasons in the snow and if that's the two options (is for most people I would guess), than I still believe this is the safer option in the snow.