Achmed 0 Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 Can anyone comment on how the Spark is in thicker snow? I need to buy a vehicle that I will only drive during the 6-7 fall/winter months in central Alberta, Canada. Is there anyone here from that area, or another snowy area, that can comment on how their Spark drives? Does it get stuck in the residential areas that aren't swept frequently by the city or in parking lots that haven't been swept? That's my only concern with the spark, if I can ease that concern I'll definitely get one before the upcoming winter Link to post Share on other sites
Dori 13 Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 I dont liv ein Canada, but I do live in Western Washinton. We don'd get much snow at all, but the snow we did get this last year we got 7 inches in 3 hours. I was at work when this snow hit and no streets were paved and under the snow was solid ice. And i mean sold ice... I had to drive down a huge hill and back up one to get from work home. No problems at all.... I was totally impressed with the sparks performance and it got to the point that I was purposley trying to push the car to see what it take to get it sideways. And i failed at that.... It did not once loose traction. Having the manual transmission helped out greatly too. I had a huge lifted Dodge Truck behind me and he could not keep from sliding at all. He kept bouncing into the curb everytime he attempted to stop. Link to post Share on other sites
Goldfish 7 Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 (edited) I live in the Midwest, got a Spark (automatic) in January. I have to drive my son to his school that is located on top of a steep hill every day. The city provides a barrel of sand by the hill to the school every winter. Had several snow days since then, but got stuck only once - mostly because I had to stop in the middle of the slope and lost momentum as Honda Odyssey in front of us got stuck. My previous car (Hyndai Elantra) fared much worse on that slope, so I'm pretty impressed. Edited April 6, 2014 by Goldfish Link to post Share on other sites
Greg_E 211 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Buy four real snow tires! It's not the best car I've had in the snow, but not the worst either. The Winterforce snows are my favorite. That said, if it is deep enough that the bumper is plowing the snow, you would be better off in a truck, anything over a good 6 inches on the ground is slow going. Link to post Share on other sites
austex04 48 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 I have driven in snow, and was impressed. The skinny tires sink down to where the traction is. However, I don't suggest driving it along a sandy beach shore, becouse the tires sink into the sand more than wider tires. I managed to get it unstuck by digging out the tires. The traction control is what messed things up at the beach, lol. Link to post Share on other sites
Greg_E 211 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 (edited) Yes traction control can cause problems in the snow too, almost spun one day going around a corner because the front wheels started to slip, traction control cut in, the back end got light because I was now slowing down from the T/C, the back end started to come around which made the stability control swing into action... Not an ideal situation and I would have been better with T/C off and powering through the front end slide like I have always done in my older FWD cars. The T/C and Stability are sometimes nice when you forget that you are driving, but they can really cause issues sometimes. Edited April 7, 2014 by Greg_E Link to post Share on other sites
Goldfish 7 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 I am planning on getting snow tires next winter. Better safe than sorry! Not Spark but with Elantra I had to turn off traction control to drive in snow. Link to post Share on other sites
psquare75 35 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Another vote for Winterforces. Spark this past winter (which was brutal) passed with flying colors. Link to post Share on other sites
80sGeek 0 Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 We just finished a harsh winter here in Wisconsin, worst in 20 years. Had multiple snow storms with very strong winds and days were it got below -20°F (not including wind-chill). What a great way to put the Spark to the test. I had no issue with the 2013 LS in the cold or snow. Started every time even on the -20° days. It took a little bit of driving to get used to how to handle it when the wind picked up, but wasn't bad at all. Oh, tires were stock too. Link to post Share on other sites
greggb 7 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I live in the desert (Tucson) but drove it up through the White Mountains in February when there was some snow there, It seemed to do ok, but I did take it easy especially on the curvy mountain roads. The heater worked great. Now I just hope the A/C works as great when we start getting 105 days here in the Sonoran desert. Link to post Share on other sites
dustypenguin 0 Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 What size winterforce tires did you use, and on what rims? Link to post Share on other sites
Birthday Shoes 0 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 I have no problem driving out through Chicago winters Link to post Share on other sites
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