I am looking for comments / advice on driving a Clubman S in the snow. We live in the Boston area and our 17 year old daughter will be driving her Clubman this winter for the first time. Her only prior winter driving is in her Mom's BMW X3.

Our Clubman is a 6 speed and has new Conti Extreme Contact DWS tires.

Any advice on driving and or equipment is appreciated.

 

I prefer a dedicated set of snow tires over an all-season tire; but the DWS have been proven to hold.
Being FWD, it's pretty simple to keep the wheels planted.
Obviously avoid large driffs of snow so you don't become stuck.
And with the lower ground clearance avoid frozen chucks as you can damage the oil pan or transmission housing.

Other than that, it's pretty simple to manuver around in the snow.

- Erik

 

I can't tell you what you should do but I can just give you my PO.

If it were my 17 yod I would probably be freaking out about her driving in the first place. Driving in the winter in the northeast can at times be challenging and being prepared for it is key. As mentioned, having a dedicated winter setup would be ideal. You can use your stockies or just get another set (relatively cheap) with tpms (bavarianx was great btw) and get some good winter tires. Blizzak LM60s have been amazing in my experience in various cars.

Nothing beats having your vehicle ready and able to take on the unpredictably tough northeast winters. It definitely gives you peace of mind, and in the case of equipping your daughter with them probably less anxiety too.

I usually call up Damon at TireRack when I have questions about traction. He's extremely helpful and is honest about what does what even if it compromises a potential sale. Best of luck.

 

I had a 75 Honda Civic and a 77 Honda Accord - yes, I'm an old fart - and both were great in the snow as I recall. But both had relatively little HP compared the MCS. The standard transmission helps - if you know what you are doing. She took to the 6 Speed like a duck to water so she should be trainable.

I do worry about the short wheel base and the relatively torquey engine. Not always a good combination on a slippery surface.

She's also still at home so we do have the option of letting her use my wife's X3 on bad days until we are confident that she has developed a good feel for the car in poor weather. In any case I'll make sure I both get a feel for the car after our first snow storm plus give her a few lessons in the art of driving a front wheel drive car in the snow.

Thanks again for your advice.

 

To be honest, the mini is one of the best cars I have driven in the snow, including a handful of SUVs. This will be my first winter with a Clubman but drove my R56 the last three Michigan winters, last year with Conti DWS which were great. Aside the lack of good clearance, I think it will do fine. Driving in the snow is scary with any vehicle. If she is comfortable, the Clubman will do fine.

 

This will be my fourth snowy northern Michigan winter in my non-S Clubman. I have dedicated snow tires, and it's a joy to drive every time. We have 4.5 inches of clearance, almost average for sedans. If she's a good driver, the MINI will just be an advantage in its tight control and braking abilities.

 

If money isn't an issue, I would agree with getting snows. I run them on all my family vehicles and I have a 19 y/o and god help me, a 15 y/o son who is on his learners permit.

Every year after the first snow, I take my daughter (and soon son) out to a large empty lot and we drive around like mad men, this allows us to relearn winter driving in a safe environment.

 

A set of REAL SNOW tires is the only way to go. I live 70 west of Boston and drive all over New England in my Clubman. There are a lot of 4x4 SUV drivers out there that dislike me when I drive right past them in my MINI Clubman when they are stuck.

And as Ords said a good snowy parking lot with no light poles is a great place to learn about how a car handles.

 

Yep, dedicated snows are the way to go. I drove three winters with our Clubby on Blizzak LM-25 runflats and it was arguably the best winter car I've had.

With those tires, you can drive thru conditions like this:

 

We survived the last Boston winter with snows in our Clubman S. I don't think summer tires would work, if it's as bad a winter as the last one!

A little bit of self-promotion, but we actually sold our clubman a couple of months back, and have a set of almost brand new snows on stock bridge-spokes with TPMS that we're trying to sell (see https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...?product=21363). Since you're local, it'll be easy for you to pick up, not to mention that it is a really good deal.

 

Well, being a kid from originally from texas and having hardly driven in rain, this past winter was my first in my Clubman S with Blizzak LM60's. Honestly, just don't speed and the car will tkae care of the rest for you. Of cousre, I did go out and screw around on some back roads that hadn't been plowed and got stuck in rural Iowa for about an hour before I got the car to slide off the frozen road onto grass. So....Jake's list of things:

-A small shovel
-Dedicated winter set (bias towards the Blizzaks, but Dunlop has some good ones too)
-A bag of sand

 

Thanks - the small shovel and bag of sand are a good idea. I'll see what I can find at home depot. Dedicated snows seems to be consensus as well - the Boston winter last year was brutal - we live in what I now call the Boxford Snow Belt :-)

 

I bought a WWII foxhole shovel from an Army surplus store. Not sure if those are as prevelant up there in new england as the midwest.

 

We live in Boston and i've driven an R53 JCW in the snow since '05 and Running dedicated snows made all the difference (factory LSD doesn't hurt either). +1 for the Blizzak's on all four corners.

That said we just bought a new '11 Cooper S Clubman in the spring as a replacement for our old Volvo Cross Country.

As I understand it they use 'lectronics to simulate the LSD in the newer cars so this should help. I'm not sure how long the drives are going to be in the mini but.... I got stuck with a dead battery in the Volvo last year and almost froze to death waiting for AAA to Jump it. We also had some major back-ups around here so my list, especially for a young woman...

Proper snow tires
I'll echo the parking lot skid pad action (you don't want to learn how to control a slide on Storrow drive or the Pike). There are lots of snow related things about car control, traffic, lane management and avoiding frozen debris/car parts/pot holes that should be taught.
Cell Phone
Cell Phone charger (chain it to the car)
Blanket, knit hat, work and warm gloves
maybe a few power bars or similar

I keep a "grab and go" bag in each of our cars year round.
Roll of quarters and a $20 bill
Pre-paid phone card
Flashlight with an extra set of batteries
2 or 3 instant heat packs
2 power bars
1 small bottle of water
Matches
Utility knife
Pair of inexpensive work gloves

 

I'm lovin the idea of the grab and go bag. My oldest girl is away a college in upstate NY and had a flat on the NY Thruway last week and AAA said they don't serve customers on the toll road - WHAT? She got lucky and the nice State Trooper helped her out with the spare - at no charge.

My sensitivity on this topic is growing - I now have 3 daughters between the ages of 17 and 21.

BTW - we are having a freak October snow storm as I am typing this.

 

If you can afford it, get a set of snow tires. The Conti all-season runflats are fine for small amounts of snow and ice if you drive carefully. Last winter in Chicago was pretty rough. The conti's can't handle the thick wet snow that comes in a big storm. Had several white knuckle drives home on roads that are infrequently plowed.

Like others in the thread, I got stuck several times because of the low ground clearance or lack of traction. Keep a trench shovel and a small bag of sand in your Clubman all winter.

 

I have a justa with dedicated snow tires in Boston. I had zero problems with last year's winter here. In fact there were 3 days where I was the only one of 16 able to make it into the office and I live 22 miles away and drove most on unplowed "country roads" around Concord and Weston. Most of the other office people lived within 5 miles and were unable to get thru the snow.

 

Like everybody else has said, buy a dedicated set of snow tires. I'm running Bridgestone Blizzak WS70's this year.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55094281@N03/6327895756/http://www.flickr.com/photos/55094281@N03/6327895756/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/55094281@N03/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55094281@N03/6327144881/http://www.flickr.com/photos/55094281@N03/6327144881/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/55094281@N03/, on Flickr

 

Here is my latest update - over the past month I have been watching the market part of this web site and I have bought a set of very nice 17" Mini OEM wheels (lightly used) and a set of Beru TPMS (again slightly used) appropriate for the 2009 model year and two days ago I ordered a set of Blizzak WS70 snows - only available in 215/45 17's from Alex at Tire Rack - he seemed to feel these were the best tire option. I will have my local NTB store install everything but I'm guessing once installed it will have cost about $1100.00 total - I'm not sure if I have paid too much but it should be a great set-up for my daughter.

Thanks for all the input and I'll add some additional updates as I get to experience the set-up in action this winter :-)

 

Congrats and good job,...definately the way to go. I have 2 daughters, 24 and 27, but they both, now, understand the value of good snows in the winter. In both cases they are mounted on separate wheels, like you have choosen to do, however, they also come back to our house for dad to make the bi-annual swap. Complain, never, it's the one time I can be
assured that I'll see them both.

Rich

 

You've got many replies here, but I'll chime in for what it's worth. I used to live in the North of Canada for many, many years. I drove Hondas, Volkswagens, Chevys and Peugeots through snow and ice conditions like you probably can't imagine.

I now live in Luxembourg where conditions are not as severe as Canada, but they are unique unto themselves. I have a 2009 Clubman (diesel engine, so lots of torque at low revs) with a manual transmission. Wheels are 15" and I put on snow tires in winter. Bar none, this is the easiest car I have ever driven in winter conditions. I had a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks on last year and we have a freezing rain storm. I drove home uphill through a forest on what was essentially sheet ice. Other drivers were stopped by the road, camped out in their cars with blankets so they could stay warm for the night. I drove extremely carefully, but made it home.

With the proper driver experience and care, I think this car is fantastic for winter driving, but cars don't drive themselves and the driver needs to be able to "read" and "feel" what the car is doing. For that, there is no substitute for experience. You can hand a Stratavarius violin to someone, but you have to know the instrument to get it to speak for you.

Equip her with a good set of snow tires (NOT all seasons) and take her out in snow conditions to teach her how to handle the car. Find a big, empty parking lot and get her to slide and slip the car (disable the DSC, enable the DSC to show her the difference). She needs to understand how the car reacts on slippery roads and how to react to a loss of traction so she doesn't just panic and jam the brakes. That kind of understanding you only get by doing.

 

After 3 winters in Chicago (first without snow tires) i can tell you that you choose a great car for winter driving! One more thing I didn't see mentioned: go light on the sport button when driving on snow and ice and watch the stability control; in my opinion (and experience), you have more control of the car without all those extras hp and the computer trying to stop the car!
Happy Holidays to all!

 

Thanks for your comment on the sport button - it's a good point that I hadn't thought of myself. My daughter has mentioned several times that she always presses the sport button - apparently taking advice from another 17 year old driving expert. I have attempted to explain that while the sport button does indeed tighten up the cars performance it comes at a cost and likely provides benefits that she will never actually need - or frankly actually notice - naturally she has carefully considered my fatherly advice and continues to always press the sport button.

 

Just put snow tires on November 23rd (bought the blizzaks!! ) still waiting for one flake of snow to fall!!

 

The Blizzaks went on the new (kind of) wheels today. The mounting - including the TPMS installation - was done by NTB just north of Boston. The results are great. The TPMS is all set and the wheels balanced perfectly. The car rides smooth and quitely with the tires - I am impressed. The handling is not as sharp as should be expected but is still very Mini like. The install cost was about $100 as I had anticipated so my total cost was about $1,100 as I had projected. Overall I am very pleased. I give another update once we see some snow - hopefully not for a while :-)