First of all, I admit. We do not know how to drive in snow and ice here in the south. I've been stuck at home for the past two days because of 5" of snow topped with a layer of ice. But I have to go to work tomorrow and its gonna be 21 deg F so the craps gonna freeze solid again. I have to drive the MCS. Whats best snow config ??? DSC on or off ??? DTC ON ??? or both on or off. I know what the manual says but what works best in the real world ??

 

Your manual around page 64 will tell you to turn off DTC in only certain conditions. Otherwise it's beneficial in the snow, I would say try it both ways, but I would lean to leaving it on. Leave everything else on. Avoid hills, leave large following distances from the car in front of you. Slow down. When you have a clear area like an empty parking lot, have fun sliding around and practice with and without DTC. That's how you learn to drive and correct for slides on ice and snow.

 

Try it with both on. Go out today and drive very cautiously, see how it feels.
If this has been the first time driving in snow it will be an adventure of the first magnitude for you. If the roads are icy in the morning, stay home or take public transportation. There will be many accidents tomorrow and you don't want to be one of them. I have driven in the weather you are having now for over 50 winters and one of your biggest enemy's will be other drivers.
Please if you don't feel comfortable in the least, don't go out and become a statistic. If you don't have any experience, it is just flat dangerous. I'm not trying to scare you, it's just the facts.
Take care and good luck. (Also what Capt bj says)

 

take the car out right now and find a big open parking lot (one you know does not have parking bumpers) {potentials are schools or freight yards or the way out parts of shopping centers.}


then start tossing the car around in the snow ....

HAVE FUN

and learn how it handles snow and ice,
and how to drive out of a slide . . .

try with ASC/DSC on and off


OR do as I recommended to DAU at Univ of Alabama today

find a book, and snuggle down!

You have a FANTASTIC learning opportunity b4 you . . . don't waste it!!!!!

 

+1 BJ. But watch out for the other guy because that you can't control. I want so bad to pick up my JCW from the detailers tonight. Going to start showing around 4 or 5 and wont be done till 6:30 or so. Means pushing them and have to drive in the snow/salt with the clueless so I will wait till morning to pick it up. By than it will be all rain and washed all the salt and sand away
I hope. Gives them some time in the mornig to finish it up too.

 

Take public transit if that is an option.

 

I live in Colorado in the mountains drive in it everyday, leave it ON, I have never turned it off. And I've seen some serious S***. The system works like a charm especially in the south, you will have more ice than snow. Good Luck

 

This is Charlotte, NC. Public Transportation is not an option.

 

Take a test run around the block and see how she does. See how much grip you have in the tires. Try the brakes hard while doing 15 and its clear to see how well it stops. Went on late summer drive in my Maserati to Mt St Helens
and ran into snow on the north side. Only have summer tires o n her but tried it out in a couple of areas. 0 traction even going down hill. Tires would not more the car but if I opne the door I could move the car with my foot, LOL.

 

Have a friend with AWD pick U up.......

Well Island, where's our NW snow - seems the weatherman is a bit off.....

 

6:30PM here and it is dumping now. Looked strange all day as the radar was showing snow but it was evaporating before it hit the ground from the dry east wind. Ground got covered fast.

 

I would also recommend leaving the DTC on, the only reason that I could see turning the DTC off would be if you were using tire chains.

The only thing that I would have to add that others have not said is that if you have an automatic transmission, it is a good idea to shift it manually. That way, when you are going down a steep hill, you can use the engine to slow the car down, as you don't always have enough traction for both braking and steering. This also helps to make sure you don't overheat the brakes.

Also, if you shift manually, you don't have to worry so much about the transmission shifting to a higher gear and losing the torque that you need to make it up a hill.

 

Stick is way better in the snow. You geta much better feel for how much traction you have. My tow rig is Dodge Diesel with a 6 speed. Why? Because:
1 Dodge have never made a decent auto that will hold high torque
2.Nothing goes better in the snow.

On a sledding trip into the Keystone area wes of Revelstoke BC a friend and I were heading upt he hill in fresh snow to go riding for a day. Had 21Ft enclosed trailer on back no chains at this point. I passed up a turn out lower down because i thought there was another better spot ahead a couple of corners. I was wrong. Maybe 2 more miles and a lot more elevation. She was hooked up good in 3rd gear in 4x4 high so might as well go for it. I mile down the road we were bouncing and spinning all four but momentum was great.
My buddy was giggling like school girl on the first day. I was sawing the wheel and drive the hell out of her to keep up the speed and keep her straight. Whats so funny. Hell my chevy would have been stuck a mile ago with no trailer on it. We did finally stick it after we made the switch back turn around but it was deep- Over the bumper 6" lift 35: tires deep. Unloaded the sleds. Chained the rears and drove to my parking spot. The big Dodge with a stick works in snow. Copied my buddies truck because it works. He yanked my 496 BB chevy out one to many time. Would get stuck on frost with that Allision Auto. Was fast and passed everything but gas stations. Diesel stick rocks in the snow. Speaking of I need to make a fuel run before they close tonight.

 

I've done about 250 miles of snow driving the past 3 days in my MINI. I like taking the car out to play in the snow... sliding around, drifting, finding roads too steep to climb, etc. Like others said, take it somewhere there is not much traffic and try it out. Ice on top of snow should not be a big deal, but ice underneath the snow or just ice on the roads is a good reason to stay home.

My routine starts in the driveway - pulling out of the garage with a little speed and see how it stops. As long as I don't end up in the neighbor's yard, I drive out of the subdivision, testing the traction/braking as I go. If it seems like I can stop reasonably well, I hit the main road. Usually, the road will be packed snow or slush or a combination. Making sure no one is following me... I again test the braking at various speeds. Allow for huge following distances when it is slick... nothing worse than sliding for about 5 seconds and the sound of crunching metal because the other car stopped first.

I leave the traction control alone unless it starts spinning and slowing way down. I then press the button once to allow the front wheels to spin more until it gets going again. Same goes if you are stopped and can't get going. Allowing the wheels to spin will help get you going, but put the DTC back to normal ASAP.

The trick is to make sure you and your car can handle the conditions before you get too far from home. If you discover it was an ice event, you will probably be walking back home. If it is snow, the car will make it as long as you don't do anything foolish.

 

Well I hope the deep south OP reports how back his/her snow experince went.

Island - I say again - where's the snow - nothing but slush or wet roads today - and raining. Tell ya what, my stock 2008 GMC Duramax crew cab gets around fine in the snow with Blizzaks - but I have seen where a lifted truck like yours is practicle in the deep snow. Been on some unplowed roads on our winter trips to Pullman, the lifted trucks have no problem blasting around traffic in the snow banks.

 

Thanks for the advice all. I'm fixing to crank her up and head out to power plant where I work. Schools out AGAIN today and theres no way I'm spending another day in this house with two teenagers. I'll report back on how "Red" does.

PS
I guess youse Northern types find it funny that 4" of snow can shut down a city for days.

 

Less than that screws up Seattle pretty good - that's pretty north - yes it's a joke...

 

Just a couple of thoughts.

It really really helps to have proper winter tires. All seasons don't do much of anything well. Real snow tires rule... Summer tires are asking for lethal injection...lol

Sinvce most Mini's don't have a mechanical limited slip diff, leave the traction control on. If you get stuck, try turning it off. With it on, you can't "rock" the car back and forth.

Learn what ABS does, and what it feels like when it engages. Practice mashing the brakes. See what happens. Practice modulating the brake pressure, just before ABS kicks in. A trained driver can in most instances stop faster without ABS than with.

DON'T FOLLOW TOO CLOSELY...

ALWAYS HAVE AN 'ESCAPE' ROUTE...

ALWAYS THINK THE OTHER GUYS IS A MORON, AND IS TRYING TO KILL YOU...


Have fun...

 

I agree a its great idea to find an empty area to feel where the limits are.

In the winter I drive on snowy roads 50% of the time. Before I go home at the end of the day I like to take a slide through the parking lot. Parially for fun but also because it can be pretty informative about how slick the road surface is

Personally I turn everything off in the snow but that is a decision based on the setup of my individual mini.

 

They do laugh. During my 20+ years of working in the automotive industry I got to travel frequently to great winter destinations like Detroit, Lansing, Windsor, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, etc. I heard all of the stuff about how Southerners can't drive in the snow (mostly true!) and the jokes about closing school with an inch of snow on the ground.

They have flat straight roads for the most part. I had to explain to them how a school bus up there slides off the road, it ends up in a cornfield. A school bus in east Tenn slides off the road, it may end up at the bottom of a 100' embankment. At least in TN, KY, VA, NC and north GA, we have mountains, hills and curves. We also get more ice events than they do and we have a lot less snow removal resources than they do.

Lastly, most of them will end up moving down south or wishing they could as they get older. So never be embarrassed by the general inability to drive and the infamous runs on bread and milk due to the southern snow.

 

I grew up in Charlotte in the 60s/70s. I remember when I was a UNCC student in 1978 (?) we had nine inches of snow one saturday night. I had to get back to UNCC early sunday. I drove a Honda 600 (with 10 in wheels) from Pineville all the way across town to UNCC. After having problems with the first hill, I never stopped, going 10-20 mph the whole way, not even stopping for red lights, but slowly rolling through the intersection. I remember the day well, Duke was playing Louisville in the Charlotte Colesium (the old one on E. Independence). I made it no problem.

As pointed out the biggest problem is other drivers. I later moved to DC and lived through some hellish snow storms there, with terrible drivers (avoid diplomatic plates!!) I found as long as I had a front wheel drive car with decent tires, things were fine.

Back then I didn't have a car with DSC, DTC, or even anti-lock brakes. In DC I used a ford escort, never had a problem. You will adapt pretty quickly.

The mini should be a great snow car. Now I live in AL. Sunday night we had 9" of snow. I took my wife to the Hospital for work first thing monday morning in an old Honda CR-V, again FWD, and not a problem!!

 

WOW,,, the Mini is a GREAT snow/ice car. Did'nt slip/slide a bit, even on ice covered back roads.

 

You running the stock RF tires?

 

One small heads up about the recommendation to pick a big empty parking lot and practice. I think it is a great idea. However ... my son decided to do that on a big empty theatre parking lot. The police came by and wrote a ticket for reckless driving ....

Many years ago I took my dad's '54 Ford out on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin which freezes solid in winter. I'd crank it up to 50 mph, turn hard left or right and lock the brakes. Then I'd practice steering out of skids. Nearly 50 years later, those lessons are still with me.

 

Don't forget the empty parking lot sliding practice - report on that!