I'm interested in buying a 2010 Fit Sport to bring with me to grad school. I'll be going to the University of Utah at Salt Lake City and I've never lived anywhere where it snowed. How safe is it to drive in the snow? Should I get all-season or just winter tires to swap in during winter?

And does anyone have any advice for someone who will be living in a snowy area for the first time? Anything I should buy? All those commercials on cars not starting because of the cold and videos on youtube of cars basically sliding around during winter pretty much got me worried. Thanks.

 

I lie in socal but I drive all over the us in my o9fit if u are gonna e in a area with hard winters get a set of winter tires to switch. Ummm someone else will have to help u with the chains or cables I have never had to use them but I haven't driven in over 4 inches of snow with my fit yet but the fit suprised me at how well it did in the snow. The fit u better not go more than 60 in a good rain u will hydroplane. The fit to me seems to be a good all around car I have even done some minor off roading in mine lol

 

Get a dedicated snow tire and rim, there ought to be plenty for sale used now with winter over and done with. Driving in the winter on non snow tires is a joke, terrible in every way and not an option in my experience. Check Kijiji.com or Craigs for used items.

Tirerack.com might have a good sale on now as well.

Swapping summer and winter tires ought to get you 50-60,000km of wear on the summers and four seasons on the winters, my experience so far.

Block heater and rubber car mats are all you need from the dealer. I only have the rubber mats. Also, winter wiper blades, I get two seasons of use from the summer blades and two from the winter blades.

 

I've survived my whole life living in Michigan with lots of snow driving only small FWD hatchbacks. But then again, when you grow up here, driving in the snow kind of becomes part of your DNA, so maybe it's not fair to ask me.

 

nuff said. having wheels to swap in winter is best idea imo.

 

wintery areas typically do a fantastic job of clearing the roads. I'm sure the margin of safety was smaller in some of the conditions I drove in, but I never had any problems with my early model prelude when I lived on the continental divide in the colorado mountains. However, many people have to live with cracked windshields in CO, due to the course sand that is used for traction on the roads. The complaints on this message board MIGHT indicate that the fit already has a mild propensity for this sort of damage.

Personally, if I were headed to this sort of environment, I would use it as an excuse to buy myself an impreza!! They are designed for this type of driving!

good luck!

 

-set of winter tires and wheels
-rubber car mats
-block heater
-winter wiper blades

Anything else I should look into? And should I just buy another set of stock wheels to put the winter set on or is there a better size to look into? Tirerack has an article that says to go down in size and get narrow tires when driving in snow, but it would be good to find out from those with first hand experience on this.

An impreza is nice and I've wanted one, but I really wanted a fit and it's more in my price range.

 

I think I'd get 4 15" steel wheels for a base Fit and get snow tires for them. There's more choices in snow tires for a 15" wheel, and a taller, narrower tire will work better in the snow. I was going to do that, but never got around to doing it last winter. I had no trouble last winter on the all-season tires in upstate New York, but then, it was an unusually mild winter.

 

yeah get steelies and snows for winter, the Fit handles fine in the snow, just make sure to take it slow and leave lots of following room...

 

Awesome, thanks for the advice guys.

 

To add to what I already wrote, I have black steelies with winter tires, General Altimax Arctic. At 45F, all season tires start to become too hard to be very safe, summer tires way sooner sooner. So, for here in Calgary winters go on in November and removed sometime in April. Mine came off a week ago, nice weather and zero snow anywhere... yesterday we got snow... figures. My point is I cannot see driving anywhere there is snow or ice without winter tires and I have lived in snow regions for decades. Yes you can go without winter tires (you can stop brushing your teeth as well if desired), they allow the summer tires to be good for a couple more years and make driving stress free. Why would anyone in the same climate not get winter tires? Well, they are opposed to being personally safe as well as the safety of others, perhaps cheap or maybe just plain do not understand the issue. It is now the law in some provinces in Canada to have winter tires, same with in Sweden and other Euro countries.

My tires:

General Altimax Arctic

Any of these would be fine as well:

Tire Search Results

 

Here in the states, federally mandated TPMS sensors make this a more complicated process. You need 4 new wheels, 4 tires, 4 new TPMS sensors for the winter wheels, and a trip to the dealer to reset the cars computer twice a year to recognize the new sensors, since the cars computer can only recognize 4 sensors at any one time. This will get expensive.

 

Buy a fit and if you can afford a nav with vsa get it, not only will the vsa help in the winter the nav will help in a town your unfamiliar in, even though Utah (salt lake city) is the easiest place in the world to navigate because all aur streets are in a grid that start downtown and work outwards toward the valley, hit us up (Utah fits) when you get here and we'll make things make more sence. Patrick (Keepitpg) is a student at the U and can help the most I think - it's pretty chill here and you'll enjoy your stay.
As for stuff you'll need 1. A snow brush 2. Snow tires are WAY better than stock all seasons
that's pretty much it! Welcome to Utah

 

I am certain you can bypass this issue, otherwise in seems very expensive. I have not Googled about, but I bet one can find a workaround. We Honda owners are a smart lot I think.

Good heads-up on the issue though.

 

Can you chime in on the tire sensor issues? What is your experience?

 

One issue that I have seen about the tire sensors is that in some cases, if you don't install the sensors and have them working properly and then have an accident of some sort that could have been caused by a tire issue (i.e. a blowout), then you can be in trouble with the insurance company because your coverage is based on this being standard equipment with the car.

It adds up to a pretty hefty chunk of money to get snow tires. I understand the benefits completely, but under certain circumstances, it isn't always practical to do. I've always been sort of intrigued by the idea of getting snow tires, but the upfront cost to do so is too much for me to absorb easily on my grad student budget, and I don't know what I would do with an extra set of wheel all the time--where would I store them in my tiny 1-person apartment? I wish I had the resources to make the change each year, but at this stage of my life, I'll have to continue to tough it out with all-seasons each winter...which actually has never caused me any serious trouble. I just drive slow and smart.

 

My first response is this: The car is safe as long as you are. Snow is just another thing to handle when you are driving. The best advice I can give is to slow down. Stay smooth, with no sudden anything (stops, acceleration, steering) and you will keep going where you need to be instead of in the ditch. If you don't have much/any experience with it, you should hit the nearest empty parking lot when it snows and try to get the car off balance and spinning. That way, if it happens in real life you will know what to expect and how to react.

I drove the first Winter with the stock all-seasons and had no problems. This Winter, I bought a set of snow tires because they were priced right and my new all-seasons are even worse in snow than the stock Dunlops. Discount Tire had them on sale, and with the various mail-ins I got a set of Yokohama IG-20's for $66 shipped. That's a total price...

TPMS: As stated previously, the computer only recognizes four TPMS sensors at a time. I had an extra set of sensors and had them installed in my Winter set, but just couldn't see paying to have the system reset only to have to pay to have it re-done a couple of months later (and again the next Winter, ad infinitum). I ended up driving around all Winter with the TPMS light on instead. If you check your tire pressures weekly (what do you mean, you don't have a good gauge in the car? get one and use it!), you shouldn't need TPMS anyway. Well, I say that, but TPMS did come in handy when I picked up a nail. It alerted me to the low pressure situation a second or two before I felt the difference. YMMY, of course, but I speak as a professional driver who has logged over 1 million accident free miles.

 

ive driven cars without sensnrs for years(25)and have only had one blowout, but honda put them there for a reason, i'm glad i have them on my2010 but thats becuse i havent had to buy more to have them put in extra/afternmarket wheels YET!
i'll most likely get new sensors for my AM wheels when i get them soon, and i'd suggest finding a good local dealer and making them your only place for service (oil changes,maintenence,etc) they are more likely to work on pricing when needing extra/oddball work performed (i.e. programming sensors or keys, or rotations,etc.)

OP dont worry about winter tires yet, i have a pretty good hook up here in salt lake and you won't need them for 6 months anyway

 

Judging by the average temps noted on Wikipedia for Salt Lake City, I don't think you need a block heater (Climate of Salt Lake City - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

I'm going to grad school in Ithaca, NY, which has colder temps on average than SLC, and I've gotten along fine without a block heater down to about -5F on regular oil (I'm planning on switching to synthetic at the next oil change). Plus, if you live in an apartment complex, where are you going to plug it in?

As for driving on snow, cities that regularly get snow know how to deal with it, so major roads are typically just slushy. Anyway, as long as you drive slowly, keep your distance, and practice in a parking lot to get a feel for the car, you should be fine. Plus, as a grad student, you don't have to go in if the weather's too bad! So you may get along fine without snow tires... but if you can afford it, and your car is your primary means of transportation, it's probably worth the investment.

The only time I had any problem in the snow was when we had some heavy snow, so the plows hadn't had a chance to come out yet, and I went around a curve too fast -- went into a snow bank, needed to get pushed out. Snow tires probably wouldn't have saved me either because I was being dumb .

I have VSA, and it does make driving in the snow a little easier (you can basically floor the gas from a stop and not sit there with your wheels spinning, and it does help keep you going where you want, within reason), but it's not magic -- basically, if you're activating VSA, you should be driving slower.

 

That sounds great, I won't have to store another set of wheels in my apartment (still searching) yet. If you have any suggestions on local dealers too, that would be great. Although I might just invest in the ATEQ quick switch tool for my summer/winter sets.