Doomtroop

^ Definitely not true either. I've never used snow tires and i've never had problems.
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Maybe not in ohio or clevland but in montreal they are necessary to drive with our winter conditions.

mk

I live in upstate NY and I drive 150 miles everyday to work and back. I have a 00 gt and I run my car on all season tires. I havent had problems in the winter. I dont even have a sand sack or anything. But I drive very very carefully, yes my car sometimes slips and slides but that happens only when you dig your foot into the gas pedal. In my opinion, if you are a good driver you will be able to get through it but just that you will have to be extra cautious and more responsible while driving. In fact my 2 other friends have BMWs which are rear wheel, but they also do just fine during winter. Anyway that is just my opinion. Goodluck buying your first car.

Deannostang

I may be crazy but I actually prefer rear wheel drive cars in the winter providing they have the right rubber. Why do you think the cops drive rear wheel cars? Better handling at high speed and offer more control for driving out of nasty skids, etc. Rubber is the key. Look at any NYS Trooper car (I live in Upstate NY) in the winter and you will notice some really wild looking tires.....high speed snows.....all the way around. Tire Rack starts to offer special winter tire/wheel packages in the early fall. The average cost is $450 t0 $600 for a complete four wheel package for a Mustang. The normal scenario is that they give you steel wheels that are one rim size smaller with slightly higher profile tires that do not screw up your speedometer. The combination makes good sense from a winter traction/control stand point. When a storm hits, just be sure your tank is full and you use a light foot with easy acceleration and early, easy braking. The rest is cake. One big bonus is you won't screw up your good summer wheels and tires with all that winter crud and the other crap the highway departments put down on the highways.

Leadfoot

This is going to sound dumb but I have to ask this considering I never lived anywhere where there is snow on a regular basis. Doesn't anybody use tire chains?

I used to live in Sacramento, CA, and whenever we went to Lake Tahoe or Reno, NV, we used chains. We drove slow, but we got there safe.

Guest

I've got chains in my trunk in the winter. It really helped when I was up in VT. I went up a hill during a bad snow storm no problem as a jetta sat there spinning it's tires.