sandcracker21

It's been a few years since I sold my 03 GT and I miss it! I've been driving around in a 08 Cadillac CTS4 (its an AWD sedan with 304 HP) I love the Caddy but really miss the torque and power of the mustang.

One of the reasons I sold my 03 was because I could NOT drive it in winter with the 4.10 gears and RWD. How are the new ones in snowy Chicagoland? Any better or pretty bad still?

Any complaints with the new 5.0s? Anything I should be aware of? I really love the AWD on the CTS4 but boy do I want a 5.0

kzonts

I would never attempt to drive mine in the snow. It's a handful on damp/wet roads, so snow would be out of the question. But they do have traction control and anti-lock brakes which always helps. You would need to put some weight in the trunk and mount some winter tires. But driving in the winter will ruin the car, so I would never think of doing that.

I imagine driving in the snow would be a white-knuckle experience. You would have to pry your hands off the wheel upon reaching your destination. LOL

Nuke

You'll get all sorts of responses, including the nitwits that claim they "go anywhere in snow".

It's a Stang; a light weight, high performance car with no factory weight over the drive wheels. If you must, you must and you're only hope is to put dedicated winter tires on and add weight to the trunk. Of course, there are those that'll tell you about that weight becoming a projectile.

Store it if you buy it.

JimC

I guess I'm one of the "nitwits" since I drove year round with mine, and with no extra weight sitting in the trunk and aimed at my head.

Never had a problem and drove through lots of snow storms on a 45 mile one way commute in SE Michigan. I put 203,000 miles on my 2006 and it saw all kinds of weather. That was with an Xcharger on the car with low end torque too.

Drove my 2013 all last year through big snow storms.

Really it isn't that tough. When I got my license FWD was rare and we didn't sit around all winter or break out a horse and sleigh. You just have to drive appropriately for the conditions.

Slappy3243

While I didn't drive my Mustang in the snow, I did drive my GTO in the snow. However, I put winter tires on it. There is no way in hell I would go near snow in any high horsepower RWD vehicle without snow tires. Now since I moved to FL and own a Corvette Stingray, I don't have to worry about such things .

AK_Kayaker

I guess I'm in sort of the same category, didn't put on that many miles, but I did my first two winters on the stock all seasons, with no weight added.
Learning to drive in the snow, in a 1966 Barracuda (only a sixxer), in Alaska may have helped, but as Jim said we didn't have a lot of other choices before FWD and AWD seamed to take over.
No you can't go any were you want, but if you are careful, and always keep an eye on the other idiots on the road, it can be done without a lot hoopla.
Since you already have the Caddy, pay it off and get a mustang as a toy, best of both worlds.

MrSandman

Me too.. I drove in one of the worst ice storms we've had a few years ago. Just switched from summer-onlys to my winter Michelin AS Sport Plus tires... and made it "fine."

Snow is a whole other animal though. Once you get ruts in the road that are more than 3 inches, game over.

I've been forced to take my prev 07 4.0 and the 11 5.0 in the snow. I can do it because I'm used to RWD.. but would rather not. We only get one good snow.. maybe 3days of it on the ground a year here in STL.. so I don't have to worry about it much. I can take my wife's Forrester if needed.. and THAT is fun!

If you have a backup plan, no reason not to get the stang just because it will be a problem a few times a year.

jRaskell

I guess I'm one of them as well. I've been driving high hp rwd muscle cars year round in New England for well over a decade. I'm not claiming I "go anywhere in the snow", but my claim isn't that far off that. Only time I've ever had a problem is when the snow on the road was higher than my bumper, which has only been on a couple specific occasions when I've ventured outside urban areas. If I lived more off the beaten path, I'd certainly think twice about it. But I don't, and New England urban areas are pretty good in general about staying on top of snow removal even during storms. So there's rarely more than 4-6" on the roads at any given time even when we get 12-24" storms. So I only go anywhere within regularly maintained urban areas during any big storms and the ~24 hours following them. Outside that, I do pretty much go anywhere, including Loon, Sunday River, Bretton Woods, and on rare occasions Killington for a day/weekend of snowboarding.

That being said, I seriously doubt the latest gen is any different than your '03 was with regards to winter driving. I get around just fine with mine, but I'm a nitwit that doesn't know any better, so ymmv.

dcarlinf1

I've driven a 71 Stang and a 78 Firebird year round in the past (high school and college years). It can be done. But, it's hardly reliable or safe. If I lived in Chicago today I would never consider a Mustang for DD use. I say keep the Caddy and maybe get ya another Stang when funds permit.

Hell, I stop driving my Mustang once it gets below 35-40 degrees. Snow or not. That's what my Explorer is for.

yardstick

I would drive mine in snow if we got any....lol