Genesis coupe in alberta winters/snow

[KaylaT]

Im in the midst of buying a genesis coupe but i live in alberta so we get lots of snow and im a female so i hate driving in winter and im worred about the rwd since i have only owned fwd and awd cars before. i will be getting winter tires if i do buy the car...help me decide if i should get the car or not!

Thanks for your help

im debating on getting a genesis coupe, but i live in alberta so im worried about the rwd.. i will be getting good winter tires but im not sure if i should chance it since i hate driving in winter to begin with... please let me know what you thought of your genesis on snow. thank u

 

[garddog32]

I don't own a Genesis coup, but I have driven both front wheel drive and rear wheel drive cars in winter. (I'm from Wisconsin). I can say that even with the fancy traction control features today's cars have, the rear wheel drive experience is different in the winter than front wheel drive. I would say snow tires are a must, so planning on buying snows is a good plan.

For me, the only real negative experience I have with rear wheel drive cars in the snow is when driving on a highway in icy conditions. If you're going freeway speeds and hit a patch of ice, your back-end may start getting loose if you happen to be accelerating even a touch. Your traction control should kick in before anything too bad happens, but if you panic and over correct, you could be in trouble. Normally front wheel drive cars in the same scenario will just spin the tires straight and you might not even notice anything happened.

In city driving, I actually prefer rear wheel drive cars... for the same reason. If you're turning a corner in snow, your front tires are not getting a lot of traction, so in a front wheel drive car you need to let off on the gas if you are not turning fast enough. If the snow is deep enough, you could lose momentum and get stuck. In a rear wheel drive car, you can actually hit the gas a bit which will spin the back-end out a little and help you turn the corner.

In the end, you have the make the call... which is hard to do since you've never had a rear wheel drive car. I personally would not hesitate buying a rear wheel drive car. The only issue I have is when driving on icy highways, which doesn't really happen for me all that often.

 

[dataguy]

Re: Need help!

Proper winter tires are the most important factor, followed closely with safe driving speeds, especially entering curves. You can add weight to the trunk if traction is a problem with snow tires.

 

[OBCT]

Re: Need help!

I know Alberta's had some crazy Spring storms this year (and could continue to get snow for awhile yet the way things are going --- I was actually born there myself, so I know all about it). You should be alright with the Coupe.

As dataguy mentioned, the most important thing is the tires (besides driving style). Make sure the winter tires you get have this logo:

You might be interested in checking out this article for some good quick info on the subject. You can also browse around that site (tirerack.com) for ratings on different winter tires to get an idea of what you want.

Bottom line: do not skimp on tires! You'll be thankful you didn't.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Im in the midst of buying a genesis coupe but i live in alberta so we get lots of snow and im a female so i hate driving in winter and im worred about the rwd since i have only owned fwd and awd cars before. i will be getting winter tires if i do buy the car...help me decide if i should get the car or not!

Thanks for your help

im debating on getting a genesis coupe, but i live in alberta so im worried about the rwd.. i will be getting good winter tires but im not sure if i should chance it since i hate driving in winter to begin with... please let me know what you thought of your genesis on snow. thank u

Kayla. You have started three topics with this same exact question. Two on the 5th, and one on the 6th. If you need help with learning how to REPLY to a topic, please let me know. Please DO NOT start another topic with this same question. Stay here and discuss it. People are trying to help you.

 

[dtreter]

I have a 3.8 touring coupe. I had snow tires placed on all four wheel this past November. This has been the snowiest winter on record for western PA with four feet of snow in the month of February alone. I had no problems driving in the snow and the car was a pleasure to drive. I too was a little leary but after this winter, I have no doubts about this car in the snow with good snow tires.

 

[Vidfreaky]

I live in Edmonton Alberta and drove my car all through the winter. I highly recommend the above link to tirerack.com for your winter tires. I got tires AND wheels there for the same price (even after shipping) as the dealer was selling them for. And they're better tires AND better wheels than the dealer was selling.

As to how it drives, there will be a learning curve if you've never driven rear wheel drive before, but so long as you're not trying to power slide around corners in the winter you should be fine. You're going to have a much bigger problem with your front bumper dragging in the snow that never gets plowed in the side streets than you are with traction. That unfortunately we can't do much about...