I had/have mismatched snow tires on the 'Bird, and they seemed to work alright last winter even though I have the old ones on the back out of laziness - my only spins were drift attempts gone wrong. This being an unusually mild winter probably helped. My mother rolls all-seasons on her SUV, but they're very knobby all-seasons (Cooper Discoverer or something) and again they seem to work fine, though I seem to recall some pretty bad understeer on ice and hardpacked snow.
I've never been able to afford seperate winters and summers. Always rocked all seasons except on first car that came with summers on it and I still drove in snow :/
The real benefits of snow tires wont be seen just rolling around, its the panic stop distance where snow tires usage is truly seen. Snow tires vs "all seasons" (3 season tires) is comparable to racing slicks vs regular tires; Just driving around normally and carefully you wont notice much difference, but when it comes to stopping the slicks/snow tires will stop much better than regular tires (all seasons). That and yeah, just don't drive like a dolt, sadly however you cant be sure everyone else on the road will drive safely. Plus other people on the road may also have winter tires, and will be able to stop in a much shorter distance
The reason I had summer tires on is exactly what you said - all seasons aren't a substitute for winter tires. The thing is in my area we rarely have more than 2 to 3 inches during the winter, and the summer tires I have work well up to 5ish inches. Then the tires start breaking loose unless you really, really feather the gas. We do get ice, but it's usually just small patches and bridges, and the bridges in my area are generally very short. Like I said, it very rarely snows enough for me to justify the price of winter tires (not the $80/tire kind, the kind I use when I actually have winter tires are about $175 per tire). The summer tires I do have are actually really good and handle snow decently. All things considered, it would make sense, but I would only justify the price if my car was a slippy RWD car or a FWD car, and the WRX is neither of those. AWD for the win! Like others said, summer tires are fine in snow as long as you don't mash the gas everywhere and try to drive 100 MPH down a narrow residential street (which I never do even in perfect sunny summer weather, unlike some people in my neighborhood). The thing you have to worry about is other people. Just a few weeks ago I was almost involved in an accident - I was going 35-40 MPH down a suburban street and a guy in an F-350 was on the street to the right of the intersection. He wasn't anywhere near the intersection yet and there was no stop sign, so I kept going, but right as I went by, he tried to start moving, and I'm pretty darn sure he was within, meh, 6 inches of hitting my bumper. A police officer was nearby and saw it happen. The blind person (not literally blind, but metaphorically blind) in the F-350 got the ticket like he deserved. When I actually got to the intersection, he was way down the street that was to my right. And even if there is no stop sign at an intersection, I always slow down or stop anyways.
Awd won't help you corner or stop in snow, the biggest issues... it is to be pretty blunt stupid to rely on awd for that. though like I said, I've never ran winters
Suburban? WHY WOULD YOU WANT THAT?! Giuelietta (no idea how to spell it)? Nice choice. I just realized it's a sedan, not a coupe F40? Best life choice ever, but insurance is $15,000 every 6 months. "The thing is in my area we rarely have more than 2 to 3 inches during the winter"
I've driven a 2013 and a 2015 as rental car (the places I travel to always have crappy rental cars) and a relative of mine has a 2015. They're horrible.
I have to agree with you a bit on the design of the newer ones. I like all of the older gens though. They're slow? ~9.5 seconds to 60 for a "5700-6400lb" behemoth is absolutely hauling ass in my book. They aren't exceedingly unreliable either. What do you think is the better alternative if you're in the market for an suv with 120 cubic feet of cargo space?
That didn't answer my question, but I'll take that as a "no". It's unfortunate, because even the resident Ford guy (me) really likes them.
Better off getting a Toyota Sequoia or Mazda CX-9. Everything is better than GM SUVs. Only good products from GM are the Corvette line. C7 Corvette is awesome. 0-60 isn't relevant for SUVs as big as the Suburban. Handling is what matters. [for some reason I can't quote @redrobin's post] No, I have not owned one but I've driven 3 as mentioned above, they're terrible. I have not owned one, nor do I want to. I like Fords as well, and also Dodges. But Chevy vehicles (except for Corvettes) imo, are just utter crap. Do you people know what the definition of 'fanboy' is? You are fanboys. That is a bad thing. Do you people know what the definition of 'opinion' is? Apparently, you do not.
Me fanboy? You need to go and search this forum, I've explained fanboyism many times. Also, resident Ford guy drives a Chevy daily. They aren't so bad, my S-10 (well, S-15) has been pretty reliable. Only a few things here and there, but that's to be expected. Own shit shit before you criticize it, work on shit before you criticize it. A rental fleet vehicle is not an accurate representation of a manufactures consumer product. Rental vehicles are beat to shit.
