Driving Xantia in snow

davewithington · Post by **davewithington** » 17 Dec 2009, 15:32

what are Xantias ilke in snow?

I should imagine that with the weight of the engine over the front wheels, and the soft torque delivery of the TD when off turbo they should be quite good. My 2CV was incredible - one van driver once asked me if it was 4WD after I'd helped a Polo up an icy hill!

On another tack, my spare has a rather nice Michelin MXL on it which has a pretty good All Terrain type tread pattern. I wouldn't mind a complete set of these, if there are another three decent tyres and wheels in 185/65-14 lurking anywhere?

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 17 Dec 2009, 15:42

On deepish snow, pretty good.
At the begining of the year when it was really bad, the thing that stopped Cassy was sheet ice, but then it was stopping all the other vehicles on the roads too (including a fuel tanker which was merrily sliding back down the road towards waiting traffic!).
To get round this stuck tanker, we had to drive on the pavement like central reservation, which with uncompressed snow was no trouble at all, then drop onto the other side of the road where the sheet ice was.
While other cars were sat with wheels spinning or sliding backwards down the sloping road, Cassy managed to make slow progress, albeit with spraying de-icer under the tyres at the particularly icy parts.

davewithington · Post by **davewithington** » 17 Dec 2009, 16:15

I keep a plastic box of road grit in the boot for really bad roads, with a shovel. I hate ice, really gives me the willies.

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 17 Dec 2009, 22:30

The roads around my house are currently sheet ice, ive not been in long and the roads are pretty bad at the moment, they are just shiny and incredibly slippery, no grip what so ever. We have had snow on and off all day but its only laid a thin layer of snow, which is now frozen and where cars have been is just bright ice now.

Still, i got to see that my C5s ABS works!

Why cant it just snow and lay instead of thins ice rubbish

DickieG · Post by **DickieG** » 17 Dec 2009, 22:49

Looking outside I'll be getting that chance of driving in the snow in the morning

on the other hand I might be more successful with a sledge or ski's. I just let our dog Barney into the garden and he's having a complete looney fit in the snow

lurchy666 · Post by **lurchy666** » 17 Dec 2009, 23:14

lol well i was out in the snow earlier (bearing in mind last time i drove in snow and ice was in a 2.9 v6 granada) and for a front wheel drive it wasn't to bad, but i had a lot of understeer and wheel spinning just trying to get off junctions,

as i said for a fwd not bad but give me my rwd for snow and stuff (well as long as i disconnect the bloody abs so i can actually brake)

Deanxm · Post by **Deanxm** » 18 Dec 2009, 04:34

Got snow on the I.O.W this morning, thought i would get up a little early for work to ovoid the idiots since i have to use the XM, must be pretty bad for some of you now, mind it is kind of fun too

D

Post by **CitroJim** » 18 Dec 2009, 06:11

There's a dusting here this morning. Just enough to give the snow button on the gearbox a first test in anger...

Be interesting to see how she performs on snow and ice. Lots of wheelspin expected...

Post by **CitroJim** » 18 Dec 2009, 08:01

Snow mode works well

First time I've driven an auto in snow.

The TC action does disguise wheelspin a bit though. Hard to tell if it's the wheels slipping or the TC ding a normal slip.

Otherwise, all very good 8)

addo · Post by **addo** » 18 Dec 2009, 08:45

We've just a had a cold, wet day after a few stinkers. All the grease seems to have floated up as the roads are still warm. Made for a fun day of slipperiness.

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 18 Dec 2009, 13:06

We had a dusting of snow last night, which turned to ice. Though as i got about 20 miles away from home this morning the snow is much deeper, the small country roads are still covered in snow.

I thought the C5 was doing very well, driving gently as you do in the snow i only had wheel spin a couple of times and thought it was gripping very well, especially as its front Michies are on their last legs.

Though i pulled into a small road in a village to answer my phone, the road leads to a deep ford which i wasnt going to drive through. So i prepared to drive around a tiny island at the end of the road to turn around and got well and truly stuck!

It was on a very slight incline and fresh snow, i couldn’t go backwards as there was a flower bed and a wall, i had to go forwards hard round to the right to avoid the wall in front. But it wasnt having any of it, the wheels were just spinning as soon as i got the clutch to the bite, forwards and backwards it just wouldnt go. Although i did find adjusting the suspension height was starting to shift the car round to the right, the way i wanted to go.

After a while of trying to manoeuvre every way i could, sitting with the wheels spinning, turning the steering left and right and fiddling with the suspension heights it was starting to pull away. But then luckily some nice walkers passed by and gave me a push out!

I went straight round to the tyre place and had two new tyres fitted

In the end i went for Toyo T1-Rs again, ive had these on a few cars now and can not rate them highly enough, far better than Michelins in my opinion which ive gone off recently. They have a nice deep V tread pattern and are very quiet too, they give a good ride and the grip in the dry is phenomenal. I paid £185 fitted for the pair of 215.55.16s, which is a bargain i thought as the cheapest i can find those for on the internet is £110 each.

Ive not been out in the facelift C5 in the snow yet, im interested to see how the traction control would help.

My road is still like a skating rink, my house is in the corner of an L, so always the potential for people to career through the garden wall. As i write this now a BMW has just spun outside the front of my house and smashed into the curb, i heard the noise from here

Chris

Sid_the_Squid · Post by **Sid_the_Squid** » 18 Dec 2009, 13:44

I've found Xantias to be fiarly good in snow, espically the auto's. would be even better without the dam ABS system, great in the wet or dry, hideous on snow/ice.

Interestingly enough, the cars I see stuck are almost always RWD

Snow really bad right here, gave up trying to get out of the carpark, rest of the street just as bad, havent seen a single gritter, seems my council tax money was spent on blowing leaves arround instead

lurchy666 · Post by **lurchy666** » 18 Dec 2009, 14:40

well i went out 2day with my 1.9td s1 xantia and dear god i want my granada back, that think was way more sure footed than the xantia,

maybe its just me not being used to fwd in snow (well 4 inches) , my mums disco is fine and i've never had a problem with any rwd in snow (maybe a little 180 once or twice ) usually when i got a little bit to eager with the throttle but the xantia is now going down the drive and staying there untill the snow is gone, or untill i get some grip on the front end,

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 18 Dec 2009, 16:05

What are your tyres like? If they are getting low on tread it might explain it.

Its always RWD cars which i see having problems too, maybe to do with it not having as much weight over the rear wheels.

Chris570 · Post by **Chris570** » 18 Dec 2009, 16:12

have to say my 1.9td manual was fine in the snow, much much much better than my last focus.

as good as a 1.6 AX i have to say