I love my Nissan Armada but...

[KahrMan]

it is the worst handling vehicle to drive in the snow and ice that I have ever owned. This is the only negative thing I have ever said about my Armada. Overall I love it. It is rear wheel drive. On snow and ice covered roads though, this thing is hard as hell to handle. You press on the gas pedal just a little and the rear starts sliding and fishtailing. If you get stopped on a hill your done.

Yesterday I , like thousands of others, had to drive home in the snowstorm. The roads got really slick in west nashville. I was having a hard time getting going on flat roads whenever I got stopped at a red light. I finally made it almost all the way home. There are several steep hills you have to go up close to my house. The roads were packed with cars. If there was nobody on the roads I could have probably gotten enough speed up to make it up the hills. The way the cars were moving so slow, I didn't even want to try. All it would take would be one person in front of me slowing down or stopping and I would be stuck.

My son kept saying, "come on dad, park it. We can walk home from here." I figured a walk would be better than sliding into a ditch. We pulled off on a side road and parked. Normally a 2 mile hike would be fun. Walking up and down hills when it is 18 degrees and blowing snow it not as much fun as it sounds, well at least not for me. My son had ball. Something ain't right with that boy. It took us just under an hour to walk the 2 miles home.

Nothing like a little bourbon to warm the insides.

rant off/

[dralarms]

The Armada is a pickup right? Pickups are bad for being light in the rear end. I have a dodge Ram and even fully loaded with my tools and equipment I slide all over the place. That's why I drive my wifes AWD durango when it's bad out.

[Guest Jcochran88]

The Armada is a pickup right? Pickups are bad for being light in the rear end. I have a dodge Ram and even fully loaded with my tools and equipment I slide all over the place. That's why I drive my wifes AWD durango when it's bad out.

Armada is their large SUV comparable to suburban.

[Erik88]

even with 4WD it wouldn't go anywhere? My little Acura tore up the last snow storm and I have crappy tires.

On ice, no vehicle does well. But I'm surprised that you had a problem with the snow.

[KahrMan]

even with 4WD it wouldn't go anywhere? My little Acura tore up the last snow storm and I have crappy tires.

On ice, no vehicle does well. But I'm surprised that you had a problem with the snow.

It is 2wd. All the weight is in the front so the rear wheels spin very easily.

[titan14]

It is 2wd. All the weight is in the front so the rear wheels spin very easily.

ugh

[eapking]

Front wheel drives run a lot better for me in this weather.

[hipower]

Hate to admit it, but I've not been a fan of fwd. Just a diehard rwd fan. However the wife's '09 Impala did great in the snow and ice last night. Eleven miles from the Vanderbuit area to home and only took 2 hours and 50 minutes. But we left just before the massive parking lot closed on 21st. It only took 45 minutes to get to 16th and Charlotte, but from there to home was awful. The worst time we had was going around the high-riding big-wheel older cars that were spinning and slipping sideways. It was almost fun watching an older 87/88 Monte Carlo try to power up the gentle grades on Dickerson Road. And an early 90's Crown Vic with 22's sitting and smoking tires trying not to sideslide into other cars in the same area.

I may look a little harder now at some of the newer crossover styles with fwd.

[Garufa]

If you have a RWD vehicle in the snow you might as well park and start walking. Same goes for 4WD in many cases, depending on driver.

Now, like Erik said, get in a FWD Honda or Acura...you will be able to go just about anywhere on flat roads and then some. I used to tear-ass about in my '91 Integra (stick-shift) in all kinds of snow. No problems at all.

[Mr. Brooks]

My rwd truck did just fine in the snow today. I do have 4wd if I need it, but it has to be really bad for me to use it.

I do agree that a fwd car does great in snow and ice though.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Vans do not have a reputation for being bad weather vehicles, but had an old rear wheel drive G20 panel van that would go up hills on solid ice with chains on. With chains it was like grinding along 10 mph in a tank on snow/ice.

Later got a nice little S10 and even had a cap on the back which added a little weight. Remembering the great success with chains on the old van, I bought a set of chains for the pickup in the middle of the summer same time I bought the truck. Was confident that the S10 ought to do the same trick as the old van. I really enjoyed the S10 but never once drove it in the snow.

Two years later we finally had a good snow. I confidently put on the chains, and was surprised that the little S10 couldn't even back out of my driveway. No ice, just a few inches of snow. The driveway barely has a slope. The driveway can't be more than 1 or 2 degrees slope. Even with chains the S10 was useless. I knew if it couldn't even get out of the driveway it would be an uncontrollable toboggan ride down the big hill I live on.

Interesting how different the various models handle.

[dralarms]

Armada is their large SUV comparable to suburban.

So it's a pickup with a shell. LOL

[Guest Jcochran88]

Wife has an Audi Quattro it is all wheel drive and it goes great, says in the owners manual that it is not safe to drive more than 120mph in the snow!!

[Guest Grot]

I had an 86 Celica that LOVED snow, it was FWD. My wifes Supercharged Regal not quite as good, even though it is still FWD. Just has too much power.

Havent had to drive my F150 in the snow, but i imagine its gonna suck. Its only 2WD with a torque monster engine. Rain gets to be a PITA sometimes

[nightrunner]

2wd always sux more on snow and ice than fwd or 4x4

[Guest Jamie]

You wanna drive a RWD pickup in the snow, throw about 200 pounds of something in the very back, close to the tailgate. The same is probably true of any RWD SUV.

Our old Toyota Tacoma would handle the snow about as well as a 2-wheel drive vehicle ever does, provided we loaded the rear end first. ( A couple of 20 pound bags of clay kitty litter and a few old barbell plates, and we were good to go. )

As for FWD... y'all can have it. It doesn't do well on hills, since the front end is unloaded on the up-slopes of hills, so it's about useless around here. My wife barely got home from work in Nashville the other evening, and she grew up driving in the snows of Pennsylvania. Our FWD HHR just isn't that great at the task. If it were AWD, like a Subaru, it'd be hell on wheels though.

BTW... if this sort of weather becomes a trend, I may have to look into buying one of these, as a sort of "lifeboat", so I can get out a get supplies if needed, when things go completely to because of snow, floods, etc. :

... and believe me, I hope it doesn't come to that. I'm absolutely sick of snow, cold, and generally crappy weather.

[Guest ArmyVeteran37214]

Unlike everyone else yesterday, I didn't leave work until 1030pm. I really didin't have much trouble getting home from 100 Oaks to Donelson. I hopped on I65, then 440 and 24 to 40. I was doing speeds up to 50mph at times (80% of the time). I even passed a metro cop on 440 before Nolensville Rd. He was stuck in a pack of slow movers and I was force to pass in the far right lane that turns into the exit lane. I just laughed at everyone I passed. I drive a RWD 2005 Grand Cherokee and it handles this weather like a champ. I have a couple extra hundred pounds in the back to help with traction. I just love the fact that I learned how to drive in this crappy weather as I was growing up in IL.

[Kelemvor]

My 4wd made the difference for me. I get garbage mpg every other day of the year, but this is when it pays off. I have NEVER been stuck in the snow, and I've been in some pretty retarded storms.

[Jasongar8]

My 4wd made the difference for me. I get garbage mpg every other day of the year, but this is when it pays off.

Yup, same for me. I backed out on to the road in front of my house in 2WD just to see how slick it was and when I put it in drive my truck wouldn't move. I clicked 4WD in and it pulled it self right on out. I worry more about other drivers in the snow that getting myself stuck.

[Guest Jamie]

I worry more about other drivers in the snow that getting myself stuck.

Those are the only real obstacle; they'll f**k you over every time.

25 or so years ago, I got along just fine with some really crappy rear wheel drive vehicles... Volkswagen beetles, old Toyota Corollas, Datsuns, Chevys, Fords or all sorts... Never even thought about a 4 wheel drive back then... Couldn't afford it if I did.

I never got stuck, except when some yo-yo in front of me caused a problem that blocked the road.

Edited February 11, 2011 by Jamie

[peejman]

I find it surprising that the Armada doesn't have some form of traction control for this very reason. Adding something heavy to the back will help.

Older vehicles are easier to drive in the snow than newer ones because their tires are generally much narrower, they're heavier, and they have a lot less power.

[leroy]

....Wife has an Audi Quattro it is all wheel drive and it goes great, says in the owners manual that it is not safe to drive more than 120mph in the snow!! ...

I like this car!!! Looks to me like Teutonic Engineering at its best!!

keep up the good work!

leroy

[TGO David]

I had zero problems out of my Titan in the snow and ice the past two storms. I throw between four to six 50lb bags of sand in the bed near the tailgate and put it in 4-HI as needed. Weight on the drive wheels is your friend, no matter which wheel-drive you have. FWD cars do as well as they do because the full weight of the engine is right over them.

[bubbadavis]

I always used 250lbs of sand or so in the bed of my truck (RWD). It was enough weight to get me anywhere I needed to. I figured the sand also worked well if I did get stuck - I could cut open a bag and throw some on the pavement to get me going.

I've got a Jeep Wrangler now so the truck doesn't get out in the snow!

[Guest KimberChick]

2010 Tacoma DoubleCab 2WD, empty bed.

Six inches of snow and falling here on Wednesday, packed into hard, white ice in most places. Drove the 13-ish miles home in it, at roughly 20mph the whole way due to traffic. Sometimes 25, sometimes 15.

First, the antilock brakes on this thing....stellar for rear drums. No skidding to stops.

Second, AutoLSD rear end...at first I wasn't a fan of it but I'm sold. The rear end tried to step out on a packed ice patch, I felt it and VSC kick in, brake/cut throttle and it straightened right out.

Next time around I am going to load the bed and see if that makes it any better. We didn't have any scrap steel in the recycle bin that was small enough to be carried by a single person.

Regardless of this, I'm still not a fan of driving on this crap. Too many other idiots to worry about. I had a guy in a Tercel nearly eat it about 6-8 carlengths ahead of me on the same ice patch I hit. He fishtailed hard enough I thought he was going over. He was also on a cellphone the whole time....see previous sentence.

I am looking at AWD vehicles, mostly for a commuter car with better mpg and also for epic snow/rain shenanigans. AWD Axis Spins? Yessir. We can handle that.

Edited February 11, 2011 by KimberChick