Before anyone says to search I have done LOTS of searching over the past 6-7 months but cannot find a very clear cut and concise answer to this question.

I currently live in Hawaii and am planning on possibly moving to minnesota or iowa. I know that snow is more of an issue in minnesota but iowa does get some snow. I am curious how the G coupe can handle snow with a set of dedicated snow tires.

It seems pretty clear that dedicated snow tires would make a world of difference. However, I am curious how big a difference AWD would make.

I understand that AWD may help to accelerate and steer better but I also think this could be more dangerous. I'd assume no matter if its 2 or 4 wheels connected to the drivetrain there will still be only 4 wheels on the ground which would make them evenly matched at stopping if they both have dedicated snow tire setups. Assuming that, if you get better acceleration with awd id assume itd be harder to stop once you get it going.

This said, shouldn't the G perform just as good in snow with dedicated snow tires if driving safely? except the awd may have an advantage of pulling you out of a turn better.

Any help would be appreciated on this. I love my g coupe and it does have a fair bit of mods in it. I'd hate to demod and sell it if its not really necessary.

Also I know people would say to get a beater, but being my current situation ill only be able to have one car to drive.

Also for people living in these areas, exactly how big a problem is snow in
Dess moines, IA or Harris, MN?

Thanks in advance.

 

The AWD is better for snow. Simple as that.
Anything you do to make the coupe handle snow better you can do to the AWD and end up ahead of the coupe. It's just a better platform for handling that situation.

 

agreed. i see that point. but is the coupe manageable comfortably in snow with good tires? and also awd wont help stopping though.

 

Any car is manageable in snow with good tires. If the snow is really high and the roads are hard to pass, then having a car isn't going to help much.

Slap on some Bridgestone Blizzaks and you're good to go.

Also, AWD won't do anything to hurt stopping either.

 

I've had both, coupe and now I have 05 awd sedan. I live in NY so sometimes it snows 2' and even with awd if I have all season tires I was getting stuck & I've been driving for 15 years. Get AWD with snow tires ull be ok

 

with that said. obviously AWD does have some advantage in snow, but does it have enough of an advantage that I should sell My tt kit and all other parts to sell the G and get an AWD car?

I do want an AWD but not sure if the benefit is worth all that trouble vs getting a set of oem 18's and snow tires.

 

If you've lived in Hawaii your whole life, I wouldn't even consider getting a G Coupe as your car if you move to someplace that gets significant snowfall.

People who have never driven in snow before tend to take quite a while to acclimate to dealing with it. Matters will be made 10x worse by having a car like a low(in terms of ground clearance) RWD car with lots of power.

Definitely don't get a G Coupe if you move there!

 

well thing is I already have the g coupe. i would plan to take it with me because to sell it i'd take a significant loss. If i had a choice to start over I wouldnt buy a g coupe if I moved there but unless its totally worth it I dont want to get rid of it so I dont sustain so much of a loss.

 

I have a 2006 coupe and currently live in Seattle where we get very little to no snow every most winters….however, I did grow up in Minnesota and have a lot of experience driving in the snow. My parents used to have a Q45 which they had to put 250lbs worth of sandbags in the truck to get any sort of traction in the winter. When it does snow in Seattle, I typically try not to drive. My coupe (with summer tires) is nearly useless in an inch of snow and I am pretty experienced with snow driving.

I have also driven in the snow in my brothers 07 G35x (AWD) sedan in Chicago and my parents current M35x in Minnesota. I have driven both cars in blizzard conditions with 6-8 inches of snow on the ground and both cars are absolutely amazing. I think the M handles in the snow better than my parents QX4 (yes, my family owns a bunch of Infiniti cars). Moving to a place like MN or IA, I would highly recommend either picking up a cheap 4 wheel drive vehicle to use in the winter and keeping the G for the summer.

One other thing that you may want to think about is the amount of sand/salt that is used to melt snow in the streets in these areas. This stuff is terrible for your car and when I lived there, I found you have to wash the stuff off every week or two depending on how much snow there was.

 

Tires. Get yourself a dedicated snows.

/thread

 

mjwalter, was that with snow tires on the q45? If i do keep the g id plan to use a seperate set of snow tires. just wondering if itll be ok with just snow tires or if i really should try and get a g37x instead.

 

I had a two wheel drive pick up truck with no LSD (one wheel peel) and very cheap all season tires before I had my G. I survived 2 Canadian winters with this truck/tire set up by leaving myself tons of room to stop and by taking my time when the weather called for it. If you do this you'll be fine.

That being said I am getting dedicated winter tires on 17" wheels for my G now that I'm making a little more money, and I would reccomend you do the same because they do make a world of difference.

 

The Q did not have snow tires…just whatever came with the car. However, I am of the opinion that the traction would not have been much better with the snow tires. I would really recommend getting the g37x

 

I have driven about everything in the snow in ohio. AWD with all seasons-ok in the snow. RWD with dedicated Snow/winter preformance tires...far superior!

I drive anything with wheels because of the military, from forklifts to 18 wheelers.

If you keep your G, I would buy another set of wheels, and put dedicated snow tires on. I have my summer wheels, but in the winter I run oem 19s with blizzaks. Works as long as the snow depth is less than the clearence of my under carriage. I drove my G in Ohio winters with all seasons...which equals a bad idea. Some days good, but most days seriously scary.

if all else fails, park the g and buy a $1500 beater FWD car so you can drive a bit more safely. and then buy a quality set of snow tires for it as well.

Starting isnt the issue in snow, cold, ice and bad weather, its the stopping and turning that puts you into serious harm (and others)

 

agreed. if i kepe the G as i said earlier i definitely plan to buy another set of rims with snow tires. i figures itll help me stop which is most important. hopefully thatll be enough to survive winters.