Hi all,

I'm looking to buy an '08 Tucson SE. I just realized the one I put a down payment ononly has FWD not AWD. I live in upstate NY where we have lots of snow during the winter. I am not sure about the FWD. I currently drive a Honda Civic that has FWD and it is bad in the winter. The wheels spin on the snow.

Should an SUV have AWD? Any drive a Tucson without AWD in the snow? Please tell me your thoughts.

Thanks.
Emily

 

The Tucson SE FWD comes with both traction and stability control systems as standard equipment. With these systems plus the slightly higher clearance, I think it should do very well on snowy roads. Unless you have need to go off road (although even a AWD Tucson would not be the best choice to go very far off road) or have to plow through deep snow, the FWD Tucson should do much better than the Civic.

You may wish to use a different tire during winter months. All-season radials do work reasonably well on packed snow, but are a compromise as conditions get icy or as snow accumulate more than an inch or two. I live in snow country, and have been using the Cooper Weathermaster ST2 on my FWD vehicles that get used the most during the winter. Deeper and slightly more aggresive tread than an all-season radial, but still very smooth and relatively quiet on pavement compared to a true mud & snow tread. I think Cooper uses a compound that maintains it pliability as temperatures get colder. A friend has these on all four corners of his Subaru Outback wagon. He swears the "car could climb a tree" with these tires if need be.

 

I second using snow tires in the winter. Nokian WR's have a good reputation.

 

I have a FWD 06 Tucson and it's great in the snow with all-season tires. Using snow tires would make it even better. It's a great vehicle.

 

As others have said, with proper tires it'll do well. Snow traction is more about the tires than the car. It's important to have weight over the drive wheels, but the Tucson has enough weight up front.

 

One of the (sadly, few) positive aspects of our Tucson is that even in this record setting snowfall season (about 100"- that's a lot for Milwaukee, with 2 snowfalls of 14"), the Tucson never hiccuped. With the FWD, ESP, and ABS it has always handled bad weather just fine.