Best Cars for Winter Driving

With winter under way and temperatures finally starting to plummet below zero, it seems as though the snow may just be catching Britain’s drivers on the hop.

This can spell disaster if you live in the countryside or anywhere that the gritters seem to abandon - unless you buy your car wisely.  So what are the best cars for snowy weather?

Money aside, you’d always go for the likes of a Range Rover, the Subaru Forester or even the classic Land Rover Discovery if you really mean business.  The reality is that most of us are driving in light snow on tight motoring budgets so cars like the Dacia Duster can offer incredible value.

The Dacia Duster has a high ground clearance, wide tyres, a powerful range of engines (for the money), and an astoundingly cheap price tag with the range starting below £10,000.

If you have a bit more money to splash but still appreciate a bargain, the Hyundai X30 is a big SUV with a reasonable price tag.  On similar lines the 4WD Skoda Yeti has become a real cult favourite, and if you thought the Fiat Panda couldn’t get any more popular, the ‘driver’s choice’ of 2013 now comes in a brilliant 4x4 incarnation.

When faced with the choice between the Panda 4x4 and the Dacia Duster, the price tag may just sway you towards the SUV but if you want genuine 4WD practicality, the Panda may be the better performer.

The SUV can be a good choice in the snow, but when it comes down to it a 4WD will always outperform a front wheel drive car or the downright treacherous rear wheel drives which can be lethal in the snow: the Jaguar XF seems particularly notable in this respect.  

There’s a lot of subjectivity in the classic ‘best cars in the snow’ debate.  The Telegraph cited the Volvo XC70 as one of the worst winter weather performers in 2011, whereas Forbes had it down as one of the best.  It’d certainly be hard to condemn the Volvo on the basis of practicality and power.      

The Telegraph does seem to rate the new breed of Volvos, boosting the XC60 into the top of the charts for its snowy weather merits.

Driving in the snow should never be all down to your car and anyone that thinks they can climb aboard a Land Rover and put their fears to one side is a real danger. Reading up on driving tips and making preparations for your car are equally if not more important for safe driving in the snow; you see some dreadful driving in this weather, with no awareness of the dynamics of the car on a slippy road and you’d be better driving a small car with the right preparations and awareness than driving a 4WD without.