Funny 72 hours

[kiwi]

Funny weekend started with Friday evening leaving work and big fat snowflakes starting to fall, when I got home to a lower altitude it was just heavy rain. Saturday morning the 615am Village Alarm Clock went off sent me scurrying over a frozen Deck and tip toeing over Black Ice to a big red truck and to the aid of the first Subaru Legacy finding that 4wd is not that good on icey roads.
Lucky for us we never made the hill that took us into snow country

Then I was off to work at 8am and yup call number 2 as I headed my way to work this time I got to the top of the hill to discover a rather white snow covered road and the BX just about able to handle the conditions. Further on they closed the road so delays but they let me through. Following behind a Traffic Cop who stopped then realised where I was going the comment was "its blardy slippery" pfft the BX was handling it even if the Holden Commodore he was driving couldnt
Accident number 2 was a 4wd off the road and a truck stuck in a dip in the road.
Got back to the road closure and they highways guys wouldnt let me go back and continue to work unless I put chains on...WTF I just got half way to there and back without chains.
They said only 4wds with chains passed this point
30 minutes later the road was opened and got my way through taking the missus to work who was stuck in the traffic snarl up and doing a road reccy at the same time.
Blow me call number 3 another 4wd who figured they could charge along a bit faster because the road was improvong....oooops.
Finally got to work took over an hour on what normally a 25 minute trip due to the amount of snow bunnys wanting a powder fix.

Meanwhile the every trusty BX handled the road way ahead of its more modern 4wd super cars, although to be honest it did feel a bit light at times but no drama to just flick the cjhains on if I did get stuck.

All the white stuff was gone by lunchtime though so the end of a wonderful day of snow driving saturday. Thats how it goes here couple hours choas!

Now its Monday and its hosing it down 13c and the heavens have opened as the Victorian Storm has headed over the Tasman. Washing away the nice fresh snow they had up the hill!

The TRS BX I have once again decided is fine in light rain because the Sunroof has leaked big style! After I had parked it in the rain there was a waterfall at the rear of the car as I puulled away!

Ok top it off never felt the Earthquake in Christchurch in case your wondering. Its a funny ole world.

But the BX has triumphed this weekend even if one got soggy today

[toddao]

Just need an earthquake to add to the equation - but that was down South wasn't it?

The weather should be picking up at your end now though as the leaves are starting to turn here.

[kiwi]

I just found it weird how Saturday morning I was slipping and sliding all over a road I travel daily to work. (The other part of the route to work its normal conditions), then by lunchtime the only clue it had dumped a lot of white stuff was in the ditches and tree shadows and of course the big white mountains. Then today it has just bucketed down and been quite warm.

Couple days be cranking up the aircon again then next week another southerly and maybe slip sliding again in the BX. To be honest dont get enough normal road snow driving unless its up or down a steep mountain road in the BX.

[mat_fenwick]

I may get shot down in flames over this, but I'd take the Discovery over the BX if it was snowy. Back to back over the same conditions last year 4wd won hands down. Admittedly the BX is on 195 section tyres and the Disco was either on 205 section road tyres or 245 section All Terrains (the latter better still but down to tread pattern rather than size) but even so the ability to spread the drive over 4 wheels rather than 2 felt safer.
I reckon the main problem with all these 4x4 accidents (as you hint at) could be the sense of overconfidence from the feeling of security you get.

Having said all that though if I put chains on the BX that probably would be the winner, but over here it's rare to get a long enough section of snow to warrant the faff of putting them on. I don't have any chains for the Discovery and (puzzlingly) the owner's manual for it states chains must only be fitted to the rear wheels. Surely it makes sense to have the most grip on the wheels that do the steering and most of the braking (although you should obviously try to do as little as possible of the latter!)

[Gibbo2286]

A BX with mud and snow tyres will go pretty well anywhere a 4x4 will go, my daughter in the USA however managed to get to places nothing else seemed able to in her Subaru Forester 4x4. Gibbo.

Ps. Kiwi, the daughter of a friend of mine fell off one of your South Island mountains last year driving a camper van over black ice.

Lucky to suvive, if another driver some distance behind hadn't seen her headlight beams raking the sky like searchlights as she rolled down she could have lain there all night and died of exposure.

[kiwi]

Boils down to the driver.

I would feel safer in a car with the knowledge I had snow chains on than a 4wd thats not given what I see every year, with drivers who think that 4wd will be the winner everytime.

This stretch of "flat" road they closed was classed as the alternative route for the section of the main highway that gets closed when there is a low snow fall, combine that with a saturday in the ski season and a thousand plus townies all with one goal and you end up with choas. Unforgiving chaos with that number of cars around and a bit of white stuff.

Heres video of part of the road which pretty much was the same condition as it was two years ago when I shot the clip, on that occasion the BX had chains on and heading off the mountain.



and another which is the road I drive several times a day shuttling





and another from where I used to live, somewhere in that video I do appear

Anyways it finally stopped raining and the rain gauge is overloaded its maximum is 120mm, I emptied that from full 24 hours ago So god knows how much rain actually fell

[scarecrow]

It's amazing how much that looks like Scotland in winter. Pine trees in snow look the same everywhere, I s'pose.

Haha - the rapping was better than the music it accompanied! Personally, I like to sing, "Down by the Riverside" when I'm concentrating on my driving

Edit: I forgot - the best car I've driven in heavy snow was a Panda 4x4 It seemed to just float over the top of it all. Had a Range Rover too and that wasn't that good because of its weight. The guy who towed me out of a ditch had some special wheel attachments that acted like snow chains - they were thin grippy strips that attached across the tyre... and seemed a lot easier to fit than snow chains.

[kiwi]

There are not pine trees

The first clip was what I recorded to be honest I rarely have the radio on, most the time to busy listening to theother radio to know whats happening. Soe reason I prefer to listen to the tone of the engine

Of the cars I owned I got to say the Pontiac (opal Kadett, vauxhall astra) was probably a brilliant car in the snows of NZ despite it being an automatic. I guess the lack of power steering and general lack of power being a 1500 was what aided it.

Seriously thinking of recording my drive to work one day, how sad is that

[Dollywobbler]

I reckon the main problem with all these 4x4 accidents (as you hint at) could be the sense of overconfidence from the feeling of security you get.

Absolutely! Remember driving my Valver in snow once - very slowly as it was absolutely rubbish. Got overtaken by some idiot in a Discovery who obviously thought that 4WD gave him as much grip as if it was dry.

My BX is bloody great in the snow - heavy diesel engine and 165 tyres equals a surprising amount of grip.

[Way2go]

It's amazing how much that looks like Scotland in winter.

I thought that too but wondered if the ski conditions equate to the feel of Scotland or more Alpine. Certainly doesn't look to be akin to Alpine.

[kiwi]

It's amazing how much that looks like Scotland in winter.

I thought that too but wondered if the ski conditions equate to the feel of Scotland or more Alpine. Certainly doesn't look to be akin to Alpine.

It would be hard for me to compare to Scotland as I never skied there, so you need to bring yourself down for a visit to find out

[kiwi]

And it gets stranger the freezing level up the mountains has risen and for 36 hours we actually did not have the wood fire alight. Its alight now because after a day of no rain its raining again

The Daffodils are blooming, Snowdrops bursting forth and the sure sign of spring is the Plum Trees in blossum. Now for the Bluebells that stragly are a bit slow this year to burst forth. Yep Spring has sprung the unsettled weather is here and the days are getting longer.

Time to give the BXs a spring clean

[xac]

I reckon the main problem with all these 4x4 accidents (as you hint at) could be the sense of overconfidence from the feeling of security you get.

Absolutely! Remember driving my Valver in snow once - very slowly as it was absolutely rubbish. Got overtaken by some idiot in a Discovery who obviously thought that 4WD gave him as much grip as if it was dry.

When we had snow earlier this year, all the cars I saw in trouble or having accidents were 4x4s, with the exception of a Jag I saw twice wheel spinning like there's no tomorrow but going nowhere both times.

Most of Milton Keynes grid roads are two lane dual carriageways (with plenty of roundabouts to make it an ideal rally course in the dry). I was travelling home in stop go traffic along one, doing about 5mph, when up ahead cars in lane 1 started pulling into lane 2.
A 4x4 had somehow gone up the back of another one! Seriously, we had been doing 5mph, no more than that, so how bad a driver do you have to be to crash like that?

[scarecrow]

female

[Gibbo2286]

.
A 4x4 had somehow gone up the back of another one! Seriously, we had been doing 5mph, no more than that

That's what happens when you add viagra to the fuel. Gibbo