We didn't have to travel far on Christmas day but we did have to go from Burnsville to Eagan then to Rosemont. Just the weather we had over that WED and THUR made the driving conditions very bad. Christmas morning I knew my wife was coming home soon and they had just plowed the street making a waist deep drift of heavy snow. I knew her car wouldn't make it through that and even if she got a run at it the driveway wasn't plowed yet either and she'd just get stuck there. So I warmed up the OBS and 'plowed' the driveway =) No problem in the unplowed drive and just punched right through the drift. She had a rough time getting home and suggested we take my Subaru. We loaded up what we could in the hatch back and took off for Eagan. The roads through Eagan were significantly worse than Burnsville. Glad we had opted for the AWD vehicle at that point already. Those 4% grade hills on Diffley were rough and Northview Park Rd was even worse. I had to slow down to 25-30 just to maintain good control of the vehicle. Travel during the day was fine. It warmed up a bit, the plows had been out all morning, and things were just wet. However the rain and sleet would come back to haunt us once the temps droped back down. When we left Rosemont it was about 11 PM; all the rain and slush from the day had iced over completely. I had to force my doors open as they were frozen shut! Cedar and 42 were all glare ice. Saw more than one idiot fly through an intersection after they realized too late they were driving way too fast on sheer ice. We all got home safely and had no trouble driving on some really terrible roads. Best part was pulling into the garage; safe and sound. I know if we had taken my wife's car we would have gotten stuck at least once, possibly ended up in a ditch, or wrose.
nice to hear you guys made it home safe... i too had to go places to places christmas eve and day... didnt mind driving on christmas eve since the road were just covered with snow... but on chrsitmas day, the roads were really bad in st. paul
We also took my WRX instead of my wife's car. It was a little cramped, but I felt a lot safer in the subaru with awd, abs and winter tires driving from Rochester to Viroqua, WI (2hrs) in the blowing and drifting snow. We even made it to my parent's about 2.5 hours from there.
I also was quite happy to have an AWD car with snow tires this weekend. On Christmas Morning, I noticed two people walking thru our yard, both with shovels. Wondering why they were trespassing, I stuck my head out of our front door and asked if they needed help. They said they were fine and I closed the door. I watched for a second and noticed that they were trying to dig out a Honda Accord at the end of our cul-de-sac. I told my wife I was going out to help because our son needed a break from opening gifts anyway. I got dressed for the weather and started the car. I told them I was just going to tow them out. We hooked up a tow strap to my trailer hitch as well as theirs. The plows hadn't yet been out yet and there was about 12-14" of wet, heavy snow on the ground. I was truly AMAZED at how easily the Forester pulled the car. A neighbor down the block (who drives a harley and a monster Chevy truck) yelled "That's what you get for not buying an American car!" to the owner of the Honda (his wife was steering, he was walking behind). He replied with "What the hell do you think is pulling me!?!?" I pulled them down my street, around the corner, up a slight hill and down their street stopping in front of their house. With some pushing we got them up the driveway and into the garage. He thanked me profusely and had more than a couple compliments about my car.
Yeah I made the snow bank my bitch, this was Christmas day on my way home. Wife was " There is no way your going to make it, your going to get stuck...."
Should have given them the business card of your local subaru dealer and told them to get a subaru instead and they would not have these problems
all this fun happening and my car was on jack stands :-(. I did lend my Nokians to a friend for the holidays and he has been thanking my profusely for borrowing them. I think that driving through this storm w/ good tires has made him a believer in running a dedicated snow tire on his Subaru.
Christmas morning I left Elk River at 9:30am, and made it to Renville (56284) by noon. 212 between EP and Chan was the scariest. I love my car + snows.
I wanted to drive the Subi, but the wife HATES it, so it was the PT Cruiser all holiday long. No problems in this weather, just not as fun!
Mine got me from Green Bay to Houghton, MI on Christmas Eve night, pretty much the worst time for the storm in Wisconsin. I did it on all seasons, but will have snow tires put on next weekend... Thanks Subaru for keeping everyone happy on Christmas.
