Ford Fusion Hybrid handling in the snow

[jamesk33]

I am a new 2013 ford fusion hybrid SE owner. i was curious if anyone has had the opportunity to drive one of these in snowy conditions? It is almost snowboarding season and after looking at these tires i started to get very nervous about it being able to make it. I go to a mountain in west Virginia called snowshoe. Its a 300ish mile trip. The last 20 or so miles is a pretty intense climb up a mountain where there are often snowy conditions. It is pretty vital that i find a way to make this car get up that mountain if it cant already.. I was doing some research and i saw that they sell tire chains for economy cars that just slip right on and when u need to take them off it is as easy as pulling a lever. Meaning i would be able to slip them on right when the rough part starts.I also was looking at snow tires. I found some michelin X-ice tires, but they are rather expensive 240 each. I was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions or input on this matter.. thank you.

 

ooh yea i guess i should add i have on the stock p225/50r17

[corncobs]

That's an acdii and other early adopters question.

 

IIRC acdii was very very pleased with the snow handling of the BD but it had the larger appearance wheels.

[hybridbear]

How bad is the road you're driving? Is it plowed? Snow packed?

 

Living in Minneapolis we get a ton of snow each winter, but the city does a really good job of plowing. There were only a few times last winter that we went out before the roads were plowed. The handling isn't great (LRR tires will do that to you) but it is better than our 2006 Honda Accord Hybrid. The handling was not as good as our 2003 Saab 9-5 did in the snow. I don't know if either of those comparisons mean anything to you though... We thought about snow tires, but ultimately decided against the cost because it would only be of real value 2 or 3 days per winter where we have to go out before the roads are plowed. Most of the time we can just stay home when the weather is bad.

[acdii]

I believe steel wheels are available now, and you can get a set of snow tires for the winter if you drive a lot on snow covered roads. There is a member on here who went all winter like that and still got good MPG. As for the 18" tires, the Goodyear tires have surprisingly good traction in the snow and on ice. I cant say how the 17" tires are though, but was very pleased with the snow traction on the BD.

[aaronj1159]

I've had one trip in the snow in my car and it handled better than my Jetta used to. Granted I haven't taken it up to Snowshoe (yet) but I'm also curious like you as to how it would do on those mountains. I honestly fear the trips coming out of Virginia than the ones in WV. Virginia is never as prepared to clear the roads as WV is.

[jamesk33]

So just an update. I headed up snowshoe while the weather was pretty bad. The car handled spectacular. I saw several cars pulling over and turning around, i made it up and down the mountain with ease. It was snowing pretty hard on the way up. On the way down it was pretty icey and unplowed. I took it slow, but i never really was worried after i realized the car was doing fine. I decided to get firestone winterforce tires any way along with a snowboard rack just because a family member had a pretty good deal on them. I was able to actually test them the day after i put them home because i was in NJ during the recent snow. Most cares where shoveling there way out from the street. I was able to get snow of my windshield so i was able to see and drove right out of my spot and into my driveway to finish cleaning off the car. I am very pleased with its performace.

[HvnLee]

I'm a new Ford Fusion Driver but being that NYC doesn't always get as much snow I didn't even consider this until this awesome polar vortex began. I have the standard all season tires 17 x7.5 in wheels. So far it has handled okay but in poorly plowed areas I'm not feeling confident. Would winter tires make a significant difference considering how low the car is and the size of the rims? Any other suggestions/advise (getting a truck is not an option lol). Thank you!

[inco]

In another post I mentioned that come next fall I'm going to switch to an All-Weather tire. Nokian makes them as does Hankook I believe. Check out Tire Rack and look for "all weather" tires. The beauty is that you don't have to be changing rims and tires each season. Reports on Nokian are very good.

[KLH]

I live in Boston and won't drive my FFH SE if there's 2+ inches of snow. If the roads are plowed, then you're usually fine. If there's ice, don't drive.

[acdii]

What I find strange is the BD drove quite well in snow, but the HyTi does not, yet both had the same tire on it. When these need to be replaced I will see if I can get the same Hankook that is on my Flex. I can't get over just how good the traction is with those tires, I have to force them to slip.

[hybridbear]

I tested this today. We got a few inches of snow and on my way home from doing some errands I decided to swing by the unplowed parking lot at my office to test the FFH handling in the snow. I went up to the top level of the parking ramp which has relatively few obstacles to test things out. I would get going up to about 20 MPH and then try to turn a corner without slowing down. The car did an admirable job of keeping the back end from slipping out. I didn't go too fast because the parking ramp isn't huge, but up to about 20-25 MPH I couldn't get the back end to slide out on me like I can in the Prius. It also did a good job keeping the nose going where I wanted it to go. There was very little uncertainty in how it handled. There were a few times where I pushed it harder and then the car wanted to go straight even though I was turning the wheels. Acceleration is also pretty good in the snow. The tires would spin a little, but the traction control would kick in and quickly accelerate the car up to speed. The traction control also does a very good job of keeping the car driving in a straight line and not letting it veer off to one side.

 

Prior to this I had felt less steady in the FFH than the Prius in the snow. The reason wasn't that the Prius handles better, but that it would predictably slide. The FFH would be so solid but would then surprise me by losing grip. Today I was able to get a better feel for how it grips and how the "Torque Vectoring" works to keep you from sliding out of control and crashing. I will now feel much more comfortable driving the FFH in the snow.

 

And...you can stop using your ABS brakes and still get a 100% brake score. Check out this thread for more about that.

[corncobs]

I tested this today. We got a few inches of snow and on my way home from doing some errands I decided to swing by the unplowed parking lot at my office to test the FFH handling in the snow. I went up to the top level of the parking ramp which has relatively few obstacles to test things out. I would get going up to about 20 MPH and then try to turn a corner without slowing down. The car did an admirable job of keeping the back end from slipping out. I didn't go too fast because the parking ramp isn't huge, but up to about 20-25 MPH I couldn't get the back end to slide out on me like I can in the Prius. It also did a good job keeping the nose going where I wanted it to go. There was very little uncertainty in how it handled. There were a few times where I pushed it harder and then the car wanted to go straight even though I was turning the wheels. Acceleration is also pretty good in the snow. The tires would spin a little, but the traction control would kick in and quickly accelerate the car up to speed. The traction control also does a very good job of keeping the car driving in a straight line and not letting it veer off to one side.

 

Prior to this I had felt less steady in the FFH than the Prius in the snow. The reason wasn't that the Prius handles better, but that it would predictably slide. The FFH would be so solid but would then surprise me by losing grip. Today I was able to get a better feel for how it grips and how the "Torque Vectoring" works to keep you from sliding out of control and crashing. I will now feel much more comfortable driving the FFH in the snow.

 

And...you can stop using your ABS brakes and still get a 100% brake score. Check out this thread for more about that.

Perfect descriptions how well the Fusion does in snow. It's almost impossible to get this car into an unpredictable situation.

[acdii]

Perfect descriptions how well the Fusion does in snow. It's almost impossible to get this car into an unpredictable situation.

Don't say that, I can if I really wanted to! City boys.....

[corncobs]

Don't say that, I can if I really wanted to! City boys.....

I can too but that would require a lot more space and this is nothing I wanna do to a 30k car. I would take my wife's Explorer for that kinda fun and RWD for some corner fun. The nice thing is since it's an AdvanceTrac it turns on 4WD automatically.

[acdii]

Heh, you dont drive the roads I do, they dont plow or salt until it has a nice thick layer of ice on them. It doesn't take much to lose control on these roads. IOW, not fun.