What ever you do...

[dani3d]

don't buy cheap winter tires! I just came back from outside and a woman living in front has a blue Micra and she get stuck like everywhere ! I have Nokkian Hakka tires and went through where she got stuck no problem at all. We pushed her and she came back, tried to go inside her parking lot and got stuck again! darn, there is just about 2 inches of snow on the road, nothing to get stuck in, but she manages to find the way, two times! We pushed her again so she could be on the side of the road and wait it there. Not sure what she got on as winter tires but they are not good at all. Next time I see the car in daylight I will check it. I had no problem what so ever today driving in the snow flurry we have. Since this car is so light in weight, get the best tires possible that you can afford!

[ptbo micra]

I am waiting for my Toyo's to show up before I take the keys saturday. With how "cheap" the car is, it leaves more money for good tyres.

[MetroMPG]

she manages to find the way, two times!

Wow. You wouldn't think there would be that much of a difference.

Next time I see the car in daylight I will check it.

Curious to find out what you see.

In yesterday's snow storm, I took my nephew out for his first ever drive in snow. (He's 16, just learning.) We had about 10cm/4 in. on the ground, another 10cm came overnight. We went to a parking lot and he learned what ABS is (and i also pulled the fuses to disable it for a demonstration). We did some too-fast turns to experience understeering (front wheel drive). No handbrake in this car, so no oversteering practice! We went to a very steep hill to show him how to climb from a stop (no traction control) and back down again to show stopping distance (he was very surprised how much longer it took).

Finished off with a fun reverse 180 spin.

Unfortunately, unlike your neighbour, we had good snow tires. Which means it's not as much of a learning experience as it could have been!

[AlphaMicra]

I agree; this car is so light, it needs all the grip it can get! I had no trouble with my Michelin X-Ice tires, but I found the car's stability control/traction control systems went to work sooner than I've been used to.

Just a note here, if anyone's interested in "Sliding" around corners using the e-brake, turn off stability control first, or else the car will activate the front brake that will counter this slide. As an experienced driver, I find the car slides around corners very predictably when tossing it into a slide, which is easy to do again thanks to the light weight.

[ptbo micra]

The only driving aid I have ever had in a car is ABS, I guess I will have to relearn winter driving with this new-fangled technology. How easy is it to turn stab control on and off?

[AlphaMicra]

The only driving aid I have ever had in a car is ABS, I guess I will have to relearn winter driving with this new-fangled technology. How easy is it to turn stab control on and off?

Big button on the lower dash, in front of the driver's left knee. Stability control works great, except when you're trying to have fun.

[dani3d]

I do feel more relax on the road when driving in deep snow and slippery conditions when I know that I have the stability. It did kick in many times yesterday when I was returning home. We had winds from 80 to 100kmh and 30cm of snow.

I don't see her car today. Hope she did not have an accident.

And yes it did make a huge difference yesterday as I could go through the 2 feet of very packed snow that the snow plower had left behind my driveway, and she got stuck in two inches of snow in the middle of the road. I went through the same places that she got stuck and I could not understand how she did it. I had no problem going through.

[ptbo micra]

Big button on the lower dash, in front of the driver's left knee. Stability control works great, except when you're trying to have fun.

does it switch on/off easily while driving, or is it a painful length of time to hold the button in? Guess I could just wait until Saturday to find out for myself, this has been the longest week ever!!

[MetroMPG]

I didn't play with it when I had the Micra SR (summer), but most cars you have to press & hold the traction control / stability control button for a few seconds to switch it off. The Micra owner's manual doesn't actually mention having to do this, so maybe it's a simple press.

[Daox]

I've had great luck with less expensive snow tires myself. I had a great set of General Altimax Artics on my 03 Matrix and that worked very well and were pretty inexpensive. The current set I'm using is a Pirelli Winter Snowcontrol Serie II, also a pretty inexpensive tire that is working very good.

What tires have you guys had bad experiences with?