So a big snow dump happened this past weekend in Whistler and the wifey didn't want to go so I swapped on Blizzacks, grabbed the boy and headed up the Sea-to Sky highway with the boy.

I have always loved my Z (own it now for almost 6 years from new) and it is the first car I have ever owned that the more I own it / drive it, the more I love it but wow! This weekend it impressed me to even higher levels.

Ripping up the mountain with my son, flying by everybody and their mother just made me fall in love with it all over again. I was super impressed with every aspect of how the car handled the trip up and back and how it managed the snow with no issue whatsoever.

And the best part? Driving out of Whistler in a couple of inches of snow with everyone in their full-size SUVs looking at me as if I was an alien.

 

I drove my z in snow and didn't have good luck.

 

Yea, with snow tires the Z is pretty capable. Glad you enjoy yours

 

The Colorado snow was falling in fat, heavy flakes when I got out of work in December '02. My pre-order Redline track model hadn't seen much rain, much less the icy mess that the weather forecast missed that day. Belting in, my plan wasn't to do anything other than to make it home in one piece. But as most of us know, those BS 040s are anything but a decent snow tire and I could feel the rear beginning to spin on anything other than a flat and level roadway.

About five miles from home is a gradual hill with barely a 5% grade to it. The Z kept spinning its tires and crabbing up the hill in both first and second gears. Worse yet, the traffic was heavy that night and the stop-and-go nature of the pack made it difficult to keep any momentum up. Halfway up that hill, I realized the Z just wasn't going to make it, so I waited for traffic to ease before doing a half donut with just the throttle and guiding it back down to the base of the hill. Traction was good enough to keep the Z going south a mile or so, until I spotted a public works truck headed up an alternate route home.

I managed to get home just fine after that, thank you. But the drawbacks of a near 50/50 weight distribution and the wrong tires made a strong impression on my mind from that day. Today, the Z remains safe and sound in the garage. And while my latest tires still aren't worthwhile taking out when the temps fall below 40 degrees F, I have other Nissans to use in those conditions. I'll still take the Z out during the winter on good days when the roads are clear in the Denver metro area. The power, design and handling of my Z continue to blow me away as well!

 

I can appreciate your experience. Tires make the difference.

I have a Jeep Commander with all-season tires and a 350z I equip with studless snow tires during the winter months. I drive both during the winter and the 350z with studless snow tires works as well on ice and in snow as my Jeep with a/s tires.

--Spike

 

Blizzacks make the world of difference in the snow because that's what they were designed for- freezing temperatures below 40 degrees. It took me a couple of years before I decided to get rid of my second car and use the Z with the Blizzacks in the winter and its the best decision I ever made. The Z drives and performs better with Blizzacks in the snow than my front wheel car did in the winter time. I live in NJ and daily drive in NJ, NY, Tri State area.

 

I had blizzacks on my rsx. That thing tore through the snow. I dont daily drive my Z, its rare that I let it out in the snow. Please be careful in snow.

 

Yea - it's really the tires more than the car (aside from AWD,4WD etc). The Z will still have the problem of being very low profile - so anything more than a couple inches is really not advisable unless you want to start snow plowing.

 

I daily my Z in the winter with Blizzaks. It does amazingly well. The clearance can be an issue but I'm at stock ride height and it isn't that much lower than a lot of the sedans on the road. It stops and steers better than most other cars that I have driven in the snow. It is better than the WRX that I had. Take offs aren't as fast but it's more fun with RWD! The best thing is that you can correct so well in the snow that you can have fun blowing the rear end out and still straighten it out and go. I haven't been able to do that in any other RWD that I've had!

 

I'm debating on starting to drive my z in the snow next year.

The only thing that sucks up here is salt. Most of the vehicles up here are rust buckets.

 

Not surprisingly, there's a lot of snow up here in Colorado. While I'm certain the addition of a good set of snow tires would make all the difference, I still don't want to drive the Z in bad weather. While it's no garage queen or concours candidate, I like to keep it as clean as reasonably possible. That's impossible in the snow and together with the salt, sand, de-icers and other chemicals being put down, it can really put a lot of grime down.

But living in a dry climate also means the snow really melts and evaporates quickly. So the Colorado roads and highways stay clear a large proportion of the year. I'm already looking forward to getting blown away on clean roads when the snow melts after this morning!

 

OP: I go up to Whistler and Big White all the time during the winter. I haven't tried it in the Z, but not because I'm afraid it's not going to make it (I got home just fine when it started dumping snow in Seattle a few years ago). My issue is that in BC, the highway crews dump gravel on the roads and I always manage to come home in our AWD Rogue with new paint chips and cracked windshields, usually from the gravel that a-hole Oregon drivers kick up when they pass by in their Ford F250s (count so far: 2 Oregon drivers, 2 cracked windshields). The other problem with the Z is space. I assume you rented your skis.

 

Yes agreed about the road - it wasn't too bad and thankfully the windshield did survive but I did notice a couple of new small chips in the hood.

When I lived in the states, the Z used to sleep in the winter but that was when I had the luxury of 3 cars. Now in BC, we are down to two and as the wife and daughter didn't want to go, I left them the FX (another great car to do the drive in) and took the son in the Z.

As yes I did rent. Intersports in Whistler has a great deal - if an adult rents with a kid, the kid's equipment is free so I just bring my ski-boots and demo all sorts of different skis. Financially it's a push and I can pick whatever ski I want depending on my mood / condition.

In regards to the Z in the snow - the Blizzaks make all the difference. From past experience of driving FWD biased AWD cross-overs with all-seasons, I would take the Z any-day. Granted ground-clearance is an issue, especially since I lowered my about 1" a couple of years ago.

 

LOL... Were the roads & lots covered in snow? I was thinking about going to Whistler this weekend, but I heard the base is pretty bad.

 

I have michelin x-ice on the Z. No problems getting around when it snowed a few weeks ago.

 

Before I got my 350z, everyone had me scared to death about snow. It's really not that bad if you know how to drive, have decent tires, and remember it's a RWD sports car. I just had all seasons on my 350z, and I would say I got around pretty well. Now on my 370z, I have high performance summer tires..world of difference haha. My 370z also has LSD and traction control (350z did not, but it had skinnier tires) and its definitely worse to drive in the snow..which is why I'm now driving my beater -_-

 

^ I wouldn't even drive a beater in Wisconsin snow storms / road conditions ;/

 

Last week they finally got about 50-60cm of snow. Mountain was awesome but on Saturday they closed down all of the Alpine area on both mountains so it was pretty jammed down below. Sunday everything was open. Good powder for Whistler.

 

Don't you guys get decent storms in Philly?

 

We were going to go this weekend, but then I remembered... SEAHAWKS Vs. 49ers. Looks like we're going next month.