Snow you think you know what you're doing...

[jsbowden]

So, it snowed yesterday. Big let down. We were supposed to get dumped on damnit. Three inches isn't worth getting excited over. Philly got a foot, NYC a foot and a half, and Boston...well, they're still trying to find where they left the yardsticks so they can measure up from there. Of course, three inches is enough to be an annoyance. The major roads were covered and still slick several hours after the snow stopped falling. Our street still hasn't seen a plow, and if VDOT doesn't get on the ball, Fairfax Co. will have a snow day tomorrow just because the subdivisions haven't been cleared yet.

The VUE is weird in the snow. My SC2 doesn't have much ground clearance, but as long as the snow isn't so deep that I'm shoveling snow into the radiator, it drives fine. Having a front wheel drive manual transmission with TCS and ABS is a good thing in the snow. The VUE we have is also a front wheel drive manual with TCS and ABS, but it doesn't track well. The front end pulls to one side or the other way too easily under acceleration OR deceleration. It's fine as long as you don't apply or release the pedal. I think the differential there could have used a bit more time in design and testing. It's not critical, and it's easy enough to work around (accelerate a bit slower, push the clutch in if it starts pulling on the way down), but it was a bit of a surprise. The best car I've driven in the snow to date was the minivan. The weight of the V6 and 5 speed automatic tranny coupled with the vehicle's native weight meant the drive wheels always had plenty of traction and the ABS made sure if you were stopping that those hidden ice patches under the snow didn't start the thing rotating. My VW bug still comes in second, surprisingly. The Saturn might be more comfy and have all sorts of modern amenities like heat and a working defroster and floorboards that didn't have huge rust holes in them, but the bug drove better amazingly enough.

And why was I out in the snow yesterday? I had a belt test. I was one stupid mistake away from graduating to Brown belt Outstanding this coming Friday, but no, I made that mistake. It really was stupid too. It's not like I haven't done that combo a zillion times. Our belt tests are always cumulative, and I screwed up something from 3 belts back. I am, despite this, now a Brown belt. In about 13 months, I should be ready to test for Black assuming I can get through Brown and Novice Black in the normal time frames for them.

Comments

recall

[robeli.livejournal.com]

Part of what they had to do with the recall thing yesterday involved realigning the tires - might that have had something to do with the driving in the snow? Will have to wait till after the snow is gone to see if we have issues - may be the alignment too?

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the belt.

[mandrakan.livejournal.com]

Three inches in DC takes as long to clear and causes as many casualties as a foot and a half in New York or Boston. It is nice to be car-free in storms like this (well, it would be, but at least it's in a garage until I can sell it). Fun walking 30 blocks in a foot of snow, too.

[pokeypenguin.livejournal.com]

Not that I'm likely to be driving in snow anytime soon, but which model-year VUE?

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

We just bought it in November, but it's last year's model...so 2004?

As robeli pointed out, they did go ahead and do the recall replacement on it, so it may be out of alignment (which would really annoy me, since it literally has 3000 miles on it, and the only reason it would be out is because they didn't properly realign it after tearing the suspension out and replacing the recall part).