howdy all,

As you can see this is my first post. I am looking seriously at purchasing the Mazda3mt 5door sGT. But, just have one big concern, and that is about winter driving. Let me first say that I know absolutley zilch about tires. So my question is, how is this vehicle when it comes to ice, slush, and light snow? I have read some not so positive stuff about the tires that come standard re: winter driving. I'm really not into having to get winter tires as I don't have any place to store them off season, plus I'd prefer not to have to spend the mula. Plus, like I said, I know nothing about tires. Any ideas, opinions, or knoweldge anyone can share would be totally awesome.

Thanks!
FR

 

well it is a FWD that comes with al lseason tires so it should be as good as any other FWD car out there. The only thing better would be winter tire or an AWD car which is probably out of question since AWD vehicles are expensive and winter tires yo usaid you don't want. So I'd say it'll work just as good as anyhting else you would want to buy.

 

I personally never had any problems with the RSAs this past winter. That being said we don't really get a lot of snow/slush where I am in NC. We do get lots of ice, but I didn't have a problem with that. Of course my last car was a '88 ranger 2WD that rarely had weight in the back, and I was pretty proficient at driving that in snow.

Part of it is going to be what kind of driver you are in inclement weather. Another part is what climate and geography you live in/around. Most people in snowy areas just use snow tires for the winter months and put on all season or summer tires the rest of the year.

 

I drove this winter on 225/45ZR17 Toyo Proxes FZ4's in my Mazda3 and they did fine. I've got Dunlop Wintersport M3's on my wife's Mazda6 and there is a noticable improvement in wet/icy traction.

 

the stock tires are all-seasons and dont handle well in snow more than 1-2 inches. i live in ma and speaking from personal experience. i couldn't make it up the hills to my house. this past winter i drove on michelin pilots rated just below the dunlop wintersports (boy do they sell out quick) and was very comfortable behind the wheel. tires make the difference!

 

you'll find that almost any stock car's all seasons are pretty crappy, you could try swapping to an aftermarket all year tire and that'd help you all seasons.

 

I was driving in the snow and the car does not want to turn. When i would go over a snow patch, going slow, i could feel the car starting to lose traction. I think the snow is the only place where this car fails. I drove my dad's rear wheel drive BMW with the traction control off and it did a lot better than my front wheel drive. I didnt have snow tires and maybe next season I will get them. Look at it this way the winter is only one season and it is not like it snows everyday. If someone gets an AWD car how many times will it be useful through out the year, probably 20 times out of 365 days. good luck and i hope you make the right decision.

 

my car came with summer/rain tires so when winter came i purchased some winter tires four for about $700 and the car worked awesome, i had total control over the car, and felt like i could rally race and compete. to tell you the truth if you live up north winter tires would be a great purchase. what i do is swap summer and winter tire sets. so your not really losing out if you have 2 sets of tires, plus they will last longer