GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I am getting a 09 Vibe GT soon; and I am wondering if any of you have experience driving these cars in the snow. It gets a little snowy where I live. Thanks

good winter tires and try not to drive on hills. LOL

I haven't had any major issues on the stock tires (17" non-GT) although I had the traction control kick in a couple times. I'm sure getting winter tires would make a world of difference

Mine did great, and this was on stock tires. I did get stuck once.. in my friends driveway.. but driving was great!.. But all I have to compare it too is my Mustang, which sucked..

It depends on the ammount of snow you get. Driving with the stock tires here is suicidal and utterly useless. Narrower winter tires are mandatory if I wish to go anywhere. Once equipped with decent tires the Vibe is average in the snow, not better nor worst then most of the competition out there. Traction control helps a little but the vibe is still a pretty light vehicule and I wish I could downsize it to 15 inches during winter. I miss my old Subaru Legacy sometimes...

Quote, originally posted by cebosound »I am getting a 09 Vibe GT soon; and I am wondering if any of you have experience driving these cars in the snow. It gets a little snowy where I live. ThanksMy mom and I both got 16" steel wheels with all season tires for our '09 GTs before last winter. We weren't worried as much about the tires handling the snow as we were about the beautiful 18" wheels getting ruined by salt, sand, etc. It was a great decision. Around here we get decent amounts of snow, but nothing too major usually. The all season tires did great. As long as you don't go around driving like a maniac you should be fine. I don't think the traction control ever kicked in on me. As a matter of fact, I had fun turning it off and taking some turns a little quicker than normal !

Mine does great!!!http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id ... 39909Quote, originally posted by AKLGT »good winter tires and try not to drive on hills. LOL What??? Hills are the best part!!!

my tires would spin spin spin trying to get up hills from a stop. I have AWD now and will never go back to FWD if I had to for winter.

What did you use for tires back then vs. now?

studded winter radials. the only kind worth having. NOW = AWD with decent all seasons

Quote, originally posted by cebosound »I am getting a 09 Vibe GT soon; and I am wondering if any of you have experience driving these cars in the snow. It gets a little snowy where I live. ThanksI'm very familiar with your snow. I lived in Ashland for about 15 years.To handle the snow you get, they will do fine. I'd consider investing in some snow tires maybe but it all depends on what you want to do. If you are going up to Mt Shasta or up in the mountains to Immigrant Lake for winter sports.....ummmm think again or at least get studded snows! I never had 4x4 all the time out west and only recently back East. I never got stuck. I did run snow tires but that was in Ashland which is hilly and more prone to encountering snow on hills.I run a Vibe here in NJ (yes, there are hills in NJ where I live) and I haven't yet gotten snow tires though might this year. I'll stay away from studs because of the dry road noise factor. Most of the time the roads are dry and snow free so the noise factor rules them out. When I lived in Pennsylvania in the mountains I ran studded snows on all my cars in the winter. Steep hills and ICE made it mandatory.Good luck, decide well...... Dave

Not a lot of places around me allow studded tires. A good set of snow tires like Blizzaks are worth the price for the winter on a set of steel wheels if you intend on doing any type of winter driving. AWD is not always the answer unless you have tires to back it up. The best thing is to downsize with a set of steelies (if you have 17 get 16 steelies) and a set of snows. The reduction in wheel size means you can up the sidewall on the snow tire, a plus as thinner taller tires do better.Although I can't complain, 4 years in snow and weather with my AWD Matrix XR 2005 has been nothing but bliss.