I strongly disagree. Any front wheel drive vehicle with narrow tires is going to fair better in 3" of snow than a Mustang....open diff or not. The majority of the vehicle weight is over the wheels where its needed most and those pizza cutter sized tires get right down to the crust to gain a bite on the problem. As far as the differential goes, the open diff is what keeps these cars in a strait line when attempting the feat....as opposed to the back end sliding all over the place and digging holes like it does in a Mustang. This has been proven time and time again.
Same goes for a 4X4. Sure, the control or stopping abaility isn't there with lousy tires, but neither is it with a Mustang...and the 4X4 still has twice the traction. That's one more out of the three that a Mustang has.
I find this odd coming from you because you and I usually agree on a lot of stuff.
I'm not sure who has proven what to you or in the magazines, but I am simply stating first hand accounts.
The vehicles that I have driven in the winter as my cars are as follows:
84 old gutlass 3.8 punched .040, open diff with pizza cutters---sucked in the snow.
69 bronco, 302, 3-on the floor, 10.5 wide Firestone A/T's ---sucked with wide tires and a 3600lb curb weight. Posi Dana 44 front, Open diff rear and had a heck of a time turning on the snowy roads with 4h engauged because the posi front end walked on me.
68 Bronc A/T, posi front & rear, same lousy 10.5 inch tires and the truck walked all over.
97 Ranger 4.0L- 5-A, Worst yet in the snow... Dueler A/T's and 400lbs helped it out, especially updated with the skinny A/T's, but I still fought the open diff on hills. Didn't keep it long enough to throw a posi in the 8.8
83 Capri RS 5.0 4M---blew that one up before winter came
72 Chevy C-10 long bed, 350/350 A/T 3.08 opn with Firestone Wilderness A/T's... This truck was a freak in the snow, ran like a 4x4. The only GM product that I liked.
87 Notch... Friend lost his space and had to drive it with standard 10-hole mounted rubber in the rear and front runners on the front... He was too scared to move it, so he called me up to do it for him. I think he messed his pants on the ride along, but I had a ton of fun in that car when the roads were snowy.
2000 F-150 4x4 short bed, Sport, 5.4, 4R tranny. This truck too ran really well in the snow. 8 miles per gallon however, forced a sale.
2003 Spec V... front wheel jobby, helical limited diff, winterforce 15" pizza cutters. This car did pretty well, but not as well as my mule below. 2800lbs was a bit light.
2004 Mustang GT. Full width Blizzaks Ws-50s. I made my wife stop on a corner that banked towards a ditch and immediately proceeded to a medium hill. I had a Wrangler driver stop in dis-belief that I was going to have my wife make it up...no no, that my wife was going to drive a GT up a hill with 3+ inches of snow on the road. I told her to ease into the throttle and take your time. She never even spun the dog gone tires. Winter tires FTMFW.
She then took it to work the next day, drove into an unplowed lot, probably bottoming the car out a tad and she stopped up by the plow driver and he wanted to know what she had done to the 'Stang to get it to go through the snow like it did, she told him that her hubby had thrown winter tires and 150 lbs in the trunk. He then asked her to leave the lot so he could clean it out and she said that she did spin a tad at take off, but the car walked right out of the lot with no problems and never did she not feel unsafe in it.
This car does not have ABS nor trac control.
Here is my point, if my wife, whose driving skills are no where near mine, can handle my GT in the snow with big, fat, scary, wide winter tires and not once feel scared... I will not comment further.
Oh ya, her comparison vehicle is a 2006 Xterra 4x4 with Dueler A/T's and trac, stability, and abs. For her to go from this into the GT and not ever feel scared, or that the GT was not incompetent by any means in the winter, well I rest my case.
Look, if there are two foot drifts out on the roads...like everywhere, then I stay home. Even with record snow fall last year in the Chi-town area, the 'Stang did just fine.
I can understand if guys do not want to subject their cars to salt...my '93 stays warm and cozy all winter, but if there are any of you who cannot afford a second vehicle or simply do not care if the Mustang gets salty because it will be traded in within five years for the next latest and greatest 'Stang, then it can be done if you implore common sense along with winter tires.
it is indeed all about the tires...
