Here in Britain, we’ve always taken something of a laid-back approach to winter motoring. While in Europe they’ll be fitting their cars with trick tyres and heated seats, here in the UK, we tend to just brave it out.
But as we’ve seen in recent weeks, the British winter weather can be pretty serious at times. In certain parts of the UK, in fact, you’d be well advised to make sure your car is fit for winter: and that doesn’t just mean reaching for the nearest big 4x4.
Contrary to popular belief, four-wheel drive is not the be all and end all. Yes, it helps you get going on slippery surfaces, but it makes little-to-no difference to stopping or cornering. It’s much more important to make sure you’ve got the right tyres.
Winter- or all-season tyres, by contrast, transform the way a car performs in winter weather. Indeed, a two-wheel-drive car shod with the right tyres for the job is more likely to get up a steep hill in snow than a four-wheel-drive car on summer tyres. I’ve even driven a two-wheel-drive car equipped with winter rubber up an indoor ski slope, in one memorable demonstration laid on by a tyre manufacturer.
Now, add winter- or all-season tyres to a four-wheel-drive car, and hey presto: you have the ultimate go-anywhere winter combination. It doesn’t end there, though. Don’t forget to fill your car with screenwash and antifreeze that are up to the job, too: the last thing you want is for your cooling system to spring a leak and leave you stranded in a snowstorm.
The car you choose matters, too. So what should you aim for? Well, as I’ve already mentioned, your best chance of avoiding getting stuck is to match four-wheel drive with tyres fit for winter. And the easiest way to do that on a budget is to get a small car with four-wheel-drive, in order to keep the tyres’ size – and therefore their cost – down.
Small 4x4s are rare, so they’re often sought after, and deals are hard to come by. Which is why I think the 2013 Fiat Panda 4x4 I found for just £3,995 feels like a bit of a steal. At that price, and with just 63,000 miles on the clock, it comes in at £849 less than its CarGurus Instant Market Value (IMV). And because it’s fitted with the 1.3-litre diesel engine, it’ll get 60mpg. How’s that for affordable motoring?
The Panda 4x4 has something of a cult following, and it isn’t hard to see why. This little car is packed full of character, from its jacked-up ride height to its stylish interior. It’s compact, too, so it’s wieldy on tight country lanes or around town. But it’s more than just a pretty face, with enough space inside for a family of four, and even a decent-sized boot, making it an ideal way of getting around when the weather turns tough.
But perhaps you want something a little roomier: something a little more capable of swallowing what you need to carry on a trip to the tip, or perhaps a couple of pairs of skis.
In which case, consider the Skoda Yeti. Most Yetis came with two-wheel drive, and these are fine cars for winter use. But four-wheel drive was an option, and for the ultimate winter warrior, you’ll want to look out one of these models.
How about the 2013 Yeti 2.0TDI Adventure I found? It’s done 106,000 miles, backed up with a full history and a full year’s MOT, and it’s yours for just £4,250: a very handy £1,159 less than its IMV.
What’s so great about the Yeti is that its rear seats all slide, fold and even tumble forward individually. This makes its tail end almost infinitely configurable, allowing you to carry any combination of people and stuff you please. And because that tail is tall and boxy, it’s hugely roomy, too, making the Yeti a brilliant family car.
One final thought, and a really left-field suggestion: how about a Tesla? OK, so the idea of an electric car in winter might sound to the uninitiated like bad advice. But EVs aren’t necessarily ill-suited to cold weather; indeed, one of the great joys of an electric car is that you can set it to warm up before you step out in the morning, and that means no more de-icing the windscreen as your fingers gently freeze.
What’s more, an early Tesla Model S with four-wheel drive can now be had for a bargain price. I stumbled upon a 2015 E85D with 99,000 miles on the clock, on for just £11,650: a whopping £2,255 below its CarGurus market value.
That’s a stonking deal for a car that’ll come with loads of mod cons, plenty of space, and cost peanuts to run, especially if you’ve got space to charge it up at home.
Granted, reliability on these early Model Ss is patchy, so it’s not a purchase without risk. But then again, if it’s made it through 10 years and almost 100,000 miles, that suggests it might be one of the good ones.
But if your level of risk-aversion precludes an aged Tesla – and I wouldn’t blame you if it did, frankly – then how about a little Renault Zoe instead, for the same sort of cash?
As with many small EVs, the Zoe’s kitted out with skinny little tyres that are ideal for snowy conditions. Switch these out for a set of all-season rubber, and you’ll be pretty unstoppable in all but really bad weather.
The one I found is a 2020 example with the optional Rapid Charge fitted: worth having for when you do longer trips and need to boost its range. But the real draw is that it’s done just 7,866 miles, meaning it’s practically a new car, with practically a new battery. That means most of its original 239-mile official range should be intact, and it’s yours for £10,498, or £1,047 less than its IMV. What a cracking little winter warmer.