Britain is apparently facing its worst winter for 100 years with snow falling from as early
as November. Now, if you've got a four-wheel drive car, you probably think you're properly
prepared - but are you?
We've come to Tamworth Snowdome in the Midlands to find out if a FWD car with winter tyres
has more traction in the snow than a 4x4 with summer tyres.
For this, we're using two Ford Kugas - both have 2.0-litre diesels and both have manual
gearboxes. However the blue one is front-wheel drive, and the grey one is 4 wheel drive.
Before we do that, we need to see how far up the slope the FWD car get on summer tyres.
Ok, here we are. FWD car, summer tyres. Don't think I'm going to be getting far up this
slope, but let's see anyway!
We're not moving any more. That was pretty useless.
We measured the distance and found it stopped at 7 metres. Not too surprising.
In cold conditions the rubber in summer tyres gets harder and less grippy. Winter tyres
use a softer compound. They also have a tread pattern that's specifically designed to pick
up snow. If you've ever built a snowman you will know that nothing grips to snow better
than snow itself.
Let's find out if when we fit the FWD car with winter tyres, it can go further up the
slope than the 4x4 with summer tyres. The winter tyres we're using are Goodyear UltraGrip
8 Performance, which cost £720 on our car.
Road tester Owen Mildenhall will be helping out by driving the 4x4 version of the Kuga,
which incidentally casts £1500 more than the 2WD model.
I'm in the FWD car again, but this time it's got the winter tyres on it and it's going
to be interesting to see how much further it gets up the slope and whether it can go
further up there than the 4x4 model on summer tyres.
OK, so we've got 4 wheel drive, but summer tyres. Now, a lot of people with 4-wheel drive
think that's all they're going to need so let's see how we get on. It's a really steep
incline with think snow from a standing start, so the worst scenario possible.
It's pretty steep...
Off we go. Got some grip.
This time, I got away easily, and driving in first gear at 2000rpm the FWD Kuga powered
up the slope. Owen on the other hand, was going nowhere.
Straight away I'm not going any further. It's dug into the snow.
I'm at the first level and he's just stopped - he's not doing so well...
Just no traction, even with 4 wheel drive. Is he sliding back?
That's easy - the second slope, go round this corner, can I get all the way to the top?
It's tricky...That's it.
Once again we measured the distances - this time, with winter tyres, the FWD Kuga went
110 metres up the slope. The 4x4 car only made it 13 metres up, before sliding back
down 9 metres. That means that in the end it ended up no further than the FWD did with
summer tyres.
For fairness, we should show you what the 4x4 Kuga can do when you have it fitted with
winter tyres.
With summer tyres it really didn't get far on the slope- maybe 2 car lengths and then
slid back again. It's not permanent 4 wheel drive so when the front wheels start spinning
by the time the rear wheels come into play it's already stuck. So now we've got winter
tyres, let's see the difference.
Gently on the clutch, it's an amazing difference. No wheelspin, loads of grip.
This time, the all-wheel drive Kuga went all the 136 metres up the ski slope. Obviously,
the best solution for driving on snow is to have a 4x4 on winter tyres. Without the right
rubber, a 4x4 is just as useless as a 2 wheel drive car.
This test was all about traction, but the improved braking winter tyres give you is
actually far more important. Having all wheel drive won't help with you with that one bit.
In fact if you want to see how much better your braking is with winter tyres not only
on snow, but also when it's just wet and cold, click here to watch our video.
And don't forget - make sure you drive safely!