2014.02.07 Snow Driving In My Subaru

Some whiffs of snow tickled the Portland Metro Area yesterday, and the schools rushed to close before the onset of full SNOWPOCALYPSE mode. So I gathered up the kiddos from daycare and crawled home in the CWC2 Mercedes through the pre-panic traffic.

My mocking Canadian tone aside, I have to admit - it's kind of fair. The snow/ice in Portland is some of the most treacherous conditions I've seen anywhere. And there's also the factor that it happens so infrequently that it doesn't really make sense to bother with proper winter tires unless you intend to go skiing a bunch. Indeed, one of my observations during the slow drive home over the teensy tiny dusting of snow was how very little traction I could squeeze out of the no-season tires fitted on CWC2. Garnish all that with the fact that most people seem to be either crippled with fear (like driving dangerously slow on an on-ramp) or dangerously ignorant of the fundamental change in driving dynamics (like following too closely). Oh, and let's not forget the hybrid of those - people who put chains on, but then speed with them on so that the flail everywhere. It's just not safe out.

The snow did indeed come, and last night we got a proper few centimeters of fluffy ground cover. And, for fun, it just happened to be below freezing for a few days before, so that id didn't just melt and re-freeze as a deadly glaze of ice. It's just snow.

While the CWC2 might be poorly-suited for such conditions, our 1998 Subaru Legacy GT wagon is quite the opposite. It is, in fact, moderately epic. More on that in a bit.

It was kind of a snow day, but I really did have to go into work for an important meeting. I hopped in the Subaru and drove carefully to Swan Island, where Daimler Trucks North America's engineering headquarters are. I didn't play too much, even though there was some controlled drifting around some corners. But then I got to the parking lot.

Oh, the parking lot. So much more snow than most other places in the area. And it had little angry parking cones sprinkled throughout. And one half of the lot was devoid of cars. How do you NOT practice drifting doughnuts rallycross through that? Oh, those poor little cones. So. Much. Fun.

My meeting went long, and during it the snow returned with enthusiasm, causing Portland to once again panic. Maybe panic isn't the right word, because the panicky type probably didn't bother braving the pack snow anyway. No, these were probably resentful people - forced to come into work despite it being a snow day, and now buggering off early in a foul mood for being forced to come in at all. The drive home was a bit crazy. Evasive maneuvers were required for:

• the person losing traction but absolutely refusing to let off the throttle, causing them to drift sideways into my lane (brake-jink-brake)
• the UPS truck that realized it wanted to turn right from the left lane, and thought it could make it (brake-brake-brake, counter-jink)
• person coming up behind me in the slow lane, realizing too late that they were going much too fast, and initiating a pirouette (jink into offramp, brake-brake)

When I finally got to our off-ramp, I did some celebratory fishtails along the secondary roads to our neighbourhood.

The plan had been to drive out to a mall to pick up a sled for the kids to play on, but I aborted that idea. Choosing instead to wait until traffic had died down, perhaps heading out later to collect the sled. However, the wife was feeling impatient, and adventurous. And probably more than a bit stir-crazy. So she convinced Simon to go for a bus ride with her to go fetch it. I shrugged, and stayed home with Violet. Violet was just finishing her bath when I got the text from the wife that they seemed to be having some difficulty catching a bus home.

Rescue time!

I fitted another child seat into the Subaru, loaded up Violet, and set out. It was frankly a lot of fun wrestling the car carefully along the mostly-empty roads. The Subaru has great driving dynamics for low-traction conditions, which is somewhat offset by its lack of proper winter tires. I feel like the less-than-great traction coupled with the well-balanced control and all-wheel-drive - and complete lack of electronic driving aids aside from ABS - make the Subaru a true joy to pilot through snow. Because it WILL slip. A bit. But for every bit it slips, it also gives some thrust and control. And lots of feedback, to help you balance it all.

We gathered up the wife and Simon, and another stranded bus rider - who needed a ride up to OHSU. This necessitated an extra drive along a lonely, windy road and up a very steep hill. So. Much. Fun. And so peaceful and beautiful.

I miss snow driving. I'm glad we've got this Subaru to let me make the most of the brief windows of snow driving we do get. It makes me wonder if perhaps an STI might be a better idea than an M3...

 

 

 

2014.02.08 UPDATE

Performed an incredibly perfect slow-motion controlled drift from Bertha onto Barbur and into the Fred Meyer parking lot. Even the wife was impressed.