You know that watery stuff you have down by the beach. Well, just imagine that it was all white, and fluffy (sometimes frozen hard), cold to the touch and instead of being able to swim or surf in the stuff, you would ski or toboggan on top of it. If you had it in your milder temperatures, you could actually pick it up, roll it into a ball and throw it at those cute little girlie like MINIs.

 

Hey yeah is that the white stuff on the mountains I see sometimes here ? I thought it was where the seagulls crapped !

 

Maybe there your mountains are used for the seagulls to crap on; here we just get snow.

 

I have to ask you what you're doing on this forum when you are 100 yards from the beach?
Ya get tired of the bikinis and the rum punches?

 

Todays view .Not many bikinis here now.or ever they like it near Santa Monica about 20 miles south.

 

I personally think our car sucks in any wet conditions, granted with rain , I put it in "W" mode and put traction on, but there were plenty time when i kicked the *** end out, but cotnroled it, now for the snow and ice its not any better, to me it feels like it could spin like a top at any givin time. Well I guess I am saying this because I just bought a winter car, a 1987 Volvo w/ turbo and intercooler, LOL, I just laugh when i say that, anyways its looks like a old retarted looking hummer, but what the hell its a great commuter car for winter months.

 

aw, this is just a terrible shame. those nasty ole front wheel drive cars have robbed an entire generation of the joy of having the back end slide around like god intended.

when i first got around front wheel drives, they scared the heck out of me because if had one with a little power (well, it could happen) and you goosed it on a wet turn the darn front end went diving for the ditch and there wasn't a thing you could do about it 'cause it was the steering part that broke loose. with a good honest rear wheel drive, you can goose it, break the back end loose and still steer just fine. spend a rainy afternoon in a parking lot with the traction control turned off and get a feel for the rear wheel drive. i think you'll feel a lot more confidence in the wet. by most standards, this car is actually very GOOD in the rain. (i.m.h.o....of course)



dan

 

I have a Porsche RUF Turbo 532 Horsepower, 595lbs feet of torque at the rear wheels, that's 0-60 in 3.8 seconds and have taken several driver training courses to learn how to keep the beast under control.

Driving the Xfire or any other vehicle in adverse conditions is relative to the driver's ability. You can't rely on the ESM's or traction controls to bail you out, it's good old fashion experience that truly makes the difference. I have driven the Xfire in the snow and compared to the Porsche it's like pushing a stroller.

 

There are many cars that are worse in the snow than ours is. Most of them are easily identified by the fact that we never see them in the winter.

I don't think the main point here is whether you can make it go in all cases but really whether or not you want to. Mine is a daily driver but there are going to be days when it won't be me using my car to buff intersections to a high gloss and perhaps bumping into new friends. And don't forget that even Mario Andretti occaisionally got whacked so it is not always how good you are but how good the people that you share the road with are.

For me it is easier and more convenient to just ride the bus. I don't have to play with an extra set of tires. I don't have to go acquire some butt ugly winter ride. I just sit back, relax and watch the show.

 

Point well taken. As the Xfire is my wife's car she only needs to go out, if she has to and if it's that bad she's just not going.

For those folks that use the car all year round, or are contemplating it, hopefully it will not intimidate them, as the intimidation and slippery conditions can be a dangerous combination.

If they go easy on the gas and gently countersteer as needed, they will come to enjoy the ride. Our's is a 6-speed and it helps a lot, but if you downshift too early, the car will give you grief in slippery conditions.

 

I agree with FerrariVdub about the Crossfire's handling in the wet. It's handling on dry pavement is as good as anything out there. But, hit standing water on the road and those Michelins are slightly better than a pair of water skis. I head for the Wrangler in inclement weather. But, I do love the Crossfire when the weather is fine.

 

I'm amazed. I have been driving in the rain here in Indianapolis for the last two days and my XF sticks like glue. In fact, I tried to get the rear to kick out and it just wouldn't do it!

I had a guy in a Trans Am try to race me at the traffic lights and he couldn't keep that piece of crap of his going straight. He had to back off on every shift just to get it to go straight down the road. I kept just enough ahead of him to keep him pissed off and then I put the pedal down and bye bye.

My wife had a '90 TA for a couple of years. A great looking car, but wet road were not a good combination with that light rear end.

 

My issue with the Crossfire's handling in the wet is not so much the traction from a start on wet pavement, or even it's ability to grip when there's a few eigths of an inch of water on the road. I just don't care for the willingness of the Michelins to hydroplane when you hit a puddle at speed. I've hit six inches of water on the road in the Wrangler at speeds that put a wave of water over the roof without a hint of hydroplaning. Doing the same thing in the Crossfire would put it in a tailspin. This part of the country is extremely prone to flashfloods and you never know when you're going to hit a deep puddle on these roads in a downpour.

 

Rain ? I don't drive my XF or Jaguar when it rains my rain car a 88 Volvo I don't care if it gets wet or hit.

 

I did forget to mention that I have the Continentals on my XF and I have driven in a couple of heavy downpours with the unexpected puddles also and I haven't experienced any hydroplaning yet. Maybe the Michelins are more prone to hydroplaning. I have a daughter that lives in Houston and see has experienced those flash floods in both a TA and the Mustang that she now drives. She says that the freeways just become a viaduct.

 

So it's snowing (I hate snow) today and we are taking someone to the airport and passed M-59 at Rochester Rd. and saw a SSB coupe in the median of the highway, spun out and getting ready to get pulled out with a tow truck. Not exactly the best conditions for a Crossfire, and exactly why mine is parked! Although, further along towards Dtw, there were all kinds of vehicles spun out and off the road, even those invincible suv's. Winter in the midwest sux!!

 

You want a TICKET NOW ?

 

That's great that you can go flex time when it snows, but what if the snow comes down while you're at work and have to go home in it? I bet you watch the weather news a lot in the winter! It's good that you have alternate transportation. Too bad there isn't more of it!
Good luck this winter! Drive safe, Unc!

 

We got a dusting of snow today in Indy and I think every flake that hit the road turned to ice. I was quite pleasantly surprized at the handling of my XF on ice. It was as nimble as a cat (catman....nimble as a...yeah that was on purpose). One interesting note is that as I was setting absoluting still, at a 4-way stop, the traction control light would blink. Apparently my rear wheels would turn on the ice, but it did not kick-out All of the systems to keep me going straight down the road worked fine.

 

Wow, I was just watching the news - two feet of snow in MI?? I don't care what kind of tires you have, you ain't goin' noplace in that stuff in a Crossfire.