Looking for some advice - Auto

One of my family members is moving to the Albany, NY area from the west coast. Their current car is a FWD Toyota Corolla, would that be good enough with all season tires or does one need AWD or 4WD.

Appreciate any input

My wife has driven a FWD corolla with snow tires (studded and non studded) for the past 7 or 8 years, it works well but she learned how to drive in the snow. If not used to it you could be in for some surprises

All season tires do not work well in "all seasons" here. If they are going to keep the FWD car suggest putting snow tires on (on all four corners, not just the front)

Good snow tires (eg. Blizzak) and they are good to go!

Snow tires and some practice in an empty unplowed parking lot during the first storm.

I'd second the above, with emphasis on winter tires regardless of car. All-wheel drive is nice to have, but unless you live out in the middle of nowhere, there are very few places you can't get with front wheel drive, snow tires, and a little skill.

Do people have a complete set of extra wheels and tires or just swap out the tires from summer to winter.

The place they are moving into I believe doesn't have extra storage

Its cheaper just to have the tires swapped for the season. FWD is fine, though you have to get used to it. AWD is really not much safer, just harder to get stuck.

Blizzaks or the good year snow's are pretty good. Not horribly expensive if you wait for the end of fall deals.

Most important, if you think you are going too slow, you are likely going too fast.

4 snow tires on a separate set of wheels.
Snow tires allow you to around something rather than hitting it.
Wash the car at least once a week as long as it is not sub zero.
I use nokias -pricy but quiet -on the car and firestones - noisy and inexpensive - on the minivan.

FWD & snows are really all you need. We are in the snow-belt of VT & sold our last AWD car last year, the FWD 's have done fine. Go with studded if you're a bit apprehensive about winter driving. We've tried a lot brands but always come back to Hakkapeliitta's.

As for tire storage, if you're storing the tires anyway, having them on rims doesn't take up any more space. Save yourself $60+ each spring & fall for tire changing (not to mention the rim corrosion) & get a second set of rims.

Have the car rust/corrosion proofed BEFORE the first winter and as the last poster said wash the car including the undercarriage at least once a week. There are car washes that do this service (underbody wash) if you do not stay up on the salt removal the car will start rusting in a year.

It is not safer at all. In fact, it is more dangerous for an inexperienced driver. It will allow them to get moving in bad conditions and out drive the the braking ability of the tires that are mounted on the vehicle. Front wheel drive gives the driver more input about the current road conditions. If the conditions are bad enough that they can not get around with snow tires on a front wheel drive car, they are probably being told by local police to stay off the roads any way. The only place I have found 4wd/awd to be handy is in parallel parking situations where the spots have not been shoveled out.



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Nokian studded for me.