Apart from the low ground clearance, they are great. Engine and gearbox
provide weight over the driven wheels. Just don't fit great big wheels and
tyres, they will kill any ability to cope with snow!

In the 60's they blitzed the opposition in events like the Monte Carlo and
Alpine rallies. And in historic rallies today, they still manage to hold off
Porsche 911's in the snow. But then, a Porsche 911 was never the greatest
car in the snow!

One thing we found with using Mini's in deep snow is that the side exit
exhaust acts like a rudder and the back end keeps dragging to the right! Fit
a centre exit exhaust system if you intend to use it in deeper snow.

Do NOT use Yoko 008s!!!!!!!! They will slip and slide on cold, wet
pavement... and they have virtually NO traction in snow. Believe me... I've
been there.

"Jack" <jrs

The only problem I encountered in my mini when we had a sudden downpour of
snow (can you get downpours of snow, or is that only rain? - anyway... you
know what I mean!) at the end of January this year (the one which no-one was
expecting, and caused people to get stuck on the motorways for 24 hours!
[UK]), was that my front numberplate kept hitting all the large mounds of
snow left in the middle of the road, between the tyre tracks made by other
cars. It took quite a beating on that journey, and was only just held on by
the time I got home. I imagine that if you moved the front numberplate to
one of those stick-on types on the bonet, or to the grill, you'd be OK.

Other than that, it's very flat here in East Anglia, so I didn't encounter
any hill and can't comment there!

Ben.

hiya
i remember one winter with my brother in his mini we went snow drift
bashing , all went well until we hit a small drift and ended up with all 4
wheels off of the road :-) it took some digging to get us back down again.

fragged

If you keep the handbrake well serviced they handle brilliantly ;-)

Seriously though, I use mine as a daily driver (in and around Newcasle until
I moved a couple of years ago) and it handles better than anything else I
have driven in the snow.

The Muffin Man

I used a '99 Cooper as my normal daily car for nearly 5 years in and around
Newcastle.  Standard 12" wheels with standard Pirelli tyres.  Occasionally
got a wee bit scary in very deep snow due to the low clearance, but
generally handled better than any other small car I've ever driven in snow.

I like to keep some 145 size snow tyres and fit adjustable height
suspension.  Then they can handle better than most four wheel drives in
snow, but you sometimes have difficulty following other peoples (wider)
tracks.

Allan (Highland mini owner)

Left my mini outside a mates house on the Isle of Wight (I live there - yes,
we've got electricity and minis), anyway, it snowed heavily overnight - that
was some years ago! It buried the car under a drift, some kind chap thought
he would punch the drift for fun ther next morning - the mini was a write
off...but that'll teach him!!

Paul

Back in the 60's Minis were my main transport and I also raced the daily
driver at Mosport in Ontario, Canada. Only on two separate occasions did
I get stuck in deeper snow. The flat bottom of the car would sit on the
snow and the wee tyres would just spin merrily, having no effect.

The first time, it was the racer, in deeper snow on the street in
Downtown Toronto in a really heavy snowstorm. Three or four people on
the sidewalk saw my plight and gave me a free push, got me going again.

The second time, it was on the turnoff for Saint Thomas. When I hit the
unplowed access road, we bogged right down. The temperature was way
below zero and the car was an old flatblack 850 I had been given free
for doing some service on another car. It was after midnight (had been
working late on an IBM machine), so I got a big sand truck to bump me up
onto the main road to Saint Thomas. That took about five hard bumps, and
the truck bumper was at least a foot higher than the back bumper on the
Mini, so the rear of the Mini was pretty well destroyed, including the
rear lights, but I got home alive and unfrozen and that old Mini was
pretty valueless, so no real harm done.

I ice-raced the racer one season and it was spectacularly miraculous. I
was actually winning the feature race at one point, when the old "magic
wand" shifter broke off when we were between second and third, so we
were out of the race. That car had a wee 850 engine, so running ahead of
the whole pack for about five laps was a major thrill!

The skills I learned ice-racing put me up about seven spaces at the
track races the next Spring. Without any new work on the car or engine,
the first race of the season following the ice-racing winter, I beat all
of the 850's, all of the Coopers and all but three of the Cooper S's.

That was at Harewood Acres, the old Ontario aerodrome track. At that
track I never used fourth gear and often hit 7,500 rpm on the back
straight. The engine lasted two seasons, plus the ice-races, before it
exploded and dropped gears, oil and pieces of transmission case all over
the back straight.

Anyway, I think Minis are great in snow and ice, as long as it doesn't
get too deep. You need a Landy for those times.   :)

-Rock     http://www.rocky-frisco.com
--
"JJ Cale Live" CD & Video: http://www.rocky-frisco.com/calelive.htm
The Wednesday Night Science Project: http://www.wednitesciproj.us
Larry Spears and the Hapless Romantics: http://www.larry-spears.com

Back in the 60's Minis were my main transport and I also raced the daily
driver at Mosport in Ontario, Canada. Only on two separate occasions did
I get stuck in deeper snow. The flat bottom of the car would sit on the
snow and the wee tyres would just spin merrily, having no effect.

The first time, it was the racer, in deeper snow on the street in
Downtown Toronto in a really heavy snowstorm. Three or four people on
the sidewalk saw my plight and gave me a free push, got me going again.

The second time, it was on the turnoff for Saint Thomas. When I hit the
unplowed access road, we bogged right down. The temperature was way
below zero and the car was an old flatblack 850 I had been given free
for doing some service on another car. It was after midnight (had been
working late on an IBM machine), so I got a big sand truck to bump me up
onto the main road to Saint Thomas. That took about five hard bumps, and
the truck bumper was at least a foot higher than the back bumper on the
Mini, so the rear of the Mini was pretty well destroyed, including the
rear lights, but I got home alive and unfrozen and that old Mini was
pretty valueless, so no real harm done.

I ice-raced the racer one season and it was spectacularly miraculous. I
was actually winning the feature race at one point, when the old "magic
wand" shifter broke off when we were between second and third, so we
were out of the race. That car had a wee 850 engine, so running ahead of
the whole pack for about five laps was a major thrill!

The skills I learned ice-racing put me up about seven spaces at the
track races the next Spring. Without any new work on the car or engine,
the first race of the season following the ice-racing winter, I beat all
of the 850's, all of the Coopers and all but three of the Cooper S's.

That was at Harewood Acres, the old Ontario aerodrome track. At that
track I never used fourth gear and often hit 7,500 rpm on the back
straight. The engine lasted two seasons, plus the ice-races, before it
exploded and dropped gears, oil and pieces of transmission case all over
the back straight.

Anyway, I think Minis are great in snow and ice, as long as it doesn't
get too deep. You need a Landy for those times.   :)

-Rock     http://www.rocky-frisco.com
--
"JJ Cale Live" CD & Video: http://www.rocky-frisco.com/calelive.htm
The Wednesday Night Science Project: http://www.wednitesciproj.us
Larry Spears and the Hapless Romantics: http://www.larry-spears.com