this is dan from new mexico! I love our cars too... im glad to see you still have yours. I still have mine and we dont have ice, but we live in a desert so dirt runs are plentiful. is yours still stock? hit me an email....
dan

Yep, still stock. If I lived in a desert, I'd have soooooo much fun with this thing.

I like my Golf, but snow driving is not it's strong point. It's front wheel drive and has an open front differential, so if it gets stuck somewhere, it's much less likely to be able to break free than a WRX. I have discovered that I can rock it back and forth by pumping the clutch, however, allowing me to work free of some situations. Probably bad for my clutch pads though.

I like my Corolla. Because I know perfectly well it won't go anywhere in this stuff, so I don't have to do any of the following:
-Put on chains
-De-ice the car
-Go to work

Unfortunately, because of Mithrandir's Golf, I am at work. Sigh!

Speaking of all wheel drive: on my way to work today I had some fun. The roads weren't bad for the most part except one twenty foot patch in the right lane of Hall where it intersects with Cedar Hills Blvd (near Coffee People). Apparently, I'm the only person who ever uses the right lane there, and the traffic coming out of Coffee People had built up a big nasty patch of snow and ice as high as a foot in some places, for a length of twenty feet or so.

I pulled up at the intersection next to a big Dodge truck. When the light turned green, the guy in the truck waited and motioned me in front of him, expecting me to want to be in the left lane (which was clear). I weighed my options and decided to go for it, since there weren't any other cars around and I'd only be endangering myself. I gathered some speed and plowed into the snow patch.

First the rear tires slipped and the car twisted a bit, but the front tires caught traction and I corrected. Then the front tires slipped, but the rear tires caught. And so on. With a sort of funny-looking, swimmy side to side motion, I was able to make my way through the patch without losing control, straying from my lane, or getting stuck.

I'm very proud.

I love my truck. I don't need chains and I haven't had a single problem driving in this weather. I just slow it down. Easy.

Four wheel drive and ground clearance owns you.

Big-ass tires have an important say as well, when you look for traction in the snow. Small diameters have a much greater tendency to dig themselves in and get stuck, ground clearance or not.

Actually in snow a narrow, tall tire is better when a wide one. It can break through to the actual ground underneath and get traction on something other then the slush.

My bad. You said, "small diameter". I should fully read something before responding.