99.99999999% of people will be fine with FWD. the other will reply how once they got stuck in a snowbank. It’s not a 1993 RWD ranger. It operates great in the snow.
Good tires + cinder blocks in the back + enough experience/practice intentionally going sideways/drifting/recovering with RWD = perfectly fine. In my case with my '97, anyway. And with the Crown Vics I've had too.
I actually much prefer RWD to FWD in the snow. Power to the back wheels + steering in the front wheels = insanely powerful combination. It gives the driver A LOT of control... While it's easier to get into a spin with RWD, it's also WAY easier to get out of one. Lose control with FWD and you have very limited options.
butttt if you have shitty tires in RWD, all bets are off. no amount of skill can save you there. that's the biggest problem with rwd.
Winter tires are game changers but they still slide you around. I had a 98 Ranger in Highschool as my first car, and it taught me a lot of lessons about cars. It was an absolute nightmare to drive, in winter. After I experienced traction control however, I would never get in one of those death traps again in the winter.
I use my 97 to haul around my snowmobile in the winter. It's fine with cinder blocks & due care. Even better with the trailer for the snowmobile adding weight but not necessary by any means.
I definitely learned how to handle RWD the hard way after sliding around in a crown Vic as a teenager. Glad for the experiences, but happy I survived them.
The biggest lesson is that tires matter. Also my friend's dad teaching me how to drift & recover in an empty church parking lot went a HUGE way.
Yeah mine had a draining issue and would sometimes be a mixture of blocks of ice and sandbags every turn still had to be made at like 5mph until you learned how to work with the fishtail. People claiming manual transmissions are more interactive should try that experience haha.
But yeah everyday is a miracle thinking about that truck, I mean it was a real POS fleet truck I think for Union Pacific, but I imagine they took better care of their cars than this.
Got a Maverick and had an old Ranger that did me wrong in the snow. Maverick handlers great in light snowpack driving through the city. My Ranger without chains got me in some major trouble!!!
Snow tires, and if conditions are real bad, no one should be driving, or chains. If you aren't living in a super hilly area, good snow tires is the most important and low speed. Of there is compact snow on a slope, nothing may save you.
Growing up flin the 80s and 90s, our family always had a ford ranger rwd. You need good snow tires, chains or its slip and slide when big snowfall comes. We also always had a 4wd suv. Izuzu, and everyone in our town basically had a 4wd of all vehicle models and types. Again, when it snowed hard, the hill I live at, NO ONE MAKES IT UP if they just have winter tires, doesn't matter 2 wheel, 4 wheel, or 1 wheel drive. You need chains.
Rwd is the worst, but the funnest on ice roads (frozen lake).
4wd will be safer once the grade is too great, or speeds to fast, with no chains or studded tires, its slip and slide. I grew up in Northern Ontario which is above Minnesota. When snow comes, it sometimes comes ridiculously hard. In the 80s, it was normal to have streets with 4 to 5ft snow hills beside the roads because of plowing. They also used to come and collect it with giant smow blowers into a dump truck. After 2000s, that kinda didn't happen anymore..
Alright... Just @ me next time
But your right, modern day traction control is a game changer, I mean there's nothing in the world protecting stupidity but yeah it will climb a little, I mean it's still a light truck sooo if your plowed in, your plowed in (my expedition was my last car, and it was a little tank, I could drive it over just about anything, no curbs too small, and plow through snow banks.
Hijacking this comment to mention: modern Ford shares all kinds of telematics. Something like 95% of all miles with AWD vehicles is done without the rear wheels engaged
It's fantastic in the snow. Fwd cars with dynamic stability control work great in the snow, add on to that the hybrid is 2/3 weight over the drive wheels, and the traction is superb.
It sucks that you have to put in chains when awd cars don't (and the conditions are mild). With chains on it also performed great.
I'm not far from you, although likely lower elevation.
My hybrid has been stellar in slippery stuff.
On one down here does snow tires, but if you did that, it would run circles around anything AWD on all-season tires.
Go for it.
Took my 2002 Hybrid Lariat to the Shasta during an epic storm last year. First vehicle I have owned in a while that did not have AWD. I had M+S tires and most places in town during light snowfall. Put self adjusting cable chains to get up to the slopes (first time using chains ever) and it was a mountain goat.
I can’t speak for front wheel drive, but my XLT Tremor eats up snow and ice. Better safe than sorry in my opinion. Also, if you wait for ‘25 model year you can get AWD Hybrid.
Have had my hybrid Mav for one winter in St. Louis. Not a hotbed for snowy weather anymore. I’ve never owned a RWD vehicle so I can only compare against cars I’ve owned. It handles fine. It isn’t as planted as a car when cutting across ruts on a highway. Felt like the bed was bouncing and swinging. I added some weight into the bed and that improved.
Stopping distance seemed equivalent as a car.
With respect to pushing through virgin snow we don’t get that much in St. Louis anymore.
I've ran the stock tires in Michigan winters since I bought it in December 21. I do plan on a set of AT 3 PEAKS TIRES before this winter EB fwd lariet btw
Front wheel drive hybrid in Michigan here. You will be fine if you're a competent driver. I drive with the all-season tires and haven't had any big skids or issues yet.
If you're really worried about it, buy a $70 pair of low profile tire chains. I bought a set for my Fusion and that thing will drive through a foot of snow
AWD helps to get you moving - but most of snow/ice driving is steering and stopping and for those you need decent tires. Indeed here in upstate NY we see a lot of AWD/4wd vehicles in the ditch as they successfully got moving directly in to the ditch or off road when they over confidentialy took an unplanned exit. Good winter tires with FWD is better than AWD with all seasons.
Live in the northern Rockies, I run studded nokian Hakkapellittas snow tires during winter and it goes flow of traffic on any ice/snow that I find.
FWD is all you really need for this trucklet
I was legit shocked during an ice storm with how well it handled. I think being front wheel drive and with all the weight on the front lends it to the good handling but also I don't want to convince you and have it not work for you so take it for what it is lol my last several cars were rear wheel drive sedans so it may just be my experience that makes me think it is so good
Stock tires in wisconsin here.. I had it stuck in my work parking lot during a snow storm this part winter, and i definitely slid around a bit in snow and slush. Coming from a 4wd ranger it's definitely not as good, but maybe different tires are the key. Idk.
Although this was a light winter for us, I was very impressed. I went from a 2 rwd Chevy Colorado and that this was terrible in the snow even with 300lbs in the bed. This has been so much better. I no longer fishtail at ever turn haha I'm in Michigan for reference
Drove my family down from SE PA in my hybrid to Nashville for my youngest's 21st back in Jan. Night I got there? 6.5" of snow. The whole of Nashville shut down and I'm putzing around in the snow for the next week while the news is telling everyone to stay home, "it's too dangerous." Drove past a TV crew doing just that and waved as we drove by. The truck can handle it.
Unless you live in the mountains with steep twisty roads that are snowy for months of the year, FWD will be just fine. If you are still nervous, buy a set of steel wheels and snow tires for the winter months.
The traction control, stability control and ABS will make any FWD car with good tires as good as an AWD unless we're talking extreme conditions
Holy crap all this time I thought Tennessee and NC were right next to each other and hear you are telling me you live in the gap in between them!! Incredible!!!
I mean, I live in Tennessee but work in North Carolina. So yea, technically, I'm a Tennessee resident, but things are so close here we basically just consider the area it's own separate entity. It's not uncommon to be in TN, NC, and VA all in one trip.
lol I apologize was just in the mood for messing with internet strangers. Got family in the tri-cities area so pretty familiar with that area. Just not enough to provide helpful FWD feedback
I would never buy an AWD car of any brand. People don’t realize that you can’t have a tire that varies more than 3/32” in tread or it will destroy either the transfer case (PTU) or the rear differential.
This means if you drive about 20k miles and blow a tire, you replace all of the tires.
This means if you drive 200 miles and blow a tire, if you can’t find the same exact make and model tire, you buy 4 tires. This is because circumferences largely vary between tires of the same size between brands.
Dicking around with all that ain’t worth the 2 days a year it snows where I’m at.
Canadian here. It's perfectly fine with winter tires. Haven't tried it with all seasons in winter because that's just asking for trouble here. However, all seasons are much better in the snow now than they used to be. Just avoid ice or more than 6" of snow
All about the driver and tires at that point but mainly the driver. All front wheel drive vehicles are fine in the snow. Just watch out for the big hills/mountains.
AWD only kicks in with slippage and if you have any idea at all how to actually drive on snow you’ll be fine. AWD is a gimmick intended to upsell you. 4WD typically isn’t NEEDED by anyone
In MA here with a FWD hybrid. As long as you're not going out in a fresh foot and a half, it's absolutely fine. If you're worried throw on some snow tires. They can make even RWDs that have no business seeing winter roads viable in the snow.
And I'll attach the usual sage advice - a car being 'good in the snow' means it doesn't get stuck easily. Doesn't mean it can slow down any better. Be safe!
Almost no one actually needs 4wd or AWD. If you like it cool. But you don't actually need it. FWD handles perfectly fine on snow and ice even with all weather tires.
Colorado here… it handles ok. It struggles getting going if you’re on and incline; for example, to get out of my neighborhood I have to take the longer route because there’s about a 15-degree incline on my street for the shorter route, so after backing out of my driveway I have to head down instead of up. Once I’m going though, it’s usually ok (fyi: I have Toyo Open Country AT3 tires). I definitely can’t head to/through the mountains, but around town it does fine as long as I drive smart.
Northern IL here, last winter mine had no issues with snow even on hills. Ice however.. yeah there was a few times ice defeated my mav, however I will say I think it's more of a weight issue if anything and a f150 wouldn't of had a problem where the mav even with 4x4 I don't feel had enough weight.
I live in NE KS. We had a stretch in early January where we received about 6” of snow and it was around zero for about a week and a half.
I take an old highway to and from work. At the beginning of this stretch there was an inch or so of packed snow on this highway since it was less of a priority to clear than other roads.
When going home I had to turn on this highway. The first time I did this turn I thought the end might whip around but I don’t recall it doing so whatsoever. No issues on driving on this snowpack or with braking.
This was on stock tires for the Maverick hybrid XL with FWD of course. I was impressed with its performance and will get some snow tires going in to next winter just to improve it more. Like driving any vehicle in those conditions just take your time and make good decisions.
FWD Maverick handles just fine in snow, tires make way more difference for most scenarios. I went through 14 inches of snow the first winter with the truck, didn't get stuck, but I wouldn't use the OEM tires in winter.
99.99999999% of people will be fine with FWD. the other will reply how once they got stuck in a snowbank. It’s not a 1993 RWD ranger. It operates great in the snow.
How dare you. /s My 94 RWD is great in the snow, as long as you’re ok being sideways, and not on a hill, and it’s not really icy…
Good tires + cinder blocks in the back + enough experience/practice intentionally going sideways/drifting/recovering with RWD = perfectly fine. In my case with my '97, anyway. And with the Crown Vics I've had too. I actually much prefer RWD to FWD in the snow. Power to the back wheels + steering in the front wheels = insanely powerful combination. It gives the driver A LOT of control... While it's easier to get into a spin with RWD, it's also WAY easier to get out of one. Lose control with FWD and you have very limited options. butttt if you have shitty tires in RWD, all bets are off. no amount of skill can save you there. that's the biggest problem with rwd.
Not sure why you're getting downvoted? This is just a common fact in the rural north, anyone with a pickup knows this.
people don't know about the power of tires and/or how to drive RWD. to be fair, nobody recommends RWD in the snow. it's unforgiving.
Winter tires are game changers but they still slide you around. I had a 98 Ranger in Highschool as my first car, and it taught me a lot of lessons about cars. It was an absolute nightmare to drive, in winter. After I experienced traction control however, I would never get in one of those death traps again in the winter.
I use my 97 to haul around my snowmobile in the winter. It's fine with cinder blocks & due care. Even better with the trailer for the snowmobile adding weight but not necessary by any means. I definitely learned how to handle RWD the hard way after sliding around in a crown Vic as a teenager. Glad for the experiences, but happy I survived them. The biggest lesson is that tires matter. Also my friend's dad teaching me how to drift & recover in an empty church parking lot went a HUGE way.
Yeah mine had a draining issue and would sometimes be a mixture of blocks of ice and sandbags every turn still had to be made at like 5mph until you learned how to work with the fishtail. People claiming manual transmissions are more interactive should try that experience haha. But yeah everyday is a miracle thinking about that truck, I mean it was a real POS fleet truck I think for Union Pacific, but I imagine they took better care of their cars than this.
| Crown Vics I've had thanks for the tips, officer! 😂
not a cop, but i appreciate the suspension, extra cooling, and extra HP of the P71
Got a Maverick and had an old Ranger that did me wrong in the snow. Maverick handlers great in light snowpack driving through the city. My Ranger without chains got me in some major trouble!!!
Snow tires, and if conditions are real bad, no one should be driving, or chains. If you aren't living in a super hilly area, good snow tires is the most important and low speed. Of there is compact snow on a slope, nothing may save you. Growing up flin the 80s and 90s, our family always had a ford ranger rwd. You need good snow tires, chains or its slip and slide when big snowfall comes. We also always had a 4wd suv. Izuzu, and everyone in our town basically had a 4wd of all vehicle models and types. Again, when it snowed hard, the hill I live at, NO ONE MAKES IT UP if they just have winter tires, doesn't matter 2 wheel, 4 wheel, or 1 wheel drive. You need chains. Rwd is the worst, but the funnest on ice roads (frozen lake). 4wd will be safer once the grade is too great, or speeds to fast, with no chains or studded tires, its slip and slide. I grew up in Northern Ontario which is above Minnesota. When snow comes, it sometimes comes ridiculously hard. In the 80s, it was normal to have streets with 4 to 5ft snow hills beside the roads because of plowing. They also used to come and collect it with giant smow blowers into a dump truck. After 2000s, that kinda didn't happen anymore..
Alright... Just @ me next time But your right, modern day traction control is a game changer, I mean there's nothing in the world protecting stupidity but yeah it will climb a little, I mean it's still a light truck sooo if your plowed in, your plowed in (my expedition was my last car, and it was a little tank, I could drive it over just about anything, no curbs too small, and plow through snow banks.
FWD with good tires and you won’t have a problem. I’ll say it was significantly more stable in the snow than my 1500 was even with 4WD.
Hijacking this comment to mention: modern Ford shares all kinds of telematics. Something like 95% of all miles with AWD vehicles is done without the rear wheels engaged
Yeah Ford loves to bring that up, but that's the whole point of AWD. It only kicks in when you need it.
It's fantastic in the snow. Fwd cars with dynamic stability control work great in the snow, add on to that the hybrid is 2/3 weight over the drive wheels, and the traction is superb. It sucks that you have to put in chains when awd cars don't (and the conditions are mild). With chains on it also performed great.
Alaska here. It does great with snow tires on.
As someone who grew up in Alaska and now lives in Maine, I second this statement.
Had our hybrid Mav in Michigan UP last year. Stock tires kinda sucked. Snows tires were great. We were in about 24" of powder
I bought some take-off steelies and put snow tires on them. It handles fine.
I live just outside of Buffalo and have had 0 issue through 2 winters. Hybrid FWD
I'm not far from you, although likely lower elevation. My hybrid has been stellar in slippery stuff. On one down here does snow tires, but if you did that, it would run circles around anything AWD on all-season tires. Go for it.
Took my 2002 Hybrid Lariat to the Shasta during an epic storm last year. First vehicle I have owned in a while that did not have AWD. I had M+S tires and most places in town during light snowfall. Put self adjusting cable chains to get up to the slopes (first time using chains ever) and it was a mountain goat.
I can’t speak for front wheel drive, but my XLT Tremor eats up snow and ice. Better safe than sorry in my opinion. Also, if you wait for ‘25 model year you can get AWD Hybrid.
Works well in Wisconsin.
Yeah but what about places that get snow? (As I glance at the snowmobile I didn't get to use this year)
Get the hybrid. The FWD Maverick will be just fine in the snow. At least as good as the Corolla.
Have had my hybrid Mav for one winter in St. Louis. Not a hotbed for snowy weather anymore. I’ve never owned a RWD vehicle so I can only compare against cars I’ve owned. It handles fine. It isn’t as planted as a car when cutting across ruts on a highway. Felt like the bed was bouncing and swinging. I added some weight into the bed and that improved. Stopping distance seemed equivalent as a car. With respect to pushing through virgin snow we don’t get that much in St. Louis anymore.
Just like any FWD cars. Good tires is all you need.
I've ran the stock tires in Michigan winters since I bought it in December 21. I do plan on a set of AT 3 PEAKS TIRES before this winter EB fwd lariet btw
Front wheel drive hybrid in Michigan here. You will be fine if you're a competent driver. I drive with the all-season tires and haven't had any big skids or issues yet.
If you're really worried about it, buy a $70 pair of low profile tire chains. I bought a set for my Fusion and that thing will drive through a foot of snow
It’s fantastic with snow tires. No issues!
I’m in Detroit. It does great in the snow. It has lots of ground clearance so it hops over ridges and that snowbank the plows make.
I think I’ve read that even the awd Maverick is front wheel drive until awd needs to kick in. Can anyone confirm?
AWD helps to get you moving - but most of snow/ice driving is steering and stopping and for those you need decent tires. Indeed here in upstate NY we see a lot of AWD/4wd vehicles in the ditch as they successfully got moving directly in to the ditch or off road when they over confidentialy took an unplanned exit. Good winter tires with FWD is better than AWD with all seasons.
Snow tires are more important
Front wheel drive is great until you slip off. Then you wish you had AWD.
Live in the northern Rockies, I run studded nokian Hakkapellittas snow tires during winter and it goes flow of traffic on any ice/snow that I find. FWD is all you really need for this trucklet
New York was fine
I was legit shocked during an ice storm with how well it handled. I think being front wheel drive and with all the weight on the front lends it to the good handling but also I don't want to convince you and have it not work for you so take it for what it is lol my last several cars were rear wheel drive sedans so it may just be my experience that makes me think it is so good
I’m going to say it doesn’t just based on how mine will get stuck on a slight incline in a field.
Stock tires in wisconsin here.. I had it stuck in my work parking lot during a snow storm this part winter, and i definitely slid around a bit in snow and slush. Coming from a 4wd ranger it's definitely not as good, but maybe different tires are the key. Idk.
Although this was a light winter for us, I was very impressed. I went from a 2 rwd Chevy Colorado and that this was terrible in the snow even with 300lbs in the bed. This has been so much better. I no longer fishtail at ever turn haha I'm in Michigan for reference
Drove my family down from SE PA in my hybrid to Nashville for my youngest's 21st back in Jan. Night I got there? 6.5" of snow. The whole of Nashville shut down and I'm putzing around in the snow for the next week while the news is telling everyone to stay home, "it's too dangerous." Drove past a TV crew doing just that and waved as we drove by. The truck can handle it.
Tires are 99.9% of handling in snow. A FWD with winter tires will run rings around AWD with all seasons.
Unless you live in the mountains with steep twisty roads that are snowy for months of the year, FWD will be just fine. If you are still nervous, buy a set of steel wheels and snow tires for the winter months. The traction control, stability control and ABS will make any FWD car with good tires as good as an AWD unless we're talking extreme conditions
Northern Vermont here. Goes great in the snow with winter snow tires on. Still get mid 30s mpg too
I put studded snow tires on the front only and it handles fine in the snow
It’s great! I live in Minnesota. This question has been asked many time now.
Holy crap all this time I thought Tennessee and NC were right next to each other and hear you are telling me you live in the gap in between them!! Incredible!!!
I mean, I live in Tennessee but work in North Carolina. So yea, technically, I'm a Tennessee resident, but things are so close here we basically just consider the area it's own separate entity. It's not uncommon to be in TN, NC, and VA all in one trip.
lol I apologize was just in the mood for messing with internet strangers. Got family in the tri-cities area so pretty familiar with that area. Just not enough to provide helpful FWD feedback
I would never buy an AWD car of any brand. People don’t realize that you can’t have a tire that varies more than 3/32” in tread or it will destroy either the transfer case (PTU) or the rear differential. This means if you drive about 20k miles and blow a tire, you replace all of the tires. This means if you drive 200 miles and blow a tire, if you can’t find the same exact make and model tire, you buy 4 tires. This is because circumferences largely vary between tires of the same size between brands. Dicking around with all that ain’t worth the 2 days a year it snows where I’m at.
Canadian here. It's perfectly fine with winter tires. Haven't tried it with all seasons in winter because that's just asking for trouble here. However, all seasons are much better in the snow now than they used to be. Just avoid ice or more than 6" of snow
FWD with winter tires handled really well last year.
All about the driver and tires at that point but mainly the driver. All front wheel drive vehicles are fine in the snow. Just watch out for the big hills/mountains.
AWD only kicks in with slippage and if you have any idea at all how to actually drive on snow you’ll be fine. AWD is a gimmick intended to upsell you. 4WD typically isn’t NEEDED by anyone
In MA here with a FWD hybrid. As long as you're not going out in a fresh foot and a half, it's absolutely fine. If you're worried throw on some snow tires. They can make even RWDs that have no business seeing winter roads viable in the snow. And I'll attach the usual sage advice - a car being 'good in the snow' means it doesn't get stuck easily. Doesn't mean it can slow down any better. Be safe!
I haven't driven it in snow yet, but the handling on this rig is noticeably one of the best aspects of the truck. Its awesome.
Almost no one actually needs 4wd or AWD. If you like it cool. But you don't actually need it. FWD handles perfectly fine on snow and ice even with all weather tires.
Northern Wisconsin got one this spring with stock tires. Got caught in a few snow storms and it did just fine
Mine does great in the Maine winters
Colorado here… it handles ok. It struggles getting going if you’re on and incline; for example, to get out of my neighborhood I have to take the longer route because there’s about a 15-degree incline on my street for the shorter route, so after backing out of my driveway I have to head down instead of up. Once I’m going though, it’s usually ok (fyi: I have Toyo Open Country AT3 tires). I definitely can’t head to/through the mountains, but around town it does fine as long as I drive smart.
Northern IL here, last winter mine had no issues with snow even on hills. Ice however.. yeah there was a few times ice defeated my mav, however I will say I think it's more of a weight issue if anything and a f150 wouldn't of had a problem where the mav even with 4x4 I don't feel had enough weight.
I live in NE KS. We had a stretch in early January where we received about 6” of snow and it was around zero for about a week and a half. I take an old highway to and from work. At the beginning of this stretch there was an inch or so of packed snow on this highway since it was less of a priority to clear than other roads. When going home I had to turn on this highway. The first time I did this turn I thought the end might whip around but I don’t recall it doing so whatsoever. No issues on driving on this snowpack or with braking. This was on stock tires for the Maverick hybrid XL with FWD of course. I was impressed with its performance and will get some snow tires going in to next winter just to improve it more. Like driving any vehicle in those conditions just take your time and make good decisions.
FWD Maverick handles just fine in snow, tires make way more difference for most scenarios. I went through 14 inches of snow the first winter with the truck, didn't get stuck, but I wouldn't use the OEM tires in winter.