The key here is, what tires are on your Z?
It's a 2009, so it's very possible that the original tires have been replaced by now. The OEM tires on the 370Z are "summer" tires, and they are ridiculously useless in the snow. Not just tricky to drive in the snow, downright dangerous. Especially if you have hills, you're basically doomed. Park it until it melts. Leaving it in a parking lot overnight is a far better option than crashing it on your way home. Or having to leave it in a ditch overnight.
Go look at the tires. Make note of the name on the sidewall or take a picture & post it. That would let us help you more.
If the previous owner replaced the OEM tires with all-season tires, you stand a fair chance of doing "OK" in the snow, assuming the roads are generally plowed (and your tires aren't bald). Compared to your FWD Tiburon, the main difference is that the back end of the Z will want to rotate whenever you give it gas. The car will *want* to spin out with every hill & crown in the road surface. You must carefully modulate the throttle and steer into the rotation - back end swinging to the right, turn the wheel to the right. One tip, try starting from a stop in 2nd instead of 1st. Yes, it's a bit harder on the clutch but it's a bit easier to get moving on an extremely slippery road. Sometimes in 1st you will just sit & spin. Braking is mostly the same with RWD, but give yourself a TON of extra room and go SLOW. Especially if you're chancing it with the summer tires - you have almost ZERO braking ability. Seriously scary. The Z has wide tires, summer or all-season, and they're not ideal for snow.
But yes, dedicated snow tires are probably the best way to go in the winter. Same rules as above apply, but you've got a bit more traction to play with.
If this is really your first experience driving a RWD car on snow, I would
highly recommend that you drive around the school's parking lot for a while to get the hang of how the car behaves. Give it some gas as you turn and watch what happens. Be honest with yourself and your skills as to whether you can make it home. And have a plan for if you get stuck.
Good luck!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Layla16
Thanks so much to everyone for their responses! I think I definitely might need to invest in winter tires at some point. I feel a bit foolish for buying a car that should probably not be used as the primary vehicle, but I couldn't resist. I'm obstinate.
Though I did google this question along with browse the forum for similair questions, I hoped to get the chance to both introduce myself and get a more personalized response by creating a new thread. I like forums for the fact that you can interact with people 
I realized the snow looked a lot more intense from a second story window than it really was. It ended up being basically rain. I took it very slow in case it was icy, and people were definitely annoyed by me. It's better to be melodramatic than find myself in a lovely position as the one showed above lol.
And I have not yet mastered driving this car in heals. I will though, mark my words!
And thanks for the info on snow tires. That makes me feel like if I get them this car will be a little bit more realistic as my primary vehicle. Hopefully there won't be too much winter left though :/ |