What makes the perfect Winter car

[Bobby Dazzler]

Blimey that's awful
Mr S and I had a similar but less dramatic escape this afternoon after a much closer than comfortable encounter featuring her car and a complete 6 foot section of waney fencing.

My goodness, sounds like the day for narrow escapes!

 

[SpikyMikey]

My goodness, sounds like the day for narrow escapes!

Indeed.We survived unscathed thankfully, although it definitely was one of those "oh s**t!!" moments...safely back home for a restorative glass of red vino collapso.
Going to retire to the cupboard under the stairs with a large bottle of Stoli and a catering size bag of lightly salted crisps and wait out the rubbish weather until about March '25.

 

[johnsco]

Just keep an eye on any mechanics you give it to for servicing … your nose could be their undoing !

There are very few jobs that I have trusted to my favourite garage in the 10 years (and 92,000 miles) that I have owned it.
I do everything myself - although old age is making that increasingly difficult ...
Even at MOT time, I stay with the car while one of two trusted mechanics performs the test.

 

[BTB 500]

My goodness, sounds like the day for narrow escapes!

We thought it was a day for staying in! My son wanted a lift to a party last night but we said no - we've been without power for 24 hrs.

Local dog training friends of ours have a Vito and a VW Transporter - a tree came down and hit them both.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

We thought it was a day for staying in! My son wanted a lift to a party last night but we said no - we've been without power for 24 hrs.

Local dog training friends of ours have a Vito and a VW Transporter - a tree came down and hit them both.

Ouch.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Our perfect winter car is at our other house - I had dropped it off last week to take another car to use for a while as I don’t like leaving them standing unused for too long even over winter. Poor timing with Storm Darragh doing it’s thing.

We were off out for lunch today, about an hour away from home, ironically meeting our neighbours from our other house. We took Mrs D’s car, as it’s the next best car we have for driving in bad weather but is on summer tyres at the moment.

The gusts of wind were very strong, the rain very heavy and we had to drive through lots of floods, the worst being directly outside the restaurant which was easily 18 or 24 inches deep. We raised the suspension and it made it through just fine.

We had a wonderful meal and braved the horizontal rain and even stronger gusts of wind as we were left the restaurant. I looked across the car park and I could see a very large tree lying roughly where our car was parked. I couldn’t see the car at all.

I dashed over relieved to find that the top of the tree had landed around 4 feet from the front of our car, with branches which had broken away on impact around 6 feet away from our offside. Incredibly the tree had fallen around us.

As I went to see if anyone was trapped in the cars or beneath the tree I spotted that our neighbour’s car had been caught by the trunk on the near side rear. Three cars are underneath it. The car beside it had been crushed down the centre line of the roof.

We took our neighbours back inside the restaurant for a hot drink and to work out what’s next. They were remarkably cool about it but it was my neighbours pride and joy, such a lovely car. The restaurant manager was great about it too.

Whilst talking to the manager people started coming in who had been on a train that had derailed nearby. They had had to walk along the track, and down a tall and steep muddy embankment into a dual carriageway!

Thankfully nobody was in the cars, and it looks like the tree bounced after it landed on the car in the next bay and caught our neighbour’s car. Even the car had bounced with it and moved sideways by around 18 inches towards my neighbour’s car.

Had my neighbour been getting in the car at the time then she would have been crushed. Thank goodness nobody was hurt. Look through the windscreen at how low the trunk is, the roof was pushed right down to the level of the dashboard.

View attachment 164962

I went to pick up our neighbours and take them to “collect” their car as tree surgeons were onsite removing the tree. I say “collect” because they thought they’d be driving home.

It was too dark, wet and windy yesterday - with too much “tree” in the way - to know know just how bad the damage would be, but I could tell by the rear suspension that there was weight sat on it.

With many of the branches removed to allow access to the cars and main sections of tree, it was clear to see that the damage was quite extensive on the offside rear, behind the middle row of seats.

The tailgate had been pulled away at the hinges - and mangled - by the impact of the tree. It was still wrapped around tree as that section was removed and moved away from the cars for access.

When we left today the tree surgeons were still removing the very large sections and trunk, and the branches already cut away still needed to be recovered to get recovery trucks in position.

This is a similar view to the photo I took last night, and posted in this thread. With the tree removed you can get a much better idea of the damage to the car - the tree concealeed a lot.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

What’s visible here is one of two sections of trunk where it had split in a Y shape with two primary branches. One was on top of the van parked in the neighbouring bay, and one between the van and car.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Photo from the front, you can see that same primary branches already cut with a section cut out which was in the windscreen. The A post is completely horizontal. It’s a Toyota Hiace.

 

[BTB 500]

Trees (even branches) are shockingly heavy. I cut some relatively small trees down for firewood every spring - I'm reasonably fit & strong and have to cut the trunks into quite short lengths simply to be able to lift them into a trailer to move them. Bigger trees are scary things ... we've got some of those too, and there's no way I'd try and do anything with them myself.

 

[amgv12power]

Trees (even branches) are shockingly heavy. I cut some relatively small trees down for firewood every spring - I'm reasonably fit & strong and have to cut the trunks into quite short lengths simply to be able to lift them into a trailer to move them. Bigger trees are scary things ... we've got some of those too, and there's no way I'd try and do anything with them myself.

Absolutely, trees can be deceptively heavy. Even a relatively small tree can become unwieldy once it’s cut down, and the density of wood adds up quickly. It’s no surprise that professionals emphasize safety and proper techniques when handling larger trees. When it comes to big trees, the risks aren’t just about weight but also unpredictability—how and where they’ll fall, branches snapping, or the force of the trunk hitting the ground. You’re definitely wise to leave the larger ones to the pros!

 

[DSM10000]

What’s visible here is one of two sections of trunk where it had split in a Y shape with two primary branches. One was on top of the van parked in the neighbouring bay, and one between the van and car.

View attachment 164991

So glad there were no injuries.

I presume that the insurance company will right those vehicles off?

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

So glad there were no injuries.

I presume that the insurance company will right those vehicles off?

I’m assuming they’ll be written off. The tree are owned by the county council and I suspect they may self insure for liabilities at this level, so it will be interesting to see how much of a fight they put up. Hopefully they won’t.

As you suggest it could have been a tragedy had we left the restaurant sooner. It was a very lucky for a very unlucky day!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Our perfect winter car is at our other house - I had dropped it off last week to take another car to use for a while as I don’t like leaving them standing unused for too long even over winter. Poor timing with Storm Darragh doing it’s thing.

We were off out for lunch today, about an hour away from home, ironically meeting our neighbours from our other house. We took Mrs D’s car, as it’s the next best car we have for driving in bad weather but is on summer tyres at the moment.

The gusts of wind were very strong, the rain very heavy and we had to drive through lots of floods, the worst being directly outside the restaurant which was easily 18 or 24 inches deep. We raised the suspension and it made it through just fine.

We had a wonderful meal and braved the horizontal rain and even stronger gusts of wind as we were left the restaurant. I looked across the car park and I could see a very large tree lying roughly where our car was parked. I couldn’t see the car at all.

I dashed over relieved to find that the top of the tree had landed around 4 feet from the front of our car, with branches which had broken away on impact around 6 feet away from our offside. Incredibly the tree had fallen around us.

As I went to see if anyone was trapped in the cars or beneath the tree I spotted that our neighbour’s car had been caught by the trunk on the near side rear. Three cars are underneath it. The car beside it had been crushed down the centre line of the roof.

We took our neighbours back inside the restaurant for a hot drink and to work out what’s next. They were remarkably cool about it but it was my neighbours pride and joy, such a lovely car. The restaurant manager was great about it too.

Whilst talking to the manager people started coming in who had been on a train that had derailed nearby. They had had to walk along the track, and down a tall and steep muddy embankment into a dual carriageway!

Thankfully nobody was in the cars, and it looks like the tree bounced after it landed on the car in the next bay and caught our neighbour’s car. Even the car had bounced with it and moved sideways by around 18 inches towards my neighbour’s car.

Had my neighbour been getting in the car at the time then she would have been crushed. Thank goodness nobody was hurt. Look through the windscreen at how low the trunk is, the roof was pushed right down to the level of the dashboard.

View attachment 164962

Update: The car is still not recovered. The restaurant health & safety manager won’t allow the recovery truck on site because there’s still debris on the car park. We’re so lucky not the have been directly affected.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Update: The car is still not recovered. The restaurant health & safety manager won’t allow the recovery truck on site because there’s still debris on the car park. We’re so lucky not the have been directly affected.

A further update on this. It took more than a week to clear enough of the debris to safely remove the car. The insurance company played hard to get at first - with feisty service to boot - but came through with a very reasonable offer, so reasonable that my neighbour accepted the second offer.

So much so that he only lost around 12.5% in almost three years, I thought that was excellent considering he bought it brand new, and since then the used car market has been in relative free fall. His biggest disappointment was that the insurer did not pursue the local authority who’s tree it was.

He then remembered that he was sold GAP insurance when she bought the car and they immediately made up the difference to the invoice price, and paid the excess on his main policy too. So he’s not out of pocket as such but he is concerned about will happen to his premium.

All in all the luckiest unlucky event.

 

[slate1234]

2005 Honda CRV with full mud and snow for the bad weather (snow) absolutely bomb proof.

 

[Dryce]

2005 Honda CRV with full mud and snow for the bad weather (snow) absolutely bomb proof.

The CR-V got criticised because the AWD system doesn't deliver much torque to the rear diff and rear wheels.

So the concern is that if you have zero traction at the front on a hill it can't move off using rear wheels alone. The other issue is general to some of these clever AWD systems - in that used very very hard they can overheat.

This is where mechanical systems with a 50:50 or 60:40 split and a locking or torsen centre differential tend to be rather better.

So the CR-V is likely OK in conditions owners will find themselves - but it doesn't deserve the hyperbole of 'absolutely bomb proof'.

 

[Will]

The CR-V got criticised because the AWD system doesn't deliver much torque to the rear diff and rear wheels.

So the concern is that if you have zero traction at the front on a hill it can't move off using rear wheels alone. The other issue is general to some of these clever AWD systems - in that used very very hard they can overheat.

This is where mechanical systems with a 50:50 or 60:40 split and a locking or torsen centre differential tend to be rather better.

So the CR-V is likely OK in conditions owners will find themselves - but it doesn't deserve the hyperbole of 'absolutely bomb proof'.

Have you ever seen one broken down though?

On a long journey, you can pretty much play car bingo spotting the usual forlorn LR/RR sitting on the hard shoulder or on a low loader

 

[slate1234]

I agree fully regarding the fact the AWD isn’t the best but my £800 car does very well around the hills in wales and if it gets a knock or a bang I’m really not in the slightest bit bothered, as for reliability it’s BOMB PROOF, I have had Land Rover and Range Rover and of course they are the best, but they are just money pits.

 

[SL300-24]

Range Rover L322 TDV8 4.4 is the best winter car I have ever owned. Diesel pre heater so it's warm and defrosted before you step inside,
Heated seats and steering wheel, electric heated front and rear windscreens. It will take you anywhere in all weathers, get a good one and you won;t beat them.

 

[ALFAitalia]

.....until it breaks down....and it will. We had three at work....rubbish. One needed two turbos within 3 months. Their bad rep for reliability and running costs is fully deserved imo