How well does the AVEO handle in snow?

[Wolfman AK907]

Now, I am from Ottawa where we get dumped on quite a lot.

Right now wife and I are looking to buy a 2nd car and the AVEO is looking better and better. But what about snow handling? My wife will be using the car for commuting 40km a day (from one end of Ottawa to the other end, but not all highway driving).

So I wanted to find out what or how well it handles in the snow and ice.

We are looking at getting the AVEO 5 hatchback. Yellow colour.

I live in Alaska and have an 09' Aveo5 and mine does great. You will want to change the tires though. I put my MSR 17's on, but I wanted to run year-round with them so I use Bridgestone Potenza Grids. The best winter tire hands down is Bridgestone Blizzaks though. I would just recomend you buy some cheap steelie 14's and put blizzaks on them then swap for summer. You're wife should be fine, the wheels are 4x100 so they're pretty cheap.

[XJCasper]

My stock aveo with factory tires did GREAT.

[petrified.rabbit]

mine did great in the snow too, only thing is there is some rear "sway" at highway speeds on snowy/icy roads..

might not be an issue for you, but i was driving 120 miles a day in the snow. and its not something that isn't correctible. taking your foot off the gas and slowing down by 5 mph usually eliminated it..
its one of those things if you just dont panic.. it will be fine. hard to describe what it feels like, also keeping a 50lb bag or two of salt in the back of the car helps keep it from happening.. (plus if you get stuck you can through salt down to get out)

[Wolfman AK907]

mine did great in the snow too, only thing is there is some rear "sway" at highway speeds on snowy/icy roads..

might not be an issue for you, but i was driving 120 miles a day in the snow. and its not something that isn't correctible. taking your foot off the gas and slowing down by 5 mph usually eliminated it..
its one of those things if you just dont panic.. it will be fine. hard to describe what it feels like, also keeping a 50lb bag or two of salt in the back of the car helps keep it from happening.. (plus if you get stuck you can through salt down to get out)

Yeah, I was doing just fine on the stock kumho tires that came on mine, but I always change my girlfriends wheels in the winter to blizzaks...peace of mind you know?

[07_aveo]

Everyone says that the stock tires are fine if you drive for the conditions which is true. But it's other drivers and unexpected accidents that will get you in big trouble if you (or your tires) can't react fast enough to avoid situations. I always run snow tires on my Wave, especially because it's such a light car, it needs all the traction it can get.

[Wolfman AK907]

Everyone says that the stock tires are fine if you drive for the conditions which is true. But it's other drivers and unexpected accidents that will get you in big trouble if you (or your tires) can't react fast enough to avoid situations. I always run snow tires on my Wave, especially because it's such a light car, it needs all the traction it can get.

+1 I work for a trucking company here and our main company motto is "Watch out for the other guy". Too true.

[petrified.rabbit]

my tires were all bald through the winter, only had 3000-5000 miles on the car, but i still managed better than most..

got a new set at 5000 miles, and now i am at 7500ish, and they are doing good wear wise..

[MetroMPG]

This thread is one of the more popular ones for people coming to the site from search engines.

So far the concensus is: It's fine. But get snow tires. (That advice really applies to most vehicles.)

I've driven subcompact front wheel drive cars of many types through many Canadian winters with zero problems. Winter tires on all 4 wheels and common sense are all you need. I haven't driven an Aveo in snow, but I can't imagine there's anything different about its winter handling compared to any other car in its class.

Anyone care to update with their Aveo experience from the winter we're now leaving behind?

[petrified.rabbit]

With heavy wind and snow the back end gets squirrelly before the front end. This is straight I found around 35-40 mph is 2-3" of snow. But also in snow that just settles on running out salt jobs.

[Wolfman AK907]

My Aveo5 handles well up here in Alaska. It responds and handles well on ice and hard pack, but gets really squirrely in slush and fresh powder more than 6". I made it the whole winter this year on the stock Kuhmo's, but got stuck in the driveway a few times, as it's a slight incline. A couple of times I just had to floor it in reverse to get out.