How does the Marauder handle in the snow?

[tallguy23]

Hey guys,

I'm actually not a Marauder owner yet, but I was wondering how these things handle in the snow. I'll probably get some black steelies to mount snow tires on. I used to have a GTO and it sucked in the snow. I'm now looking for a new car but I'd really like something that I can drive all year round and still have fun cruising woodward in the summer. I'm also looking at a WRX STI but being only 23. The Marauder has some GREAT insurance rates! Let me know guys.

Thanks
Rob

[Skiordie53]

Marauder handles fine int he snow with soem good snow tires, but then again did youever try snwo tires on your GTO? we used to have 2 f bodys that were drivine in the snow as they were year round drivers. it's all about slowing down when you get the bad weather.

[SergntMac]

IMHO, very poorly with the stock tires in place. As wide as they are, they tend to act as snow plows building up snow instead of cutting through it. This year, I got a set of 225/60-17 Michelin on town car wheels, no problems.

[Skiordie53]

actually this year that was my setup 17: towncar wheels with dunlop wintersport m3's front and wintersport m2's rear

[jstevens]

I ran stock this year with no problems.

If you have deep snow, I don't think any vehicle with stock OEM tires is worth a darn except my wifes 4 x 4 trailblazer.

[RR|Suki]

I drive my marauder with all year, use the stock in the winter, if you can drive you can handle it

[rayjay]

Snowbelter here. Tirerack snow shoe package = :D

[tallguy23]

Actually the stock tires on the GTO are rated for snow lol. Not worth a damn. Never tried dedicated snow tires. But I also had a winter beater I could drive. I still do, but I'm not sure how much longer it will last.

[Hotrauder]

Large and powerful rear wheel drive cars never were any good in snow and guess what. they still aren't. No mystery there. If you are looking for another winter beater a Marauder is a poor choice. To nice a car, premium priced and to much fun. Buy both and use the 4WD ricemobile in the winter.:D Dennis

[Eric91Z]

I agree that the Marauder is too nice a car for a winter beater. Mine is a daily driver and did absolutely wonderful this snow with 16" steel wheels and Pirelli Scorpion Snow and Ice tires. Really couldn't have asked for any better traction or control given the snow storms and ice I drove on this year.

Given that, I want to find a CVPI to use as a winter beater/daily driver to rack the miles up on since I commute 500+ miles per week and have put about 13,000 miles on my car in 6 months. At that rate I will have to factor in a motor rebuild at the time I can afford a supercharger (unless I win from the drawing).

The Panther car does just fine if you pay attention to how you drive, the road conditions, and have good winter tires on there. I, too, was nervous about going back to RWD for winter driving, but had no problems and it was a very secure ride on snow and ice. Today's dedicated winter tires do a LOT for any car. I don't ever want to get caught in the snow again on the stock tire, though.

[TripleTransAm]

I'm with Eric. I too had some concerns about going back to RWD after so many years of FWD stability. With the right snow shoes (in my case, Arctic Alpines on steel wheels), this car has overall been unbeatable! If you live in an area of appreciable snowfall, don't risk driving on the OEM stuff, though.

[Rider90]

The Marauder has some GREAT insurance rates!
You got your quote from where?

[STLR FN]

I ran stock this year with no problems.

If you have deep snow, I don't think any vehicle with stock OEM tires is worth a darn except my wifes 4 x 4 trailblazer.

I too had no problems, I even drove 324mi to PGH in Jan in a blinding blizzard @ 45mph and had no problems. Yeah I know I was crazy and stupid.



Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by tallguy23
The Marauder has some GREAT insurance rates!

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
You got your quote from where?

Maybe compared to a Mustang they're cheaper. :dunno:
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[TripleTransAm]

I too had no problems, I even drove 324mi to PGH in Jan in a blinding blizzard @ 45mph and had no problems. Yeah I know I was crazy and stupid.


This is going to sound like one of those "5 miles barefoot to school, uphill both ways" type of stories, but last March I managed to make the trek from my house to a hospital in 30 minutes flat in a horizontally-blowing-snow storm, instead of the usual 50-55 minutes. Granted, we left home at 12:40 am so dense traffic was not a factor. But the point is that I always felt the car was in total control, even though the occupants of the car were not! (wife was in labor). With a wife about to give birth in the passenger seat and a groggy 3 year old in the back, I still felt confident we'd get there in one piece.

Side note: ironically enough, I have the parking receipt right here beside me from that night, as I've been cleaning out my office of old stuff. Time of entry into the hospital parking lot: 1:10 am. The time of birth was at 1:15 am. :help: I just had time to grab a wheelchair and bring my wife up to the maternity ward from the emergency entrance while a security guard watched my car (locked, with my oldest son sleeping in the back), then run back down to park the car and grab my son, and run back upstairs to find out I missed the birth by a minute or two. That's how rock-and-roll that night was, and should be an indicator as to how well these cars can handle deep snow storms with the right tires. That car's traction control also worked wonders for getting us to the hospital in one piece that night (wish I could say the same for my second Marauder's traction control... so far, I'm very disappointed).

[MENINBLK]

I got the Tirerack snow package, details are in my sig.
The Pirelli Scorpion Ice and Snow are a great Winter tire.
They are not very noisy and they handle really well on wet and dry roads.

Tirerack mounts them on the wheels of your choice, and ships them to you
mounted, balanced, and ready to bolt on.

Over the last 2 winters, I think I've put less than 10,000 miles on them
and they are still in great condition.

[Hotrauder]

Steve, that is a hell of a story. wow. How cool you had to have been to pull that off.:bows: That would have been heart attack time for me for sure. Dennis

[jdando]

Here is a little glimpse of my MM as a daily driver


Sunday, ready for chuch and errands..
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/3/1/0/2/sunday.jpg



Monday
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/3/1/0/2/monday.jpg

More pictures in my gallery Click me (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/browseimages.php?c=5&userid=)


6 inches of new snow. 2 inches of frozen crud on the roads, saw a few accidents, but the MM got me to work safe and sound. I am running Hankook Icebears on the stock wheels.

jeremy

[TripleTransAm]

Thanks, Dennis.
I knew things had been dilating for a week prior to the main event, and in fact we were sure the kid would have appeared several days earlier than he did. I even took some pre-emptive time off work to be available when things happened. So at midnight that night, we went to bed and we talked for a while - I guess the stress was mounting.

12:20 am... a few very deliberate kicks from junior (Chuck Norris?) followed by an audible muted POP. The water broke. Okay, show's on... while she got ready I got dressed and tried to get my oldest son awake enough to be able to dress him. Called my parents to meet me at the hospital (to pick up my oldest son) and we were in the Marauder and pulling out of the driveway at 12:40 am. It had been snowing fairly heavily for a few days now, but that night was a full blown horizontal blowing snow type of storm.

Things escalated quickly. Within a minute of driving, I was silently timing the contractions by the clock on the radio, and I wasn't liking what I was seeing.

I blew every stop sign on the way to the highway, high beams flashing all the way "&#224; la wigwags". I didn't encounter any other vehicles by the time I got to the highway... then it was a matter of 75-90 mph on the straights with slowing down to 75 mph for the curves. In blowing snow. While counting contractions. Risky, of course, but this shows the kind of faith I put in this car and the snow shoes.

Got to town, blew every red light (again, with the lights flashing) with slowign down to check for passing traffic just in case. Again, not too many cars on the road, and I think the snowstorm helped us here as far as keeping people off the roads and otherwise keeping their speeds down.

Slid the car practically sideways in front of the emergency ward entrance, ran to get a wheelchair, had to get the security guard to help me carry my wife onto the wheelchair as there was no way she was mobile by that point. Locked the car and took the keys with me (leaving the engine on via the remote starter because my son was sleeping in the back) as the security guard kept watch. Now THAT was the most stressful part of all, as I like to have my kids close to me at all times.

High speed wheelchair run down the hall to the elevator, up to the maternity ward, dumped her at the counter and said I had to go back down to get my other son. Keep in mind that the timestamp on the parking lot entry was 1:10 am.

Ran back down, hopped in the car and backed it up about 10-20 feet into a parking spot, grabbed a groggy 3 year old and as many bags as I could sling over my shoulder, and ran back inside the emergency ward entrance just as I spotted my parents' Accord showing up.

Factor in the time to get back up to the mat ward... a nurse was there to greet me to say my child had been born. That was a WTF moment, for sure. Time of birth: 1:15 am. The nurses at the station were nice enough to watch my 3 yo while I went into the room to see mom and kid #2, and to find out it was a boy. While the birth of my first son brought tears of joy from me, I must admit that this time I must have looked quite like Keanu Reeves in his Matrix-like "this can't be real" look.


So, yeah, back to the topic: with a little more attention to corrosion-resistance and parts quality, I would have been in heaven with this car. Even with the extended warranty in place, MM#1 became a money pit with failed tensioner, alternator, steering shaft, etc.etc.
(by the way, when they say "powertrain warranty", apparently that does NOT include alternators and tensioners and such! Ironic, considering the powertrain won't be making much "power" without such items in place. Does this mean my 100 000 km powertrain warranty only applies to pistons? What about valves? I suppose rotary engines don't have valves, so by definition that's probably not covered as part of a 'powertrain'...)

Yeah, I'm bitter...