We've had four years of great experience with Teslas in the snow and ice, including last year with a RWD model 3.
However, there's a difference between winter and winter. After a day cruise up to local snow and ice, a four-day President's Weekend trip to the High Sierra provided a perfect opportunity to test against the real deal.
It's been an almost unimaginably stormy month in the Sierra. During February's first two and a half weeks, 15 to 24 feet of snow fell on Mammoth Mountain, including a 7-to-10 foot storm during our trip.
As we drove up last Thursday night, blizzard winds combined with unusually low, dry snow to produce nightmare driving conditions. Winds gusting to hurricane force at highway level (and an otherworldly 174 mph at the summit station) created frequent whiteouts. An ice layer under the snow, formed by a brief warm-up and rain, completed the daunting picture.
However, our performance ("stealth") AWD Model 3 was equal to the task. AWD + M/S tires exempted us from chain restrictions. And, despite all-season tires (California's multi-climate nature precludes dedicated winters), the car handled both ice and powder with assurance and aplomb. Yes, Model 3's traction nanny default is more playful than that in the Model S, and I do concur with the suggestion for a max-mellow setting. However, especially in "Chill" mode with low-regen, I was never worried that the car would get away from me.
This snow sureness was not the key attention-getter, though. That award goes to a connected EV's ability to turn on heat and de-ice remotely ... ahead of time ... and without warming up an engine. Even in worst case conditions -- going from outdoor gear shop to outdoor gear shop every half hour, parking a still-warm car in three-inches-per-hour snowfall and temperature in the low/mid teens -- there was no need to scrape ice, once I'd learned to pre-heat before leaving the store. Just the brush end of the scraper. Toasty interior and roasty seats were a welcome bonus. An absolute game changer.
Of course, after clearing the snow, it was wonderful to enter the car confidently, not worried that it would have trouble extricating itself from the foot-high drifts that had built up around it with shocking speed.
Bottom line: Even without specialized tires, a delightful, confidence-inspiring winter car.
Then again, despite the palm-tree-themed cracks about California, the truth is that Tesla's Silicon Valley birthplace is a ski-crazed region, just a short, oft-taken drive from mountains which average 400-500 inches of snow per year, the same brutal winter terrain in which the Donner Party met its fate. And, even here in SoCal, it's only twenty miles from the golf course at the bottom of Angeles Crest Highway to snow and ice at its higher elevations.
[SoCal and Sierra images follow.]
However, there's a difference between winter and winter. After a day cruise up to local snow and ice, a four-day President's Weekend trip to the High Sierra provided a perfect opportunity to test against the real deal.
It's been an almost unimaginably stormy month in the Sierra. During February's first two and a half weeks, 15 to 24 feet of snow fell on Mammoth Mountain, including a 7-to-10 foot storm during our trip.
As we drove up last Thursday night, blizzard winds combined with unusually low, dry snow to produce nightmare driving conditions. Winds gusting to hurricane force at highway level (and an otherworldly 174 mph at the summit station) created frequent whiteouts. An ice layer under the snow, formed by a brief warm-up and rain, completed the daunting picture.
However, our performance ("stealth") AWD Model 3 was equal to the task. AWD + M/S tires exempted us from chain restrictions. And, despite all-season tires (California's multi-climate nature precludes dedicated winters), the car handled both ice and powder with assurance and aplomb. Yes, Model 3's traction nanny default is more playful than that in the Model S, and I do concur with the suggestion for a max-mellow setting. However, especially in "Chill" mode with low-regen, I was never worried that the car would get away from me.
This snow sureness was not the key attention-getter, though. That award goes to a connected EV's ability to turn on heat and de-ice remotely ... ahead of time ... and without warming up an engine. Even in worst case conditions -- going from outdoor gear shop to outdoor gear shop every half hour, parking a still-warm car in three-inches-per-hour snowfall and temperature in the low/mid teens -- there was no need to scrape ice, once I'd learned to pre-heat before leaving the store. Just the brush end of the scraper. Toasty interior and roasty seats were a welcome bonus. An absolute game changer.
Of course, after clearing the snow, it was wonderful to enter the car confidently, not worried that it would have trouble extricating itself from the foot-high drifts that had built up around it with shocking speed.
Bottom line: Even without specialized tires, a delightful, confidence-inspiring winter car.
Then again, despite the palm-tree-themed cracks about California, the truth is that Tesla's Silicon Valley birthplace is a ski-crazed region, just a short, oft-taken drive from mountains which average 400-500 inches of snow per year, the same brutal winter terrain in which the Donner Party met its fate. And, even here in SoCal, it's only twenty miles from the golf course at the bottom of Angeles Crest Highway to snow and ice at its higher elevations.
[SoCal and Sierra images follow.]
