It's beautiful

oh my dear lord the most jalop car of 2015 so far

Tramontana R. You are about as likely to see one as your are to witness your own birth. But that only makes them rare - like a Vector. Obscure means there's also a good likelihood that haven't already heard of it - not like a Vector.

I have one, and it's more fun than a barrel of monkeys. It is the odd one in the showroom though.

My prior car was lowered (not slammed for sure) and it did just fine in the snow, but it was a bit of a snow plow, often pushing down the center berm of snow in between tire tracks that other cars had clearance for. It's a bit unpleasant and disconcerting to hear all that snow getting plowed by your undercarriage. …

Thank you, random internet Albertan with awesome taste in cars and tires. You have just summarised my justification for buying them for the new ride. Bank balance, you are on notice.

Damn straight! Leaves a nice smooth area of snow behind you as well!

I owned a 2007 Mazdaspeed 3 for 5 years in Calgary, Canada and that thing was insanely good in the winter with the appropriate footwear (Hankook Winter I-Cept Evos). Routinely drove it out to the ski hills. I never got stuck wherever I was. Lots of nice torque to ease you out of 'situations' and deeper snow. It was…

I drive my lowered Mustang all over the place in the winter.

My procedure usually goes, (1) start the car, (2) scrape the ice off the windows, (3) grumble about how cold it is this morning (-18F, bitches!), (4) get back in the somewhat warmer than a witch's tit car and gently drive off.

Honestly, the biggest one is "I don't need winter tires", but I feel like we have gone over that pretty thoroughly. I'm only saying it again because it's really a message that needs to be pounded home. If everyone in the DC area was on mandatory snow tires, Tuesday would have been a walk in the park.

True, I guess I just expect more from Popular Mechanics.

Came here to post the same thing. All wheel drive can help you go faster, but it sure as hell isn't going to get you stopped any faster.

I had a 2012 GTI that I was turning in. It snowed a bit early that year (Michigan) and I had to get it home. The car had summers on it, temp was 35ish with about 1/2" of snow on the side streets.

Automatic headlights, yes. Automatic high beams, no.

My old VW had rain sensing wipers instead of an intermittent setting. I always wished one day they would magically change.

Hmm, I think I see part of the problem. In the Buick, the 'Auto' wipers weren't active unless you turned the wipers on (low intermittent was enough). If you shut them off, no wipers no matter what. As you scrolled through the intermittent settings, the sensitivity increased. If you went to 'low' or 'high' you were on…

I disagree. My parents had a '98 Buick Park Ave with the auto wipers and they worked amazingly well in all kinds of conditions. I was thoroughly impressed and still wonder why they don't have this option on more cars today. It really does work. Frost does confuse the sensor, but you aren't supposed to be driving…

I don't agree. 95% of the time they're perfect in my car. Sometimes they're slightly temperamental when in stop and go traffic and it has just started to rain somewhat, otherwise I adore them. And this a relatively old vehicle, a 2000 Peugeot 406 coupe, so I imagine it's better in newer ones.

I hate them on my BMW. And the manual settings dont seem to have enough range to really cover whats needed