"bdubya" wrote in message
...
I've got a great vehicle for getting to the slopes; I just have to
figure out which one it is.

Since before the dawn of time, my ski conveyance has been an old Civic
Si with a roof rack and a good set of snow tires. With

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or

But this summer has seen the addition of a nice late-model pickup
(4-liter Ranger with the entry-level offroad package). It's got over
twice the ground clearance of the Civic, plus 4wd, but it's got
all-season tires, inferior handling (I'd even call it truck-like), and

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IMHO, since you are really familiar with the civics handling I'd personally
go with it and risk hitting the hotel if the snow is too deep, assuming the
last 5 miles are a tiny portion of the trip. Truck is top heavy whch dosn't
help the handling either. If the truck had great snows and you were
familiar with taking it out of a skid, I might say different.

I have driven a civic with Nokian snows, it handled great and would plow
snow over the hood and up the windshield.

I've also driven a similar class of 4x4 pickups with all season and with
real snows. with the all season 4x4
the civic would probably win out except for busting thru snowbanks and maybe
going uphill in deep snow. With REAL snows and weight in the back, the 4x4
would beat the civic except in emergency handling -though in certain ice
situations the 4x4 will be better.

My 2 cents
F.plant