Is M3 suitable for Canadian winter?

[swartzentruber]

Echoing what a few of the other more helpful posters have offered, the M3 with snows should do okay if you drive mostly in plowed roads or the snow isn't as deep. The RWD M3 will struggle a bit if you drive in hillier areas and in deeper snow, mostly related to ground clearance. Based on that, you should be able to decide if the M3 is appropriate for you or not. If you deal with hills but not deep snow, then an AWD car such as an Audi or one of the BMW xDrive cars would be fine. If deep snow is an issue, then make sure what you buy has enough ground clearance.

Also, I'd disagree with the above post that quattro is that much more sophisticated than xDrive. Quattro hasn't been substantially upgraded all that much since it was introduced, other than possibly adding torque vectoring. xDrive is pretty sophisticated itself -- there are some situations where quattro will do better, and some xDrive, but I don't think there's a clear leader. Subaru is I think generally regarded as having the most sophisticated car based AWD, though their "best" AWD is only available in certain vehicles/packages.

[N.S.A]

GET AN x6m or X5M

[Thik]

Originally Posted by N.Arabshahi

GET AN x6m or X5M

They may not be that much better in the snow. Other than the higher ground clearance and AWD, they are harder to stop due to their heavier weight and harder to cut through deep snow due to their wider tires.

[N.S.A]

Originally Posted by Thik

They may not be that much better in the snow. Other than the higher ground clearance and AWD, they are harder to stop due to their heavier weight and harder to cut through deep snow due to their wider tires.

Yeah that's true. but the braking is the best in its class. But their tires are not good for snow.

[khsc]

Thank you folks for your replies.
I am not inclined towards alternative German auto manufacturers. BMW and especially M3 has been my childhood role model and prefer to tune it to weather conditions. So it appears that winter tires should do the job.

You keep my spirits high.

[JFWM3]

I live not far from the GTA, and have an M3. It's fine in the winter.

It stays in the garage under a car cover, while I drive my Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT.

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

The simple anwser is YES … I drove a e46 in Alberta for 3 years and three e92 ///M3's in Ontario for 7 years (always had a set of winter wheels). Like any other car you need to be careful when you drive in snow and ice. Nothing special about winter driving an ///M3. Having said that in Ontario I mostly drove mine for very short distances since I always had another car. Now I drive an e350 Benz 4Matic and my 280 SL toy in the summer time … I can since I'm retired

[Gkap]

im pretty low and have been perfectly fine driving all year round.

[bing240sx]

IMHO they are fine but the DCT is annoying in low traction situations.

i've always driven RWD in the winter but never a newer car with all the electronic assists... i'll be going with my more powerful but less refined 240sx on the lower traction days when a manual transmission, driver-instinct and a good set of winter tires are more than enough for any reasonable encounter with snow and related conditions.