Are fiestas like good winter cars?

I recently bought a Ford Fiesta with pretty low miles used. It’s in great shape but it has extremely aggressive snow tires. I got on Facebook marketplace and a few other dealership websites just curious if I overpaid or not for my car (I didn’t). What got me was that at least half of the fiestas, not focuses, not fusions, base model automatic fiestas like mine, from model years 2011-2016, were sitting on extremely aggressive snow tires and had really low miles. This led me to believe that people must be using fiestas exclusively as winter cars? I drove my fiesta through last winter and I really wasnt impressed, it didn’t have any grip even on the snow tires. Are fiestas like known for being winter cars or something??

The only problem I’ve encountered with my Fiesta is when the snow gets quite deep; it just doesn’t have enough clearance to get through easily.

My 2011 Fiesta handles snow without any issues. Being front-wheel drive is great, and I usually add chains for extra grip. It drives so smoothly that you can hardly tell you’re on snow. I often pass plenty of stuck crossovers and smaller SUVs that thought they could go anywhere. As long as you know how to drive in the snow and handle the car well, it can take you almost anywhere.

I’ve driven my 2017 Fiesta through seven winters so far. It’s not the best in the snow, but it has still gotten me where I needed to go.

The biggest challenges were going up hills and stopping; once it stops, it struggles to gain power for takeoff again.

I now have a truck for winter since we get a lot of snow here in Ohio.

the old (2002-2008) was great in snow, the newer ones struggles a bit, especially at snowy hills, due to its super low weight.

the old one was almost 500kg heavier

I’m not sure about the newer models, but my Fiesta works great in the snow and is a lot of fun to drive. However, it’s too light on ice and slips easily. I can only get summer tires for mine since it’s a Mk2 (1986) with tiny wheels :man_shrugging:—they don’t make snow tires for it anymore.

It’s a decent car, but nothing extraordinary. It’s still 2WD, although front-wheel drive is generally better in the snow than rear-wheel drive.

How old are your snow tires? They can become hard and less effective with age. Tires typically last about five years, and there’s a date code on them that you can check.

Owned a 79 and a 16, both did fine. It’s the driver and common sense not the car.