Hi Freedie - not so bad now!! (16 months recovering from cancer - I was not allowed to drive Betty for 6 weeks after coming out of hospital - that was really serious!!! )With ice and compacted snow one always needs a "light" touch, I let the car do all the work and gave it a nudge now and then.
In Criccieth (near where we live) there is a steep hill going from the lifeboat house up to the ice cream shop. We were stopped outside the lifeboat house when a van tried to get up the hill, He passed us only to slide gracefully back again. He gave up after three tries. Betty slid a little and skidded a little but got to the top without too much drama. So after two serious winters we motor on with very little trouble - what a car!!!
IncidentallyI am on my second set of tyres and coming up to my second service at 34,000 miles. Betty was bought new in December 2009 and is still under guarantee -I have had the DPF sensor replacedbut no other problems.
I hope all on the forum are fit and enjoying their motoring and not too flooded out. (it happened twice here but the second time we saw the flow of the water and consequently have installed flood defences. There is a silver lining, the new furniture is really nice.)
Cheers.