With FWD autostick is as good or better than a manual. With my CVT I'll notch it into a 'gear' when climbing a hill. so I can sense any wheel slippage and compensate. Otherwise the CVT is spongy and I don't know if its slippage or the engine revving for more power. When an automatic downshifts its always followed by a surge that can break the tires loose under slippery conditions. When I must down shift I can just notch it down and the shift is silky smooth -- far smoother than an automatic and smoother I could do with a manual.

I performed a test a few weeks ago on a snowy hill nearby and my CVT would start up on a hill better than the manual. I posted the results of my CVT, Wifey's 5-spd and our Wrangler in the same spot. Not surprisingly the Wrangler was best and worst. In 2wd it was helpless, but in 4wd it was very surefooted.

 

With FWD autostick is as good or better than a manual. With my CVT I'll notch it into a 'gear' when climbing a hill. so I can sense any wheel slippage and compensate. Otherwise the CVT is spongy and I don't know if its slippage or the engine revving for more power. When an automatic downshifts its always followed by a surge that can break the tires loose under slippery conditions. When I must down shift I can just notch it down and the shift is silky smooth -- far smoother than an automatic and smoother I could do with a manual.

I performed a test a few weeks ago on a snowy hill nearby and my CVT would start up on a hill better than the manual. I posted the results of my CVT, Wifey's 5-spd and our Wrangler in the same spot. Not surprisingly the Wrangler was best and worst. In 2wd it was helpless, but in 4wd it was very surefooted.

Yep, downshifting can break the tires loose on slippery surfaces especially with older 3 or 4 speed automatic transmissions where there's a high ratio differential between each gear.

With 6 speed and up transmissions there's much less of a chance of tires breaking loose as the gear ratios are closer knit.
I had no tire breaking loose issues yesterday while down shifting. Being in 4x4 the whole time also helped.

In any event its always best to be extra cautious on slippery road conditions and never down shift more than one gear when driving on slippery surfaces.

 

Was in 4X4.
Was so slippery ABS didn't help at all. In fact it could of made stopping worse on ice as all four brakes were intermittently going crazy during the attempted stop.
None of the tires had any traction.
Ain't Winter driving fun!

It's a major misconception among the AWD, 4WD crowd that they can go anywhere. NOT TRUE! The statement around here in hill country is that I don't need chains, but not true--chains help you stop--and especially when descending steep hills, and are your only salvation on glare ice.

 

It's a major misconception among the AWD, 4WD crowd that they can go anywhere. NOT TRUE! The statement around here in hill country is that I don't need chains, but not true--chains help you stop--and especially when descending steep hills, and are your only salvation on glare ice.

Being in 4x4 mode might get you going on a slippery surface but stopping is another matter.
You're right 4x4 or AWD vehicles apparently gives some people a false sense of security.

What gets me, yesterday for example while driving home on a 60 mph slippery highway i was doing 45 to 50 mph and cars were passing me by like i was standing still.
They had to be doing 65+ mph. I mentioned earlier i seen two cars that slid off the road.
One in the ditch and the other unfortunately stopped by hitting a tree. Looked like a total to me, hope no one got hurt in that one.

 

Our 2008 Patriot had the 5 speed stick shift and I drove it for 7 years before trading it for our 2015 Patriot with the 6 speed auto tranny. On the highway I admit that I liked the MT better but it was not much fun constantly shifting in large city busy traffic. When driving on mountain highways going uphill I don't use autostick I just let the automatic find the best gear. Last week we were skiing at Big Mountain near Whitefish Montana and when coming down the ski hill access road I used autostick in 3rd gear for a little engine braking and it worked OK but I noticed that the rpms were merely higher than in Drive and I still had to use the brakes a little to avoid going over the 35 mph speed limit on the 9% grade. I think 3rd gear on our 2008 MT Patriot was better for engine braking. I have never driven with a CVT so I don't understand how the Freedom Drive 2 worked with throttle position only and no autostick for engine braking. I almost hit a cow elk on the way home but fortunately she heard my deer whistles and abruptly turned direction and went down the highway closer to the shoulder instead of crossing right in front of me. The pavement was dry in that spot and the ABS brakes saved my bacon but I find them relatively useless for stopping on an icy or snow packed road. The ABS brakes keep you skidding in a straight line but you can't stop any better.

 

Several years ago, I was driving in south central WA state, where it had rained heavily and FROZE overnight. I was driving a 2wd S-10 pickup, with a little ballast in the rear--and chains behind the seat. As I approached Satus Pass (on us 97), I rounded a corner, found a van on its side, so tapped the brakes--yeah--nothing! The next corner showed a Mustang on its roof, and finally when the road began to climb, there were 20 cars stopped, sort of helter-skelter parked--probably where they lost traction. I found a spot, and installed my chains--no snow on the road, but obviously ICE. I was severely honked at and waved at by a Subaru who was just making it up the slight grade. He almost hit my pedestrian self, altho I was standing by the door of my vehicle. Several of us gave the middle finger salute as he went by. I then took off, and around the next turn, the Subaru was nosed into a snow bank. I rolled down my window and asked it they were alright, and the answer was yes, but we're STUCK! My response was simple and quick: "Pity," I said, rolled the window back up and proceeded. I neither passed or met any traffic, with the exception of an ambulance slipping and sliding on the ice.

 

Great story! Do you think studded tires would have worked in those circumstances? In all my years of driving (47) I've never owned studs.

I was sorta wishing I had studs this morning. We had freezing rain overnight, and the snow I didn't bother clearing from the storm earlier in the week was packed into ice. I dutifully threw ash all over the ice, but when I backed out of my garage I was half-way down to where it curves (I've posted pictures of my driveway before) my hood came around and passed me on my left. We slid sideways a little more coming to rest crossways in the driveway. My choice was to back up and get my tires into some soft mud or go forward to where my tires could grip the snow on the lawn. I chose the mud and it worked. I got about 2 miles down the road and even driving cautiously below the speed limit my rear end started fishtailing on curve. Saved it OK and once onto the state road we were OK. Maybe my next set of snow tires will be studded.

 

I had Michelin Xice-i2 winter tires on the 1st Patriot and they were OK for about 5 years but I almost lost it on glare ice when they were worn out. I put Hercules Avalanche X-treme studded winter tires on and they are going on their 4th winter and still have a lot of tread left. They are way better in snow than the Michelins which are considered a studless Ice Tire instead of a Snow Tire. According to tirerack.com studded tires are still better on ice than the studless Winter tires and I believe this is True. The only negative is the studded Hercules tires are the noisiest tires I've ever owned. Incidentally on that latest ski trip I drove over 400 miles on snow packed and icy roads and never experienced that infamous floating on ice sensation with rear end drifting from side to side. I drove at a safe speed and do Not have a Lift Kit.

 

I've wondered about studs...so here's the latest from my state: I'm sure other states have similar rules. I do believe that CA doesn't allow them at all...

When can studded tires be used in Washington?

Studded tires are approved for use from November 1 to March 31. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) determines additional periods in which they can be used. Studded tires are not allowed on vehicles over 10,000 pounds.

 

All this studded tire talk got me re-thinking them again though i never used them.
Here's an article i found which has the breakdown of States that allow, disallow and semi allow studded tires:

https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/studded-winter-tires

Apparently they're legal to use in my State.

A bunch of decades ago with a rear drive only car i had a real close call skidding off an icy road and narrowly missed hitting another car.
My car did a full 180... another adrenaline moment.
That was the first and last time i thought about studded tires until now again.

What would be great is to have a Winter snow tire that had retractable studs which could be lowered or raised at will.
I had one of those pipe dream ideas back then on a 'possible' way to design a specialized tire/wheel combo to do it but thats another story.

In a couple of months all this Winter driving stuff will be history....until next November!

 

What would be great is to have a Winter snow tire that had retractable studs which could be lowered or raised at will.
I had one of those pipe dream ideas back then on a 'possible' way to design a specialized tire/wheel combo to do it but thats another story.

After driving home from a cousin's in Connecticut one Thanksgiving evening I had one of those brainstorms too. Why not a pressurized canister of sand or some other traction enhancing substance in the wheel wells that could be discharged from a panic button on the dashboard? What a great way to deal with ice! Something the car owner could refill after use. I suppose ABS brakes are better, but they ain't perfect either.

I also suggested the shock-absorber bumpers and wrote it up to Chrysler when I was in high school.

Also about that time I dreamed that my cousin (same one above) had bought a downsized Wagoneer. I doubt AMC even owned Jeep then. This was a good ten years before AMC introduced the XJ.

 

How about a set of custom front control arms (or rear if you have 4x4) that have something like this built into them:

 

i love my 2017 6spd 4x4. going to the mountain is easy peasy (1 mile gravel steep rutted road) versus the 5spd manual. It's doable with the manual, i just have to go a tad faster than i would like too- still drive slower than most there though. coming down/back on the highway, there is a 5-6 miels stretch of 55mph on windy, steep roads. I use the auto stick going down and use 4th and she just holds at that speed. No need to touch the brakes. Going up i will use it too and run 3000-3250 rpms or so for the hill and she does great. No constant downshifting only to upshift then repeat....

i pull the same hill in my 2013 4x4 5spd the same way, keep in 4th maybe 3rd at times.

 

In my old area PA. the coal trucks on the mountain roads used
Clorox to help get unstuck