This is the first think I was taught in driver’s ed “Pump your brakes and turn into the skid.” Not really true. Now with anitlock brakes you don’t pump them at all. For skids, you look where you want the car to go, and steer there. If the front of the car goes to the right and the back to the left, and you just wanted to keep going straight, you steer to the left.
The real answer is to slow down.
If you are in front wheel drive…you aim your tires for a dry spot.
We live near Syracuse and the average snowfall is 100 inches of snow per year. Her dtr should be aware of the bad stretches of roads during snowstorms and avoid them if possible. My son bought a new Mitsubishi Lancer with AWD, and I bought a new Ford Fusion with AWD this summer.
Nobody mentioned black ice and it’s dangerous early in the winter before the snow gets packed down on the roads. I totaled an SUV one time and never saw the black ice on the road, and next thing I knew the car wanted to do a 360 and run backwards. I was going too fast.
I’ve always thought that my years of skiing downhill and cross country has helped me handle a car in the snow. It’s not the same thing, but I feel confident while turning and negotiating a downhill curve. There are winter driving courses for people who want to learn how to drive better in icy, or snowy conditions. Taking the car to a parking lot and practicing starts and stops and turns in the snow is also one way to find out how it handles in bad weather. Good Luck!
Love my Subaru Impreza! Had a Rav4 in the past and I was disappointed with its handling until I got new tires! Agree with posters above that tires are important and winter driving skills/understanding essential. Sometimes people are overconfident with their AWD cars, not realizing that it doesn’t help you stop more quickly in icy/snowy conditions. You need to slow down in bad weather. Also, I too learned to steer into the skid, but that was when rear wheel drive was most common. You don’t do that with front wheel drive and AWD. And it’s no longer necessary to pump the brakes now that we have anti-lock brakes, though that has been a habit that I haven’t been able to change. I drive a stick(manual transmission-millennials may not know what this is!) and love the additional control I have with that. I don’t have to rely on my brakes as much.
I have to agree with Consolation. Driving safely and KNOWING WHEN NOT TO DRIVE are the two most important skills to possess. Slowing down more than you think you should as you approach a stop sign or traffic light is really critical - if there’s any ice at all, your car will travel farther than you would think.
The only times I’ve gotten in trouble in Maine were when I went out and shouldn’t have. Roads get plowed quickly enough that there really is no excuse to go out before they’re clear.
Having a manual transmission is great so I don’t put too much torque into my wheel on starting from a stop. Starting from 2nd gear instead of a 1st helps greatly to reduce tire spin on snow and ice.
Many, many car models will work. Front wheel drive works. The two most important things mentioned above are driving skills and tires.
The tires need to be in good condition- as I discovered one winter, new tires made a huge difference. Only a bit of new snow can affect stopping distances, slipping. It means replacing tires when they are worn, not just when they reach the number of miles one is supposed to get.
Driving skills are also a big deal. The first snowfall always catches many unaware. It does matter what car, driving wheels or tires you have on ice. Clearing the top of the car (roof and hood) plus all windows matters! Good windshield wipers are needed too. If the snow is too deep on the road during a snowfall you shouldn’t be out driving, an SUV or truck is not needed. Slow in the snow.
So- get the car desired that fits the budget-front wheel drive. All season tires work. Learn winter driving skills. Your old front wheel drive car works with good tires.
Honda HRV-Crossover.
@NorthernMom61 is right. We’re buying a house in Maine, and every time we go up there, we see tons of Subarus on the road. The realtor we’ve been working with has one.
But it’s also true that you don’t just start driving in ice and snow and expect your car to behave the way it would on a dry road. There’s a learning curve.
I think there was an article in DownEast magazine a couple years ago about the Subaru being the Maine car. Because the Subaru is so common in Maine, one can find a lot of good used ones too.
At the college where I work, the faculty parking lot is filled with Subarus. It is the “must have” brand. Kind of like Cartier tank watches and Louis Viuitton bags in NYC. I mention this because years ago, after college, I worked for Cartier on 5th Ave in NYC. I began to notice that most of the customers had the same watch, the tank, same bag, a LV, same other jewelry products, at the time the love bracelet and rolling ring, and lived in the same area of Manhatten.
I remember saying to my parents, in their Staten Island home, why do all these wealthy people who can do and buy pretty much what they want all do the same thing? I was totally naive about status symbols and wanting/needing to fit in to the group you believe you belong or aspire to.
So I think some Subarus are a good choice. But they are a bit more expensive and, IMO, ugly. Haha. But , as wis75 said, many car models will work. Actually, wis75’s entry, #46, is excellent. Tires, driving skills, front wheel drive and maybe a heavier car will all help.
The OP came back to say his daughter isn’t as far north as some people are thinking. There may not be a lot of Subaru dealers in her area. When I lived in north Florida, I notice that while there were Hondas and Toyotas, there were very few Subarus. My BIL is a ‘Subaru guy’ so I just notice how few there were in the area. The only commercials I ever saw for them were national ones, no local dealerships.
In the I-70 corridor, roads can be very icy as it often rains first and then snows. The roads in Maryland often had no snow but a nice coating of ice. If the state allows it, I say studded snow tires. Your gas mileage goes down, but nothing is better for traction.
I think OP said there was a Subaru dealer in the town, but I could be mistaken.
We live in Maryland, and even though it doesn’t snow often, 3 of our 4 cars have all wheel drive. One was purchased for son in college in upstate NY, but other two for around here. As long as we live here, I will keep buying AWD.
With kid two leaving for college, we just downsized from a minivan to a small-ish SUV. We looked at a bunch of them and it came down to Honda CRV, Toyota RAV, and Subaru Forester. On paper all the cars in this class are clones of one another so it came down to which we liked the best. We drove the three of them twice, the second time back to back at neighboring dealers. The Subaru stood out. We’ve had it all summer and seriously love this car. We’ve had Hondas and Toyotas in the past but this is the first Subaru.
It was definitely not more expensive than the others. We were comparing the AWD subaru to FWD versions of the others because that feature wasn’t important to us (no snow here) and price was. The Subaru was still less expensive. Around here, it’s easier to spot in parking lots too, because there aren’t as many of them. 
Yep. On post 33, the OP says the daughter lives sort of south…and there is snow during three months of the year…and her daughter drives curvy roads, and goes out to a barn every week (which really sounds like it could np be non-essential if there is sufficient snow).
And the budget is under $30,000 which puts TONS of cars on the radar screen especially if the consider certified used cars.
I will add…one of my kids lived in NC…where it snowed on occasion for several months during the winter. He had a Subaru because he had one of our old ones as a hand me down. He said…it didn’t help at all…because snow removal was basically non-existent. Also, the other drivers didn’t all have Subarus.
To the OP…are we talking snowfalls of two or three inches that melt the next day…or are we talking a foot of snow frequently that takes days to be removed?
A Subaru can easily drive through snow about 8 inches deep without snow tires. Add snow tires and the models with more clearance, and now we are talking about driving through a foot of snow.
I’m sorry…but if there is a foot of snow ON the roads…the best way to drive is by staying OFF the roads.
@morrismm, Subarus are definitely not a status symbol where I live! My S told me what a lot of people call them, but I won’t elaborate. I love my car and it was cheaper and better IMO than any other AWD car close to that price range. I also prefer a manual transmission, and very few manufacturers make them anymore.
I wouldn’t take a long commute in a foot of snow either.
But it’s often the case that the main roads are cleared pretty quickly. It is the side roads where people live that have delays in getting cleared. These are low speed roads to be begin with, and driving through heavy snow to get to the cleared main roads is really not a problem.
It makes a difference whether you are talking about snow and ice on flat roads or whether the driver will be encountering hilly terrain. I would not tackle the hills where we used to live with so called all weather tires regardless of the vehicle being driven; I have seen many cars stranded during snowy, icy conditions. I was told by a Vermonter that they call all weather tires “summer tires” and they roll their eyes at those who try to drive with them in bad conditions. Subaru was definitely the car of choice when we lived in the frozen northeast but there were plenty of Honda CR-Vs and Toyota Rav 4s on the road as well. Personally, I’d combine the AWD car with snow tires for the worst of the weather but it really does depend where the driving is to take place.