You would be blessed to have such a dilemma. I've only been up there once when there was a two foot storm and we were fine in a 4WD. If you are driving up on major roads - then any AWD with all season tires will do. I lived in Tahoe with a Subaru and never chained up. Chains are for 2WD cars or trucks.

 

It's California and on occasion you have to put chains on with 4wd. Very rare, but it does happen, and generally they are only letting the 4wd vehicles through when that happens. So get some chains, put them on once so you know how then hope you never need to use them. As far as driving goes, 40-45 mph is tops with those and that might be asking a bit much. I prefer cables over chains. They don't grab quite as well, but are much easier to put on and less likely to come undone.

Down at Bear I doubt you are going to run into very many storms that shut you down like you would accessing Tahoe.

 

Thanks folks! Didn't know about the cables. While we're talkin about AWD... I currently drive a small 2wd coupe, no stability control. Would getting an AWD vehicle be overkill for approximately a dozen trips to Bear (about 50 minutes worth of switchback mountain roads) and perhaps a trip to Mammoth per year? The rest of my commuting is in LA.

 

As opposed to selling your car and picking up a new one, is it in your range to buy an older 4x4 and use it just for this purpose? will help save money on gas for the other 95% of the year, and many can be reliable enough to make it back and forth from the mountain to meet your needs. May not have heated seats and power windows, but you're just leaving it in a parking lot anyways.

I do not know how much you drive in the snow, nor do i know the conditions out west, but coming from a fairly snowy area, I feel comfortable driving in anything under 6" in my Honda Accord Coupe. If you don't drive in the snow often, i highly suggest getting an AWD vehicle, it will save your life, and at the least you stand a much better chance of staying on the road.

 

If there is something I enjoy is driving on the snow, unfortunately I don't get enough of that in Florida. Most of the time that I have traveled to snowboard I have rented AWD vehicles, but a few times I got FWD cars. To be honest having AWD is very nice, but some FWD cars (Pontiac G6) perform incredibly good in deep snow situations.

AWD cars will sometimes give you a false sense of security, given that when it comes to braking they have the same limitations as a FWD or more (SUV's). On my last trip to Colorado I saw 3 car accidents, all 3 of them were SUV's rolled over, I am not sure if all 3 had AWD or 4x4, but the odds that they did are high. SUV drivers are sometimes unaware of how vulnerable their vehicle are to rollover. On the other hand when climbing in deep snow conditions AWD vehicles perform very good, with hardly any slippage. I also found the AWD to be very effective on poorly plowed narrow roads and for city driving.

In you situation I would keep your car, since you only travel 12 times to the slopes. The expense of getting a new car does not justify this, in a extreme case that you want to travel and there is a storm go rent an SUV. Unless you were looking to replace your car, then I would consider getting a Subaru, thats your best bet for a safe AWD car that will not kill you in gas consumption. If you have some money to spare look into Volvo and other high end manufacturers most of them offer AWD cars.

 

^^^ You are talking Colorado snows though not California. I haven't had to chain up in Colorado in well 18 years. Generally I put studded snow tires on my 2WD, but I have also done plenty of seasons with out them. It's a different story in California, the snow falls at a warmer temp melts and refreezes into ice. Colorado gets these conditions once maybe twice in a season typically at the bookends fall/spring. Even if you don't think you need to chain up sometimes you don't have a choice. State patrol says you have to so you do.

Still a 2wd, AWD, or 4wd should do the trick. I keep cables in my car just in case and have broken them out to get out of deep parking lots, or for around town driving from time to time. Snow tires also make a very big difference on any vehicle. I've get better traction with my 2wd car and studded snow tires than most SUV's. Pass them all the time on Berthoud Pass. In Cali, I would just get an extra set of cheap rims and put non studded snowtires on them. Then swap them out a day or two before you plan on hitting the mountain. You could keep them on all season if you wanted.

 

^^^^^^^Are studded tires legal in Colorado? also how bad are they if you leave them on all season on, like in Denver?

I know in NJ they are not.

 

Thanks again everyone for the detailed feedback!

Getting a "spare" suv is a little too much. Gotta insure and register it, and it'll take up space... I'll stick with cables. From the looks of it, my car will be just fine since everyone else on this thread snowboards much more frequently than I do and come from places that actually have a snowy winter. Losing an mpg year round (currently drive an RSX, was considering a RAV 4) and extra maintenance doesn't sound worthwhile afterall.

Thanks!