Some of the members of the list who have just got their first car might be wondering how the car handles in winter. Answer is, not bad at all, just don't floor the throttle in anything less than 4th The main reason for my post is to warn against trying to weigh down the back for extra grip. I once drove home in December with 2 bags of coal in the boot. Tough fit, but I just made it.

Anyway, what I discovered was that if you went straight on at a small roundabout (ie. going left then right to get around it) the weight in the back seemed to have a pendulum effect and an the rear of the car would break right as you came out of the roundabout. Scared the willies out of me. Did more experiments and found it was less likely to happen with an empty boot. (11/99)