Just commuted my near 50 miles one way in the HCH. My Subaru Impreza has a bent valve, so it is out of commission till I have a chance to tear into the engine and replace it. What a difference. I've always enjoyed driving in the snow, as long as it was in my Subaru. That thing is a snow demon, even with the ultra high performance all season tires, it does incredible. The Civic is on the back side of bad. The low rolling resistance tires are not what the doctor ordered for wet, heavy snow. Once I got the feel how slippery the tires were, I could keep my momentum in the empty intersections with some emergency brake induced tail slides.
It isn't really fair to compare the HCH to an Impreza. I've probably gotten myself in more trouble with the Impreza because of the AWD than I ever would in the HCH. The AWD feels great, but it definitely doesn't help when its time to slow er' down. I'm going to see if I can find some emergency tire chains. They aren't made of steel, or metal. It is some sort of nylon or something. Anyone have an idea of what I'm talking about?

We got 8 inches here yesterday. My 06 didn't do to bad, seemed comparable to my old Integra, did they change the tires for 06? Its definitely not comparable to an awd subaru, but not bad considering the low roll rest. tires.... although I'm secretly wishing that Toyota's purchase of Subaru yields a Hybrid Subaru in the near future.

I did find it harder to control the front tires with the CVT transmission however. Give me a manual any day for snowy driving.

Using "S" and "L" puts you into a lower gear ratio, this morning's commute was bad (25 miles without a single plowed road and about 6 inches of snow that was either packed or slushy), and I found as with every automatic that I have ever owned that getting going from a stop was much easier in "S" or "L". Heck, in the past I have had to do the entire commute in "3" or "2" (as they were called in my old Accord). After accelerating to 10-15 miles per hour I was able to go into "D" with no problems, remember that in our car that is actually just a software switch, changing between "D", "S", and "L" just changes the ratio and can be done at speed.

Use them, that is (part of) the reason they are there.

~Droid

hehe...as if any car with similar tires can do better. seriously, this kind of weather demands snow tires.

Yes, this is always the preferred method. In all my previous manual trans cars/trucks, starting off in 3rd or even 4th gear when its very slippery gets you going forward much nicer than spinning the wheels in 1st gear as many a novice manual tranny user will soon learn not to do....

I wish there was a way to lock the CVT into a higer gear ratio just for this purpose.

The problem is that an auto transmission starts out in low gear, and then when the wheels start to spin it increases the gear ratio, increasing the spinning of the tires. Using "S" and "L" do help in snow with a CVT by keeping the spinning under control long enough to get moving, even if the ability to lock in a mid gear ratio would be better.

~Droid

the CVT actually behaves as a form of traction control by allowing the tire to spin, a higher ratio is reached and then you move forward with ease. I do it all the time, spin, lift off gas, and then go.

Thanks for the info Livvie. I will put it to use shortly. I can barely see 10 feet right now the snow is coming down so thick..

Please note that I have 4 snow tires on. But the technique still applies. Our CVT does not come with any preset ratio so we have to fool the system into getting a higher "gear".