The ten best cars for winter | India.com

WE GIVE YOU A TOUR OF WHAT TO GET YOURSELF IF GLOBAL WARMING IS A LIE – OR IF YOU LIVE WHERE SNOWY CONDITIONS ARE A FACT OF WINTER LIFE. _If you’ve got yourself a Sno-Cat, then you need not

read any further. If you don’t, however, you might just want to know what should be parked in your driveway if you fancy driving whether it’s sunny, rainy or snowed in. We give you the best

cars to drive in a ‘White Christmas’ kind of winter. _ AUDI Q5 It may have the looks and features that will please the school-run mother, but remember that the Q5 is powered by Quattro –

Audi’s patented all-wheel-drive system that once humbled other stalwarts of the World Rally Championship. The Q5 is lighter and smaller than elder sibling Q7, so that should help you tread

lightly through drifts should you encounter them. You can choose between petrol and diesel, and most variants are available with four-wheel drive. You might have to invest in snow chains or

tyres more suited to the terrain, though. Once you’ve got that, you can have a laugh a minute as you try powersliding around while the electronics watch over you and keep you safe.  BMW X5

We know, its claim to fame is its on-road ability, and not the way it can handle extreme situations. Don’t let that detract from the fact that the X5 is still a comfortable three-row seven

seater with all-wheel drive. The X5 seems a little boxy and old-fashioned now, but it still is one of the best cars to load up with Christmas presents when you go holiday shopping. And when

you’re done playing the good school-run mum, you can turn the traction control off – which in BMW speak actually means Traction Control OFF – and hoon around. You might just look like an

elephant ice skating, but you won’t really care when you’re pulling off lurid slides in the snow. FERRARI FF Yes, it isn’t the prettiest butt to exit Maranello, but it IS the first Prancing

Horse that boasts all-wheel drive. Even if it isn’t a traditional all-wheel drive system – the front wheels run off a separate gearbox and can be powered only in the first four gears – it

seems to work well enough when the going gets tough, and it lets you have fun as well! What’s more, you can show off your driving skills to two more people than you usually would in the FF.

And you can even throw their bags in the big boot! If a ski vacation is on the cards and you want nothing less than the best driving experience, the Ferrari FF is the car for you. Just

remember to carry your snow chains along.  MARUTI SUZUKI GYPSY  The Gypsy has been around for decades, and yet it remains the car of choice for those who want to get anywhere in India with

the least amount of fuss. No, it isn’t because it’s the only thing with all-wheel drive that can be officially serviced in the remotest corners of the country, but because behind the round

headlamps, inadequate wipers and harsh ride lies a genuinely capable SUV that can give a mountain goat a run for its money. You might want to fit power steering and a roll-cage like most

competition entrants have done, but other than that even in stock form the Gypsy can get over seemingly insurmountable obstacles in a jiffy. Just don’t expect creature comforts.  KEN BLOCK’S

TRAX STI CAR Ken Block is known for his over-the-top grandstanding, but for once the car outshines even him. The Subaru Impreza he usually drove exchanged the more regular tyre-and-wheel

combination for tracks. Tracks, as in snowmobile or tank, and so equipped can get pretty much anywhere you like. It has been pitched as the perfect vehicle for snowboarders, but we’ve got

other ideas: you can use it for emergency services when everything is too snowed in for an ambulance – or you could use it to run down to the shops in a blizzard if you’ve run out of food.

Either way, you’re going to have a barrel of laughs, and there’s no need to worry about a puncture.  MITSUBISHI EVO X Most petrolheads have been brought up on a diet of images that star the

Mistubishi Lancer Evolution, or simply the ‘Evo’ as it is known as now. These aren’t images of the sedan standing still in pretty locations, or draped by beautiful women. Neither are these

images of a high-quality interior with millimetre-perfect stitching. These images show the Evo a few feet in the air, or trailing a cloud of dust, or even snow – and 99 per cent of the time,

it is going sideways. The great thing about the Evo is that with all the onboard electronics, even a regular Joe can look like a hero in winter.There can’t possibly be many cars more fun in

winter than the Evolution, can there?  LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER The Range Rover is a big, heavy car. No, we don’t mean the Range Rover Sport – that’s one for the tarmac-oriented SUV drivers.

The Range Rover is the one with the hybrid monocoque and body-on-frame chassis that makes it oh-so-good both on and off road. Not only can it go where most SUVs fear to tread, it will take

you there in utmost comfort and won’t lose composure even once.  The Range Rover was also the first car to offer a sat-nav screen that was a dual display: this means that the driver could

see his driving directions while the passenger watched a movie at the same time on the screen. Lots of SUVs can get you places, but only a Range Rover will get you there in supreme luxury

without breaking into a sweat.  VOLKSWAGEN TOUAREG VW’s Dakar contender is better known for dune bashing in what is widely accepted to be the toughest race on earth, the Dakar rally. It is

also famous for feats like being able to tow a Boeing 747. However, it is equally capable of dealing with all sorts of extremes, including the peak of winter. After all, under the skin it

shares Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system that the Audi Q7 possesses. Couple that with the option of a gigantic diesel engine (not any more, though, sadly) and a low-ratio transfer case

and you’ve got a premium SUV that can match the Range Rover – but with the benefit of good autobahn manners thrown in for good measure.  VOLVO XC90 If you value comfort, safety and

practicality over all else, the XC90 is the car for you. It has all the prerequisites for safe passage through winter, and what’s more, it will make it through while being a comfortable

family car. You’ll find operating everything easy, right from steering the vehicle to dropping the second-row seats for access to the (reasonably spacious) third row. Of course, you can

expect the highest levels of safety since it is a Volvo, but in R-Design form it looks quite fetching, too. Get the Yamaha-developed V8 petrol (again, a discontinued option now) and you’ll

get muscle-car music from under the hood if you floor it.  SANTA'S SLEIGH Nearly seven billion people on the planet, and he manages to visit them all in a single night. Enough said. 

_Did we miss any worthy contenders? If so, let us know in the comments below. If you haven't got enough of the cars in the pictures, click here for a slideshow._ ALSO READ: