It would be excellent if everyone did that. One of my pet peeves is someone buying an SUV and then thinking they can go anywhere. Most SUVs are shod with plain road tires. A friend of mine objected to the noise a true off road capable tire makes. When they replaced the tires the new tires weren’t able to move the vehicle, even in 4 low, on wet grass on a very slight slope. I LMAO.
Funny. I just acquired a 1971 IH Travelall 1210 (3/4 ton) 4wd with a granny gear. It’s in great shape, but I’m still “prepping” it. I can’t wait to get it off road and see how it does.
I drive a Mazda Tribute, which is a nice little compact SUV (4WD). Took it hunting and found out that you can’t really take it over very rough terrain (boulders, etc.) because the muffler hangs down so low. Pretty poor design. Other than that, it’s a nice little pavement runner in bad weather.
I bought a used Jeep Cherokee last year. It's a 1998, plain Jane with the 4.0, auto, and 4x4. It came shod with some cheap Chinese tires - I can't even think of the brand name right now, and I've been driving it for 18 months. We've had recent snow and icy roads here. In 4x4 mode, that Jeep has handled what's been thrown at it (snow, ice, mud, water, sand). I'm really impressed what those tires can actually handle. They're certainly not the best, but they haven't let me down yet.
That being said, after looking at several reviews, my next set will be some General Grabbers.
I hear you. We live in Central NY which is no stranger to snow and BAD driving conditions.
It's astounding the number of people even here who seem to think that SUV alone is enough. I have an SUV and put the best snow tires I could find on it. I don't expect to get stuck ANYWHERE this winter, but also know better than to tempt fate and go out when conditions are too bad. You respect the weather, not drive like you're invincible.
Heck, in parts of CNY, even the snow plows have gotten stuck. Up near Watertown when it has happened, they had to get a tank from Ft. Drumm to pull it out.
That's why I'm well stocked with anything. Just in case we have a bad winter, I'm not having to run out for toilet paper or bread.
You don't mess with bad weather.