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So I'm planning on a cross country roadtrip in my civic around February/March 2021. With the current state of the US and COVID-19, I figured that this would be the best time to do something like this after graduating this December.
My car's got about 70,000 miles on it and still drives well. I plan on starting in Colorado Springs, make my way on I40W to LA then up HWY 1 to Washington then across I90E to Chicago then back across I70. As a FWD car, the main thing I'm concerned about is driving across the Rockies and the Midwest in general. I plan on being on the road for 30+ days and camping when I can. Should I consider an AWD vehicle, or will snow chains be enough to get me through? I've done plenty of driving alone, but I just want to know if it will be feasible. Thanks in advance!
You should be OK. People travel in winter in the Rockies with FWD cars all the time. Especially if you are mainly sticking with Interstate highways. I've been on several winter trips where the worst were the hotel parking lots.
Good to have chains available if needed. Practice installing them ahead of trip. You don't want to be learning in the middle of a snowstorm. Actually the cable version of "chains" is recommended for FWD vs old-school chain-link chains ( due to clearance for steering)
If you take a laptop or other along, ahead of trip look up and bookmark each state's road conditions webpage. Same for weather. Be prepared to stop and wait til highway clears if conditions are bad.
I live in the Rockies in Western Wyoming. I drive a 2013 Honda Civic with FWD. I would be concerned about driving in those months without snow tires on my car at the very least, and all wheel drive or four wheel drive would be even better.
I drive here all winter long with my car, but it has snow tires and I'm not going up and down the mountain passes with it. I can't say much about the mid-west, but Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado can get some nasty snow storms and I wouldn't want to be stuck somewhere in my Honda Civic on the interstate or elsewhere. I wouldn't risk it.
Just pay attention to the weather. You might get stuck somewhere, just happens anywhere there's snow. I've gotten stuck up in Tahoe area two days. Interstate was just completely closed, couldn't keep it plowed, for a few hours but then there's the getting to the Interstate. I was about 5 miles off it. Some people have plow trucks but no real point plowing it in the middle of a heavy snowstorm. Just hunker down, wait till it lets up and either a local plows it or they get around to the smaller roads.
Have you done any winter camping? Even relatively lower elevations (Denver/Boulder ~5,000) average highs are 40-50, lows 20-30. Tent and a good sleeping bag and it's fine. If you're going to go off the beaten path in the winter, keep extra food and water in the car in case it snows overnight and you can't get out for a few days. And obviously pay attention to weather. If there's a huge snowstorm coming in, don't go 40 miles off into nowhere. Lower elevation won't get that much snow typically but it's a Honda Civic. You're not going to drive through 6" of snow in it which means stick to plowed roads and remote campgrounds aren't high priorities to keep plowed so pay attention to the weather forecast.
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