> I'm visiting Australia in September and hoped to get up the mountian for the end of their spring skiing/snowboarding, so I went to their website to check out the news. They insist that visitors get chains for the car tires for the drive up... Wow! I can't imagine the conditions can be any more severe than what I've driven my non-chained front-wheel drive Toyota Camry in when up in VT/NH. I'd be interested to see what they consider "severe conditions".

We're on our second Camry, and yes, they are really good in snow, but the old front drive Suabru we drove for 18 years was better. I'd say that anybody who has driven in the White Mts and the Green Mts. can handle what Australia has to offer. They still require chains in the Smokies, too. So I just wait until the road clears and the "Chains required" signs come down.
Have you heard the one about the ding bat who put his chains on the rear wheels of a front-wheel drive car?
Howard