Im looking at thinning the heard and have a neighbor with an Outback and a co worker with a Forester. To me both of the Subarus seemed the same in performance on dry pavement on a trip to DC and back. My coworkers have leather, power seats, nav split ac. My neighbors looks like a honda crv from the front and had cloth seats, radio and ac. Both seem like large roomie vehicles. 

 

I do not do any off roading and have yoko avid touring 235 75 r15 tires on the sidekick. When we do have snow/sleet/ice, etc I find myself digging and spinning my way out by the seat of my pants. Sometimes I have to repop the clutch several times to get rolling then over drive the engine spinning the tires all the way. 

 

I never said I was an expert at driving on the frozen wet stuff. Infact with my other car I have to turn off traction control and dig my way out then once I get rolling engage trac control and hope I do not get stuck again.

 

So, my concern is the subaru wont let me dig like I need to if traction control can be turned off or if it has the power to do so since its an automatic vs stick shift. 

 

Thanks in advance. Ive searched and read a few threads similar to this, but they involve mud and actual offroading. I live a few miles back in a community where the roads are not plowed. Once the guy with the Chevy k2500, the jeep cherokee owner and my neighbor with her subaru get out and make some ruts they freeze over and become like rail road tracks and difficult to cross or even following since the sidekick is skinny. 

With good tires the Subaru will crawl right out or through just about anything.

not sure about a sidekick - but you can find videos of performance comparisons between Subarus and many other cars.

I once got forced off a plowed street into a snow bank with my 99 Outback. Even so, my Subie dug its way out with not much effort. Traction control is not needed on a Subie. Just needs a good set of tires, and it will have plenty of traction.