First encounter on snow not a good one

That's what a bag of sand in the trunk of a rear-wheel-drive car is for in the winter. To put some additional pressure on the rear wheels, for added traction.

The OP got stuck with his Legacy. So what really happened? He lost traction given his weight.

If the car was lighter that might not have happened. The traction in all 4 wheels might have been enough to pull him through. He could also have preserved traction by being heavier. The equilibrium is precarious.

Legacy is a heavy car. I'd rather that it be lighter o that it can maintain traction easier.

Winter tires, thinner tires as Tony suggests, most often do the trick.

Basia

Yeah you can ride a tank slowly through any kind of ice and never get stuck, but a car that is light enough to never lose traction preferably 4 wheel drive can do it 10 faster.

Basia

Speaking of tanks, I witnessed they slip, go out of control on hard ice surface during Korean war in bitter cold, LOL! Heavier vehicles may just dig itselves in if traction is lost in the sand.

During my last residency in south-central Alaska I drove a VW diesel Rabbit pickup truck (laugh if you want but it was a reliable drive) from 1981 to

1997 and it was my winter driver when the Miata was in hibernation. For the first two winters I dutifully switched over to studded snow tires but after that I left the usual all-season radials on it. There was no appreciable difference and I made it to work every morning and back every night. During this entire time I managed to actually get stuck one time when I was blinded by blowing snow and buried the truck nose-first in an 8-foot snow pile and couldn't get it out.

In my experience, the driver has more to do with how well any given vehicle equipped with any given set of tires will do in winter. Perhaps it is a matter of 'feel' or perhaps it is all experience but does seem to work in most cases. I'll note that I did manage to get the Miata into a bad situation at Watson Lake, YT while I was driving out of Alaska in the autumn of '97 and had to stay over an extra night (note: night life in Watson Lake is nothing to write home about) due to glare ice on the highway but at that time heavy 4WD drives with chains were finding it impossible going too and the highway maintenance folks couldn't get the road cleared and sanded until early the next morning.

Not if it is light enough to ride up on the snow and the snow is 2 feet or more deep. Dad's little pickup would buck snow over the hood. We "broke trail" with his old dodge van (always had over half a ton in the back) many times, and I went places with both my Valiant and 2 Darts I'd NEVER get through with my Taurus, my daughters Civic, or my other saughter's Elantra - all of which (other than the Taurus) have much better snow tires than I had on the Darts.

In light snow conditions I'll agree the lighter more agile vehicle is more fun to drive., as long as it's not rear wheel drive. Rear wheel drive needs the weight, preferably well centered between the axles, to go anywhere. Driving an RX8 in even a few inches of wet snow can require a change of underwear.

Tank tracks have no lateral traction, and snowy roads are not "bottomless" like Korean sand and mud. Also, a heavy tank distributes it's weight ofer many square feet of track, actually putting less pounds per square inch/foot/meter than the average wheeled vehicle weighing MUCH less.

Hard ice is a case all it's own. Nothing short of carbide cleats or studs will provide mach traction. Warmer ice, the new hydrophillic "ice tires" can gain some traction on

Momentum is proportional to mass. Friction force against whatever surface you've got is also proportional to mass. It's a wash.

Winter tires advantage is at stopping on winter surface mostly. Most winter time accident is due to speeding. Many drivers are not well trained either. If you have money to buy car and license any one can get with minimum training/lessons, they just become vehicle operator, not a driver.