I am guessing that President Trump has not driven a lot lately in winter.

I base this on the President’s recent criticisms of General Motors and Ford Motor Company plans to close plants and lay off workers — who have been making two-wheel drive cars.

Those of us who drive in winter are buying more and more pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and crossovers. In street talk, they are “4×4,” either four-wheel drive (switchable) or all-wheel drive (permanent).

So the automakers are beefing up 4×4 production, and closing car plants. The transition forecast is for some loss of good-paying American jobs.

President Trump is not happy. But President Trump probably does not drive himself around in winter. The Presidential limousines in which he rides resemble military tanks, not two-wheel drive sedans. He doesn’t need to worry about spinning in an iced-over parking space or sliding into a snow-covered ditch.

My wife and I do. We are happy to hear that, in the future, our vehicle choices will include more AWD/4WD models. In fact, we just got a third vehicle, an admitted low cost older “beater.”

We added a 10-year-old Subaru Forester with 140,000 miles — and all-wheel drive. It supplements her 2012 front-wheel drive Elantra and my 2014 Ford F150 4×4 pick-m-up.

Having two four-wheel/all-wheel drive vehicles in winter makes sense to both of us, living as we do on a side road between Brookville and Sigel.

My wife’s Elantra is quite agile in snow and ice — for a vehicle with two drive wheels. But four drive wheels are better for staying between the ditches or mushing out of them.

No drive wheel combination improves a vehicle’s ability to stop on ice or snow. Tires, steering and driver knowledge of when to use brakes and how hard, when to trust acceleration to pull out of trouble … those help in stopping, avoiding slides, rollovers, etc.

Too often as winter moved in this year, my wife left her Elantra in the garage in favor of driving my truck or, more to her liking, having me chauffeur her around. I don’t mind doing that as a general rule, but it does not work well to have to come out of the woods during a deer hunt to make a grocery store run. She handles the truck capably, but says that she is not comfortable driving something that big.

I like having a pick-m-up truck. To me, it is gnarly, growly … a guy thing. I understand her taking it while I am at home; I understand it, but I do not like it.

She does not like to drive the truck. So, though she is increasingly chary about winter snow and ice, she had been making a few white-knuckle trips in her Elantra when my truck and I were not at home.

In addition to loving her, I do like my wife, despite the fun I sometimes poke at her in these essays. I want her to feel safe and comfortable when she drives. The Elantra still suits her when pavement is dry or just wet. When it snows or spits freezing rain, I see her shoulders tighten and her brow furrow as she heads out the door.

But she does not want me to flat-out tell her what to drive or not drive. She prefers to make up her own mind.

So I just told her that I would buy a “beater” AWD for myself. I would have two winter-chugging vehicles. She could use either.

Enter the Subaru … and I should shut up right here and now.

But if I did that, I would not be able to convey a “happy wife, happy life” tactic: Don’t tell her. Let her find out herself.

She had always thought that Subarus, Ford Escapes, Chevy Trax and the like would be bigger than the Elantra, Saturn or Sentra that she has driven in the past, and that Jeeps and their ilk would be too high and boxy.

I suggested otherwise but, hey, what do guys know, right?

Then she drove the Subaru.

“This is small! It drives nicely! I like it!”

Was I right?

Perish the thought. Wives do not feel cherished by husbands who are “right.” They like us to be, well, just “there,” not “I told you so.”

See VEHICLE, Page B8

From Page B7

So I turn my head and look out the passenger seat window, not showing my satisfaction when she cheerfully lugs me around in this “beater,” saying she enjoys its zippiness. I say nothing when she chooses to take the Subaru for solo trips if snow and ice are likely.

I will leave for next year our conversations about trading both my Subaru and her Elantra for a newer AWD vehicle, shrinking our fleet back to two, both equipped for winter.

Ease on into it. Do not gloat or be seen chuckling.

What she hears is my stomach rumbling.

Hungry. That’s what I am; just hungry … “Just hungry, Dear.”

Let President Trump, who presumably does not drive in winter, worry about the economy.

I prefer to worry a bit less about my wife’s trips, and that means AWD/4WD in winter hereabouts.

¯¯¯

Denny Bonavita is a former editor at newspapers in DuBois and Warren. He lives near Brookville. Email: denny2319@windstream.net.