Rear Wheel Drive in Snow?
BillS
With winter approaching, I have to do some regular driving in the snow for the first time in a while. Back in the day, FWD or 4WD were the rational choices. Has anything changed with say traction control that would make an RWD car a viable choice?
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Tom Martin
TC helps, but you must have snow-oriented tires. The compounds on street tires, especially high-performance rubber, are designed for high temperatures and simply get too hard below 40 degrees F. If you have hills in your area, FWD or AWD will still be better choices if it snows very often (or if you simply have to drive regardless of conditions).
Steven J. Ewing
I'm inclined to agree. Having tested a wide variety of cars in the snow, a lot of its handling and traction really comes down to the tires. We've seen instances where a RWD car with snow tires handles much better than an AWD car on performance rubber.
I drove a BMW 550i through a pretty hefty snowstorm last winter, but because the car had snow tires and proper traction control, there wasn't much in the way of drama.
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Steven J. Ewing
Production and Test Fleet Manager
Winding Road Magazine | NextAutos.com
BillS
Thanks. How did the 550i do on hills?
Steven J. Ewing
Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to test the 550i on any major hills (one of the downfalls of living in a predominantly flat landscape), but it didn't seem to have too much trouble on the slight inclines that I faced. There was a bit of fuss from the car's rear end, but ultimately, by going easy on the throttle I was able to always pull away from a stop with little to no drama.
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Steven J. Ewing
Production and Test Fleet Manager
Winding Road Magazine | NextAutos.com
Anonymous
I own a 2005 Jaguar S-type R and was very hesitant about driving in the snow. When I switched to snow tires, all my fears went away. The car handles great in snow! Also, one major difference that I noticed is that I'm not getting the same problems I had last year with a FWD in snow (i.e. when I would turn on an icy street, the vehicle would continue forward for a bit before turning).
BillS
How does it work on hills (assuming you have hills in your area)?
Dan R
This comment might be a little late but my previous vehicle was a 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0L 2 wheel drive with a limited slip differential (no traction control and no ABS). I drove it through 2 years of Michigan winters while I was in college. I had normal highway all season tires running at factory recommended pressure. Factor in that I've spent most of my life in Virginia and had no experience driving in snow prior to my first winter with this Jeep. The Jeep was extremely twitchy and unpredictable until the point at which I put 280 pounds of sand in the trunk and that made it very predictable and balanced. There was still plenty of slide whenever you wanted it but I could beat front wheel drive cars off the line at a stop light. There were some parking lots and driveways with hills (relatively short but not extremely steep at the enterance/exit that were difficult if you had to stop, but otherwise lots of power and countersteering generally were sufficient to stay moving (getting into sloped parking spots was a challenge because you couldnt carry enough momentum if you had to turn 90 degrees). A tire change would have helped tremendously. Driver skill is also an extremely large factor in the snow regardless of vehicle.
ARCHANGEL2003
I have a F250 diesel.
The extremely heavy engine and light rear wheel drive design of a pick up truck is by far the worst possible compination, but I do well in the deep snows of winter, on and off road!
I put the most agressive "stock" tires on the back and shovel the snow from my driveway into the back (filling the bed level) and I have NEVER been stoped much less slowed down even when plowing through the highest snow banks on the side of the road and heading off road through higher than bumper high snow!
The secret is adding weight over the traction wheels if it's rear wheel drive, and the more you add the better your traction will be.
Also adding snow tires.
That's why front wheel drive does so well in the snow, and those older rear wheel engine VW's as well.
The engine sits over the drive wheels.