4 ms·

Yep, this. I don't care about crazy good performance, but do want something I feel handles reliably in snowy and icy conditions. Call me an unskilled driver, b

Yep, this. I don't care about crazy good performance, but do want something I feel handles reliably in snowy and icy conditions. Call me an unskilled driver, but I don't feel as confident in bad conditions with rear wheel drive.

dsfyu404ed 11y ago
You're an unskilled driver. Traction is traction. No matter how a car handles it'll handle the same way on every surface, the traction threshold will be different. No matter which wheels are driven turning and braking is the same. In a straight line it front/rear doesn't really matter. RWD will slip out, FWD will just spin and in either case the driver (the one's that aren't the worst of the worst) will lift off the throttle before anything bad happens. In a modern car traction control will just work it's magic and you wouldn't even know. Ditto for turning from a stop. The driven wheels are irreverent to turning while slowing. The problem is in a long sweeping turn that the driver wants to accelerate out of, like a highway ramp. FWD will just plow straight into whatever is outside the turn. RWD will do the same thing but the car will be oriented differently. No matter which wheels are driven if you break traction in a turn you're going to go wide, better hope you've got enough space to correct it. The safety advantage with understeer is that if you do something monumentally stupid (e.g. drunk guy takes highway off ramp at 90mph) the front of the car with all it's crash test safety will be between you and the consequences of your actions. The RWD vs FWD thing is more of a "what I don't know can't hurt me." The novice won't notice a little bit of understeer whereas anyone will notice a little bit of oversteer and everyone who can't apply a reasonable amount of self control to their right foot should bend over, grab their ankles and spend their money on some snow tires. The Miata club of Alaska was featured in one of the car magizines (I forget which) and they basically said "Everyone that thinks we're insane for driving these cars year round in Alaska should know that the design characteristics that help maximize use of available traction in the dry don't stop working in the snow."
- tzs 11y ago
  You are overlooking weight distribution. The traction of a given tire on a given surface generally increases as the weight on that tire increases. Given two otherwise similar cars, one with the engine over the drive wheels, and one with the engine over non-drive wheels, the former will generally have an advantage in snow, especially on hills.
  - kalleboo 11y ago
    Agreed, but if we move the conversation back to electric cars - they might not have the same weight distribution, right? The Tesla uses direct drive on the wheels (the Leaf seems to use a more traditional "one motor in the front" configuration though), and then you have the huge battery spread out over the floor
tbyehl 11y ago
Ever watch one of those YouTube videos of RWD cars on proper winter tires out-tractioning AWD cars on summer / all-season tires? I survived the Atlanta snow storm a couple years ago turning a 35 mile commute into 50+ miles due to detours in a BMW on summer tires... The only confidence I felt was that I was going to end up stuck somewhere, but adjusting driving style to conditions goes a long way and then it's just the luck of not getting hit by someone who didn't.

dsfyu404ed 11y ago

You're an unskilled driver. Traction is traction. No matter how a car handles it'll handle the same way on every surface, the traction threshold will be different. No matter which wheels are driven turning and braking is the same. In a straight line it front/rear doesn't really matter. RWD will slip out, FWD will just spin and in either case the driver (the one's that aren't the worst of the worst) will lift off the throttle before anything bad happens. In a modern car traction control will just work it's magic and you wouldn't even know. Ditto for turning from a stop. The driven wheels are irreverent to turning while slowing. The problem is in a long sweeping turn that the driver wants to accelerate out of, like a highway ramp. FWD will just plow straight into whatever is outside the turn. RWD will do the same thing but the car will be oriented differently. No matter which wheels are driven if you break traction in a turn you're going to go wide, better hope you've got enough space to correct it. The safety advantage with understeer is that if you do something monumentally stupid (e.g. drunk guy takes highway off ramp at 90mph) the front of the car with all it's crash test safety will be between you and the consequences of your actions. The RWD vs FWD thing is more of a "what I don't know can't hurt me." The novice won't notice a little bit of understeer whereas anyone will notice a little bit of oversteer and everyone who can't apply a reasonable amount of self control to their right foot should bend over, grab their ankles and spend their money on some snow tires. The Miata club of Alaska was featured in one of the car magizines (I forget which) and they basically said "Everyone that thinks we're insane for driving these cars year round in Alaska should know that the design characteristics that help maximize use of available traction in the dry don't stop working in the snow."

tzs 11y ago
You are overlooking weight distribution. The traction of a given tire on a given surface generally increases as the weight on that tire increases. Given two otherwise similar cars, one with the engine over the drive wheels, and one with the engine over non-drive wheels, the former will generally have an advantage in snow, especially on hills.
- kalleboo 11y ago
  Agreed, but if we move the conversation back to electric cars - they might not have the same weight distribution, right? The Tesla uses direct drive on the wheels (the Leaf seems to use a more traditional "one motor in the front" configuration though), and then you have the huge battery spread out over the floor

tbyehl 11y ago

Ever watch one of those YouTube videos of RWD cars on proper winter tires out-tractioning AWD cars on summer / all-season tires? I survived the Atlanta snow storm a couple years ago turning a 35 mile commute into 50+ miles due to detours in a BMW on summer tires... The only confidence I felt was that I was going to end up stuck somewhere, but adjusting driving style to conditions goes a long way and then it's just the luck of not getting hit by someone who didn't.