Buyer's remorse

My 330i was useless in the snow, even with a big bag of sand in the boot, winter mode and a load of pushing it was not going up my driveway!
I had to dig out the 30 feet short incline to let me get it off the main road.
My new place has a 50 yard narrow sloping private road which is not treated with walls either side. I hope the jag will perform a little better :(
 
I'm not so keen on the raised ride height of the XDrive 3series compared to the non-xdrive version. It's not like it's on stilits, but it's noticeable to me nonetheless.

I like the idea of a 4wd 3series, but I'm not sure it's the one I would have yet. I'll wait for the facelift anyway, not that keen on the front end of the current model.

Oh and I gave up trying to run a BM in the snow, especially with 265 section tyres. Tbh I don't want to run it with all that salt on the roads anyway. I have a 4Mo Passat to try this winter.
 
It saddens me that BMW are making some models xDrive only given that, for the last 1000 years, they have deemed the UK unnecessary to need 4WD...
 
[TW]Fox;24835507 said:
Not quite true, we have had x models before, ie the E34 525iX.

Odd that they don't do an RWD 335d though.
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So have they dropped 2WD on their top end 3 series altogether then? That is a huge admittance that RWD is now the right way to go if that is the case.
 
RedvGreen said:
Not only that, but no manual gearboxes for the 3-litre diesels. I doubt the 8-speed sports box is a downside though; but it will take some getting used-to.
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It's a great box and by a country mile the best auto I've ever driven, but it still gets lost sometimes, mostly when pulling out of junctions or when you have needed to brake hard and then want to get going quickly again. The issue is with the paddles that my 530D is so quiet it makes judging the gearbox on sound difficult.
 
Obviously the answer is a 911 with a lot of weight over the rear wheels which are driven. Even better is the turbos, and c4s with a bit of front wheel traction.
 
Django x2 said:
The 911 engine doesn't sit over the rear wheels so it would be useless, esecially at steering :p
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?
the 911 is famed for it being over the rear wheels. Steerings fine just remember when it goes, it really goes just imagine a pendulum. In theory (i have yet to test this in my car) going up an icey/slippery slope should be pretty much thew same as if going up in a front engined/front wheel rive car. BTW by default they understeer.
 
What's that got to do with what I replied to?


Anyway, to go with what Django was saying. I know it'll be acting as a pivot point on the rear axle, but... it'll be lifting the front end up, hence "useless, especially as steering".
 
My point was that they have great traction on the driven wheels.

Which is a bit of a recipe for disaster when combined with not very much traction on the steering/ majority braking wheels.

A bit like 4wd cars on summer tyres. More traction than FWD/RWD to get going, but no more for stopping or turning...
 
RedvGreen said:
It is the age old conundrum - winter tyres vs. AWD vs. FWD. xDrive with Winters would win every time. For now however, xDrive certainly beats just RWD.
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Can anyone point me to a decent analysis of the pros/cons of using winter tyres in the UK? How much benefit do they offer in typical 5C wet winter conditions? I was in Austria a while back and everyone had them... but then it was reliably -10C.
 
clv101 said:
Can anyone point me to a decent analysis of the pros/cons of using winter tyres in the UK? How much benefit do they offer in typical 5C wet winter conditions? I was in Austria a while back and everyone had them... but then it was reliably -10C.
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Here is my experience on my E350CDI.

In the winter I change my 265/35/R18 ContiSport 3's to 225/45/R17 Michelin Alpin's.

Biggest difference when it is cold (around zero degrees), is much less wheel spin on a damp road. I get improved fuel consumption due to the narrower tires and to be honest the noise difference between summer and winter is so small that I don't notice. Never really needed to do an emergency stop so can't really comment.

When it is snowing (as it does 'up north') the difference between the summer tyres and winters is like night and day. I found last year the biggest issue I had was my front spoiler acting as a snow plough. The Alpins are not the best winter tyres in the snow and when I was forced to go off compacted snow it could get interesting but I never got stuck. As I drive down The Snake every week, winters tyres just give me a little more confidence that I won't get stuck.

Regarding tyre wear ... I drive 25K miles a year and this will be the third year I've used the same set of winter tyres.

The biggest negative ... when it warms up you can half feel the difference with the handling.

I'm planning on putting my on the car at the end of October and will put the summers back on around March.
 
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