BMW drop price of xdrive to same as 2WD

[[TW]Fox]

Some folk can call in a 'bad weather' day at work, however there are those who cannot. Healthcare, Law enforcement etc. You need a reliable and capable all-weather vehicle.

So presumably all the people who bought RWD BMW's over the last 40 years in the UK - 525iX excluded obviously - have now been fired and cannot afford to keep buying BMW's, hence the sudden appearance of the 'snowproof' variants?

We have one of the least extreme, most predictable and most boring climates on the planet. It might be nice if we lived somewhere more interesting but sadly we don't.

 

[RedvGreenOLD]

So presumably all the people who bought RWD BMW's over the last 40 years in the UK - 525iX excluded obviously - have now been fired and cannot afford to keep buying BMW's, hence the sudden appearance of the 'snowproof' variants?

Now you're thinking with portals!

 

[jamoor]

Still don't see the point in these for our market. The 2wd version will go through tyres less often, be quicker, look better (XDrive models have increased ride height) and use less fuel.

Plus with a set of winter tyres on if you must, they'll still handle the winter just as well, given we live in England not Canada.



I count 1 (2 if you count the 4 series as a seperate car). How many others are there? Since when is 2 cars 'quite a few'?

I don't understand why the tyres will be used quicker.

Surely it will be the same speed as the power isnt all going to the rear?

 

[[TW]Fox]

I don't understand why the tyres will be used quicker.

Surely it will be the same speed as the power isnt all going to the rear?

Cars with 4 driven wheels will wear two of the tyres quicker than cars with 2 driven wheels. This is pretty obvious, no?

A set of tyres on the undriven wheels will go on and on and on for many thousands of miles. It's pretty well accepted that 4wd cars go through a full set of tyres quicker than 2wd cars?

 

[Tom_ed1987]

Is this not BMW just responding to the continued popularity in the UK of the Audi Quattro lineup? If there is a market for prestige 4wd cars which aren't SUV's it makes sense for them to tap it up.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Is this not BMW just responding to the continued popularity in the UK of the Audi Quattro lineup?

Most of the Audi's sold in the UK are Front Wheel Drive, not Quattro.

From a business perspective it absolutely makes sense for BMW to offer these cars. They wouldn't be doing it if there wasn't demand. There is lots of demand, just not much rational demand, IMHO.

 

[theone8181]

Cars with 4 driven wheels will wear two of the tyres quicker than cars with 2 driven wheels. This is pretty obvious, no?

A set of tyres on the undriven wheels will go on and on and on for many thousands of miles. It's pretty well accepted that 4wd cars go through a full set of tyres quicker than 2wd cars?

Won't the rears wear slightly slower due to less power tho? With regards to audis, aren't quattro basically the top tier of every model?

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Cars with 4 driven wheels will wear two of the tyres quicker than cars with 2 driven wheels. This is pretty obvious, no?

A set of tyres on the undriven wheels will go on and on and on for many thousands of miles. It's pretty well accepted that 4wd cars go through a full set of tyres quicker than 2wd cars?

Wouldn't the wear just be averaged over the set of tyres rather than just the drive wheels ? So the non drive tyres last longer on the 2wd car but the AWD car will have the set last longer than the drive tyres on a 2WD car.

By 30k my FWD Golf had four replacement tyres the same as my sister's S3 only difference is my sister had to replace all four, the Golf had two sets of replacement tyres on the front.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Won't the rears wear slightly slower due to less power tho?

Yes but I can't imagine it'll be exactly enough to balance it out. A Golf TDI 140 doesn't wear its tyres exactly 20% slower than a TDI 170 for example just because the 170 has 20% more power.

 

[jamoor]

Won't the rears wear slightly slower due to less power tho? With regards to audis, aren't quattro basically the top tier of every model?

This is what I thought, but I don't know the answer.

If there is 200bhp.

Maybe 50 to the front, 150 to the rear.

On a RWD 200 will be going to the rear.

 

[Brookert]

What AWD system is BMW using? Is it a permanent AWD system, or a on demand haldex style system?

 

[Jonnycoupe]

ZF clutched transfer box on the tail of a ZF 8HPxx gearbox I would guess. No crummy Haldex PTO there. Remember the platforms are RWD so the front prop is there to share tractive effort to the front, typically on demand or driver select. Ie. the Jags have winter mode to lock atleast 20% front.

 

[Scania]

Still don't see the point in these for our market. The 2wd version will go through tyres less often, be quicker, look better (XDrive models have increased ride height) and use less fuel.

Plus with a set of winter tyres on if you must, they'll still handle the winter just as well, given we live in England not Canada.

True enough, were in England, not Canada.

Thing is, the general public buy into the "OMG! its winter, were all going to die when 20+ft of snow descends upon us" that the daily Express et al spew out annually, BMW's marketing dept have picked up on this and acted accordingly.

You are applying logic and common sense to this, which, it would appear,a large majority of the buying public don't.

 

[theone8181]

True enough, were in England, not Canada.

Thing is, the general public buy into the "OMG! its winter, were all going to die when 20+ft of snow descends upon us" that the daily Express et al spew out annually, BMW's marketing dept have picked up on this and acted accordingly.

You are applying logic and common sense to this, which, it would appear,a large majority of the buying public don't.

The problem with this is that the country does grind to a halt over trivial things. how many times has there been less than an inch of snow but doubled how long its taken you to get to work? lots of people seem quite inept in good weather let along bad.

 

[[TW]Fox]

And setting off into rare snowfall in a BMW with wide 30 profile sports tyres will be flawless because all 4 wheels are driven?

 

[MeEsH BaKkA]

And setting off into rare snowfall in a BMW with wide 30 profile sports tyres will be flawless because all 4 wheels are driven?

The winter before last I had a conversation with my step mum about why she ended up stranded in the snow whilst driving an brand new ML350, her arguement was its a Merc and 4wd how can they produce an "off road" car that gets stuck in the snow like everything else.

Bmw know this is the mentality of many people therefore will produce cars to cater for the market.

I have never been so frustrated trying to explain why a 2+ton auto motor on 295 summer tyres got stuck in the snow.

 

[Squink]

Not sure why there's all the hate for 4wd on here. Most people don't want to change in and out of winter tyres (and have to pay for a second set of tyres, plus storage) and we had a lot of snow last year. Whichever way you put it, 4wd is always better than 2wd on the same tyres. Also, I doubt many people like the feel of a squirming back end when accelerating modestly in damp, greasy conditions when their tyres are dropping down to lower tread levels.

And is it really so important that your BMW accelerates from 60 to 100 in 0.4 fewer seconds because it's slightly lighter? Less important than being able to pull away cleanly and rapidly on busy, wet roundabouts or out of junctions I should imagine.

 

[Ste]

I know a couple of people on our car scheme who have switched from bmw to Audi because of issues when it shows. As daft as that may sound I reckon it ifs representative it'd give bmw food for thought hence the xdrive stuff

 

[Clarkey]

Also, I doubt many people like the feel of a squirming back end when accelerating modestly in damp, greasy conditions when their tyres are dropping down to lower tread levels.

They dealt with this a long time ago with DSC, although frankly even without it there is no problem unless what you actually meant was hoofing it round a roundabout.

I suspect the truth of it is that the majority only want a prestige badge and do not care about driving dynamics or could even tell the difference except for on snow.

Truth is, we did not have a lot of snow last year, only a few days, and even then the main roads are cleared quickly.

 

[daveski]

Guy at work had a VW EOS and had trouble in the snow a few years ago so bought a A3 Quattro and now has a 320 xDrive.

He loves the 'security' (placebo or genuine) of the 4WD even though all of his cars have had similar low profile tyres fitted.