Is it difficult & dangerous to drive in the snow with Rear wheel drive car, 200 HP in the winter?

Well yea, if the roads are completely covered in snow and ice don't even bother unless you have something meant for it. Like an impreza. You will just get stuck, have to hunt for firewood to keep warm and eat people to survive.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
BS - it took me 2 hours to get halfway to work (15 minute drive) before i decided it was stupid to try and get any further and turned around. this was this year too and in Scotland. He's in -20c weather.

I even had a couple have to push me up a small hill, that is when I decided enough was enough. I wasn't going to get up the next one.

I now know if it's snowing walk to train station and get the train in or take the wifes car.
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was that with the aforementioned winter tyres and something heavy in the boot?

reason being that advice comes from multiple folk i know who've had to drive rwd vehicles on snow looong before modern tyres and electronics came to help out.
 
adolf hamster said:
was that with the aforementioned winter tyres and something heavy in the boot?

reason being that advice comes from multiple folk i know who've had to drive rwd vehicles on snow looong before modern tyres and electronics came to help out.
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no as there is no need for winter tyres in Scotland. it doesn't snow much here. i had 2-3 difficult days in the past year and 1 of them was the really bad one above.

again i don't keep anything in my boot apart from air compressor and other small bits and bobs. what do you suggest i load the boot with? olympic weights? personally don't see the point for 1 day a year. just take the train. however seems like a PITA for someone living in -20c. better off with a 4wd car.
 
Pffft. I have winter tyres for my motors. Wouldn't be without them.

For the OP. As said, with the correct tyres, you'll be fine. I was running my RWD 335d with 340 BHP with winter tyres, and was amazed at some of the hills I could get up. Get the correct tyres, and have fun.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
no as there is no need for winter tyres in Scotland. it doesn't snow much here. i had 2-3 difficult days in the past year and 1 of them was the really bad one above.

again i don't keep anything in my boot apart from air compressor and other small bits and bobs. what do you suggest i load the boot with? olympic weights? personally don't see the point for 1 day a year. just take the train. however seems like a PITA for someone living in -20c. better off with a 4wd car.
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so you're saying you were running summer tyres, with only factory weight on the rears, and you wonder why it's a dog in the snow?

seems a sensible conclusion to jump to to me, except i did exactly the same thing and have the opposite to say for handling with ice on the roads...
 
Winter tyres are only good on snow and a bit better on ice. In the wet (which is what it is most of the time in winter in the UK) they have less grip. "Summer" tyres in the UK are actually wet tyres, slicks aren't road legal here. Winter tyres are a waste of money in most of the UK.
 
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Power is irrelevant if you don't use it! You can regulate that right foot, no need to give it full beans. A Ferrari can be just as slow as a fiesta. It's not difficult.
 
Pfft. Snow.


Made it home on summer tyres (Michelin PS4). Granted it was only a couple of inches (giggedy) and I wouldn't choose to do it regularly, but it's not an absolute impossibility. If you get regular bad winters that you need to drive in, perhaps consider something else though.
 
chaparral said:
RWD cars have nowhere near the grip a FWD car has in the snow...
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I don't think logic agrees. RWD cars go from having equal grip to a FWD car in the dry to having far less grip in the wet or snow?

RWD cars are just far easier to oversteer giving the illusion of less grip.
 
Yes, because most of them have very little weight over the driven wheels, on a snow covered hill the front engined rear wheel drive cars will get stuck first.
 
chaparral said:
RWD cars have nowhere near the grip a FWD car has in the snow...
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not strictly true, its all down to weight distribution, my current car for example has more weight on the back wheels than my previous had on the front wheels.

although sticking some heavy items in the boot doesn't hurt, unless you have a porsche or a beetle.
 
muon said:
I don't think logic agrees. RWD cars go from having equal grip to a FWD car in the dry to having far less grip in the wet or snow?

RWD cars are just far easier to oversteer giving the illusion of less grip.
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Think he's referring to the obvious advantage that most FWD cars have when it comes to weight distribution and traction rather than grip.
 
I'll need some convincing. I think it is just regurgitated "fact" which on face of it sounds logical but I reckon is wrong if you think it through.
 
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