And you chose a predominantly UK site to seek advice? A country that comes to it's knees in 1" of snow...
Is it difficult & dangerous to drive in the snow with Rear wheel drive car, 200 HP in the winter?
- Thread starter Happy Hopping
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And you chose a predominantly UK site to seek advice? A country that comes to it's knees in 1" of snow...
Caporegime
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I don't need to "think it through" i've gone though winters using FWD / AWD and RWD, i know which was the least capable.
Yes my fiat X19 was great for getting traction in the snow..Does if the engine is hanging over the back axle
BUT BUT BUT the brakes with having no engine weight over the front wheels..
Caporegime
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It's to do with the fact that the front wheels are used for steering and there is zero weight at the back.
I have both in my household. The fwd has zero issues in the snow so long as it's driven slowly and carefully
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that's because the USA forum that I hang around is now charging $ to write on the general chat section, in which very few members paid. SO even if I join, I can't hear a lot of input from various members.
So I went to see 2 Honda Coupe Si today, it's a front wheel drive car, very impressive, for HP and for the exterior look, just as good as the toyota 86. But the important thing is, it's a 2 door.
Reading so many members in this thread, make me think that I shouldn't take the chance on RWD. As there are too many snow storm in the winter. Seems too risky for me
Soldato
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Thats why 911 can actually move off driveways in poor weather, unlike mercs, and bmwsDoes if the engine is hanging over the back axle
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Would you like me to make it more complicated for you?
Peak Power delivery in an engine is not an on/of switch. Engines have a power band or curve where peak horse power and/or torque is made at a certain rpm. By operating the accelerator gently and smoothly you can use lower rpm which will result in less engine power and less power transmitted to the wheels.
Have you ever seen a super car owner parking a car? Their engines won't be making 500hp when tootling carefully around the parking spaces.
In the OP's example just because the engine can make 200hp it can just as easily make 10hp at lower engine revolutions and probably a lot less. Thus there is no need to be scared of high power cars only your driving style.
Do you really? Even though every time the UK gets a fraction of snow pictures of BMW's / Mercedes stranded by the roadside become common place? Whilst you are correct that simplistically speaking four wheels have the grip of four wheels it just doesn't work like that. Most sports cars strive for something close to a 50/50 weight distribution and this carries over to most things that are rear wheel drive. (Rear engine cars aside). Where as something like a Fiesta ST is a 61/39 weight distribution meaning there is a significantly higher percentage of the cars mass over the driven wheels. It's worse in track / braking / accelerating environments as those front wheels have to do everything but in low grip environments it gives an advantage.
It's not the fact that the power is going to the rear wheels that is causing the issue, it's the fact that the vast majority of cars with power going to the front wheels have an advantage simply down to the weight distribution associated with being fwd.
You absolutely need winter tyres in winter. The old Trans Am might have done a lot better with the right tyres, but as others have said a RWD car is always going to be more liable to spin, although modern driver aids should help.
P.S. ignore the general advice about snow chains - they're only needed in extreme situations when advised by the authorities (mountain passes/ski hills) and are forbidden in some parts of Canada.
https://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=128
I drive my Mustang a bit over winter here and see loads of people on US and Canadian forum sections of the Mustang forums who do the same. Be sensible. Change the tyres to winters if you want to but just go slow. It will have more chance of biting you but any car is usable.
I took mine to a OcUK meet in the snow beginning of this year. Some dashcam vid of it sliding around in corners and if I applied power too fast but I made it there and back. Misjudged trying to stop at one point though and it slid but that was me not leaving enough room and hitting brakes too hard. Adapt your driving style to car and conditions.
I took mine to a OcUK meet in the snow beginning of this year. Some dashcam vid of it sliding around in corners and if I applied power too fast but I made it there and back. Misjudged trying to stop at one point though and it slid but that was me not leaving enough room and hitting brakes too hard. Adapt your driving style to car and conditions.
Caporegime
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For starters a Ferrari has significantly wider tyres which in challenging driving conditions are a total liability, furthermore it is setup to have completely different handling characteristics to that of a fiesta, whilst you can modulate the throttle the engine probably makes more torque at idle than a cooking pot fiesta does at peak power.
No it doesn't make more torque at idle. That's just a wild silly statement.
It's quite possible to drive any production car safely. Do you really think manufacturers would make unsafe cars in adverse weather? Are there multiple lawsuits from unhappy owners unable to control the power?
It's quite possible to drive any production car safely. Do you really think manufacturers would make unsafe cars in adverse weather? Are there multiple lawsuits from unhappy owners unable to control the power?
The problem with this viewpoint is that you seem to be thinking the ability to control a vehicle, and the ease of controlling a vehicle, are the same thing. Whilst with very careful feathering it may be possible to get a Ferrari up a hill in the snow, it's simply going to be much easier in a Nissan Micra.
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the salesman tonight tell me that I don't need another extra set of key. As my last car, I use the key to turn the door to open, there is no button. And it's convenient to carry a thin back up key in my wallet. Now, the key doesn't have edges the way that a regular key does. It has a piece of metal encased the key. Can a regular key shop make a copy of that?
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You mean if you are stuck in the snow, you move to 2nd gear to try to move the car? Because that happens to me a few times every winter, and I'm always on 1st gear. Things get improved once I switch to winter tires
Am trying to remember if the LSD in my FWD RS turbo escort helped much in the snow...
I really the steering being terrible due to having wide 205/15 tyres on a light weight car.
I remember my old mk2 XR2 fiesta being one the best cars I even driven in the snow..
My RWD RX8 was really crap in the snow and they also have an LSD
I really the steering being terrible due to having wide 205/15 tyres on a light weight car.
I remember my old mk2 XR2 fiesta being one the best cars I even driven in the snow..
My RWD RX8 was really crap in the snow and they also have an LSD
Thats why 911 can actually move off driveways in poor weather, unlike mercs, and bmws
weirdly or possibly not my C4 is really capable in the snow, even though its the old school viscous coupling which favours the rears something like 85% to 15% up to something like 45% front I find that it just grips and handles really quite well and provides plenty of fun while it is at it. Poking it a little with a sharp stick results in