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

[adolf hamster]

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

he means you just ignore the existence of first and always set off in second, this will reduce the torque to the rear wheels which for a powerful engine/heavy clutch combo will reduce the chance of spinning

 

[Firestar_3x]

No it doesn't make more torque at idle. That's just a wild silly statement.

Do you really think manufacturers would make unsafe cars in adverse weather? Are there multiple lawsuits from unhappy owners unable to control the power?

What do you mean "unsafe cars", if you cant see that a RWD ferrari is harder to drive in the snow than a fiesta regardless of how well you modulate the throttle then i can't help you.

 

[theone8181]

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

My turbos the same, altho i put winter tyres on it i cant help but think its a bit of a waste (mainly bought them due to all that snow we had a few years ago and now we hardly get any). My turbo uses the same 4WD as yours so i imagine it performs similarly (unless the turbos kick in).

 

[PiKe]

I had a S2000 and summer tyres, I actually got stuck in the divots the tyres melted into in a car park.

 

[Nasher]

One of the best cars in the snow is an old Beetle, weirdly. They are RWD and rear engined.

 

[LeMson]

impreza + winter tyres = win

 

[NickK]

A mate has had 350z, Porsche and BMW - the euro cars electronics deal with snow far better than the 350z did - traction control kept kicking in so he couldn't get up a hill from his house to the main road!

 

[Vince]

My turbos the same, altho i put winter tyres on it i cant help but think its a bit of a waste (mainly bought them due to all that snow we had a few years ago and now we hardly get any). My turbo uses the same 4WD as yours so i imagine it performs similarly (unless the turbos kick in).

Let the turbos kick in and you could be doing 100mph while standing still Winning right there

 

[red eye]

Back in 1980's, my folks owns a Trans AM, and it's a V8. As a rear wheel drive car, during the winter, where we have snow, and the car keep spinning, although they were not using winter tires at the time.

After all these decades, is there any improvement on that? I'm thinking of a Toyota 86, in which it's a rear wheel drive w/ 200 HP. But if it's dangerous to drive and it still spins in the snow, then I can buy a Honda Civic Si Coupe, in which it's a front wheel drive, also 200 HP.

what do you guys think?

Thinner rims and tyres and a few old floor mats in the boot for when you get stuck

 

[Freefaller]

Having driven in the alps many times with a rwd car with winter/snow tyres it's absolutely fine. You need just as much care as fwd or awd if there is that much snow anyway.

 

[Amp34]

I'm in Canada, so there is a lot of snow in the - 20 deg. C winter

Winter tyres and drive reasonably carefully.

We drive around in a 300hp rear wheel drive pickup (so virtually no weight over the rear wheels, but we do load up like a lot of others in winter) for longer journeys outside town like lots of other people.

We do stick it in 4x4 when it's particularly hairy but stopping going to be your biggest issue, just learn to be gentle when accelerating!

 

[Amp34]

Don't you legally have to change to winter tyres anyway?

Only on the passes.

A lot of national parks and a fairly large amount of mountainous areas in BC, but also whole provinces (like Quebec). Not needed generally in AB and BC though, so depends where he lives and where he's going.

They also don't have to be winter tyres, just all seasons rated for snow. They're regularly called three seasons as you really should have a dedicated winter tyre in most places rather than just all seasons (although lot of people run all seasons to save on having two sets of tyres/wheels and changing them over every 6 months, usually those that have 4x4s with all terrain tyres).

Studded tires

A legal nightmare, only permitted in some provinces for certain periods of time and certain locations because they have a tendency to rip up the roads. They're only really a "necessity" if you live a long way out in the sticks. A good winter tyre like the X Ice 3 or Blizzaks are pretty much as good in the vast majority of situations and will be vastly better in a lot of others.

An example

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/gl...http://www.theglobeandmail.com&service=mobile

 

[Amp34]

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.

Wrong.

Winter tyres will be better in the wet when it's cold than summer tyres.

Pretty much any situations under 7 degrees will be better with winters. They usually have more tread and are a much softer tyre so will provide more grip than the summer tyre who's rubber will start to harden at temperatures colder than that.

Whether they are worth it economic in a U.K. winter is another question only the person can decide.

Thats why 911 can actually move off driveways in poor weather, unlike mercs, and bmws.

Doesn't seem to be a problem here. You see dozens of 3 and 5 series driving around in winter without an issue.

Biggest issue is stopping at lights, and that doesn't matter whether you're driving a FWD/RWD or 4x4 if you don't slow down early enough...

 

[Happy Hopping]

I went to see the car mechanic that I use for 30+ yr. He said there are very few cars that is RWD now. It's either 4WD or FWD.

Then Wikipedia has a little story about the Toyota 86 (forgot the previous name) not selling, and that toyota re-brand it and called in 86

 

[theone8181]

Wrong.

Winter tyres will be better in the wet when it's cold than summer tyres.

Pretty much any situations under 7 degrees will be better with winters. They usually have more tread and are a much softer tyre so will provide more grip than the summer tyre who's rubber will start to harden at temperatures colder than that.

Whether they are worth it economic in a U.K. winter is another question only the person can decide.



Doesn't seem to be a problem here. You see dozens of 3 and 5 series driving around in winter without an issue.

Biggest issue is stopping at lights, and that doesn't matter whether you're driving a FWD/RWD or 4x4 if you don't slow down early enough...

Apart from most bm's now having the option of 4WD.

 

[BinnsY]

Wrong.

Winter tyres will be better in the wet when it's cold than summer tyres.

Pretty much any situations under 7 degrees will be better with winters. They usually have more tread and are a much softer tyre so will provide more grip than the summer tyre who's rubber will start to harden at temperatures colder than that.

Do you have any evidence to back this up? This 7c thing is shared constantly yet I've never actually seen a published test where a winter tyre is subjected to an emergency stop at say 5c in the wet from 70 compared to something like a Pilot Sport 4 or Eagle F1 in the same situation. The fact that this test seems so difficult to find makes me wonder if this is actually true.

 

[Nasher]

Sounds like nonsense. Maybe if the tyre itself is under 7c. But that's unlikely to happen unless your driving slowly on top of snow...

 

[Freefaller]

There's been plenty of tests for winter tyres vs summer tyres in snow and low temperatures. Just Google it, or YouTube it. Winter tyres perform better in cold temperatures and better in snow.

 

[Nasher]

Yea maybe when the temperatures are well in to the minus figures. But it doesn't get that cold in the UK.

And were they using good summer tyres, or ditch finders? Because cheap tyres perform badly no matter what the conditions are.

 

[Freefaller]

For me, when I was in the Alps, I had premium tyres (who doesn't run premium tyres?!) on the RWD car we had (an F Reg 325i). However in the winter we had to use winter tyres (owing to the region), the difference between winter tyres and summer tyres was night and day.

In the UK I don't bother running winter tyres as I live in Kent and we don't get enough snow to justify them, however, grip levels on premium MPSS in winter is hugely lower when it's hovering around 0C.

IMO if you can afford to have 2 sets of tyres - then probably worth it - but it is a faff, and storing the tyres is also an issue.