What would you have chosen to drive in the snow?

Mysterae_

Mysterae_

Mysterae_

Soldato
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I had to drive 30 miles to work this afternoon in the snow and so had to decide what car to take:

- Rear wheel drive with all-season tyres (640D)
or
- Front wheel drive with normal tyres (Kuga)

What would you have chosen and why?
 
Front wheel drive.

Having owned a number of RWD cars (including BMWs) over the years, the chances for the rear end stepping out unexpectedly, especially on inclines is far higher than the issues that can be caused by a FWD with likely thinner tyres.

Even on all-season tyres (which aren’t anything near as good as snow or dedicated winter tyres) I’ve had issues setting off on inclines, having to resort to chains a few times.

Never had such issues with FWD.

My experiences include driving up the French alps for a healthy number of seasons.
 
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My FWD Honda Civic 2.2 diesel was the best behaved car on ordinary tyres and ice and snow that I have ever driven. If it ever did break away a quick snap of the steering brought it online and the drivetrain was a dream.

In 2010 I was walking most weeks in the Lake district and accessing via some snowbound routes.
 
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Front wheel drive.

Having had winter tyres on a BMW in the past which were epic in the snow I can't say I felt the same about the all season tyres that were fitted to my first V70 - which was front wheel drive - when I got it, it was slightly better in the white stuff than my current V70 which has normal tyres, but really the difference was negligible, I can't imagine all season tyres making a huge difference in the snow with a large powerful RWD car tbh.

I am one of those weird people who enjoys driving in snow even in a RWD car on summer tyres mind you! :o :D
 
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Going by the response it sounds like I made the wrong decision to go with the RWD all-season tyres option :D. Got to work okay though.

My thinking was that it's the part that meets the road that was important, traction and all that. As long as you're careful and don't go too fast control is maintained. The drive home will be interesting.
 
RWD with all season tyres every time. Tyres make more difference than driven wheels in my experience.

Today I had the choice of FWD with all seasons, or 4wd with summer tyres. Easy choice. FWD with all season tyres every time.

I should really get the winter wheels on the 4wd though.
 
I used go drive my M3 v8 on winters and it was fine, the issue was cornering on summer tyres in the slush that caught me out. Fwd is easier to deal with though, I seem to remember years ago my dad had something like a 316 and had to reverse up a hill (when I say years, it must have been close to 30 years ago so memory a bit foggy).
 
Assuming it's the sort of all seasons that are marked with the little mountain snow symbol, then i'd take the car with those.
 
Difficult, front engined/front wheel drive car will have more weight over the driven axle, but tyres make a difference!

Personally I'd have taken the KUGA, mainly that if I got it wrong, well, it's a Kuga, if you had a mishap in the 640d people would be jumping to all manner of conclusions.. ;)
 
FWD every time. years ago I remember having to put bags of sand in the boot of my folks RWD sierra. tech has moved on now but at the end of the day the weight of the engine on the wheels at the front will give you more traction than slightly better rubber imo.

I guess EVs or rear engines cars may be different.
 
In the snow?

image0.jpg


Joking aside, fwd.
 
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