The only way to not accelerate out of a corner is to not deccelerate going into it? I’m not sure that’s wise.
no, you just wait till you are pointed straight before accelerating.
pretty much any normal person does this if conditions are treacherous
this argument is wandering from the main point, which is that AWD does not provide more lateral grip. an AWD vehicle has 4 tires providing lateral grip, so does a FWD vehicle.
enter a slippery turn too fast and having the ability to put power to all 4 wheels changes nothing.
I very recently went through a long debate on whether or not I was going to sell my current car and get something more ‘snow-worthy’ for winter driving. I eventually decided against switching cars. I drive an Acura EL (basically a honda civic with leather interior) which gets 40mpg on the highway and is absolutely stellar in the snow, with 4 good snow tires. The only thing it lacks is clearance, and since I don’t plan on any off-roading in the snow, this isn’t really an issue. I’m going to buy a set of chains just in case, that said I didn’t need them last year, when I probably did more driving in the snow than any year ever.
SUV’s are just not necessary for anyone living in the city unless you’re into 4x4’ing. I ski every weekend of the winter and have never got stuck.
You: AWD isn’t any faster through a corner
Me: Yes it is.
You: I raced and it’s only faster in the second half of a corner.
Me: Yep, and I think that makes a big difference in the real world
You: AWD doesn’t give you more lateral grip
Me: Agreed. What were we talking about again?
Probably time to end the discussion. I’m just disappointed you let my “past lives” comment pass.
So which would handle better in wintery conditions: FWD with snow tires or AWD with all-season tires? I’m mainly concerned about icy conditions and snowy conditions when my wife is drivng home from her restaurant late at night. Thanks again for everyone’s advice.
Most of the AWD drive (as long as they are American and they should be) compacts come in a FWD version as well. Don’t know about the Jap traps and could careless. I have a Taurus X that is only front and I live in Michigan with lots of snow. I used to own an F150 4x4 and my wife has an H3 which is AWD. The Taurus X going around corners and just straight crusing down the street is pretty much on par with my F150. The only time the F150 is better in snow is when it’s really deep and you need to get moving fast. Otherwise the FWD with the traction control on my Taurus X is fine. Now my wifes Hummer on the other hand, is the most amazing vehicle I have ever driven in snow. She is a really crappy driver so I am happy she is in that truck. You can pretty much do anything on snow you can do in dry pavement in that thing. I’ve tried making it skid out but GM has a traction system that controls laterally as well as forward.
So which would handle better in wintery conditions: FWD with snow tires or AWD with all-season tires? I’m mainly concerned about icy conditions and snowy conditions when my wife is drivng home from her restaurant late at night. Thanks again for everyone’s advice.
In my opinion, FWD with snow tires will always beat AWD with all-season tires.
You should also keep in mind that with a lot of brands, AWD is actually FWD most of the time, until the fronts slip, then the rears kick in to assist. This is definitely true for cars like the Honda CRV.
Living in New England, I always bought a cheap set of rims (usually at the junk yard) and had studded snows on them for winter. It made for a quick change over in the winter, and there were times I changed back to the regular wheels during the winter for our trips to Florida.
I loved having AWD and studded snows, though front wheel drive/studded snows were the bomb too. Remember to get snows for the rear too, it’s not good if cornering, the front wheel sticks and the rear slides out…
I have a 2002 Toyota Highlander with FWD, and a 2009 Subaru Forester with AWD. I live in Minnesota so snow / wet is the norm for much of the year. IMHO - you don’t need snow tires or AWD. The biggest bang will be really good all season tires that are rated high for snow / wet conditions. These aren’t necessarily the best performance tires, nor do the have to be the most expensive. Conti Contact Extremes for example are very reasonably priced abd rated very high for snow / wet conditions. I would recommend checking out tirerack.com and looking at reviews, etc. They break down all the tires by category. You will be able to sort by criteria, etc. It is amazing the difference between good and bad all season tires. I was stunned when I made an informed decision a few years ago in regards to this.
AWD- Yes it rocks. Subaru’s version does any ways. Do you need it? I kinda doubt it. I like it and am glad I have it though. So much so that I will never buy another car that doesn’t have it. Assuming I live some where with “challenging” weather conditions any ways. Maybe one day I’ll live some place warm and it wont matter. shrug Until then I am totally sold on AWD.
I’m in CO, when I first moved here I had a FWD Sentra, put studded snow tires on that during the winter and would giggle driving by all the 4x4 SUVs off the road. The thing would climb ice walls if neccessary.
Ten years ago I bought an AWD Forrester and keep decent All Weather tires on it, even in the dreaded x-mas blizzard of 06, though it took me 6.5 hours to drive around all the stuck drivers to get home, it went through 4 ft drifts and never slipped around.
Lesson for me, its mostly about the tires but the AWD rocks when you need it.
I have 150k on that Forrester and my next car, hopefully after another 50 or 100k, will be a Forrester. They have been doing AWD for so long, they really have it dialed in. I can throw my bike or two in the back, fits my family of four fine for medium size trips, and has all that headroom, important for a long torso 6’2"er.
I own a subaru outback and I largely agree with the opinion that AWD has its limitations as far as making the vehicle slip less in rain/snow, and mostly comes into play going around switchbacks and drifts. If its normal road surfaces (flat) and rain/snow that concerns you, its the tires, ABS, and intelligent driving that have the biggest impact.
That being said I’m hooked on the lower center of gravity, flat six, and overall solidness of the Outback. I plan on getting another soobie when the time comes. Never an SUV
A few winters ago here in Colorado, without an AWD car and a 4WD SUV, my wife and I wouldn’t have made it to work for about a month. We got hit with a storm every Friday for 7 weeks straight with minimal to no plowing done. I’ve had 2 Outbacks (highly recommended), 1 Forester, 1 WRX, a Nissan Pathfinder and now a AWD Toyota Sienna. My wife has an AWD Toyota Matrix. We will always have AWD cars for as long as we live in Colorado.
A FWD car will only understeer sooner than an AWD car in a corner if you apply power, which you really shouldn’t be doing at all if you are taking a corner in the snow and concerned with safety.
In my experience, an AWD will understeer just as fast as a FWD car in a corner. Then, if lateral traction isn’t good, it’ll oversteer just as fast as a RWD car. If you work it right, you know you’re going to plow right towards the inside of a tight hairpin, then bring the back end around with gas like a RWD car.
These were both transverse and longitudinal AWD cars.
But the only thing that beats getting stuck in an AWD car and feeling all 4 wheels spin at different rates is doing the tiny, weird doughnuts that AWD cars allow
With AWD you get the benefits of FWD - all the weight over the drive wheels for traction.
You also get all the downsides of FWD - the drivewheels also try to turn and weight transfers away from them during acceleration.
With AWD you get the benefits of RWD - the drivewheels don’t turn and weight transfer during acceleration.
You also get the downsides of RWD - little weight over the drivewheels.
IMHO, the best/safest/**most predictable **thing for snow driving is a FWD car with snow tires. Well, maybe a FWD car with snow tires and chains… It’ll do exactly the same thing every time.
