Front wheel drive in the snow

deadheadskier · Oct 16, 2006

Its been several years since I have owned anything but a four wheel drive or all wheel drive vehicle, but unfortunately my Audi lately has been costing me more than car payments to maintain, so I'm looking to trade in and at some more reliable vehicles with better gas mileage, such as an Accord or Camry.

Those that have fwd - do you find you have much difficulty driving in the snow? Like I said, its been about five years and I kind of forget

YardSaleDad · Oct 16, 2006

deadheadskier said:
Those that have fwd - do you find you have much difficulty driving in the snow?

It's not the car. It's the driver.

During snowstorms, I always pass SUVs in the ditch on my way to the mountain with my Scion XB. Granted, the 1.5L engine does provide a raging 108 hamster power under the truncated hood.

riverc0il · Oct 16, 2006

deadheadskier said:
Those that have fwd - do you find you have much difficulty driving in the snow? Like I said, its been about five years and I kind of forget

no issues with my front wheel drive light weight saturn coupe. a decent set of snow tires and some common sense is all you need.

roark · Oct 16, 2006

Throw some good snow/studded tires on there and you're in better shape than the AWD vehicles with all-seasons. Plus you get better mileage.

maineskier69 · Oct 16, 2006

My wife would rather drive her Maxima with the snow tires than our Jeep in 4WD on a snowy day. Having a stick shift makes a big difference too (downshift vs braking).

Chris I · Oct 16, 2006

Rear wheel drive. I have not had a problem yet- throw some sand bags in the back with a good pair of snows. No problems with the s10 yet. Plus the parking lots are a much better time with rwd :snow:

bigbog · Oct 16, 2006

........

$.01....
FWD is great....it's the weight that makes it. Adding weight in back of course helps rwd anytime....and I'd do that as well when in a fwd vehicle.

NYDrew · Oct 17, 2006

Chris I said:
Rear wheel drive. I have not had a problem yet- throw some sand bags in the back with a good pair of snows. No problems with the s10 yet. Plus the parking lots are a much better time with rwd

I agree, but it goes right back to who is behind the wheel. Personally, I hate FWD the most for high speed snow driving (by that I mean 30mph on an interstate vs everyone else not driving).

marcski · Oct 17, 2006

Front wheel drive is great. I had a honda for years, saw more snowy drives to and in vermont than most people see in a lifetime. (236k when she died). However, I am driving AWD and 4WD vehicles these days. I find they give me more confidence in the snow, but common sense still rules the day.

It's more about good tires and the driver than the car. (Same can be said about skiing...Its more about the skier than the skis).

ctenidae · Oct 17, 2006

My old Saab was great in the snow. It weighed about a zillion pounds, though, so that probably helped some. I've heard bad things (after getting it, of course) about the Acura TSX and snow. I guess we'll see.

nelsapbm · Oct 17, 2006

Throw some snow tires on your front wheel drive car and you're good to go. I have an Accord and have no problems. Clearance is really the only issue. My boyfriend prefers my car to his Tacoma 4WD in the snow.

hammer · Oct 17, 2006

I own a Subaru Legacy Outback and a Toyota Highlander AWD and I've been through enough snowy commutes to swear by AWD. That said, I'd think that a FWD car with snow tires would do just fine unless you get into deeper snow where ground clearance is an issue.

Marc · Oct 17, 2006

hammer said:
I own a Subaru Legacy Outback and a Toyota Highlander AWD and I've been through enough snowy commutes to swear by AWD. That said, I'd think that a FWD car with snow tires would do just fine unless you get into deeper snow where ground clearance is an issue.

I agree with that. I've owned both FWD and AWD. One of the reasons I prefer AWD over FWD mostly is for driving all the time.

I just don't like FWD. I don't like the torque steer, I don't like the weight distr. typically associated with having all of the drive hardware up front. I like AWD systems with torque bias in normal conditions to the rear (Audi's and BMW's). They're just more fun to drive.

Beyond that, all things equal (tires, driver) of course AWD will be better, but FWD is still fine for all but the most extreme winter conditions. I have actually needed the AWD in my Audi a couple times where I high grounded my front wheel (don't ask).

So after all the rambling, yes, one can generally do well with FWD with aggressive snow tires. Studs are not worth the trouble, IMHO.

Bear in mind also, though, that snow tires are also a big comprimise on dry pavement, which consists of what, 95% of winter driving (assuming you go from Thanksgiving to Easter). I use a winter tire on my Audi (Dunlop WinterSport M3) which is still respectable on dry. I would want something like a Blizzak to make me comfortable in FWD for snow conditions, and those are super annoying on dry pavement.

But a lot of people don't care about have a "driver's car" and therefore don't care about the comprimises of FWD and soft, squirmy snow tires. Some drivers are so dense they won't even notice the difference.

skibum9995 · Oct 17, 2006

ctenidae said:
My old Saab was great in the snow. It weighed about a zillion pounds, though, so that probably helped some. I've heard bad things (after getting it, of course) about the Acura TSX and snow. I guess we'll see.

I'm on my second Saab and both are amazing in the snow, especially with good snow tires. On a snowy day last winter I pulled a 4x4 truck out of a snow bank. I've never even come close to getting stuck and I drive no matter what the conditions are.

Warp Daddy · Oct 17, 2006

Live on the border with Canada -ski in the Dacks and Tremblant , make several trips to NH each season.. I have had absolutely NO trouble at all with any of 3 Saabs i've owned. No special; tires and they start in 40 below and hold the road in whiteout conditions,. My '03 9.3 and my old' 92 900 each get GREAT mileage they are 5 speed . Just got back from trip to Boston avg 40.7 in my 9.3

Greg · Oct 17, 2006

Drove a FWD car for a few years. The car before it was a 4WD pickup. I normally didn't have many problems, but there were a handful of instances when I couldn't climb a incline when starting from a stop. That sucks. I'll keep my old Cherokee, thanks.

Birdman829 · Oct 17, 2006

I'm a bit worried about how my car is going to do in the snow. I had a 96 Jetta from June 2004 to March 2006 when some moron spun out into my lane during a storm :angry: I replaced it with a 2000 Kia Sephia (it was only $1900 and only had 70,000 miles on it). The Jetta was a 5-speed and was great in the snow. The Kia is a sluggish automatic and doesn't drive nearly as well in dry conditions. Only time will tell if it's worse in the snow too. Can't argue with 35 mpg though

noski · Oct 17, 2006

I drove a FWD Taurus for 6 years. I put Blizzaks (I checked out what the sheriff had on his car- I wanted the same thing) on them and went everywhere- and those tires went 6 winters for me. I make a 1000 foot climb on a MRV dirt road every day and never, ever had an issue. Mud was a bigger challenge with clearance, though. It's all about the tires.

SKIQUATTRO · Oct 17, 2006

its all about the tires....not running a good set in the snow is about as usefull as running a marathon in flip-flops......my buddy lives in the mountains in Austria and swears by RWD with manual tranny and snow tires....i have an AUDI QUATTRO, with great all seasons and a 4wd with BFG All Terrains....all great, but commen sense is still the call!!!

Grassi21 · Oct 17, 2006

SKIQUATTRO said:
BFG All Terrains

I had a set on my Wrangler (31x10.5). Great tires. I miss that Jeep.

Front wheel drive in the snow

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