RWD snow launch

[JonNWiLLiamS7]

@rstavila but which is more exciting? taking your foot off the gas, or battling to bring it back?

[MrTyronePimp]

I live in NY and I will tell you from experience, RWD cars cannot handle the snow. FWD cars will pull their way through some pretty deep snow. AWD cars are superior to both. I got stuck in 2 inches of snow in a BMW 3 series RWD, while FWD cars zipped by me. You can talk all you want but until you get stuck and have to push your car to the side of the road and walk home in a blizzard, you will never understand.

[clabby93]

@MrTyronePimp

Any car on snow tires would have been fine in 2 inches of snow. It has nothing to do with your car or if its FWD/RWD, but what tires you have on it. I know a guy who DD's a 1989 Mustang GT throughout the winter, including when it snows.

[MrTyronePimp]

@clabby93 Yea there was 2 inches of snow on roads that had been plowed earlier. If you turned off any of the main streets there was 6 inches plus. My FWD civic was able to pull through that on standard tires. My RWD BMW got stuck in 2 inches, 4 guys pushed my car from the back and were only able to move it 10 feet with an immense amount of effort. IDK know how much effect dedicated snow tires would have in 2 or 6 inches of snow on a RWD, but I do know a FWD can get through snow tires or not.

[clabby93]

@MrTyronePimp

A FWD car on summer tires would not get through any snow, period. There is almost no difference between the two if there is a competent driver behind the wheel. Whether its FWD, RWD, AWD, 1WD, or whatever, if your tires can't grip the snow, you're not going anywhere. The same applies to AWD, 4 tires that are spinning are no better than 2 tires that are spinning. The difference comes in when 2 tires are stuck, and the other 2 aren't, but that really never happens in NY winters.

[clabby93]

There are also no such thing as "standard tires". Your BMW may have had a sport-oriented tire(makes more sense on BMW), while your Honda had an all-season tire that, while not an all-out snow tire, is made to handle some snow(in sacrifice of handling while dry).

Any car, no matter what the drive, would be 100% fine in the NY winters with a decent set of all-season or snow tires. I'd prefer RWD as you get the ability to steer with your rear wheels as well as the fronts, but that's just me.

[kdu8004]

@rstavila No, i disagree. FWD cars will understeer and understeer in snow will causes it to keep on sliding. but with a rwd car, you steer with the rear wheels. one more angle, more throttle, want less angle, less throttle. Your front wheels are always free so steering with the front wheel is always easy

[ciuvas123456]

FWD easyer to drive, RWD is a pleasure to drive for me. At high speed fwd understeer RWD = oversteer. thats the difference. for drag race, rwd>fwd mostly but that depends on dirvers, cars, surface, tires etc. like porsche for example, RWD with rear engine and wide tires which have much grip = WIN. but rear engine doesnt give much advantage, weight distribution on good track still goes almost the same with fron engine like corvette. Still it remains a fact that fwd will do better on snow

[boobie284]

Stop Arguing in all seriousness, if you have RWD, Get asand bags and put it in your trunk, if FWD, just drive as you were just more cautious, if AWD, same as FWD, and don't be cocky saying h you can rally, because its streets, and when you do kill someone, go fck your own corpse... and yes I know its impossible but you have to do it./..

[Tapil]

Dont even comment here... Whatever your planing on saying, dont even bother to say it

[marshale11]

@sexyneu calm down

[Tari14]

@rstavila As for the danger level, if a FWD car starts understeering because of the driver's heavy foot, all you need to do is take ur foot of the gas. In a RWD car, if it started spinning, bringing it back is much harder.

rstavila 1 year ago 7 ------ inccorect

[rstavila]

TCS=off

[harwell288]

Was the TCS on or no?

[kzak104]

posi makes a big difference, it didnt look like this car had it

[username2153]

wow really? those bimmers have tcs dumbass... well i guess not all of them.... mine does lol

[Luke1337]

@rstavila that's wrong, oversteer is much easier to handle than understeer

[flyer2359]

@rstavila It may have more weight in the front but guess what that creates? More stress on the key component parts on the vehicle. Most RWDs will have less problems than the standard FWD.

[spoonerdee]

lol at the arguments over FWD vs RWD.

[xXDU571NXx]

@spoonerdee Agreed. haha

[Rlnthndr]

I would rather have a big heavy rwd yukon than a fwd tiny as cracker box car.

[uswg01]

Stop arguing FWD vs RWD, it's childish. With modern technology i.e. traction control, stability control, availability of snow tires.... Your arguments are all moot. The ONLY variable is the skill/experience of the driver. Sure the vehicles will handle differently, but neither is superior and neither is safer or more dangerous. Take what you have, get some decent snow tires, go practice and be smooth. Very simple. Also, if you think you need AWD to get around in the snow, you're wrong.

[rstavila]

@uswg01 Doesn't matter how good you are, AWD cannot be compared with RWD/FWD in the snow. I agree that for most cases you can get around with RWD in the snow, just like you can get around with a 60HP car. Nevertheless, you can't compare it with a 150HP car :)

[V6POWA]

@rstavila

and you can't compare that with my 300HP car :)

[kdu8004]

@rstavila Winter tires, and a manual transmisiion and some common sense is all you need. I have a 300 hp rwd sports coupe . I get by.

[cipmars]

@rstavila You don't have to compare anything. Everything has pros and cons, nothing is perfect. A FWD is safer in winter time, but it's not as fun to drive. RWD cars are still pretty safe as long as you know what you're doing and predict what's to come, but FWD has more grip when launching.

[TheTrihorn1]

@uswg01 I don't know were you live but it gets to the point that theres so much snow that rwd is impossible to drive in the snow. FWD also handles better in the snow. No amount of technolgy can make a RWd car go in the snow like a 4x4 or AWD.

[uswg01]

@TheTrihorn1 - Once again, I never said RWD can equal AWD. It is just my opinion that AWD isn't necessary. Sure there are special circumstances, but I can take a properly equipped RWD anywhere that the average driver would take his/her FWD/AWD vehicle. Just a few days ago I was over 10,000 feet in a blizzard, yet I remained on the road while idiots with huge 4WD trucks went sliding everywhere. I fully believe that IMHO it is always a matter of skill over a matter of vehicle layout.

[TheTrihorn1]

@uswg01 maybe on flat land, but on hills RWD sucks. Yes, AWD isn't nessisary but if you live in a place that gets more than a foot of snow and the roads haven't been plowed you must have 4x4

[CruSh3rpz]

@uswg01 Quattro. period

[jcadlols]

@uswg01 Try a steep hill in the snow. Awd, has the advantage of more forewards grip, however it allows an incompetent driver to go faster. It's limits are higher and you could climb a steeper hill, however if the driver is an idiot, they have just as higher potential of an accident. The advantage of Awd and Fwd is that if the driver (stupidly) accelerates hard, there's no snap oversteer but that's only an issue for cars without stability control. :)

[tompi88]

@uswg01 Come to Finland and let discuss again if you need 4wd or not ;)

[MrPenobe]

@uswg01 Thats funny because FWD has and engine over it, more weight therefore = more traction. Traction control or not. not to mention not all vehicles have ETC more than you think Obviously...

[toxiclown69]

That's true, FWD is a lot better in snow then RWD.

[3312cdfp5674]

RWD is better if u have skill. amateurs should stick with FWD

[davybabyson]

FWD Women RWD MEN done

[DJA984]

RWD has closest to 50/50 weight distribution.. Center of gravity is center of the car.. best for handling and allows for a softer front suspension while not sacrifycing cornering ability. Up hill a RWD car will do a better job in snow because the weight transfers to the rear of the car up hill, off of the front wheels... since the rear wheels have more weight over them, the car stops quicker. FWD cars are cheaper to build, thats the only reason they use them. RWD is not really bad in the snow

[91106636]

RWD = Summer

FWD = Winter

AWD = All Seasons

[snowpdx]

I grew up driving in the snow, and in my experience RWD is much better than FWD. The problem with FWD is if your power wheels break traction you lose steering traction too. In a RWD car you keep control of the front end. Trucks are the worst tho, with no weight over the rear axle they are a pain in the ass in the snow.

[rstavila]

Ok, a rear engine rear wheel drive car is way better than a fwd car.

[MrChiel78]

@rstavila

RWD is much more fun and I wouldnt want it another way. That is, when there's no snow. My girlfriends Ford Focus beats the shite out of my BMW 320 if it comes to traction with the exact same winter-tires.

[rstavila]

Actually, FWD has some advantages over RWD in snow:

- the weight of the engine is on the front wheels => more traction

- if the wheels start spinning out of control, a RWD car will be more dangerous.

[Geostegma]

That is not entirely true :

-FWD is just as dangerous as RWD in the snow, you will lose traction if you're not gentle with your feet. A FWD car will understeer right into the ditch while a RWD car will oversteer and probably spin out if you're too aggressive.

-RWD cars often has near perfect weight distribution to all four wheels (there are exceptions), meaning that there will be more contact with the road and better cornering dynamics.

[MrLowAltitude]

I think in snow, FWD is superior to RWD. Understeering is much less dangerous than oversteering isn't it? I drive an old Audi 80 FWD, if I go too fast into a snowy corner it understeers. A short pull on the handbrake, countersteer and give it a bit gas to prevent too much oversteer and I can go through the corner a little bit sideways but smooth and easily. I wonder if you can correct oversteer in a RWD car as easy as I can correct understeer in my FWD...

[29ryan49]

@Geostegma

The rear end on a FWD car doesn't swing out, making it easier to drive in the snow, and a lot safer. My friend in his RWD Ranger hit a telephone pole while going in a straight line, he hit ice, his rear end slid out, lost control and went off the road.

A FWD wouldn't have done that.

[monniearnes]

@Geostegma and also if the front wheels of a RWD are kept in the appropriate direction with some gas given, they're less likely to spin out, furthermore even with ESP/TC these days RWD cars still cant seem to lose "that" stigma. but AWD is always better on snow

[dominiccook12]

what about a porsche 911? rear engine rear drive? would it just act like a front wheel drive car?

[CIKO32123]

@Ricky10123 that says, u dont know anythin about cars -.-"

[rstavila]

Nothing compares in snow with an AWD car.

[MikeTysonEatsKids]

are rear wheel drive cars all that bad in snow? I want to get a 2001 Lexus GS 300.

[chyeaaitzfelix]

@MikeTysonEatsKids yes they are all that bad. RWD are in my opinion the worst to drive in snow. You'll get stuck in 4 inches of snow

[rstavila]

Relax mexmiler, we were just performing a comparison between rear wheel drive and all wheel drive on snow. See video response.

[mexmiler]

snow launch? That was pitiful

[RRT3am]

wrong car for snow launch ...

[mozozo123]

bmw in show suck:D only if they is not quattro:D

[Cognoscibilitate]

do you understand what you wrote?=)) bmw in show????? BMW quattro?=)))))

[djsonicc]

@Cognoscibilitate

i'll take two of those, please :)

[MyStangGetsAss]

@Cognoscibilitate there actually are AWD BMW in United States, they're called ix models, for example we have BMW 330 xi which are AWD

[adytza4u]

nu-ti taie alimentarea?

[rstavila]

DSC-ul era oprit daca asta e intrebarea.

[rstavila]

It was just a comparison between RWD and AWD.

[mujjuman]

snow tires?

[rstavila]

Yes.

[mujjuman]

sweet