A Northern Snow Flurry

Frontstep

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We can't be far off the posts we often get in winter telling us how their rear wheel drive car is no problem at all on its summer tyres.
I often think the world of motorsport has overlooked some talent on here.
 

st4

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Honestly, a few years ago I had an E class with nice skinny summer tyres. Whilst it was no snow demon, I got about ok in it bar a few awkward moments. The wider wheels are rubbish in snow/ice and rain.
 

rf065

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We can't be far off the posts we often get in winter telling us how their rear wheel drive car is no problem at all on its summer tyres.
I often think the world of motorsport has overlooked some talent on here.

I once had a discussion with an older neighbour who swore blind that rear wheel drive cars could go uphill better than front wheel drive cars!

I came to the conclusion that his medication was doing the talking. :confused:

Russ
 

d215yq

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I once had a discussion with an older neighbour who swore blind that rear wheel drive cars could go uphill better than front wheel drive cars!

I came to the conclusion that his medication was doing the talking. :confused:

Russ

To be fair, on a wet one in 3 hill in the lake district doing a hill start my mates mondeo (fully loaded up) would only wheelspin and would not go anywhere whereas my RWD started and went straight past. So there is a gradient where RWD will be better (and RWD gets better the more luggage/people whereas FWD gets worse), but i'd imagine that point will be so steep that on ice/snow either car won't be going anwhere.
 

rf065

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To be fair, on a wet one in 3 hill in the lake district doing a hill start my mates mondeo (fully loaded up) would only wheelspin and would not go anywhere whereas my RWD started and went straight past. So there is a gradient where RWD will be better (and RWD gets better the more luggage/people whereas FWD gets worse), but i'd imagine that point will be so steep that on ice/snow either car won't be going anwhere.

We're talking about snow here, in which case you would have been going no where too. :Oops:

Russ
 

d215yq

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We can't be far off the posts we often get in winter telling us how their rear wheel drive car is no problem at all on its summer tyres.
I often think the world of motorsport has overlooked some talent on here.

True, there are obviously some idiots that don't really help themselves with stuff like poor planning so they stop and get stuck on an incline, don't turn off ESP, heavy foot just flooring it regardless, etc...

But with a RWD auto there aren't that many tricks to use to set off, basically you let it creep and if it starts to spin you stop, move back to a different patch/incline and start again (hoping this is more grippy). If this repeatedly fails then you can try the floor it approach and hold it at 20mph wheel spinning which can sometimes cut through the snow and get you going. If that fails it doesn't matter what sort of driving god you are, there isn't much else you can do!
 
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d215yq

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We're talking about snow here, in which case you would have been going no where too. :Oops:

Russ

I stated in my post that neither of us would be going up the 1 in 3 in the snow, but it does illustrate a point where RWD does offer more grip.

The only time I drive in snow is when we're skiing and this involves driving up hills with 4/5 adults and a boot full. given 3 adults across the back seat and the luggage/fuel in the estate must collectively weight more than the engine/gearbox I'd imagine there is more grip on the rear than on the front even on a slight incline. The fact the suspension (before you start the engine and the SLS come sinto play) is way lower on the rear than on the front suggests this to be the case.
 
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as400

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All this talk about snow. I drove to York and back yesterday. It took about 4hours 20mins. The same as it does in summer.

Some winter eh!!!!

Long is the night that lays ahead!.....

I'm just pretty confident that come a couple of inches of packed snow after a cold night I will make more progress in my quattro with slimmer winter tyres than I did in my W211 E320cdi which with RWD was frankly useless.
 
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brianbrian

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As long as the snow and ice is not more than 4 inches deep I can go 8mph in my mobility scooter. surprising how many cars I zig zag between winter weather. Hope this helps
 

cruiser

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Bl**dy treacherous going to the golf club this morning at 7.30. Temp readout was -4 degrees.

It also bl**dy hurt when I tried taking a divot with my wedge!!!:Oops:
 
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