Now I know you get winter tyres, but just wondering how bad an idea is rear wheel drive? We will be driving mainly on main roads. We're looking to buy an estate / tourer, and are worried about the impact of this in the winter.
Any advice on if this is a problem, or is it just in extreme conditions / remote roads?
Thanks
Graham
As with any front or rear wheel drive car, it is as capable as the driver and you need to understand the difference between these two modes. A lot of new vehicles have some sort of traction control, or skid control, whilst these may go some way to prevent you getting into an out of control situation, they do little or nothing to bring the car back under control on snow. No amount of gadgetry will control a slide, which is the most likely hazzard you will face on snowy conditions.
Snow chains and snow tyres mitigate to a fair degree, but a good driver will take training and learn to avoid situations or handle them if they occur. Skid pan training is fun, treat yourself and go on a course.
If you are not confident in driving on these surface conditions, perhaps you should consider AWD / 4x4 or the train.
No RWD car for me, ever !
Once the average temperature drops below 7c winter tyres are your best bet. All season tyres are a compromise - never really excelling in either season.
If you have never used winter tyres you'll be staggered by just how effective they are. My wife's uncle used his M5 throughout winter with no issues (on winter tyres) - including trips to snow covered ski resorts. In Arosa last year a Maserati was being driven around with winter tyres (no chains).
My BMW has a limited slip differential, electronic traction nanny, and of course, winter tires in winter. I've had no problem getting around from light to heavy winter conditions, but then again I grew up with the stuff.
We live in Meilen, so not in the mountains. I think most of our driving will be on main roads. WE might be going ski'ing, but to resorts / areas not exploring high in the mountains on uncleared roads etc I doubt.
So would prefer of course AWD etc, but think at the budget we're looking, better to get a car that is good and can cope in the winter with good tyres, careful driving and maybe sometimes not get us where we want to. As opposed to buying something which is AWD and will help us in bad weather, but cause us lots of problems the rest of the year
We dont have to drive for a living / to work, so is only recreational driving. Dont want to feel like we can't leave the house for 5 months a year, but sounds like this won't happen.
Thanks
Graham
Using RWD on ice and snow even with specialist tryes takes some serious skill one needs to be able to feather the throttle; with the steering off a little to the side and an unbalance accelerator the back will tend to overtake the front. This may sound obvious and won't happen unless you have lead wellies on, but the truth is most people don't remain calm in such situations and with frustrations comes that spinning the wheels and more gas, more gas mentality... then the sideways crab. The situation gets amplified if the wheelbase is long and there is a lot of weight over the back in that when it goes it's far harder to get back in line.
A lot of cars have traction, ESP etc as stated and this is great in day to day situations but can be a hindrance in truly slippy stuff and needs switching off temporarily this coupled to an auto box with bad ratios is painful to say the least.
Lastly it depends on the car's chassis, how much torque and power one is trying to get down to the road. All RWD are not created equal, some cope quite well but some just won't work on snow slightly well at all. I have owned a couple of cars in the UK that with just a couple of mm of cover there was no way of getting out of the drive without doing the Snake Samba Shuffle and others that made no drama at all.
( n.b.... as discussed and groaned at multiple times previously I've driven on "all season" for probably 30 years now... never had an incident.... ok, before I get groaned at for once again expressing my own personal opinion and relevant experiences my experience is in no means an indicator of future performance )
ok... *gone*
What sort of cars are you looking at? Why would an AWD give you problems the rest of the year? There are several that would do the opposite
For the record I'm a RWD fan, but also AWD and find that a better all year solution in my particular case and need.
HOWEVER that is assuming you are not going to drive around really heavily snowed in resorts - and understand how to drive in bad conditions.
Winter tyres are not a get out of jail free - they won't change the laws of physics.
If you really need to use your car 365/6 days of the year - then 4wd with winter tyres is the best bet. If you don't - and see winter tyres as a way of staying mobile and safe for 361 days a year then you'll be fine with RWD.
The most important bit is always the organic part of the equation. If the driver doesn't know how to drive in bad conditions - then even the best winter tyres and 4wd won't save you from an accident!
More specific question - how does this affect the snow / ski resorts near Zurich? Liek are these main roads which are treated and ok to drive on most of the time with just a fwe bad days to leave, or would we always have an issue with these.
Again sorry for level of the questions - total newbie at this real winter thing. Know it's not siberia, but in Ireland we get small amount of snow and when we do country stops _