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I drove all through this last winter and a couple years previous in a manual transmission fox-body mustang. On bald summer tires no less...

The only time I got stuck is when it got REALLY icy and pretty much everything shut down. I couldn't slip the clutch enough to keep the tires from spinning.:s0112::s0114:
 
I dont think I'll ever buy another front wheel car. Rear wheel drive is much easier to work on if your into mechanics. If all your worried about is snow, just remember, the chains go on the back not the front :D
 
Well, I've got a RWD car, a 1982 380SL, and it's considered to be boulevard cruiser, not a really sporty car, here in yUK. We don't need to put all the chains on the tires, or studs [they are illegal here anyhow], since the weather here does not merit it, but when we lived in Germany we had Winter M+S tires [on another set of wheels too, from 1 October, or suffer the consequences in the pocket]. They went on a series of other Mercedes-Benz sedans that we had ovet the almost ten years we spent there.

I agree whole-heartedly that RWD is a whole lot more fun than FWD, especially driving my cousin's AMG55 sedan with 540 HP at the rear wheels.

Our other drive, an ML350, has P4WD, with all the clever traction and suspension gizmos, and is a total bore to drive in what they laffingly call heavy weather here. What passes for a blizzard here is barely a frosting on the countryside in our own part of Ontario,CN., let alone in WA.

tac, back in yUK after a short trip home.
 
fixed it.

anyways anyone with rear wheel drive, drive around when everything was shut down. I have a 4 wheel drive SUV and had no problems at all. But really want a jaguar XK, but worried I cannot get to work like I did last year during the snow storm.

also, beaverton is not like colorado or anywhere else where it snows, they do not clear the snow or put salt down. Portland is slightly better, they clean some roads and just put gravel down.
 
My current and previous cars were rear wheel drive. No worries in Portland with rear wheel drive assuming tires are decent. The only show stopper is a lot of snow (I mean a lot) or ice. No one's going to be or shouldn't be driving on ice anyway. Plus the whole city shuts down if it's more than a quarter inch of snow. Less people to run into.

If you're going to go over the passes to Central Oregon in the winter then definitely take chains. I use the 4WD if that is the case.
 
Most of the people complaining about using RWD in snow just don't know how to drive SAFELY. Don't push beyond the cars limits and you will do fine. My thunderturd never had any problems in the snow. Just remember the bigger the engine, the less gas you need to give it unless you are trying to spin out on purpose :D
 
I drive a 1999 Nissan Frontier 2WD Pickup with a 4 cyl engine. This size of p/u is light in the rear end by nature, but I just put on studless snow tires and went anywhere I needed to go with no added weight in the bed. I just take it easy and slow and adjust accordingly for time needed to get somewhere.

The biggest thing about driving in snow in ANY kind of vehicle is to never exceed your own abilities, and to watch out for the others on the road that have no idea what they are doing.

Actually, front wheel drive cars can spin almost as easily as rear wheel drive cars.



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If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
 
Like others here, up till the 90ties, I'd never driven a front wheel drive car. Never really liked them, when I did, but they got me around.

However, after driving one in snow, I knew I wanted to get rid of it! Being brought up in Alberta, Canada I learned to drive in all snow/ice conditions. They only have 2 months of bad shedding there, so ya'd better know how to drive in it. :D

Maybe it's just what I'd got used to, but the front wheel drive cars just don't handle as well in winter driving conditions, plus the idea of putting chains on the front wheels, is wierd to me.

I now have a 4 x 4 Ram and a Infinity G-35, that both love playing in the snow!

Go rear wheel. It's the tried and proven way of the past! :s0155:

Frog.
 
I've spent a lot of years driving in harsh winters in northern New England up in the wilds, in a lot of different vehicles and tires. My ideal solution for THOSE conditions is a TRUE AWD car/vehicle (like an Audi, Subaru, or Toyota Land Cruiser) with full time, equal power to all wheels, center and rear differentials, and dedicated snow tires. With this kit, ground clearance is your only limiting factor, really. BUT:

Rear wheel cars are fine in the snow and ice as long as you plan ahead and drive safely. Carrying a pair of easy on/off chains is basically all you need. I survived one or two winters driving my BMW 535 from NY to northern VT back and forth EVERY week. When it got slick, you just slowed down and put on the chains. Then you basically had a tractor and especially if you had some type of torque-sensing LSD rear differential. Actually, it could be kinda fun! It was just fine and I never got stuck. Even drove around yuppie Range Rovers stuck in ditches and beached on plow berms like reefed whales because they had all-season tires, no chains, and drove too fast for the conditions. This was common and northern New England tow-truck drivers LOVE coastal yuppies with Rovers, Land Cruisers, and other SUVs. Just love them.

Once I moved to northern VT full time, I offloaded the BMW and got an Audi. I put dedicated snow tires on it on all four corners and I never touched the chains again - that would handle anything mother nature could dish out. Even snowmobile trails (yep). Quality, dedicated snow tires (I like Yoko Guardex and Bridgestone Blizzaks myself) are critical for ultimate performance. Forget "all season" - they are useless in real snow and ice.

Now this was full-time raging winter, not the mild things that occasionally blow into the western slopes and coastal areas west of the Cascade range. No need for snows here, just have some chains and use them those few days. This past winter we used a Toyota Land Cruiser (100 series) to get around, and with all-season tires on it in the deep snows and long-term ice we had, even with the excellent AWD system, it was marginal at best. I bought chains for it and all was fine. If I had dedicated snow tires on it I would not have needed the chains, but for the few days every few years you really need them in a Seattle/Portland type climate, chains are much more cost effective and less hassle than a second set of dedicated snow tires.

If your RWD car is not a high-performance one, and you don't care about having Z-rated tires on it in the dry weather, you have another option. Just toss the all-season radials on it and put on dedicated snows and leave them year-round. The only negative to snows full-time is that the rubber compound is soft, and in HOT weather, the compound gets soft and the sidewalls a little mushy in high-speed handling, and they wear much more quickly. However, in climates that the temps typically never get over 80F or so, this isn't a problem. In lots of northern areas with mild summers, on non-high performance cars, you can run snows year-round w/o problem and forget about the hassle of changing over seasonally.
 
The best solution if you buy a RWD is to watch Craigslist for a used set (4) of studs to mount on stock rims and store until you need em. I have a set for every rig I have and if you buy used that isn't much money. When it snows I just get out the floor jack and change em. No waiting at the tire store all day either. If you have traction problems just fill it up and the weight of the fuel does help. If needed just throw some more weight in the rear or put chains on the back. I usually drive my 4X4 around and pull the FWD's out of the ditches.
Just make sure you watch out for the totally unprepared people who think they can drive in the snow/ice.:s0155:
 
I have a 1977 Cadilac Deville, with those les schwab z-chains, this winter, I didnt get stuck and I even pulled a civic out of the ditch, I have a hitch on my caddy from the previous owner. My ole' 1996 Jeep Cherokee was also rear wheel drive and drove over those ruts/rails that were left on the street just fine, I saw many cars wipe out when they'd try to turn over those.
 
I have a Chrysler 300 and a 2wd Ranger. The ranger is a little light in the rear end when it snows, I just throw some weight in the bed and it helps. I still haven't bought chains for it, but I will. The 300 is amazingly nice driving in the snow, it impressed me. We usually dont drive the 300 in the snow, But sometimes it can't be helped. I would think that, like everyone else said, you shouldn't have any problems with a rwd only car. Just be careful and know the cars limits. My wife use to also drive a Datsun 280z when it snowed, no chains or anything, and she never had any problems. That car was a lot of fun in the snow!
 
yeap, what he said.
I spent my first 25 years driveing rear wheel drives. i got stuck in the snow Once. but the snow was deeper then the doors on my truck.
Since driving front wheel drive i have been stuck 4 or 5 times.

Front wheels drive givees sligthly better steering in snow, yet are wrost on ice.

I all comes down to what you want to drive. But whatever it is you need to know that Windm Rain, Snow and ICE all make it drive differently.

In bad weather I drive BAR-B-Q style. Low and Slow
 
well i much prefer my rear driver i have now over the fwd cars i have owned in the past,just much better behaved road manners,although i will admit i think a front driver will be easier for most people to drive in snow,for me if weather is a issue i just drive my old 1990 full size blazer,it will go thru anything,,,oh my daily driver is a 2007 dodge magnum,love this car!!!
 
Frog and Deadeye, nice call. Sometimes you have to trick the differential slip though with rear drive. I like the power slides though :) Fellows chime in. Do watch for momentum on hills. And, remember that brakes work the same in slick conditions (crappy) on all cars. So 4wheels doesn't = faster. 4 wheels = get out of ditch easier.
 
I'm an AWD fan myself. The number of miles I put going over the passes in the winter, it's 4x4 or AWD or nothing. Never been stuck once. Never had to chain up once either. THE RWD is great for better weather, but I don't have the kind of money to have multiple cars for different times of the year, so I stick to what works consistently.
 

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