From: 891078p@ace.acadiau.ca (Trevor Perkins)
Subject: Re: FWD vs. RWD, Which is best.
Organization: Acadia University
Distribution: global
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 17:36:27 GMT

>Jeff Smith writes:

>>Hey, have  any of you people ever actually *driven* a front wheel
>>drive car in the snow?! It doesn't sound like it! Let me preface this
>>by saying I *much* prefer RWD at least as far as performance cars go.

IMHO, RWD is the only way for a performance car to be equipped !

>>However...when I lived in an area where snow was a factor, the FWD car
>>was much *easier* to drive in snow without losing control. Period. The
>>car would simply *never* fishtail. With a RWD car, when it loses traction
                   ^^^^^^^
    Don't say NEVER.  The independant rear suspension in most FWD cars will 
take a lot more before breaking free, but when they do - LOOK OUT.  I have 
had a few close calls, BUT a (small) FWD is still the only thing I will 
drive in the snow.  My RWD wouldn't do S.F.A. in more than 4" of snow.

>>with the rear wheels (and it will, unless you're extremely careful, and
>>even then it sometimes will) it tends to fishtail, or even spin. A FWD
>>car simply will not. As for that McCluggage guy who supposedly claims he
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>couldn't drive a FWD car up a hill in snow...well, that's B.S. I passed
>>plenty of RWD cars who were stuck on hills in the snow when I had my
>>front-driver. I don't know what his problem was.

Me too, yet those same people I passed were the first to condem my FWD.

--
Andreas Tovornik writes:

>Well, when the snow was 8" deep or more on a 17% grade, I had to go up

Only 8" ?  I should be so lucky !  Some of the hills where I am are as much 
as a 40 degree slope ( some more, and granted most of them are small ) and 
with 12+" of snow my RWD stays at the bottom, but my FWD goes up 
effortlessly.

>it in reverse with FWD. You know that plowing understeer you get with
>FWD? I ended up in many ditches because when I tried to power out of a 

That's why !!  Power out of a curve !  That is asking for trouble in a 
RWD or FWD.  In deep snow the secret is to not spin the tires at all in a 
curve ( even in RWD ).

>curve, the wheels would spin sideways because they were turned, but the
>momentum of the car had me going headlong into the ditch. I prefer RWD
>because I can steer with my right foot. If you don't spin the wheels 
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
      Then why have a steering wheel ? :o)        

>excessively, you don't spin out. Some of us learned winter driving with RWD 
>and are used to it.
>
>My first three cars were RWD, and I had mastered winter driving in them.
>Then I got a FWD econobox to save on gas, and couldn't unlearn my RWD
>habits of ten years, I ended up in ditches. Then I went back to RWD

Then you should stick with RWD.  The problems most people have with FWD is 
that they try to drive them like a RWD, which is not possible.  If you could 
adapt your driving to the FWD, you would probably like it better in the 
snow.  It is easier to pull though deep snow than to push.  I have been 
using both since day one ( almost 6 years) and much prefer the FWD in any 
more than 3-4" of that cursed white stuff !

>and have never had problems since.
>
>About a week ago, I said that this was a subjective can of worms: For you,
>FWD is easier to control because you probably learned winter driving with
>it. For me, RWD is easier to control because FWD was not too popular
>when I started driving. Ah, those were the days, when cars were real cars,
>big, powerful, and heavy!
          Great Summer cars !!  ( salt hurts ! )

-CTP
  =======================================================================
  |                 " Have You Driven A FORD Lately ! "                 |
  |---------------------------------------------------------------------|
  |   C. Trevor Perkins                       891078p@ace.acadiau.ca.   |
  |         Acadia University                                           |
  |            Wolfville, Nova Scotia    CANADA                         |
  |---------------------------------------------------------------------|
  |   " This is FORD country ...                                        |
  |               on a quiet night, you can hear a Chevy rust !! "      |
  =======================================================================
Newsgroups: rec.autos,rec.autos.driving