Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Tue 12 Dec 2017 19:48
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - Steveieb

My son's E320 auto estate sits on his drive because it is completely unsuitable for this week's icy conditions.

Luckily he was able to borrow my A4 for the day to visit his business premises.

My view was confirmed by a taxi driver who uses this model for airport runs. But he has taken to parking on a main road and walking to his home, just to be able to keep in busness.

so if anyone is contemplating buying one of these cars or similar BMW's be sure to opt for the 4wd version

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 12 Dec 2017 20:00
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - gordonbennet

I had no trouble getting about in my W124 Mercs in snow and ice, second set of wheels with winter tyres, those great wide elastic bands are a waste of time.

Funny thing though, never needed winter tyres when i ran RWD Volvo estates they just went anywhere on relatively narrow tyres, one year the snow was really bad all the main routes blocked and my youngest son in hospital, took my trusty 245 across the high back road which had about 6" of snow at the lesser points and drifting deep, i came across a mini bus that couldn't make it and had just discharged some shoe factory workers who were going over on foot, i stopped offered them a lift, about 8 piled in several in the boot and we went through those drifts like a snow plough.

His Merc isn't the only one on wide tyres that can't move, last time it snowed heavily i was at the MINI factory loading new cars, deep snow in the load lanes, dickens of a job to get any of the little things with elastic band tyres to move at all, but the basic Coopers on sensible rubber didn't bat an eyelid, they just romped away.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 12 Dec 2017 20:12
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - Metropolis.

I think the problem here is elastic band tyres and no weight over the rear axle. Automatic in itself should not pose a problem as actually it's generally a much smoother, more progressive power delivery than a manual. Like a clutch with infinite slip, just let it spool up gradually. Easy enough to lock it in the desired gear too if pulling away in second is desired or downhill lock it in first. Just get decent all-seasons, winter tyres or snow socks and it will be absolutely fine. I can second GBs comment about those volvos, must have been the tyres!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 12 Dec 2017 20:33
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - badbusdriver

Quite right, the wrong tyres, possibly coupled with over enthusiastic use of the throttle?. Decent set of winter tyres, possibly a couple of bags of cement in the boot, a gentle right foot and it would be fine.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 12 Dec 2017 21:01
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - Brit_in_Germany

It is a common view that narrow tyres are better than wide ones in snow but comparitive tests show that the opposite is true. There are comparisons by Autobild others online for those who read German "Winterreifen breit oder schmal test".

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 12 Dec 2017 21:19
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - Manatee

It is a common view that narrow tyres are better than wide ones in snow but comparitive tests show that the opposite is true. There are comparisons by Autobild others online for those who read German "Winterreifen breit oder schmal test".

Perhaps the type of snow makes a difference. As any Eskimo kno, there are many types.

Certainly the best car I have had for snow, four wheel drives excepted, was a Saab 96 which had something like 4" wide wheels.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 12 Dec 2017 22:27
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - Big John

It is a common view that narrow tyres are better than wide ones in snow but comparitive tests show that the opposite is true.

I'm not sure I agree in real life. We had an old 1984 1.0 Polo a few years ago (owned for 19 years!) that was brill in the snow. One year I remember going up a steep hill out of a valley and slowly creeping past a stuck Range Rover. Look on the drivers face was priceless.

My sister had a Citroen 2cv that was also amazing in the white stuff.

Worst car I've ever had in the snow and Ice - a MKIV Ford Zodiac - almost undrivable.

Very impressed with my Continental TS850 winter tyres on my Skoda Superb but my lift share's Peugeot 207 was V good indeed in some horrible ice/snow driving conditions a week last Thursday with Michelin CrossClimates

Edited by Big John on 12/12/2017 at 22:33

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 13 Dec 2017 15:42
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - daveyjp

Key to Polo and 2CV being so good is the low vehicle weight.

Very easy to get going and more importantly lower kinetic energy when moving so very controllable. If you lift off the car stops very quickly without the need for braking.

Best car we have had in modern times for driving in snow was the Aygo for the same reason.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 13 Dec 2017 06:03
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - NARU

>> My view was confirmed by a taxi driver who uses this model for airport runs. But he has taken to parking on a main road and walking to his home, just to be able to keep in busness.

If his business is so important to him, he should invest in a set of winter tyres.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 13 Dec 2017 11:48
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - concrete

My brother had a similar experience with Merc E saloon. He was losing enthusiasm for Merc anyway due to reliability/build problems but not being able to get off his drive sealed their fate. He switched to Audi A8 quattro and this proved a better bet. That is until he got the car stuck in one of those French underground car parks that were built to park 2CV's only. Now got a C class Merc again. I will telephone him today and inquire how he finds it in view of the current weather situation in North Yorkshire!

Cheers Concrete

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 13 Dec 2017 12:46
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - sandy56

People who have difficulty in driving in the winter should change to using winter tyres. problem solved.

I have used RWD autos and FWD cars in northern Norway, with winter tyres fitted your problems are solved. But remember that winter tyres cannot overcome physics, so you do have to drive with some common sense and restraint.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 13 Dec 2017 15:00
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - badbusdriver

People who have difficulty in driving in the winter should change to using winter tyres. problem solved.

I have used RWD autos and FWD cars in northern Norway, with winter tyres fitted your problems are solved. But remember that winter tyres cannot overcome physics, so you do have to drive with some common sense and restraint.

People who have difficulty driving in the winter should really stay home or get the bus!.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 13 Dec 2017 16:25
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - movilogo

Do the buses or HGVs use winter tyres?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 14 Dec 2017 07:00
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - NARU

Do the buses or HGVs use winter tyres?

I rather doubt it, but they do have rather more weight which is an aid until they slide.

Our local bin lorries certainly don't - the collections are only restarting now, after aborted restarts on Tues and Weds. To be fair to the teams, they spent the days clearing paths around the city instead.

As for the buses - all the bus routes are gritted locally.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 13 Dec 2017 16:27
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - argybargy

The main problem is that in this country we don't expect snow, or ice, even though we live in a nation which if it wasn't for the Gulf Stream would have a climate like Norway, or Sweden. Every year it catches us out, every year we wonder what the Hell's happening when our wheels start spinning and the winter dance begins.

I think they should reintroduce the old Public Information Films, fronted not by Charlie the Cat but by Ponsonby the Polar Bear, who could give lots of good advice to the general public who don't read these forums about how to prepare for winter beyond having their anti freeze and battery checked at Halfords.

Winter tyres, limitations of RWD autos in icy conditions (if relevant and not subject to legal action by manufacturers), removing snow from your roof before setting off so you don't blind the driver behind you with an impromptu blizzard when it all falls off, (as happened to me the other day). Yes, motoring organisations send us emails about these things, but no, not everyone belongs to one or reads the emails if they do.

Over to you, Ponsonby. Start with winter tyres,a phenomenon which had largely passed me by until I began posting here.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 13 Dec 2017 22:30
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - SteveLee

Nonsense - I've driven plenty of RWD autos in the snow, including an Opel Senator 3 litre, a Rover SD1 VDP and a Jag XJR (very wide low profile sport biased tyres) didn't have a problem. let a few PSI out the rear tyres and went on my merry way - yes they moved around a bit but I never got stuck other than behind other people! The problem is usually the driver. These days I only use all-season tyres because they're so good now (not much of a compromise in any condition) - but with the Jag it only had one tyre fitment at the time - Bespoke Pirelli P-Zeroes and I still didn't have a problem during the bad winter in the late 90s. 98? Where I was driving up and down the country in the snow.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 14 Dec 2017 08:47
Useless in the snow and ice - Rear wheel drive auto cars - barney100

No greater problem with my MB in the snow and ice than other cars I've had. Best one though was an old style Fiat Panda. I remeber asome one with a Land rover saying it was no good on the slippy stuff.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link