Scott, how would your Corvette handle

highway 17 (twisty mountain route) between San Jose and Santa Cruz in
torrential rain? I drove that highway last weekend, in an old Infinity
Q45 landbarge, in heavy rain, and it was awful (and when I got back to
Indy, I had to drive my Maxima in a snowstorm, and it was even
worse--wide tires suck in the snow). I really want a performance
all-season car now. A Subaru STI for example.

223rem wrote:

> highway 17 (twisty mountain route) between San Jose and Santa Cruz in
> torrential rain? I drove that highway last weekend, in an old Infinity
> Q45 landbarge, in heavy rain, and it was awful (and when I got back to
> Indy, I had to drive my Maxima in a snowstorm, and it was even
> worse--wide tires suck in the snow). I really want a performance
> all-season car now. A Subaru STI for example.

FWD wins hands down in poor weather. Have you seen how fast you can drive a Saab
in the smow ?

Graham

Eeyore wrote:
>
> 223rem wrote:
>
>> highway 17 (twisty mountain route) between San Jose and Santa Cruz in
>> torrential rain? I drove that highway last weekend, in an old Infinity
>> Q45 landbarge, in heavy rain, and it was awful (and when I got back to
>> Indy, I had to drive my Maxima in a snowstorm, and it was even
>> worse--wide tires suck in the snow). I really want a performance
>> all-season car now. A Subaru STI for example.
>
> FWD wins hands down in poor weather. Have you seen how fast you can drive a Saab
> in the smow ?
>
> Graham

Are you saying that BMWs are Mercedes-es are outhandled and outsped by
FWD cars in the rain or snow? Especially the wide-tire, high-end models?

Eeyore wrote:
>
> 223rem wrote:
>
>
>>highway 17 (twisty mountain route) between San Jose and Santa Cruz in
>>torrential rain? I drove that highway last weekend, in an old Infinity
>>Q45 landbarge, in heavy rain, and it was awful (and when I got back to
>>Indy, I had to drive my Maxima in a snowstorm, and it was even
>>worse--wide tires suck in the snow). I really want a performance
>>all-season car now. A Subaru STI for example.
>
>
> FWD wins hands down in poor weather. Have you seen how fast you can drive a Saab
> in the smow ?
>
> Graham
>

I'm probably in the minority, but I'd still rather drive a RWD car in
the snow; I just don't feel like I have the same control with FWD.
Sure, you may have slightly better traction from a stop, but the
handling is all weird, at least to me.

Of course, now that I got snow tires for the Porsche, it's in the shop
still now that we've probably already had our snow for the year

nate


--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

223rem wrote:

> Eeyore wrote:
> > 223rem wrote:
> >
> >> highway 17 (twisty mountain route) between San Jose and Santa Cruz in
> >> torrential rain? I drove that highway last weekend, in an old Infinity
> >> Q45 landbarge, in heavy rain, and it was awful (and when I got back to
> >> Indy, I had to drive my Maxima in a snowstorm, and it was even
> >> worse--wide tires suck in the snow). I really want a performance
> >> all-season car now. A Subaru STI for example.
> >
> > FWD wins hands down in poor weather. Have you seen how fast you can > drive a Saab
> in the smow ?
> >
> > Graham
>
> Are you saying that BMWs are Mercedes-es are outhandled and outsped by
> FWD cars in the rain or snow? Especially the wide-tire, high-end models?

No question about it.

RWD will throw you off the road in a instant in slippery conditions. I've briefly lost
traction in my old FWD 2 litre Cavalier in the wet through heavy acceleration and it
simply stayed on course but just went a bit light at the front. A RWD car would have
had me in the ditch ! Some of the older BMW 3 series in particular were notoriously
'tail-happy' in fact and killed a fair few ppl that way.

Graham

Nate Nagel wrote:

> Eeyore wrote:
> > 223rem wrote:
> >
> >>highway 17 (twisty mountain route) between San Jose and Santa Cruz in
> >>torrential rain? I drove that highway last weekend, in an old Infinity
> >>Q45 landbarge, in heavy rain, and it was awful (and when I got back to
> >>Indy, I had to drive my Maxima in a snowstorm, and it was even
> >>worse--wide tires suck in the snow). I really want a performance
> >>all-season car now. A Subaru STI for example.
> >
> >
> > FWD wins hands down in poor weather. Have you seen how fast you can > drive a
> Saab in the smow ?
> >
> > Graham
>
> I'm probably in the minority, but I'd still rather drive a RWD car in
> the snow; I just don't feel like I have the same control with FWD.
> Sure, you may have slightly better traction from a stop, but the
> handling is all weird, at least to me.
>
> Of course, now that I got snow tires for the Porsche, it's in the shop
> still now that we've probably already had our snow for the year

You may be interested to know that it was driving in the snow that totally
'convertred' me to FWD !

I took an MG 1300 GT to the top of the highest ridge near Bristol in the middle of a
snow shower for a laugh.

We played snowballs for a while, then came down only to discover that the entire
region had apparently ground to a halt in our absence !

I still recall the puzzled look on ppls' faces out for a Christmas walk as we
descended this big hill. They must have thought we were quite mad. The car felt
delightfully sure-footed though.

Graham

On Feb 15, 6:23 am, Eeyore >
wrote:

>
> No question about it.
That is so true!!! There is no question! You make it so clear in the
following paragraph!

> RWD will throw you off the road in a instant in slippery conditions. I've briefly lost
> traction in my old FWD 2 litre Cavalier in the wet through heavy acceleration and it
> simply stayed on course but just went a bit light at the front. A RWD car would have
> had me in the ditch ! Some of the older BMW 3 series in particular were notoriously
> 'tail-happy' in fact and killed a fair few ppl that way.

You can not drive and you don't understand cars!

bob z.
Front wheel drive is for school girls and school boys.

bob zee wrote:

> Eeyore > wrote:
> >
> > No question about it.
> That is so true!!! There is no question! You make it so clear in the
> following paragraph!
>
> > RWD will throw you off the road in a instant in slippery conditions. I've briefly lost
> traction in my old FWD 2 litre Cavalier in the wet through heavy acceleration and it
> simply stayed on course but just went a bit light at the front. A RWD car would have had
> me in the ditch ! Some of the older BMW 3 series in particular were notoriously
> 'tail-happy' in fact and killed a fair few ppl that way.
>
> You can not drive and you don't understand cars!

Is that so ?


> bob z.
> Front wheel drive is for school girls and school boys.

WOW !

I must have been dreaming when I got to Central London in my FWD car at an average of 60
mph

*AVERAGE*

It was quite 'insane' and there's no way I could do it now on account of speed cameras.

Tell me something, have you ever averaged 120 mph on a motorway ? I have !

Grham

On Feb 15, 3:01 am, Nate Nagel > wrote:
> Eeyore wrote:
>
> > 223rem wrote:
>
> >>highway 17 (twisty mountain route) between San Jose and Santa Cruz in
> >>torrential rain? I drove that highway last weekend, in an old Infinity
> >>Q45 landbarge, in heavy rain, and it was awful (and when I got back to
> >>Indy, I had to drive my Maxima in a snowstorm, and it was even
> >>worse--wide tires suck in the snow). I really want a performance
> >>all-season car now. A Subaru STI for example.
>
> > FWD wins hands down in poor weather. Have you seen how fast you can drive a Saab
> > in the smow ?
>
> > Graham
>
> I'm probably in the minority, but I'd still rather drive a RWD car in
> the snow; I just don't feel like I have the same control with FWD.
> Sure, you may have slightly better traction from a stop, but the
> handling is all weird, at least to me.
>
> Of course, now that I got snow tires for the Porsche, it's in the shop
> still now that we've probably already had our snow for the year
>
> nate
>
> --
> replace "fly" with "com" to reply.http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Dunno about the minority part. For me, bad conditions is all about
traction. I'll take FWD then anyday. For fun or just nice handling,
give me RWD. As for difference in traction, the FWD has far more than
just a "slight" advantage.

Harry K

"Scott en Aztlán" wrote:

> Eeyore > said in
> rec.autos.driving:
>
> >FWD wins hands down in poor weather.
>
> AWD trumps FWD.

Sure - but only at low speeds.


> >Have you seen how fast you can drive a Saab in the smow ?
>
> The issue is not how fast you can go, but how fast can you can STOP in
> the snow.

That depends on the traffic surely ?

Graham