so not useless in the snow then? thought as much

 

 

 

With the right tyres, fine 

 

My Mk1 octavia rs was s pooh in snow, but with winters on it was fantastic.

 

 

 

 

The 330/335D engine are 6 cyl, far more reliable than the 4 cyl's 

 

That said it all about the servicing on the D models forget the BMW schedule as it's too long. 

There is absolutely no difference between FWD and RWD in snow/ice/combination of both - purely to driver's skills. I can comfortably drive any car you give me on sheet ice, it's the technique and speed that are different. I actually prefer to drive my 07 520d manual come winter. More control .

 

I'd love to be able to get 535d! What a motor :love: . Unfortunately cannot afford it as SWMBO insists on buying a 5-series estate no older than 2 years... not able to shell out over £35k on one...

There is absolutely no difference between FWD and RWD in snow/ice/combination of both - purely to driver's skills. I can comfortably drive any car you give me on sheet ice, it's the technique and speed that are different. I actually prefer to drive my 07 520d manual come winter. More control .

.

Is that a joke?

There is absolutely no difference between FWD and RWD in snow/ice/combination of both - purely to driver's skills. I can comfortably drive any car you give me on sheet ice, it's the technique and speed that are different. I actually prefer to drive my 07 520d manual come winter. More control .

I'd love to be able to get 535d! What a motor :love: . Unfortunately cannot afford it as SWMBO insists on buying a 5-series estate no older than 2 years... not able to shell out over £35k on one...

Ahahahaha keep telling yourself that!

I could drive almost anywhere in blizzard conditions in my old fwd turbo diesels with summer tyres on quite easily

This time i thought i would try my bmw with summer tyres on! I could not get it off the drive with 2" of snow. My old fwd diesels could go through almost anything! At least treble the snow depth

There is absolutely no difference between FWD and RWD in snow/ice/combination of both - purely to driver's skills. I can comfortably drive any car you give me on sheet ice, it's the technique and speed that are different. I actually prefer to drive my 07 520d manual come winter. More control .

I'd love to be able to get 535d! What a motor :love: . Unfortunately cannot afford it as SWMBO insists on buying a 5-series estate no older than 2 years... not able to shell out over £35k on one...

I'd like to see you try and get our RWD 3.2 Jaguar out of our drive compared to my FWD 1.2 Clio

Some drivers skills are a joke, true:).

The heavier the car the easier it is, simple laws of physics, just need to know how to apply them . Just because it is beyond your capabilities doesn't mean nobody else is able to do it, relax

Exactly.

In a front engined RWD car, theres no weight over the wheels. So theres little grip, And when it spins, itll make the back go into the curb, then the front follows n you're going nowhere.

I've over taken soo many RWD cars in FWD cars. There really is no comparison.

Came home earlier over the tops in 3 inches of snow. Not a worry, especially with 4 seasons on. But there was 4 mazda mx's (owners club or something?) stuck at the side of the road being useless

You can do anything you want in the Jag and I can promise you it will just spin. Sport designed auto box with no manual input and RWD.

Well my mates r33 GTST skyline gets scared as soon as it sees a snow flake.

About an inch of snow, very slightly uphill, feed the clutch in with no throttle input n itll just spin n find its way to the curb with the camber of the road. Its got winters on it now n its hardly any better.

My fabia with 4 seasons on only gets worried when it runs out of ground clearance

Hmm, anybody heard about weight distribution? Famous near perfect 50-50 in beemers surely results in no weight over rear axle . I qm not talking about which is faster or what can overtake what. I am simply talkong about being able to do it instead of being useless on the side of the road. I saw a vid recently showing an A6 quattro clearing bonnet high overnight snow from a driveway .

Hmm, anybody heard about weight distribution? Famous near perfect 50-50 in beemers surely results in no weight over rear axle . I qm not talking about which is faster or what can overtake what. I am simply talkong about being able to do it instead of being useless on the side of the road. I saw a vid recently showing an A6 quattro clearing bonnet high overnight snow from a driveway .

Im still guessing your posts are a joke? Its nothing to do with equal weight distribution (which in itself isn't actually always a good thing, its marketing hype from BMW in this instance) - its to do with having the majority of the weight over the driven wheels. I have plenty of experience with both rwd and fwd in the snow and I usually struggle to get the beemer off the drive, let alone up the road. I also spend plenty of time pulling c class mercs and beemer 3 and 5 series out of ditches with the Yeti in my local area when it does snow. For these reasons I'd only ever buy a 4matic Merc or Xdrive Beemer unless it was something special and I wasn't going to be taking it out in adverse conditions.

Hmm, anybody heard about weight distribution? Famous near perfect 50-50 in beemers surely results in no weight over rear axle . I qm not talking about which is faster or what can overtake what. I am simply talkong about being able to do it instead of being useless on the side of the road. I saw a vid recently showing an A6 quattro clearing bonnet high overnight snow from a driveway .

Where do you live?

You dont get much snow there, right?

No, I have seen no sniw in my entire life I am affraid so I am talking out of my derrière. In any case, thread is about 535d and not winter driving skills or techniques .

Funniest winter car I've had is E46 BMW Touring. Handling especially in corners is way ahead of FWD cars. Now I drive 4x4 Octavia Combi and ofcourse its better when accelerating from lights etc but RWD is FUN and yes, I live in Finland and our winter is longer than our summer.

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I ran one for 2 years as a company car, covered about 50k in it and aside from a couple of niggles it ran fine, was big comfy and had adequate performance, never saw anywhere near 40 mpg out of it though it was closer to 30 but with my fuel paid for I wasn't really trying to be economical lol

Funniest winter car I've had is E46 BMW Touring. Handling especially in corners is way ahead of FWD cars. Now I drive 4x4 Octavia Combi and ofcourse its better when accelerating from lights etc but RWD is FUN and yes, I live in Finland and our winter is longer than our summer.

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Not fun when it doesnt go anywhere lol

Not fun when it doesnt go anywhere lol

I drove it for 7 years and had no problem with moving it. If someone drives with summer tyres on during winter season its their own fault if their car isn't moving... But I admit it that it is different to drive than FWD. My friends got it stuck couple of times when they hit pedal too hard at start. BMWs and Mercedes are quite common cars here so I don't think you can blame the cars for winter driveability. More often I see small FWD cars which have pushed their way to the gutter. Ofcourse you have to get used to the car you are going to drive with.

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I drove it for 7 years and had no problem with moving it. If someone drives with summer tyres on during winter season its their own fault if their car isn't moving... But I admit it that it is different to drive than FWD. My friends got it stuck couple of times when they hit pedal too hard at start. BMWs and Mercedes are quite common cars here so I don't think you can blame the cars for winter driveability. More often I see small FWD cars which have pushed their way to the gutter. Ofcourse you have to get used to the car you are going to drive with.

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I know what you're saying, but with the same tyres on, a well driven FWD will get further than a well driven RWD.

we had 11 inches of snow here the other week, my fabia with goodyear vector 4 seasons on was only really restricted by ground clearances in places (which was my sympathy for the underside of the car, not that it wouldnt) , my mates skyline and neighbours bmw (both with winters) werent going anywhere.

Theirs with winters on is probably similar to a fwd hatch with summers on.

I can see the winter driving doesn't want to die lol

I suppose Henkke knows how to drive in winter living in Finland. Absolutely agree with you mate, weight distribution and skills make RWD cars far superior in all weather conditions. SImple example, cannot steer, brake and engine brake at the same time in FWD, ditch finder galore. Going uphill in FWD the only option is going straight as all your grip is needed to keep you moving so no option for finding best traction route on the road - examples are endless.

 

EDIT: I even drove an old 523i in deep snow, -10C and icy conditions on summer tyres and I managed OK, no problems. I did however prefer to have winters on in such conditions, makes your life easier .

Having said that crap winter tyres (of a budget variety) are worse in winter conditions that premium summer rubber. 

Edited 23 February, 201511 yr by Jabozuma

Lol. Never heard such rubbish in my life

Hmm thats odd. Is it common to use studded tires there? Most people in here uses studded winter tyres. I had studded Sava Eskimo on my E46 and studded Nokian Hakkapeliitta on my Octavia. That makes huge difference on grip.

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N you reckon the octavia isnt as good as the bmw in the white stuff?

Lol. Never heard such rubbish in my life

 

That is very symptomatic of a very narrow minded personality. At that cue I am bowing out.

Hmm thats odd. Is it common to use studded tires there? Most people in here uses studded winter tyres. I had studded Sava Eskimo on my E46 and studded Nokian Hakkapeliitta on my Octavia. That makes huge difference on grip.

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Not really as such conditions are frequent but do not last and are prone to frequent changes so no point with studs really, unless you are high up in the mountains where it makes sense. 

 

Studded or spiked or brilliant on compacted snow and lethal on clear tarmac. So if I have a combination of surfaces I'd rather go for good winter rubber. If I lived in a place where roads are basically staying compacted snow most of the year/season then I'd go for studs as well - there's a reason why WRC bunch were using studs at Monaco earlier this on certain stages. Indeed, studs or spikes are far superior in such conditions.

N you reckon the octavia isnt as good as the bmw in the white stuff?

No, Octavia goes better because of 4x4. Just saying my opinion of that RWD is fun and enjoyable on snow if tires are okay. Myself I didn't even considered of getting a FWD again. I enjoy driving too much and IMO it's not enjoyable driving if FWD tries to pull me in the ditch all the time when cornering on slippery road.

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