RWD? FWD? AWD? What's best in snow, by how much?
- Thread starter Ws6
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I live up in the mountains and have an AWD Mazda CX 5. We don't get a lot of snow but my biggest challenge isn't driving through a foot of snow but getting traction on some very steep streets. Especially between my home and the State Highway. The factory Toyo all season tires were junk. I wanted a set of chains, but in what I consider to be a major design flaw by Mazda, the struts and suspecnsion components are so close to the front wheels that you cannot use chains without them rubbing.
Buying a set of dedicated snow tires would be a good solution but not economically practical when we only get a half dozen snowstorms a year. So I just bought a set of highly rated Continental Extreme Contact all season tires and so far, they are light years ahead of the Toyo tires. Mazda's AWD engineering is such that the car is pretty much FWD all the time unless it detects slippage and then it applies power to the rear wheels. There are some videos on YouTube of CX 5's with true snow tires doing quite well on snow covered roads.
As many people above have commented, tires are almost as important as the type of drive system. If the tires slip or clog up it doesn't matter what else is going on with the mechanics of the vehicle. I see a lot of 4WD vehicles in town but overwhelmingly there are AWD SUV's from all the major manufacturers. Apparently they are "good enough". Good thing it isn't like Buffalo around here !
Buying a set of dedicated snow tires would be a good solution but not economically practical when we only get a half dozen snowstorms a year. So I just bought a set of highly rated Continental Extreme Contact all season tires and so far, they are light years ahead of the Toyo tires. Mazda's AWD engineering is such that the car is pretty much FWD all the time unless it detects slippage and then it applies power to the rear wheels. There are some videos on YouTube of CX 5's with true snow tires doing quite well on snow covered roads.
As many people above have commented, tires are almost as important as the type of drive system. If the tires slip or clog up it doesn't matter what else is going on with the mechanics of the vehicle. I see a lot of 4WD vehicles in town but overwhelmingly there are AWD SUV's from all the major manufacturers. Apparently they are "good enough". Good thing it isn't like Buffalo around here !
twouvakind
Site Donor 2025
They all stop the same, or not.
Was trying to get the daughter to hit the brakes hard enough yesterday to trigger ABS on some snow, the oversized snows was making it hard to do. Lesson for a different day. At the same time, I finally got her to hammer it, and the FWD car just went straight. Can't say I ever want a RWD again, snows or not, FWD is just easier for me. At least until I have to drive up a hill...
No way in hell RWD is better than FWD in the snow. All the weight is up front. I grew up in NJ and have been through many major snowstorms over the years. I also spent considerable time in upstate NY and the vehicles that always got stuck the most were RWD.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
1. Half a dozen storms? How do you calculate ROI on that? Difference between Continental DWS 06 and Continental VikingContact 7 in braking in ice is going to be 30ft or more. Snow, same way.
2. Tires are not almost as important! Tires are THE MOST important in winter driving. No one died nit being able to go forward fast enough. But many died not being able to stop, which makes AWD or any other type of drive, irrelevant.
3. Tires will hold vehicle through corners. Yes, you can slide sideways through corners and control vehicle, but that is kind if impractical on city roads. Most people want to stay in lane and not wear off trajectory, again, tires!
I see this every year around October, when newcomers from TX and CA start asking questions on neighborhood facebook page and try to justify not purchasing tires. Than same people complain how slippery it is , while I drop kids to school and daycare, and go ski after, driving on those slippery roads.
AWD > FWD > RWD in general. Of course there are variables, and not all AWD systems are equal. The biggest thing to know is that none of that helps with stopping or preventing a slide down a hill on really slick snow or ice. I had a X3 that I drove through a huge snowstorm in southern IL years ago and it was amazing. But it also had Pirelli Scorpion tires.
If you get stuck in 1-2 inches of snow in anything but a race car, you should stay home.
I barely shovel the driveway at that level, and the snowplows tend not to bother either.
heck for that much snow I wouldn't bother with anything other than all seasons on my car...
I've had all configurations and I feel like it depends very much on the particular road conditions and the specifics of the vehicle. We had an F-150 4x4 and a Subaru Impreza at the same time for awhile. In icy or light snow conditions the AWD of the Subaru was excellent. If it got real deep was when the F-150 had the advantage. Our front wheel Caravan did well in the snow but some of our lighter weight front wheel drive cars didn't do as well. My rear wheel drive stuff with a little weight in the back did okay.
In WV we don’t get a great amount of snow at any one time but six inches of snow on a mountain is still slick.
Btwn my A4 Quattro and Cross Sport with 4Motion I never have problems getting up a hill. But getting down some of them is quite an adventure especially if leaving the road leads to a 50 to 100 drop off into a valley.
The main road to my house is named Saltwell Road if that tells you anything.
Btwn my A4 Quattro and Cross Sport with 4Motion I never have problems getting up a hill. But getting down some of them is quite an adventure especially if leaving the road leads to a 50 to 100 drop off into a valley.
The main road to my house is named Saltwell Road if that tells you anything.
I'd take AWD Subaru with 3/32" left over FWD with snow tires. Why? Because I have always driven a FWD and others in my life AWD. Never really had a problem in 6" or less of snow with FWD, but ice buildup or deeper snow 4 wheels turning makes a huge difference. Now, how often have I actually needed AWD vs. my FWD? Almost never. For a typical person not having to drive through a foot of snow or on ice often (say your work would get called off) you'll rarely find a time if you have FWD and a set of 3PMS tires that an AWD is necessary. Just my $0.02.
At the same time I had a RWD with snow tires (BMW 528i) and a FWD with snow tires (Honda Accord V6), both with manual transmissions.
FWD is much better in snow. I took the Honda on a long trip the morning after a blizzard. I started off on a country road with 4 - 6" of snow plus drifts in open areas and the Honda powered right through it. Later in the trip long stretches of glare ice where you have to remember to drive the "right speed" on curves so you don't go off on the high side or on the low side.
For driving pleasure, RWD for sure. But not in snow.
I've never had an AWD. As far as driving in snow is concerned, if FWD with snow tires isn't good enough, I'll stay off the roads.
FWD is much better in snow. I took the Honda on a long trip the morning after a blizzard. I started off on a country road with 4 - 6" of snow plus drifts in open areas and the Honda powered right through it. Later in the trip long stretches of glare ice where you have to remember to drive the "right speed" on curves so you don't go off on the high side or on the low side.
For driving pleasure, RWD for sure. But not in snow.
I've never had an AWD. As far as driving in snow is concerned, if FWD with snow tires isn't good enough, I'll stay off the roads.
Another thing I have noticed with my lowered Hyundai AWD and my old FWD lowered VW's of youth that were all lowered and were all year round daily's. In winter coming into a city plow truck plowed end of driveway snow hump or a very deep snow the AWD can push through being somewhat floor pan bellied with Continental Extreme 06 plus and equivalents all-seasons and the old FWD that had dedicated snow tires. The FWD would get stuck because they need all 4 tire traction not to get hung up. Now a days we have the AWD Rav4, CR-V and others crossovers. Even my Hyundai Kona AWD in stock form that is 2 inches higher then mine that are high enough to not belly up on a normal snow falls. Since my Kona is NOW actually a hatchback AWD car and not a crossover as the only difference in that categorization is "ride height/ground clearance".
The tires on my wife and younger daughters cars that get driven year round, if winter is coming and I am below 5/32, I buy new tires and sell those tires in the summer on Craigslist. They always get picked up by guys who drive into their work in the citys from their home in the country it seems. Good tires are too important in winter.
We now see more AWD cars older and just coming out, Kia Stinger, Kia K5, the commoner Toyota Corolla, Prius, Camry and Nissan Altima and GT-R. Because of the AWD advantage. And more I bet I missed.
The tires on my wife and younger daughters cars that get driven year round, if winter is coming and I am below 5/32, I buy new tires and sell those tires in the summer on Craigslist. They always get picked up by guys who drive into their work in the citys from their home in the country it seems. Good tires are too important in winter.
We now see more AWD cars older and just coming out, Kia Stinger, Kia K5, the commoner Toyota Corolla, Prius, Camry and Nissan Altima and GT-R. Because of the AWD advantage. And more I bet I missed.
A big factor I find is width of tires. Narrow higher profile all-seasons can do better than wide lower profile winter tires.
Fwd with snows are fine as long as you don’t need to climb long steep hills. Eventually you lose momentum and gravity wins
AWD with snows are best
Going down steep hills with snow/ice, you need metal digging into snow for control
AWD with snows are best
Going down steep hills with snow/ice, you need metal digging into snow for control
The rear engine, RWD original VW bug is the absolute best possible. How do you think the snow plow driver gets to work? 
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
No, they cannot stop the same as a winter tire or hold the road. Those are situations where you die.
I found my truck in 2WD and my RWD 300 did better in the snow than my minivan, caliber, or Kia ever did
The minvan I can get, all the weight over the wrong end. The Caliber, well it's a Dodge (sorry, can't help myselfI found my truck in 2WD and my RWD 300 did better in the snow than my minivan, caliber, or Kia ever did
), the Kia I can't explain.How touchy were/are they on the throttle? My truck had a touchy throttle, heavy tip-in, and I found it hard to drive in the snow, if not in 4WD. Slow responding throttle has its place.
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Speaking of the Caliber, one year I was shoveling or doing something my backyard, when I could hear someone stuck (wheels spinning, etc). Behind my house were some rentals (lakefront), and I was able to gather that she was down there cleaning up the house, after being rented out. Caliber of a FWD sort, with obligatory bald tires. I hopped in and had it unstuck in moments. She thanked me. Hour later I heard the same thing going on (apparently she had to go out for cleaning supplies or lunch or something). She kinda gave me a disgusted look as I went and did a repeat performance...
That was the same house that one year was rented to some people with an accent I can't place (Russian, or that part of the world). One of them had one those AMG SUV's, I think I looked it up and it was one of those 500hp affairs. Complete with performance tires, middle of winter, and an unplowed dirt road. I think I helped get it unstuck once but they basically got it stuck again in a few feet, then gave up for the evening (the booze was already flowing I could tell). Apparently you cannot overcome lack of tires with horsepower.
