Today snowy day in the Land of Antmen. Over 2 feet in places like Las Vegas, NM. Snow-packed and icy along Interstates and elsewhere. Travelling home, traffic gradually slowed down more and more as conditions worsened, going from 55 to 35 to 15 to 5 mph or even dead stop. Bumper-to-bumper.

Nothing like being in a line of traffic that creeps to a halt, halfway up an icy hill. Oh crap. Idiots. But, look, there's the problem ... a really slick patch that has many vehicles slewing sideways trying to re-start. Hat-de-har, there's a brand new Infiniti G35, just a'spinnin' his tires, fish-tailing, spewing, *not moving*. I adroitly pointed Mr. TSX between him and the likewise spinning Jeep Grand Cherokee to my right
and motored away up the hill, sedately but ... moving. Unlike the entire line of traffic behind me, who were boxed in by the two. Had open road for miles until I hit the next clot of traffic.

Speaking of "nothing like", nothing like having a nice 270HP, REAR WHEEL DRIVE, wide-tired G35 in the snow, huh? Bwwaaaaa-haaa-haaa. It is to laugh.

Yeah, more power seems tempting, but I bet if you asked Mr. G35 today, he sing a different tune.

 

There's nothing wrong with the G35 or any RWD car - it's the tires' and drivers' fault.

 

The past east coast storm where it snowed a little over 4 inches, I saw a awd g35 infiti get stuck on a turn, he tried go foward and reverse everal times and worst he was stuck in the left lane of a 3 lane intersection.

 

with biker. Definitely driver and tires issue.

Legendary rally cars (Stratos, etc) used to be RWD. Just the way you drive and equip it.

 

So a FWD car is not better in the snow than a RWD car equipped with the same tires?

 

It is. But a RWD car with snows will likely be better than a FWD car with "all" seasons or worse 3-season tires.

It's not too unlikely that the G35 in question had summer tires,

 

Friend of mine has a RWD G35 and refuses to drive it in the snow due to poor performance. Not a bad driver, either....maybe the stock tires are bad. However, FWD certainly beats RWD, all else being equal, on snow/ice. There is just no getting past the physics of it.

 

have you ever driven in snow?

i had pirelli snow tires on my integra and i still slipped going 10mph under the speed limit... alos may have been because i used to live in the middle of nowhere with tiny little winding roads and have to get up to go to school at 6:30 in the morning before farmer joe got out to plow the roads in his stupid old pickup plow truck.....I HATE SNOW...

but now i'm in florida, where it is currently 80 degrees and sunny...well actually its dark now so it isn't sunny anymore, but it was a few hours ago..

hmmm maybe i should get a RWD now...

 

Better to pull than push in the snow....even better when you have Blizzak's doing the pulling.....

 

I disagree. Please note that I mentioned the wide tires, and while perhaps I didn't underline it and set it off in quotes, you're darn tootin' the driver matters a lot. As does a handful of things. But, all things being equal (driver, tires, blah blah blah), FWD is superior to RWD in snow for ordinary folk like me.

Are you a professional rally driver? I'm not. I'm an experienced driver, experienced in snow and ice and such, but I'm not a rally driver. That's one reason why I chose a FWD car: it snows here.

I suppose I mentioned the G35 since we TSX owners take a fair bit of guff from G35 owners, and here's one circumstance where we have an advantage. We also have an advantage in the interior, where we don't have to look at a tacky-ass quasi-high-tech dashboard. They have plenty of advantages over our TSXes, too.

And I guess we return to your comment: gee, the common wisdom that Corvettes, Firebirds, Z28s, and other RWD cars with lots of power and very wide tires aren't the best choice on a snowy, icy day? So, that's a load of bull in your opinion? And racing slicks are great for rainy weather, too. It all the driver and how the car is equipped, I reckon. Hmmmmm.

 

Driver's fault? Umm, no. FWD puts more weight over the driving wheels which = better traction. End of story.

Slats

 

Driver's fault in that he drove a car not equiped for the conditions. Like most Americans, he probably is driving the car with the tires that came from the factory - guess what - they suck in the snow. But most folks can't be bothered to properly equip their cars. You might get to a point that it's not the platform layout or the tires that are the problem but the conditions. If there's a foot of snow on the ground (or deep enough that you are plowing it) or it's totaly icy none of those things matter. You need to get chains or studded tires or here's a novel idea - stay at home!!!!!

Biker, who is glad that winter is finally over and we've mostly avoided the dreaded yearly FWD/RWD in snow debate.

 

I used to have an 80's era Firebird and that thing was a deathtrap on the ice/snow, even with proper tires. Just wasn't enough weight on the back wheels. Put a ton of salt, sand, whatever to weight the back end down.