TorontoListener
Active member
[FONT=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]Yes but BMW classifies it as: "LSD: Electronic"
It's crap.[/FONT]
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AWD vs. FWD ... in snow
- Thread starter EC2010
- Start date
[FONT=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]Yes but BMW classifies it as: "LSD: Electronic"
It's crap.[/FONT]
TorontoListener
Active member
Absolutely, the A/S3+ is now ranked at the top on Tire Rack, both in their latest test and with consumers.
daught
Well-known member
The pilot sport as 3? Im not too excited about them. They are ******* scary if someone drops an ice cream on the road. They are absolutely useless with any snow on the road, and I drove plenty of winters with other all seasons on rwd card. I also find them vague when it rains. They have amazing grip on dry roads, but they are too biased towards dry roads. I doubly I will get them again. Looking at some Conti's for better ask around tires. The DWS are amazing all season tires that work well on snow, but I have real snows.
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TorontoListener
Active member
You have the original A/S3, not the latest "Plus" version. While the tread pattern is virtually unchanged, they updated the compound and it made a huge difference according to the consumer reviews and Tire Rack tests. The snow traction went from middling, to near the top of the category.
TorontoListener
Active member
I agree, my Dad had the original version of the A/S3 on his Lexus, any hint of snow and the tires turned into hockey pucks. Awful snow performance.
I remember one set of all-seasons I had (goodyear IIRC). Trying to stop on a level road with <<1" of snow needed about 300m from 40 km/h. They were nice in the summer, but they had to come off long before snow was a possibility.
Sparkcycle
Well-known member
FYI... Jeeps are NOT AWD. They are 4WD (big difference).
This
Thought this might be appropriate.....
https://youtu.be/zE5hfbhN5FM
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https://youtu.be/zE5hfbhN5FM
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Interesting. A Subie flat on its face in the 3 wheels on ice test unless VDC was off and Xmode was on. Admittedly, that was a hard test.
I found the road test in the snow to be of interest. AWD gets you going but, doesn’t help much stopping. If you drive in an area with snow and or ice, proper tires are more important than AWD IMO.
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That's always been the way and it's why most of the vehicles in the ditch are SUV's not RWD cars. AWD can get you going fast enough to exceed available handling traction. It magnifies the problem when people leave the no-seasons on thinking that AWD will save them while many of the 2WD vehicles are running snows.
That's with the corner jacked up and turning the wheel by hand? The various clutches and gizmos that need to work in order for AWD to work on that car (and most others) aren't going to be working with the ignition off.
It’s my understanding Subie does a few approaches to their AWD system depending on the vehicle. Manual transmission vs auto, and WRX vs the rest like the Outback, Legacy, Forester etc.
The brochure for my Forester says power delivery is to all 4 wheels with a 60/40 front bias. In addition to electronic control of the clutch system to adjust the powder delivery where ever it’s needed.
Some of the other makes have 100% power to the drive wheels until there is slippage detected and then the other wheels engage once the fronts break traction.
Subie’s are no Jeep but, they are pretty good compared to most others.
Can’t say why an Outback would free wheel with the other tires on the ground but, I do know when the vehicle ignition is on and in gear, power is going to all wheels.
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Played in the snow on saturday with VW AWD and crappy stock all-season tires. No drama at all. Power transfer happened smoothly and imperceptibly. Not nearly as much push as FWD and no spinning when starting from a stop unless you drove like an idiot.
Once the slippery stuff stays, i will try shifting the Haldex bias to make it more tail happy. I'm not sure of the long-term effect of that if driven hard on grippy roads (although it seems very very few people that have done it had problems).
Do you need it? Probably very rarely (although getting FWD started from a stop when going uphill can be frustrating for those behind you even with good tires). It definitely takes more fuel and makes the car heavier. It also makes it feel underpowered (essentially impossible to get tire slip on dry roads and still pretty damned hard on wet roads). If they had DSG FWD, I would have bought that and never had a problem. I think the AWD is a much better match once the power gets closer to the 300 hp mark (easily and reliably achievable on this motor) as FWD with more power just equals more spinning on the street.
Once the slippery stuff stays, i will try shifting the Haldex bias to make it more tail happy. I'm not sure of the long-term effect of that if driven hard on grippy roads (although it seems very very few people that have done it had problems).
Do you need it? Probably very rarely (although getting FWD started from a stop when going uphill can be frustrating for those behind you even with good tires). It definitely takes more fuel and makes the car heavier. It also makes it feel underpowered (essentially impossible to get tire slip on dry roads and still pretty damned hard on wet roads). If they had DSG FWD, I would have bought that and never had a problem. I think the AWD is a much better match once the power gets closer to the 300 hp mark (easily and reliably achievable on this motor) as FWD with more power just equals more spinning on the street.
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