We don’t get too much snow and ice around here each year although we’ve got about 5 inches at the moment. That’s not much for other places but around here it’s looked at as Armageddon.
One problem with AWD or 4WD is a number of drivers feel they’re 10 feet tall and bulletproof due to having it so driving with care doesn’t apply to them. I’m sure the tow truck companies in this area are swamped.
Usain Bolt is the world record holder for the 100 meter dash. On ice, I can out run him for a 100 meters if I wear ice grippers and he wears street shoes. When we keep talking about how much better fwd with snow tires is then awd without, it neglects the obvious. If people choose to drive an awd car with crappy all season tires on snow, it says nothing about the car but says a lot about the driver. The front wheel drive car is better then another car regardless of the drive because the driver chose to be better prepared.
It 's the same argument about 4 wd cars being off a road in snow. The driver chose to be an idiot, in the same way on a dry road, a Miata could be in a ditch and you could pass him in a Camry and claim your car handles better.
Put winter tires on awd cars and they accelerate two to three times faster then any 2 wd car in snow, which is a safety factor when merging. They take corners better while climbing hills in snow by wide margins. They can get through slippery intersections much safer on snow. And lastly, by a huge margin, you can drive them SLOWER when approach hills and intersections because you don’t worry about making a hill driving too slow or stopping when you should at a slippery inspection and making it through in time to merge. Awd cars are potentially two to three times safer in slippery going when shod the same way as a 2 wd car and driven with the same care. Any other comparisons
With unlike tires is not a valid comparison imho.
Heck, even the stability control works more efficiently with awd as it controls both braking and driving forces on all wheels instead of just braking when driving in snow. They are potentially SAFER winter cars.
My wife and I drive awd cars and we don’t feel superior to drivers of 2wd cars. We drive slower then they do because we can and are too busy try to dodge them fish tailing and being stuck in traffic trying to start up on hills because we are sane and our cars have winter tires. We feel better prepared driving awd with snow tires then any fwd car on the road. She loves driving her awd car in the winter prepared this way .
If cars made a driver drive like an idiot, it’s the drivers fault, not the cars. Cars are inanimate. They don’t make much of anything happen.
The type of vehicle they’re in can influence the driving habits or perceptions of some, not all, people behind the wheel.
Almost 2 years ago there were some nasty tornados in central OK and torrential rain which led to a number of deaths.
One of the local TV stations had a reporter on the street that night about 10 o’clock near a massively flooded intersection where a number of cars had already stalled.
Some woman with her teenage son drove through it in her almost new Jeep Liberty and stalled after she went through high water.
The reporter walks over to talk to her through a rolled down window and she insisted her car was “out of gas…”.
The reporter then asked her if she didn’t think the 3 foot deep water might have had something to do with it and she insisted that it didn’t
She then states “It can’t be that. After all, it’s a Jeep Liberty and I’ve got four wheel drive…”.
I’d go with the Subaru, definitely!
A car cannot influence anything with a preconceived notion by the driver, People approach different cars with with ignorance unusually fostered by another uniformed person. It some one else didn’t coin the phrase " trail ready" and try to sell her or hubby about it’s magic powers, the lady with would have treated it like any other car. I have to reply that Libertys are what they are like any car and it 's the prevalence of misinformation and ignorance that breeds their miss use. It’s a people problem, not a car problem. The car says nothing.
A truck based 4 wd system is a disaster on light snow up to 5 inches on ice when driven over 40 mph and trying to make a corner wit it ’ s locked center diff. Put it in low range in slippery winter conditions and you
Might as well be in a Pinto with slicks . It’s not the cars fault. It’s the ignorance on the part of the driver.
Subaru is less expensive to repair and IMHO any competent mechanic can fix one. Audi is more difficult to work on and can be frustrating.
I own a turbo Subaru Legacy wagon and like it but cannot state it was more reliable then a 2005 Audi. Just a $60/hr mechanic who fixes it right the first and every time has made ownership quite pleasant even till now with 185k. Audi owners of same vintage seem run at first major repair between 100k-150k. You may well notice the price of Audi used with some mileage appears reasonable since they get dumped.
“Some woman with her teenage son drove through it in her almost new Jeep Liberty and stalled after she went through high water.”
Probably a good thing for the woman . . . from what I hear and read, the Jeep Liberty is a total piece of garbage front to back, top to bottom
If she’s lucky, the engine’s hydrocked, the insurance will write it off, and she can make a better choice on her next vehicle
My assumption is that she probably went ballistic when told warranty is not paying for it. When I worked for Nissan a lady slid her 2 week old brand new Nissan into a deep ditch after losing it on ice just a few blocks from the dealership.
It was towed in with a broken RF wheel, wiped RF suspension, hood and fender damage, etc.
She went ballistic when told it was an insurance issue and not a warranty problem.
As to the Libertys I don’t have any experience with them but they are popular around here with the rural mail carriers.
The old lady across the street from me has a son who runs the route in this area and he’s been flogging his Liberty for about 5 or 6 years now with the bulk of it on dirt and gravel roads.
The Jeep replaced his Tacoma when he got tired of wrestling one issue after the other. His Tacoma spent more time down than it did up after a couple of years (bought new) and he was often borrowing his mom’s secondary vehicle (an S-10) to run his route with.
There is a website called “Carcomplaints DOT com” that has various reviews, ratings, recalls, and investigations of all models. I suggest looking at any cars you are considering on this site to see how many major issues they have. For example, look up the 2000 Dodge Intrepid or any other equipped with the notorious 2.7L engine. They basically say these are worth about the price of scrap metal from the start as that is what they will soon become.