RWD in snow

Well,

Still thinking of the new 300C and was since some of us have been given some
pretty nasty weather in the form of snow, how did your 300C (RWD) perform?

Ken

--
"Now Phoebe Snow direct can go
from thirty-third to Buffalo.
From Broadway bright the tubes run right
Into the Road of Anthracite"
Erie - Lackawanna

 

you a might not believe this but the subaru wxs i think it is called had a
quarter mile time faster than the hemi cars and the pontiac gto from what i read
in car and drivers shoot out
and the gto was faster than the hemi car

 

I have the AWD 300C, it handled this week's snow nicely (I live in
Massachusetts and we got at least a foot of snow this week), it felt very
sure footed. I got the AWD because the idea of using a RWD in the snow was
frightening. I'll admit that my prejudice against RWD is based on 30 year
old data, the last RWD car I owned was a 71 Ford which I got rid of in
1980. That car would spin out on snow. But of course modern cars have
automatic traction control and better tires, but I wasn't going to take
the chance that ATS would be sufficient to make a RWD car handle well in
the snow.

 

I'm not sure what that has to do with my question but I agree that the two
cars you mentioned are faster than the smaller Hemi but not the 6.1. The 300
has room for 5 where neither the GTO nor the Subaru do not unless you
include children.

Ken

 

Not good.

 

Well, I live in Finland and we do have snow and everything here during
winter. We also have studded tyres or real winter tyres without studs (not
M+S but tyres designed to winter, driving on snow and ice).

I have had RWD cars all my life (Fiat 850 -72, Ford Escort -69, Chevrolet
Scottsdale -78, Toyota Corolla -78/-79/-82, Ford Taunus -76/-78, Ford
Scorpio -89, Mercedes-Benz C-class -02/-04, Dodge Kingsway STW -59, Dodge
Dart -64, Plymouth Trailduster -76 ok, this was 4x4... and Plymouth Gran
Fury -78) I have never had any touble during winter tíme with RWD, only with
FWD cars.

My newest car is now Chrysler 300C STW. We do have Chrysler 300C STW here in
Europe, it is Dodge Magnum with Chrysler front grille etc. I'm getting my
300C 19th December and looking forward to owning it. My car is only RWD but
it has that ESP system which makes driving on slippery conditions very easy.
My -78 Gran Fury is much trickier to drive than my M-B which also has ESP.
But my point is that RWD cars are (to my opinion) much better to drive in
winter than FWD cars. You can steer also with gas pedal...

Sorry about my poor english.

Risto Nevala

 

Thanks for the post. Some sales people will tell you anything. So much for
that 50-50 (or close to) weight distribution sales pitch.

Ken

 

General,

Same story hear. All too often I got caught in some pretty bad storms. One
time I made it to a hotel and another time I was lucky to find some other
people that needed a ride to the same town. They helped push me when I got
stuck. I was lucky.

I will get the AWD.

We also had it pretty bad in here in NJ with 10" of snow the other day. This
is the beginning of what appears to be another very active winter.

Ken

--
"Now Phoebe Snow direct can go
from thirty-third to Buffalo.
From Broadway bright the tubes run right
Into the Road of Anthracite"
Erie - Lackawanna

 

Your English is great but having driven RWD in Rochester NY up until 1980 I
find it hard to believe that anyone can find RWD better in snow then FWD.

 

Our fucking stupid-ass politicians here in Ontario do not allow
studded snow tires (they say it is bad for the roads, and seem
un-moved by newer types of studs).

It could be too that in the US snow belt, they too might not allow
studded tires. I think that fact alone will have a significant impact
on your theory of RWD being superior to FWD for winter driving (and
you can't tell me that a RWD car is superior to FWD in the snow, given
the same tires on both cars).

As I have posted numerous times, my 300M (FWD) with snow tires is
amazing. The 300-Bling is handicapped because it was designed as a
RWD car because they wanted to put a V-8 in it (and because there's no
tranny for FWD for a V-8, you could only have RWD or happily for the
dealers, you must choose AWD). The V-6 option (which is FWD?) for the
300-Bling is handicapped because the 300-Bling weighs several hundred
pounds more than the 300M.

In the area of the great lakes, we get lots of days where we get snow
coming off the lakes, and lots of cloudy days (ie no sun = snow does
not melt off the roads). So on many of the smaller city streets, the
snow is hard packed and will remain that way until the daytime high
temp reaches the freezing point (for most of December we haven't been
above zero, which is very unusual, and we've had about 1.5 feet of
snow so far this december, where usually we dont' get the first snow
fall until the 2'nd or third week of December).

Bottom line:

If you live in the snow belt, and you want to buy one of the
LX-chassis ulgy pieces of crap from Chrysler, and you want something
more than the V-6, then you are practically forced to buy the AWD
option and keep paying for the extra expense and weight penalty of
lugging the extra mechanicals around with you as you drive it all
year, when you really only need it for 2 or 3 months of the year.

For an all-weather family passenger car, the 300M beats any version of
the Bentley-300 any day.

 

I have no experience with the 300, but if you have serious snow, I
would recommend buying a set of snow tires on steel wheels and not
relying on the compromised all-seasons that the factory no doubt
equipped your vehicle with from the factory. nothing else will make as
dramatic a difference to your ability to get around in snow. Get them
for all four corners, too...

nate

 

Like I said, tires...

my Porsche (944) has 50/50 weight dist. as well, and is actually very
easy to drive and controllable in snow BUT the wide, low profile (well,
by 80's standards) tires hinder it's ultimate traction. Were I in an
area that got "real snow" I would definitely be buying snow tires.

nate

 

RWD didn't work for me but FWD, 4WD and AWD did make a difference for me.

 

Interesting. Some guy with no posting history posts a thoroughly
UNdocumented response ("not good"). You have no idea if he owns the car
you're thinking of buying, or if he's ever driven it, or where he drives.
Maybe his only experience with RWD vehicles in the winter is what he's
read in Condemner Retards magazine. And yet, you seem to assign a great
deal of credibility to his two unsupported words.

 

I will never understand why people say that FWD is better than RWD in
snow.

If you lose traction in FWD, you've lost both drive wheels and
steering. With RWD you at least have steering.

 

I'm about equal in the number of years I've had RWD and FWD.
There's no contest in the favor of FWD.
With RWD I used studs and chains, but always a struggle in significant
snow and hills.

With FWD and all season tires, which have improved greatly over the last
20 years, I'm only stopped by snow packing in under the car- a problem
with any vehicle. This has only happened in my driveway, never stopped
on roads, even steep hills up to our ski hills in western Canada.

I have no need for AWD.
All I'd like is a bit more ground clearance as Subaru has wisely done.

 

I don't agree. Your winter conditions must be much easier than here in
western Canada.
(I only steer with the steering wheel)

 

The only solution I see is another make.
Certainly not the GM cripple though.

The 300M was a great car which I was going to get, only the much lower
ground clearance than my '95 Concord was a concern.
So I passed and they're gone forever!

 

I agree that snow tires are better for pure snow, but in Canadian urban
areas and well travelled roads we have a salt slush which is better
handled with all season tires.
If one was really serious in cold winter snow conditions studed snow
tires on all 4 wheels is best.

 

Yes excessively wide tires are a no no in snow.
They float on top, not biting in.