Fwd Vs Awd

[Harteget]

Any of you guys here live in Michigan, Lansing? I just moved from CA to MI and just curious whether my FWD RX 330 will survive in the winter here or not? My car has 18" Goodyear Eagle RSA, all season tires. Do the AWD make any different here in the winter? Do I really need the snow tires? Thank you in advance.

[Harteget]

How about anybody in the NewEngland or EastNorthCentral Areas? :cries:

[SW03ES]

Run a search for this topic, there are several very heated discussions about it ;)

[Harteget]

Thank you. I already did but seem like controversial topics. Did not get any good answer.

[SW03ES]

Generally the feeling is that AWD may not provide much added traction because of the VSC system limiting wheelspin. I don't have an RX330 but this makes sense to me. A good set of snow tires is going to be a must in Michigan. My bet is with snow tires you're going to be just fine in your FWD RX.

[Harteget]

SW03ES, thank you very much for your input.

[newengland]

No snow tires required.

I've been through 3 N.E. winters with standard tires on my RX300.

No problems.

[wwest]

I spent many years in north central MT. Always drove standard tires with RWD but NEVER hesitated to install (lways nearby)snowchains.

FWD vehicles, and/or front biased AWD, undoubtedly have better traction capabilities than RWD or in many cases even 4WD.

Right up until you need to allocate a majority of the surface traction coefficient to stearing, lateral forces. That's when you will sincerely wish that front driveline coupling to the engine would vanish, instantly.

So, as long as you drive your FWD ultra conservatively you will have no trouble during the winter.

But remember, if you decide to go for an AWD vehicle be sure, certain, it has a definite RWD torque bias such as the X3 & X5 or the 4runner, and if your really must have a FWD or front biased AWD be certain it can be driven with rear snowchains ONLY, not front only like the RX & HL.