Thoughts? I live in a wintery biome so having awd gives me a bit of peace of mind

  • ZC3rr0r@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’ve owned several FWD EVs in what I’d consider the wintery parts of BC (snowfall of 8+ meters anually) and the amount of times I got stuck as a result of not having AWD can be counted on one hand. Good driving habits and high-end winter tires are much, much more important than having AWD or not.

    That said, the times I did get stuck were mostly a bit annoying if not embarassing (due to holding up traffic). Only once (while climbing a steep hill) did it actually get a bit sketchy due to backsliding, but that happened to every vehicle that had to come to a stop on that hill.

    • OminousOrange@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’ll take good tires over AWD any day in a Saskatchewan winter. It’s interesting how influenced people have become to essentially the opposite of safety measures. AWD doesn’t help you stop, and taller bigger vehicles aren’t safer, they’re much more likely to roll.

    • Zeppo@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      AWD is one thing, but a real issue is FWD vs RWD. Driving a RWD stick shift in northern MN was insane. Fun to drift around corners, but I’d get stuck on hills so small as to be imperceptible.

    • dom@lemmy.caOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Wouldn’t you want to avoid those, even if it isn’t common?

      • CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I mean, doesn’t that depend on the cost?

        If it was $100 increase to avoid that, sure.

        But if it’s significantly more, then I’ll take the cheaper car.

        • ZC3rr0r@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          Funny you say that, because 100 bucks is usually the difference between budget winter tires and premium winter tires. You’d be surprised how many people still pick the budget option.

      • ZC3rr0r@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yes sure, but not at any cost. Not only are they generally more expensive to own, insure, and maintain, AWD adds weight to a vehicle which makes it harder to stop. The best winter car I’ve ever owned to this day is still a small Fiat Panda. It was FWD and tiny, but importantly very light and with all the primary weight over the driven wheels. With good (studded) winter tires it got up hills in snow where my wife’s AWD SUV was struggling.