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      10-26-2013, 09:24 AM   #29
trey100
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Drives: 2020 M2 Competition
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: New York

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Quote:
Originally Posted by ynguldyn
Quote:
Originally Posted by trey100 View Post
I don't know. Where I live we have our share of mostly SUVs in ditches but I always enjoy seeing the RWD folks fishtail everywhere with no forward progress. Now I live in a part of NY with plenty of hills and sometimes the traffic stops which is challenging for a RWD car to get started again. To me the draw for AWD is that I don't need winter tires for 4 months of the year - sacrificing performance for 99 percent of the winter.
I think we can add another misguided person to the list of those who think that power equals traction.
Who said power equals traction? I'm not sure if people debating this have actually ever owned both types of vehicles and tires. I have. My point is not that a winter tire doesn't perform better driving in snow and ice because it's factually true that it does. My point is that a winter tire does not perform as well in non-snow and ice conditions. Here in NY, our roads are plowed quickly so it's not often that you find yourself in conditions where the winter tires work best. But you will find yourself much of the winter in conditions that it doesn't perform well or at least outperformed by a very good all season tire. I don't want to spend 4 months of every year on a tire that has poorer traction on dry roads which is what we drive on most of the winter. I've done that already and prefer buying an AWD car with UHP all seasons so that the small penalty in the summer (remember we are not tracking the car) outweighs the penalty for the 4-6 days that we drive in snow. When there is snow on the ground it doesn't matter what tire you have or which wheels are driving the car, you are still driving carefully so I would rather lose a bit of performance then than the majority of the year. Also, wearing summer tires can get you in trouble here in NY as well with unexpected large temperature drops. Overall, for me (and the majority of people), AWD with good tires is less of a compromise than the summer/winter setup. A RWD vehicle forces you into a summer/winter setup whereas a AWD vehicle gives you the choice of either that or going all seasons year round. And I reiterate and back to the point of my original "misguided" post - RWD cars with winter tires have trouble getting up hills where I live. AWD cars with all seasons do not.

If I lived in a different climate with milder weather and shorter winters, I would maybe go back to RWD with summer tires and winter tires for the small winter season but the more I continue to buy AWD cars with good UHP tires the more I believe for me not tracking the car, AWD with good all seasons is best.

I feel better now.
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