[jtuds]

Well here in Southwestern Ontario we got nailed with an early snowstorm Saturday night, I have about 2 feet in my driveway which caused me to miss the NFL pre game and some areas around here had even more!

I was glad i had my snow tires on but still a bit worried about how my RWD would handle if I got off the beaten path and found myself on an unploughed street.

Well, yesterday on the way home form work I got impatient on the main roads and ventured tot he side streets, which were not only unploughed but had brutal piles in all the intersections, and the f30 was undeterred!

I'm not talking "I made it through" - I'm saying there was literally no question about it….I could not believe it, even the few times I had to stop at light in the deep stuff, getting going again was like it wasn't even there,

I can't help but wonder why Canadians spend the extra $3000 on xdrive….it's got to be for the peace of mind, because if you know what you're doing out there, that money would be far better spent on additional options, or just saved altogether.

The capability of this thing in the snow has now moved up probably into the top 3 things I like most about the car.

[Dan_335i]

Thats good to hear! Now your making me more confident with rwd in snow.

What tires do you have?

[jtuds]

Originally Posted by Dan_335i

Thats good to hear! Now your making me more confident with rwd in snow.

What tires do you have?

I got the tires that BMW sells , I originally was going to get Blizzaks but I got a deal so I ended up with the Pirellli Rossas and they're technically a "winter performance tire" which had me worried but they really handle the snow!

[Dan_335i]

So you got the pirelli sottozero tires? I went with blizzak lm60 tires also performance tires hope they work good

[335BOY]

Originally Posted by Dan_335i

So you got the pirelli sottozero tires? I went with blizzak lm60 tires also performance tires hope they work good

Those will be great!. OP needs to drive Xi and RWD back to back to realized that , while his RWD was good yesterday, AWD is incredible. The difference is like night and day. Hills are bad. Trust me.....been there done that.

[f30er]

I had Blizzaks on my e92 335i a few years ago. I was driving around after a blizzard giving rides to friends with SUV's!! It was hysterical and an absolute blast!!!

[2blu]

I've done 8 years of Canadian winters with either FWD or RWD cars. It has a lot to do with the driver and tires regardless of the drive of the car. For the first time ever I'm tackling winter with an AWD car and I'm looking forward to seeing what it will be like !

I had no intention on getting an X-drive, as you said winter is manageable with a RWD and good winter tires (plus the savings can be used on mods or anything else), but I had to pick amongst the remaining 2013s to get a deal and here in Qc every single available F30 left was X-drive.

Glad to see you're enjoying it, hope my car will blow me away just as much as yours did ! Looking forward to our first snow storm here I'm anxiously awaiting it.

[jtuds]

Be glad you don't have enough snow yet to need to test it!

[DVC]

Originally Posted by jtuds

Well here in Southwestern Ontario we got nailed with an early snowstorm Saturday night, I have about 2 feet in my driveway which caused me to miss the NFL pre game and some areas around here had even more!

I was glad i had my snow tires on but still a bit worried about how my RWD would handle if I got off the beaten path and found myself on an unploughed street.

Well, yesterday on the way home form work I got impatient on the main roads and ventured tot he side streets, which were not only unploughed but had brutal piles in all the intersections, and the f30 was undeterred!

I'm not talking "I made it through" - I'm saying there was literally no question about it….I could not believe it, even the few times I had to stop at light in the deep stuff, getting going again was like it wasn't even there,

I can't help but wonder why Canadians spend the extra $3000 on xdrive….it's got to be for the peace of mind, because if you know what you're doing out there, that money would be far better spent on additional options, or just saved altogether.

The capability of this thing in the snow has now moved up probably into the top 3 things I like most about the car.

Cool - this has been my experience as well in previous RWD BMWs dating back to my first, a 2000 328Ci...

[Turbo00]

I can vouch for the car being great in the snow with proper tires. I ran LM60s all last winter with my rwd 328, no problems whatsoever. Traction control is very smart in the snow, and the car is a huge amount of fun with it off.

[tdizzle]

Seems like proper tires are the difference maker (which isn't actually a revelation).

Try doing the same thing in summer tires even with x drive and you'd probably need a tow. I'm in South Tennessee/North Mississippi and right now my Mich PSS are on the edge of safety. In comfort at 75% throttle from a 30mph roll I can get the tires to spin when it's 40 degrees out... Traction control kicks in really late. It's like it's programmed to expect wheel spin in certain situations and does not expect it in the above situation.

Conversely, in the summer, traction likes to kick in before I feel the wheels spinning. Kinda annoying (and off topic).

Morale of the story, get the proper tires for the situation!

[OC40]

What is snow?

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. It's been too long since I lived in a snow area.

[ft1330]

We don't even get snow here in SE PA anymore. I'm ditching my winters, going for an all-season during cold temps. Much better handling in the dry.

[avantix]

I'm on my 4th BMW, last ones being a 335i RWD, 325i RWD and 320i RWD. Currently in a 335 xdrive for the exact reason stated by 2blu in that in Quebec the lease residuals are much higher on RWD models. They have no interest in leasing them anymore because no one wants to buy them when the lease is finished. With that said the RWD variant of a 3 series will HEAVILY depend on the quality of winter tires. I had an "ok" set of winters on my 2006 RWD 325i and that car was constantly stuck if the slope was above 3% or if there was more than a few inches of snow on straights. On my modified 335i that put down over 150hp more than the 325 I put on Michelin Pilot Alpins and it was much better than the 325 going up slight gradients. The problems start when going up steeper hills, especially in traffic. It's almost game over any way you look at it. If you have to stop in the middle of an uphill you will almost certainly have a hard time taking off again.

This week I put on LM-60 Blizzaks and looking forward to the snow tonight to see what all the fuss is about with xdrive.

Still though, given the choice at the same price I would have leased a RWD all things being equal.

[2blu]

Originally Posted by avantix

Still though, given the choice at the same price I would have leased a RWD all things being equal.

Same here. Can't believe I'm in an X-drive now, never thought the day would come ! I used to swear by MT and RWD now I'm in an AT AWD ! Don't regret it one bit though, not yet anyway.

[335BOY]

Originally Posted by avantix

I'm on my 4th BMW, last ones being a 335i RWD, 325i RWD and 320i RWD. Currently in a 335 xdrive for the exact reason stated by 2blu in that in Quebec the lease residuals are much higher on RWD models. They have no interest in leasing them anymore because no one wants to buy them when the lease is finished. With that said the RWD variant of a 3 series will HEAVILY depend on the quality of winter tires. I had an "ok" set of winters on my 2006 RWD 325i and that car was constantly stuck if the slope was above 3% or if there was more than a few inches of snow on straights. On my modified 335i that put down over 150hp more than the 325 I put on Michelin Pilot Alpins and it was much better than the 325 going up slight gradients. The problems start when going up steeper hills, especially in traffic. It's almost game over any way you look at it. If you have to stop in the middle of an uphill you will almost certainly have a hard time taking off again.

This week I put on LM-60 Blizzaks and looking forward to the snow tonight to see what all the fuss is about with xdrive.

Still though, given the choice at the same price I would have leased a RWD all things being equal.

THIS is the only problem. No matter what anyone tells you it Doesnt matter how good your rubber is RWD BMW on a hill is brutal. I had to plan my routes home on snowy days to avoid valleys.

[DVC]

Originally Posted by 335BOY

THIS is the only problem. No matter what anyone tells you it Doesnt matter how good your rubber is RWD BMW on a hill is brutal. I had to plan my routes home on snowy days to avoid valleys.

In several years of driving on winter roads, I only had this problem with RWD and proper winter tires once... it was on a fairly steep hill with nasty black ice and a fresh 1/2" of fluffy powder. It was so slippery that I actually lost traction enough on the way up the hill that the traction control was cutting power to the point that the car came to a stop before I made it to the top. But with DSC/TC disengaged, and some carefully controlled wheel spin, I still made it up the remainder of the hill from a dead stop.
It should also be noted that I was on high-performance winter tires (not remotely as good as true studless winter tires), and they were on their last legs, which makes a big difference.

By the way... in addition to benefiting lap times on a track, an LSD is a big help in winter weather ; )

[moishe]

Originally Posted by jtuds

I can't help but wonder why Canadians spend the extra $3000 on xdrive

You spend the extra cash on the x-drive because as much as the RWD is good in the snow, the x-drive is even that much better. I have an F32 X-Drive with all-seasons and it's such a beast in the white stuff that it makes our old E90 RWD with Blizzaks look completely useless in comparison.

[DVC]

Originally Posted by moishe

You spend the extra cash on the x-drive because as much as the RWD is good in the snow, the x-drive is even that much better. I have an F32 X-Drive with all-seasons and it's such a beast in the white stuff that it makes our old E90 RWD with Blizzaks look completely useless in comparison.

I would have to drive in the snow A LOT to prioritize snow traction over dry road driving dynamics... that said, I see your location is "Hoth", so I can see why your priorities are on snow traction!

[fshubert]

My 2007 xi was great in snow and adding snow tires to my 2009 RWD was just a bit below "great". No issues with RWD even on the new F30 with the Blizzacks on. Will be changing over from the summer sports to square winter set-up this weekend.

[moishe]

@DVC it's actually Edmonton, but it may as well be Hoth. Can't imagine it'd be much different.

[jtuds]

Originally Posted by moishe

You spend the extra cash on the x-drive because as much as the RWD is good in the snow, the x-drive is even that much better. I have an F32 X-Drive with all-seasons and it's such a beast in the white stuff that it makes our old E90 RWD with Blizzaks look completely useless in comparison.

Yeah, part of it comes down to whether your priority is a rearwheel drive sport sedan for better performance when there's no snow or all-wheel-drive for when there is