Quote:
Originally Posted by Accelerometer
Ok you do know what happens when you hydroplane right? It occurs when a tire rolls over a wet surface and is unable to evacuate the water quick enough which results in the tire "floating" over the water. This is a NO traction situation.
Look I am not putting down xDrive, I own a 335i xDrive and think its great. But I also run snow tires during winter because I know handling/braking traction is 95% in the tires and not in the drivetrain. I just can't stand how BMW has marketed xDrive as being advantageous in the wet. At the very best it only has a marginal advantage.
|
I drive on proper winter tires, too. There is no substitute for that, after all your tires are the only thing that's touching the ground.
I also agree that if you find yourself driving on a sheet of ice where there is absolutely zero traction, then AWD and RWD will in theory be both the same. That is, you have zero control.
But the reality for many people live up North is that they gonna find themselves in low traction conditions quite often, whether it's rain or snow. The advantage of xDrive simply cannot be ignored.
It is fun to drift around, if I really wanna do that I will get myself a FR-S/BRZ with a proper LSD. For day to day driving, I will gladly take the xDrive over RWD. But that's because I don't live in California or Florida.