Quote:
Originally Posted by delmarco
The way I look at it 90% of the 'habitable' planet has no snow or ice on the roads 10 months out of the year. Unless you live in Russia or a remote region where there is NO infrastructure for snow plowing. And in that case chances are you already drive a suitable SUV/Off road/ beater vehicle and are NOT looking to buy a new 3 series BMW.
Considering that FACT (that 80% of the year the car is not going to be driven on snow or ice) and that AWD diminishes your MPGs by a noticeable amount I would NEVER get an X Drive car.
Just for the MPG differences alone turns me off.
But in terms of 'sporty' handling and acceleration (something 99% of people BUY a BMW for) am I to understand that the F30 Xdrive is BETTER than the F30 RWD!?
My current BMW is RWD and I've leased two C Class Mercedes with AWD since 2009 (a 2010 C3004matic and a 2012 C300 4matic).
On paper the C300 and my BMW are about the same performance but real world comparison and my experiences has taught me that the AWD is noticeably sluggish off the blocks and DOES NOT handle any better on dry (or wet pavements) than my BMW while s getting something like 18 to 19 mpg s over all where as my BMW gets 26/27 mpgs over all.
Even on deep snow or ice driving (where I live there are a lot of steep hills) the AWD on all seasons seems just as vulnerable to sliding and slipping down a hill or while braking hard in traffic as my BMW wearing the same tires.
The ONLY argument I cannot contest is whether 4matic and xDrive are the same. But I suspect the xDrive to be better than 4matic from what I've seen advertised about xDrive.
Funny enough of all the cars I've ever owned and driven the 2008 FWD Honda Accord (on all seasons) I leased back in 2007 was the best car in snow, ice, deep slush, etc. For some reason the winter I had that Accord we got extreme amounts of snow in the North East USA.
I took that Accord up the Catskills mountain when I went Ice Climbing in a snow blizzard and I would never forget how that car got me down the mountain safely and 200 miles home of driving thru a pitch black snow blizzard!
My 2012 4matic can barely make it down the 45 degree inclined driveway that wraps around from the back parking area to the front my condo complex without slipping.
|
XDrive is on almost every BMW in my area. Its one of the reasons I am even considering it. I've never seen one bmw Xdrive on the side of the road during a snow storm. I've seen plenty of flipped over Jeeps, rwd ford mustangs... but never an XDrive...