[AlanHo]

I saw a perfect demonstration this morning of why I prefer a front wheel drive car.

I trudged across to the shops this morning in almost 30 cm of snow. The row of shops are in a one way service road where cars park in echelon on one side of the road.

This is a Google Earth image



The snow had been compacted by vehicles and it was very icy.

A BMW series 1 was trying to reverse back into the road to drive off - but he was going nowhere. Just the camber of the road was enough to stop the car from moving and the driver was spinning the rear wheels in his attempt to reverse.

There was a Hyundai i20 alongside him, the driver got into the car, reversed out and drove off without a problem, leaving the Beemer still struggling for grip.

Two guys at the bus stop walked over and pushed the BMW back until he was straight in the road - but when he engaged Ist gear he had great difficulty getting the car to move forward because the snow was rutted - so the guys went to the back of the car and gave him a push start. Meanwhile several vehicles further along had reversed out with no problem and were being held up by the struggling Beemer.

Rear wheel drive BMW's may be great on dry roads - but show them a bit of ice and they are useless.

[Dazzler]

  Classic! love to see the Beemer owner's face when the i20 just drove out! 

[Shambles]

splendid.

A work colleague recently gave me feedback on his new BMW 640i: he said it was amazing to drive his new beemer through Blackpool and see how many other drivers were showing him that they were planning a w*nk later that evening.

[Lakes]

good one Alan, I remember a similar tale, about another bmw in a small car park a few winters ago.
if it was me I would be happy to drive a bmw have a few bags and shovel in the boot. just cooly remote open the boot fill the bags with packed ice ( keep drinks cool for the party that night ) and added weight would do what gave the i20 traction, just put weight on drive wheels.
my hi lux 4x4 alloy tray back single cab ute has a limited slip diff, but when it rains no rear wheel traction at all. unless I have a load on it. lot of hills around here and I have to use every trick I can think of to drive up any steep hill when it is raining. have to be very light on go peddle. as like that bmw it is drive by wire & if manual like mine, too much on go peddle or too quick on go peddle, puts it into aggressive mode. but as mine 4x4 I can just hit other gear leaver put it into 4x4 high, away I go. if really hard 4x4 low no go peddle at all and in 1st gear it will go up anything almost.
but I have to tell you, it's a pig of a drive!! just reason I keep it is, can park it anywhere , with out worry. it will be there and it will always start.
just wondering if bmw have traction control? my ute is 2005 year so it does not have it.

[sundiz]

I've had my RWD car stuck two times during the winter in my life. Both times were on really bad conditions. Once got out with snow chains. Other time I went to supermarket and bought kittylitter. It creater enough friction on ice to get me free. I guess FWD might have helped in other case, but I still prefer RWD over FWD. Right tyres and common sense will help. I used to keep my fuel tank full which helped a lot, since the tank was located right above the rear axel. For me RWD cars tend to behave more logically than FWD in low friction situations. I rather work with oversteer than understeed.