Quote:
Originally Posted by kyrix1st
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacoma
We're mixing up conversations. There's tires (winter vs. all seasons) and then there's transmission (AWD vs. RWD). Independent of powertrain, having the right tires for the right conditions is important for proper tire traction or grip.
Also, it's not so black and white about "stop to start" as you claim. It's about the getting and maintaining traction. If you've ever tried to go uphill on an icy surface, you know what I'm talking about. You lose momentum as you go uphill which you try to counteract by gassing it, but in a RWD (and traction control off because it doesn't work on a hill) you start to fishtail and lose grip and so you let off the gas and you're soon screwed stuck on a friggin hill while drivers with AWD wave at you while they drive by.
The physics is clear. All else being equal, you get better overall traction with AWD both from stop-to-start and in motion. Throwing in tire type just muddies the water.
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Not really. I'm saying with grippy tires, AWD benefit is negligible in dry conditions so you are just carrying 100kg of unnecessary weight in the front-mid part of the car which translates to worse fuel economy and dynamics.
I can see the benefit of AWD if you are driving in snow for several months a year. Given, I occasionally go to touge(tight mountain roads) with 40 degrees incline on winter tires and I don't have trouble climbing up. It does however get hilarious when the road is icy  |
Actually the concept that awd does not provide benefit on the track/dry is not accurate. It definitely was accurate in the past but a sophisticated performance setup like Mxdrive has the ability to electronically move power front to back and side to side using the differentials to ensure the wheels where power will be most effective are being sent power, there are numerous situations where having portions of power sent to front wheels in dry is advantageous (off the line, corner exit, etc), the weight is a small penalty to pay. Ultimately the awd M3 will likely be the better performer for maximum lap times.
However, in a similar driving engagement change as moving from manual to auto transmission, the feel of an awd performance car is not the same as rwd. (Many would say not as fun and that's a totally valid opinion, albeit a personal choice based on how they want their performance car to feel) The driver will not be as engaged with balancing grip and holding adhesion on the rear tires as the Mxdrive car's electronics will be doing much of that work by shifting power forward.
Much like choosing the manual version, rwd is a personal choice based on fun and style of driver engagement, but dismissing the awd system as just a winter benefit to support rwd as a superior choice is short sighted.
Real world street driving... I think feel should be the most important factor in choice anyway. The point of buying these cars is fun so choose the version of fun you want most!