All Wheel Drive cars

diesel2029 · 08-01-03, 04:45 AM

Hi all, I've never driven a car with all wheel drive or even a car with abs. Does all wheel drive really help if you're driving during the winter when there's snow and ice on the road or this just a marketing gimmick ??? How about abs during the cold months ??? Is it worth paying the extra bucks in getting an all wheel drive vehicle ???

Thanks.

bleh · 08-01-03, 06:19 AM

yes. very worth it. winter time, rain, offroad, anything less than perfect driving conditions and even then awd has an advantage. there could be pages written on this, but i think your fishing for a response from many people.

thepolarfoxqx · 08-01-03, 07:06 AM

In some conditions it is superior. My Jaguar with DSC, Traction Control, Electronic AWD, and computerized adaptive ABS can be a handful. If you are a smart driver, you shouldn't need AWD, it can give you extra grip in bad situations, but I grew up driving RWD cars, and have never really found it that great, not worth the extra weight. It is nice for those rare occasions you get stuck, but it severely limts the fun you can have in some areas of handling (try inducing oversteer in an 330xi and 330i back to back, totally different ball game).

ABS has it's ups and downs too. Bad ABS is awful, but really good ABS systems are worthwhile.