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FWD vs AWD in Snow?

neosolidus

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My main thing is trying to balance how much I drive with how much I'll need AWD. I've put 21k miles on my Jeep in 14 months from my driving. So gas mileage is super important to me, which is why I'm opting for the hybrid. I'm trying to figure out if the couple of times I'll need AWD from the snow in a fairly plowed city is worth the loss in gas mileage for the driving. I'll be driving alot less soon, but still a decent amount.
Ahhh if MPG is a concern then I am not a good person to give advice , that is the last thing I consider when I buy a vehicle, the maverick will be the vehicle with the highest MPG that I own by a lot :ROFLMAO:
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stoptothink

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Not wanting to pay for it does not equal not being able to afford it. I've driven in MN for 20 years with FWD vehicles and never considered it very difficult. I'll likely keep my Maverick for 10 years, and I'm not going to pay almost $1500 a year in amortization, gas, and opportunity cost to "upgrade" to the AWD for the handful of days a year I'd notice any difference. I can do much better things with that money.
+1, what a silly statement you were responding to. The OTD cost of the Maverick is ~1 month's income for my family, we can afford to drive almost whatever we want. That doesn't mean I spend extra on things that (based upon decades of my own experience and the objective data) I don't really value and have no need for. I simply prefer to spend my resources on other things.
 

Davis

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I know howww to drive in the snow. I just hate the snow so I don't want to have to get out to shovel the snow out or mess with it lol it's mostly selfish motivation as opposed to fear of dying. I would move to Arizona if I could šŸ˜‚
Just make sure you do some research on Arizona first. I'd hate for you to move all the way across the country to escape snow only to find out you moved to an area of Arizona where it snows :ROFLMAO:
 
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leap3535

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I've lived a good portion of my life in snowy areas, and we never needed AWD. PennDOT is pretty good at sending plows you can follow on snowy days, and when true blizzards come everyone just stays home because the road is a gamble regardless of drive.

Tires are where it really matters. If you got good tires, pay attention to the weather outside and drive well, you'll usually be fine. If you've got bad tires, you can follow a plow truck throwing grit and sand out behind it and still drift all over the place (I know from experience).

AWD gives people too much confidence, too. Probably 3 out of 4 vehicles I see in snow based accidents or in a ditch are AWD vehicles driven by people who thought they were invincible. End up slamming into things or just drifting off the road.
The only problem about the blizzard thing is my job doesn't allow me to stay home when the weather is bad. Once in a while I can, but usually I'm going in regardless
 

SeaMav206

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I live around Seattle in PNW. Lots of hills, constant rain and sometimes a snowmaggedon happens.

We also have mountains that get tons of snow. We also have probably the worst drivers in the nation if not the world. They start crashing into barriers and others as soon as a sprinkle drops. Even though it's raining 9/12 months of the year constantly.

I had different cars with different power ranges through out the years.

My FWD Honda accord with heavy modifications was awful in the snow so I had to have a shovel in the trunk as it would get stuck on drive ways. Though it also had too much power for fwd, too low, and aftermarket wheels/tires did not help.

Than I had a beast of a BMW X5 4.8ix on stock 21" runflats and it was a tank in the snow surprisingly. I guess AWD helped. No issues there except too much power...

My current Ford Focus does just fine in the snow except if it dumps too much and it starts digging itself.
 

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bgn

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I live around Seattle in PNW. Lots of hills, constant rain and sometimes a snowmaggedon happens.

We also have mountains that get tons of snow. We also have probably the worst drivers in the nation if not the world. They start crashing into barriers and others as soon as a sprinkle drops. Even though it's raining 9/12 months of the year constantly.

I had different cars with different power ranges through out the years.

My FWD Honda accord with heavy modifications was awful in the snow so I had to have a shovel in the trunk as it would get stuck on drive ways. Though it also had too much power for fwd, too low, and aftermarket wheels/tires did not help.

Than I had a beast of a BMW X5 4.8ix on stock 21" runflats and it was a tank in the snow surprisingly. I guess AWD helped. No issues there except too much power...

My current Ford Focus does just fine in the snow except if it dumps too much and it starts digging itself.
Yeah, my Accord is...not great in the snow. It's way too light in the back. Bulletproof otherwise.
 

Rkbrumbelow

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Yeah, my Accord is...not great in the snow. It's way too light in the back. Bulletproof otherwise.
Why am I having Sir Mix-a-lot flashes on a serious post? Oh because itā€™s so close to my anaconda donā€™t want snow because it ainā€™t got buns hun flow to it.

now we know something is wrong me
 
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Hackettracket

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Hello fellow Rochesterian! FWD with good quality snow tires will serve you just fine during winter here. I currently drive a Mini fwd and with Blizzaks it was an absolute beast in all the snow we had last year. Drove from downtown to Marion and back during one of the worst storms we had and never had any problems. During that same storm my room mate had a Subaru WRX with all seasons on it and he was all over the road and ended up having his girlfriend pick him up from our house. Granted a FWD truck will certainly handle differently than a FWD Mini, but if you get a second set of rims with snow tires on them and take it to a parking lot during a snow storm and do some testing to see how it feels taking tight turns, starting and stopping ect. you'll do better than with an AWD truck with all seasons for sure.
 

The64

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I live on the edge of the tug hill plateau North of syracuse, NY. We often compete with Buffalo for most snow in the US. For the record, if the AWD was available with the hybrid, I would have gotten that.

However, AWD is much less valuable in the snow. It really depends on the implementation. To be great in slippery conditions, it needs to have a locking or at least semi locking differential. I'll give you a story.

On my driveway which had some snow, ice, and some plowed in snow at the end (people in snow country know what I'm talking about). I had a FWD car with blizzaks and an AWD car with all seasons. The car with blizzaks powered through with almost no problem. The AWD car needed to be pushed by a neighbor after digging and putting down kitty litter. THe problem is that AWD systems are typically more performance oriented providing better traction in dry situations. Without a locking differential, one of the wheels lost traction and so all of the power was sent there. We could watch that wheel spin while the others did nothing.

In a similar manner, I had the same thing happen with the same car in the sand. I parked in a gravel/sand lot on a hill and one wheel was in a low spot so was not making good contact. It received all the power again and the vehicle needed to be pushed.

Again, AWD is a plus, but I would prefer a 4x4 mode where all wheels receive power to be valuable.

One more thing...ground clearance is also more important than AWD. IT is very hard to push a vehicle through snow that is above the ground clearance. This can also lift the car so that the wheels are not making good contact.
 
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jimmy fitzwell

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Why am I having Sir Mix-a-lot flashes on a serious post? Oh because itā€™s so close to my anaconda donā€™t want snow because it ainā€™t got buns hun flow to it.

now we know something is wrong me
Still talking like a psychopath! Maybe it's time to hang it up and quit being such a shithead on this forum!
 

WesM

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FWD with Blizzaks. I'm tired of hearing it!
I was born in Canton.
My dad was born in Fulton.
My brother was born in Syracuse.
My baby sis was born in Rochester.
My big sis was born in Ithaca.
You guys are fucking idiots!
I have lived in Montana for 49 years and have witnessed the superiority of AWD over FWD in snow over and over again for about the last thirty years.
Any moron that thinks FWD is as good as AWD is a st
Yes AWD is better than FWD in the snow... Unless the AWD has A/S tires and the FWD has snow tires. Then it ends up being switched.

Still talking like a psychopath! Maybe it's time to hang it up and quit being such a shithead on this forum!
Easy does it, lets not make this a rehash of the FB group.
 

rupzuk

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I ordered a XLT Hybrid so I will be getting FWD. I'm concerned about how it will do in the snow. I live in Rochester, NY.
Some background- I currently drive a Jeep Renegade 4x4 and luckily we haven't had much snow last winter but in 2WD I was sliding and In 4WD I was sliding. I didn't have snow tires. Previously I lived in Buffalo, NY and I had a Honda Element AWD without snow tired and that thing was a TANK in snow. I could drive through a foot of fresh snow easy and I never got stuck. Before that I drove a Toyota Camry FWD without snow tires in the North Country of NY (so mountains, back roads, local guys with trucks would plow the roads because the town couldn't) and I slid all over, fish tailed, the whole thing.
Would any snow people with more driving experience (I'm 25) give me their thoughts on the FWD Maverick in the snow? Based on my research AWD helps best with starting/getting traction and going up hills but snow tired are what actually help with sliding and driving.
I have a 2017 Renegade Trailhawk 2.4. In winter I use Nokian Hakapilittaā€™s (sp?) and Iā€™ve never had a more capable vehicle in winter conditions, well maybe a better heater for short drives but on the road itā€™s unbelievably planted and it has seen its share of extreme Canadian ice and snow conditions.
had lots of FWDā€™s, a bunch of 4x4ā€™s and even a few RWDā€™s.
the FWD on good tires is pretty good, as is the 4x4 but nothing beats AWD on good tires.
for me it will always be AWD after having oneā€¦kinda like a heated steering wheel, heated seats and remote start.
 

JKinPA

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Regardless of other opinions, and everyone can have an opinion no issues with that, an AWD with good tires will out perform front wheel drive every day of the week. Being able to transfer power to various wheels is better than not. AWD is not 4X4 but it sits somewhere in the middle maybe closer to 4X4 than front wheel drive. I have had 4X4, AWD, and front wheel drive. Drove through winter weather in all, I wonā€™t own anything less than AWD. My preference, my choice, my opinion but based on 40 years of central Pennsylvania driving. I know how to drive in snow, slush, sleet, freezing rain and a combination of all I also know what has been best in all conditions in my opinion. I will trade a few MPGā€™s for safety every day. Oh, I donā€™t get to stay home when the weather sucks so thatā€™s not an option. If I lived in a warmer climate, I would surely consider the hybrid but I donā€™t so itā€™s not an option.
 

fbov

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AWD with good tires will out perform front wheel drive every day of the week.
A recent tire/drivetrain snow driving comparison bears this out.
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