I forgot how bad RWD cars are in snow

[jyl]

I took the W124 not-4Matic up to the mountains. No snow tires, cable chains in the trunk, just like we did when we were young and couldn’t afford snow tires and every car wasn’t a AWD SAV. Wow, are old-school RWD cars crap on snow/ice! Got half way up a road, decided it was getting too icy, making the K turn wasn’t trivial, then soft-footed it down to bare pavement, got to rented cabin, road is hilly and packed snow/ice, had to use momentum to get to the driveway, and first thing tmrw chains are going on.

(What with holidays and such, haven’t gotten around to putting snow tires on this car, and the car that has snow tires is having a problem, so . . . )

[masraum]

It's my understanding that the proper tires make an enormous difference. So, if you'd had snow tires, you'd probably have been much better off.

I've had some experience driving in the snow (not tons, but some in northern Virginia when I was a teen. I had good luck with RWD, actually, better than when I tried to drive a FWD car in the snow.

[flskala]

My W123 was one of the worst snow vehicles ever. It was so bad I put chains on it - it then ran circles around F150’s. ymmv

[Baz]

My Volvo 850 is the first FWD model Volvo made.....

[Cajundaddy]

The right tires make a huge difference but the freezing rain that came through in Dec. right after significant snow created incredible black ice all over the western US. If you were traveling on the day after this storm chains were the only rational choice as tire grip dropped to near zero.

[LWJ]

Driiiiift!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

My W124 wagons were acceptable light snow day/day after snowstorm cars but only with a set of mounted snows, 2-3 cinder blocks in the back and the benefit of ASR or early traction control. I was very impressed with the ASR once: one car with summer sport tires still on, early snow, and it did OK.

[GH85Carrera]

My wife had several Mercedes models in the past. They all had horrid snow or icy conditions traction. It was like Mercedes tried to make them bad in the snow. She finally said enough, and bought an Infinity, and that was replaced by the Macan. The Macan from reports I have heard is great with the 4 wheel drive. My wife's Macan stays at home in the garage in slick weather. It has seen rain, but never snow or slush.

My trusty old El Camino has survived many commutes to and from work in the snow over the 31 years of ownership. When it still had an open differential it was pretty bad. I converted it to a limited slip long ago and it does OK. I would throw a couple of sand bags in the back to help the traction. Now like my wife's Macan, snowy weather is just a reason to not open the garage doors so it does great in the snow!

Rear wheel drive is great for high traction situations and getting weight transfer. Not so much in snow and ice. Front wheel drive sucks for high traction situations.

[berettafan]

Def all about tires although bare ice is bare ice and not much to be done with that no matter how many wheels are turning.

Snowy roads i've been fine most of the time over the years in my pickups with AT tires. But we don't have hills! Tried driving a 325it in the snow once and didn't get 20' past my driveway. Awful. But those were performance tires.

[rfuerst911sc]

Good winter tires along with a few bags of sand or similar makes a big difference . Also gas pedal control/momentum is your friend .

[masraum]

Originally Posted by berettafan

Def all about tires although bare ice is bare ice and not much to be done with that no matter how many wheels are turning.

Snowy roads i've been fine most of the time over the years in my pickups with AT tires. But we don't have hills! Tried driving a 325it in the snow once and didn't get 20' past my driveway. Awful. But those were performance tires.

Right, black ice is a no go without studs or chains. It's just too slick for tires without some sort of mechanical addition for traction.

[jyl]

We have snow tires on the only AWD car at the house (daughter’s Honda Element) and when it’s snowy/icy in Portland that’s the car we use, if we have to go anywhere. I want to get some steelies with snow tires for one of the RWD cars we have (probably either the W124 or the W211 wagon). Normally we use studless snows. These RWD Mercedes seem to be so marginal in snow/ice that I wonder if I should get studded snows. I probably won’t, as studded tires are icky unless you’re actually on snow/ice. But chains are their own version of icky, and IME they only help with straight ahead, not so much with steering (no chains on front, rear slides out even with chains).

[masraum]

Originally Posted by jyl

We have snow tires on the only AWD car at the house (daughter’s Honda Element) and when it’s snowy/icy in Portland that’s the car we use, if we have to go anywhere. I want to get some steelies with snow tires for one of the RWD cars we have (probably either the W124 or the W211 wagon). Normally we use studless snows. These RWD Mercedes seem to be so marginal in snow/ice that I wonder if I should get studded snows. I probably won’t, as studded tires are icky unless you’re actually on snow/ice. But chains are their own version of icky, and IME they only help with straight ahead, not so much with steering (no chains on front, rear slides out even with chains).

I drove a Chevy Chevette in the snow in NoVA. It's a RWD econobox. I've also driven a '65 Chevy Impala in the snow. It was RWD with a 350 and 4spd and low gears. My dad drove it from Woodbridge to WDC and back one day. Coming down our road at the end of the day, they hadn't plowed our road and there was ~8" of snow. The Impala had at least 16-18" of snow in front of it like a snow plow because the front bumper hung lower than the snow.

I think when we lived in Japan (long winters with lots of snow), dad put chains on the drive wheels, but we always had snow tires installed in the winter, not all-seasons.
This was our car the first time we lived there in the late 70s.


The second time we lived there in the mid 80s, we started with this wagon (first car I ever drove, just once, dad couldn't take the stress, I was 13 and he tried teaching me on public roads in the snow). Then we added this "Jeep." It was 4WD with low and high.

[herr_oberst]

Grew up in Idaho, much snow each winter, plus, I liked to ski, so snow driving was de rigueur

One of the best cars ever (IMHO) was the first generation Honda Civic CVCC, and the first gen Honda Accord CVCC. I think it was a combination of light weight, narrow tires, low power and a 5 speed that was geared very well that made it easy to control speed, stopping and steering.

Living in Portland, I hardly ever drive in the snow anymore, so I bet I'm as rusty as an old nail, but I have a 4WD Toyota to get me through and so far, it's been good. (And I really try to avoid driving in Portland when there's snow on the road. People here can be absolute idiots.)

[jyl]

The best snow car I ever had was a gen 1 Range Rover. Heavy, 4WD, narrow tires that really dug in and gripped. I wouldn’t mind getting another one someday but the mpg was horrific and the reliability marginal.

[rfuerst911sc]

I owned several Jeep CJ's when I lived in NY . With good tires they were very good in the snow.