Rear wheel drive BMW

[winny]

Can I have a few opinions please. We have a rear wheel drive BMW and I reckon they are harder to handle in the wet and ice than a Front wheel drive. I have done a bit of skid pan driving and base my conclusion on that.
My W however (who chose the car) maintains I am being a grinch and picking faults with it (I liked the volvo). I admit I dont like it and would have prefered a volvo but I feel this is a fact not my imagination.
Please help. If I am wrong I will apologise to him (honest).

[Superfly80]

Hi Winny!
If you drive sensibly and carefully in either weather condition then you should have no problems. Most modern cars have traction control systems, some even with winter settings, and stability systems to help the driver cope in adverse conditions. What you're asking is the basic difference between understeer and oversteer;

A front wheel drive Volvo will understeer (plough on towards the outside edge of a corner, lose speed) if you overstep it's limits. The BMW however, over it's limits, will seemingly behave in the opposite way, pitching toward the inside of the corner. Over compensation of this oversteer may lead to snap oversteer in the other direction, and can quickly get out of hand, especially if the driver is heavy footed and/or not quick with the helm. An experienced driver will know how to control this, a novice may end up in a hedge.

The simple answer is don't drive the BMW it near its limits in any weather, just gently and smoothly accelerate in corners, where applicable, and the car will settle into a neutral stance, it'll be fine, and, as your confidence grows, enjoyable.
Good luck!

[pianoman81]

give the bmw a few weeks ,
get used to it- the rear wheel drive is great-
not harder to handle in the wet- in my opinion much bettter - although you do need to familarise yourself with it ,

i have the m3 evo version and once you know how to handle it if and when the back goes out , its actually great fun.

as the answer above says - a little dodgy- especially in the rain going around corners and roundabouts-
if you give it anything over 4000rpm the back is out -
mine is worse as it kicks out 513bhp (has been slightly tweaked for any smart asses reading this before you all tell me its supposed to be 321bhp ) so its always going out.

but any true driver will know- only proper cars have rear wheel drive - front wheel drive is rubbish - full stop

depends a lot on what engine and torque you have shouldnt happen that much unless you are constantly redlining it ?

mine caught me out twice in the snow last week- i was doing it deliberatley and handled it fine- but when i didnt want to do it it decided it wanted to so that was a little dodgy-

main point is - just take it easy and itll be fine.

[teash]

pianoman, your a person with the same views as me, first car I ever owned after passing my test at 17 was a 528 bm and how that taught me to learn to drive. At the mo i`ve a tweaked golf diesel which is fun (especially because its a wolf in sheeps clothing) but the fun of sliding round corners will never be the same. Not that i`d do that on the highway anyway ;)

[Toureman]

Agree with you two above, I would much rather have a rear wheel drive, pity they have mostly dissapeared now.

[winny]

Thanks everyone I think I will go for Superfly advice and leave Mr W to the pianoman and teach ideas

[tali122]

friend has 318i -he reufses to drive in snow because "its dangerous"

[mr rusty]

25 years ago most medium to large cars were RWD- Sierra, Cortina, Mk1 Cavalier, Marina,to name but a few: it's no problem at all and you'll only notice a difference in response when you get to the limit, and then you'd probably be in just as much bother with FWD.

RWD is a LOT more fun, however, on a snowy day in the supermarket car park!!

[winny]

Ok as I suspected Mr W bought himself as big boys toy and my nice sensible family car idea is out the window. Well when we change I am demanding my volvo back

[dusty1]

you can't beat rear wheel drive, but I'm older and grew up with them, I find them easier to handle in the wet and snow
at least they don't try and go straight on when going round a corner in the snow like a front wheel drive does, and if the back starts to slide you can control it, once you have got used to it