Oh yeah... rear wheel drive and bad weather roads = trouble!

My first car was an '89 Mazda 929 (which I just sold a few months ago to my brother). It is a rear wheel drive car with lots of power. Before the winter, I got my Toyota Avalon which was front wheel drive with traction control as well.

I've never driven a rear wheel drive car on snow or ice and I never will. That's why I have my Corolla right now. I'm definitely not trying to get into an accident!

__________________
1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

You've never driven a car until you've driven a RWD in the snow. Most fun is doing donuts in your school parking lot. Did that once in a 240D! (Had to get up to speed before I turned the Steering wheel)

I simply love the way my '85 300SD handles in the snow. Going around corners and flooring it to release the steering wheel and let the german engineering self correct my fishing tale.

Seems to me the hardest part of winter driving a 300SD is to remember to plug her in at night. But if plugged in, she's started at 5 degrees (coldest it's gotten to date)

Our minivan has fwd, and I vastly prefer how my SD handles the snow to the van, the van slides all over, and its much harder to control a fwd vehicle sliding sideways than a rwd, at least to me anyways. I trust my SD to get me anywhere, through anything. Going down the middle two lane roadway that morning of the blizzard, practically the only car out there, I was still able to cruise 45-50mph without any loss of traction or sliding, and I am very sure I was on several inches of packed snow.......the turbo does cause problems with traction though, looses grip right away, staying off it works perfectly. I'll drive it through anything.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Opinions clearly differ, but I know that the few times I've had to take the 300SD out, the few ice spots were NOT fun to drive on. In fact, I once did a 260 degree spin while trying to make a left turn down a hilly road - and this wasn't planned. So no, mespe, I don't believe I haven't enjoyed driving till I do something as stupid as taking that 300SD out on slippery roads during the winter. My Corolla handles perfectly on snowy highways even at up to 70mph. And getting out of my neighborhood is never a problem. I know someone that lives down the street from me had to get rid of his 2wd pickup truck and get a 4wd one just because it is impossible to get out of our neighborhood after a snow/ice storm as the city guys normally clean neighborhoods last and major streets/highways first.

__________________
1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

The best doughnuts I have ever done were at my work's parking lot, one of my friends tried to do them in his dad's 4x4 pickup, and failed horribly .....so I pulled out into the middle, the surface was part ice/very packed snow, and I turned the wheel all the way left, hit the gas to the floor, and spun in three circles in that one spot Needless to say it annoyed my friend. hahaha. Its so fun whirling around in a circle in a car!

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

The first time my '88 300E ever saw snow was this past Thanksgiving break when I made a trip from Champaign to Chicago a few days before I moved back to Texas. As luck would have it, on my 2nd day there, we got the first snow of the season (those of you in Chicago might remember that day). About 4" fell in a few hours, and being the only one of my friends there with a functioning car, I took it upon myself to play chauffer. Now, this was a lesson hard learned, but I didn't let any air out of my tires (16" rims wrapped in BF Goodrich Traction T/A tires with 90% tread... and 35 psi). At the point in time we decided to go pick up beer and head to another friend's house, the roads had not yet been TOUCHED by snow plows or salt trucks, but we decided to go for it anyway. Even with 3 people and a couple cases of beer in the car (trunk), driving down a straight road at about 10 mph not even touching the accelerator, the car had a tendency to slide toward the shoulder of the road (due to the subtle crest most roads tend to form over time). Things only got worse.

The direction we chose to leave this person's house (2 minutes into the adventure) led to a pretty steep hill, at the bottom of which was an intersection with one of the busier streets in Lyle (Lisle? Can't remember how to spell the name of the subdivision). Wouldn't you know it, I had absolutely no traction. Touching the brake pedal sent ABS into a ****fit, and the car only gained velocity until about 2/3 of the way down the hill. Fortunately, the line of cars at the stop sign was slowly clearing, so they could see me flashing my brights and barreling down the hill at a mighty 5 mph and managed to clear the way for me. Accident avoided thanks to some unbelievably curteous and universally aware drivers.

Later we decided to go get food, and the car refused to start less than 45 minutes after going into the restaurant. I guess it was my battery being at least 4 years old (and now that I think about it I haven't checked the water level), and I had never taken it to any environment with a temperature lower than 20º, so it gladly crapped out on me completely. After a jump start it worked, but the next day as I tried to leave to begin my road trip home, it needed another jump. Once warmer weather was found, it had absolutely no problems, and hasn't to this day.

But all in all my Benz has been a great car (aside from some suspension problems I created as a new driver). I finally worked out some electrical issues (namely how my stereo headunit was wired, shorting out half the interior lights, including the gear selection light and all the center console window controls, and a few up top), replaced a few bulbs, re-mounted my headlights, and replaced most small parts that generally deteriorate with age, and she's as good as new.

Except for the paint

IMHO, slickest conditions we've had since 1/04. My truck slid sideways down hill on my driveway ( a little bit) this morning while I was plowing it. A full size pickup with an 800 lb plow, 900 lb sander and 4 studded snows. Almost as bad as glare ice. FWD cars off the road in several places on my short commute too. But winter is still beautiful here, I still love it.

__________________
'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

Hattie,

I almost got stuck in that same snow last night. I've driven alot of rear wheel drive cars (my last car before the wagon was a 68 cadillac ragtop), and the benz is normally no worse than any other rear wheel drive in the snow. But, that snow last night was slippery as all get out. I had to pick up my daughter at about 9 and barely made it up a fairly shallow hill.

Overall, I really enjoy driving the benz in the snow. Last night was definitley an exception.

My 300D has been parked all winter long...i have been driving a VW rabbit(front wheel drive) and it goes great in the snow, it has great tires and i have tire cables laying in the backseat! Might i add while washing it at the carwash last night, trying to get rid of the salt on the car, after washing, i turned on the high pressure wax, and it broke, when i say broke i mean it wouldn't go off...so i waxed the rabbit for about 2 hours last night, chassis and all....the water just rolls off of the ole girl now.
keep on rolling festis....haha ...this rocks

Nuet I see you got my pm good!

Anyway I drove two winters before the SDL with my old Camry and I never had a problem. I have driven in horrible conditions, and the Camry never missed a beat I just dropped it into 2nd and it would pull up anything. I have almost the same Firestones my SDL has on the Toyota. I would imagin with a set of snow tires the Camry would be able to keep up with any 4X4.

I have driven my SDL in less snow a lot and have done all of the parking lot tricks many times. They are very easy to control but so is any car that you know how to drive.

In a slide rwd isn't any better then fwd if you know how to drive fwd. rwd will just slide around corners better then a fwd will.

Even the newer MBs with traction control and a lsd are only slightly better. These cars are really ment for snow tires.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

i agree to the fwd minivan. the antislip/lock front end chatters incessantly upon acceleration even under the most minor acceleration. there isn't enough grunt to idle away from a light so chatter is constant in snow and ice. much prefer the 240d.

__________________
currently
[1981 300 td tdidi 165500 dark brown/palamino-Brownie-mine-3k miles of ownership
1983 240d 162+++ Anthricite grey w/ henna red interior and hella lights-wifes car-Red

the above two cars are for sale
and can be seen on the cars for sale thread here. pix also available.


240d-144+ Manilla Yellow w/ palmino interior-greasecar kit-Blondie-the college kids car

23" gt 21 speed still on original tires-still got the nubs
21" khs tandem

My SDL wasn't too great in the snow with all-season tires got it stuck good a few times, one required a tow truck.. neither was the crown vic, infact that was worse. This A6 Quattro I have yet to get stuck, or even come close. Last night I made a 35 mile drive in heavy snow with about 5" on the ground, with unplowed roads. Up 20% grades without a problem from a dead start. All wheel drive is great!!

Reminds me of the current M/B 4-matic commercial.

"What do you do to get through"

"I use rock salt"
"I shove the floor mats under the wheels"
"I do Pilates and shovel out"
"I go forward and reverse and forward and reverse"

The M-B driver with the 4-matic smugly says:

"I just step on the gas"

Ain't it the truth!

I'll be crying later when it comes time to repair the quattro system with 4 CV joints and an axle, though!

I've got at least 6 months of the year when we are in the perpetual freeze/thaw cycles that dominate the Anchorage area. The best times in the whole winter are when it's at least down to zero degree's. At least then you know that any snow present can't melt and form ice.
Snow tires and studs help. And I've determined the best route home and to work that includes the least number of hills and such. But even on slight inclines the 300d will break traction with anything but the slowest of acceleration.
I'm the only one in my family of four that will drive this car unless nothing else is available. Hey, that reminds me, the rest of the family have newer cars. But I imagine that is the norm with the rest of the board members also.

Glen