Ice/Snow/Rain AWD vs FWD for college daughter

[rsquared]

I am looking for a new to her, vehicle, for my daughter who is going to be a sophomore at Texas Tech in Lubbock. she used to drive an FJ cruiser, which was great except that with it being rear wheel drive, she used to spin out every time it rained in Austin. she had several small collisions with curbs, light poles, etc..

we got her a mazda cx-5 that was AWD and it worked well, but it was totaled in an accident last fall. she is fine, but the car was not. Accident was not her fault, but we didn't let her have a replacement car the rest of the year.

what i am wondering is how much more value is there in AWD vs FWD. She won't be offroading, but it does snow and ice up in lubbock a few times a year. there are far fewer AWD small SUV's out there for sale, so i am trying to decide if FWD will be sufficient. at least that will help with the spinning out on left hand turns

thank you in advance for your TBH wisdom

[DedDucks]

Ice/Snow/Rain AWD vs FWD for college daughter

Subaru Crosstrek or Forester. My wife has a crosstrek and I commute in it a good bit. It is AWD and sits higher than most curbs with pretty good crowns clearance. Hard to get less than 35 mpg and have seen 40-41 on long trips. Handles snow and ice incredible and lots of safety features if you get the eyesight. Easiest car ever to change the oil. Absolutely nothing bad to say or any issues in 2 years and 60k miles.


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[WItoTX]

They rip around snowy states in FWD all the time. FWD will be fine.

However, if she wants to crash, she will find a way. Not gonna matter which wheels are moving the car. I lived in Houghton MI for 5 years, and most of my roommates had FWD cars. We would have 12" of snow and they were just fine.

I've also lived in Amarillo, and for the one or two days a year it ices, there is no car that will get a person around safely. AWD will get a car moving, but it won't stop the car, and without rally driver skills it also won't turn the car, and the smart thing is to not need to get anywhere that day LOL

[Sackett]

Subaru Crosstrek or Forester. My wife has a crosstrek and I commute in it a good bit. It is AWD and sits higher than most curbs with pretty good crowns clearance. Hard to get less than 35 mpg and have seen 40-41 on long trips. Handles snow and ice incredible and lots of safety features if you get the eyesight. Easiest car ever to change the oil. Absolutely nothing bad to say or any issues in 2 years and 60k miles.


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This is your answer

[The Crippler]

Hard to find, but an older Land Cruiser would be perfect. Full-time 4WD and built like a tank. Only problem is gas prices continue to rise and they are thirsty!

[bentman]

It doesn't matter what you drive if it is icy

[Graysonhogs]

Subaru Crosstrek or Forester. My wife has a crosstrek and I commute in it a good bit. It is AWD and sits higher than most curbs with pretty good crowns clearance. Hard to get less than 35 mpg and have seen 40-41 on long trips. Handles snow and ice incredible and lots of safety features if you get the eyesight. Easiest car ever to change the oil. Absolutely nothing bad to say or any issues in 2 years and 60k miles.


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This

[wytex]

4wd would be fine. Tires are a big consideration for driving in snow.
Frankly we turn off our traction control when driving in snow up here on our truck.
Good snow rated tires make a big difference however they can wear faster in summer months due to softer compound.
Get her some tires with the snowflake rating and she will have more traction in snow and they do help in ice somewhat.

[Johnny44]

FWD works real well in those conditions. AWD does do better without a doubt.

I used to do the locked-n-cocked 4x4 thang and went to AWD because 4x4 cannot compete under said conditions. The incident that sold me was when my Jeep slid off the road on the way to Ski slope and AWD vehicles went by me without spinning a tire.

If you go 4x4 get a mechanical limited slip on each axle not full locker. Something like detroit trutrac

https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us/catalog/differentials/eaton-detroit-truetrac-differential.html

The most important thing about tires is you don’t want to float. Best example is to take a fella’s 4x4 big tired truck and a subaru then park them on fresh asphalt. The truck most times won’t leave an indentation but the subaru will.

Most Hoo-Ha Redneks outfit their rigs for some mad max off road apocalypse but realistically most folk drive on some sort of improved surface or trail 90% of the time, not the Rubicon or blazing a trail. Its these improved surfaces that get slick from icing up.

[Traildust]

I saw tons of 2wd vehicles driving around Denver last month

[flywise]

In the worst of the winter storm I drove a VW Passat from Kempner to N. Austin, several days with out issue ( frontWD ) even passed 2 F250 4Wd’s in the ditch

[rsquared]

Subaru Crosstrek or Forester. My wife has a crosstrek and I commute in it a good bit. It is AWD and sits higher than most curbs with pretty good crowns clearance. Hard to get less than 35 mpg and have seen 40-41 on long trips. Handles snow and ice incredible and lots of safety features if you get the eyesight. Easiest car ever to change the oil. Absolutely nothing bad to say or any issues in 2 years and 60k miles.


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i like the crosstrek, but it is tough to find a clean one used. we have looked at several 2014-2016 that have been beaten up badly

[rsquared]

I found a super clean used Acura RDX in AWD

Thx all

[Johnny Dangerr]

I found a super clean used Acura RDX in AWD

Thx all

Great grab dad....................

[RifleBowPistol]

All wheel drives are going to be more expensive to work on, unless it is a vehicle that only comes with all wheel drive. Our daughter just graduated Texas Tech, a few weeks ago. In the four years she was there, it snowed, at least three times, that really amounted to something. I don't think it snowed at all the first two years she was there, but the second two, it snowed three times, each time, it was fairly heavy. Enough so, nobody was out driving in it, or very few people were out driving in it.

The way the roads flood up there when it rains, is enough, I would suggest a vehicle with a bit higher ground clearance. But be careful what you get there, you might wind up with something that is roll over prone. The Toyota FJ Cruiser, I would think would be a high roll over risk, in the hands of someone who does not really know how to drive, I would say 90% of the younger generations don't. They can maneuver the vehicle to where they are going, but don't throw something like ice at them while driving a short wheel base, vehicle with a high center of gravity. Society is to blame.

I made sure our daughter got some driving in on slick surfaces, but really did not get time to really show her more. I would say her skills are definitely better than average, but could still learn a lot more.

The biggest problem she encountered up in Lubbock and Abilene, was the roads flooding. Her Mustang survived driving in deep water, but it was not the best choice for all of the deep water that is common up there. I definitely would not have bought a Jeep or something similar for her to drive. The roll over risk, is too high, with her not having the driving experience I think you should have before driving something like that.

She did drive on the snow and ice in her Mustang, did some sliding, but never hit anything. I spent a lot of time, trying to make her understand, don't panic if the car slides, don't hit the brakes, push the clutch in. Then get the car hooked up again, then steer where you need to go. She did good and did not have any accidents while driving in the rain, snow or ice. Mustangs are not the easiest to drive on ice, I would say she did good.

Her Mustang got totaled, in a accident, where a guy ran a red light in Abilene, a couple weeks before graduation. So it's gone. We went to see my nephew, who is a sales man at a Toyota dealer. She got a all wheel drive RAV 4. It seems to be a very good choice for her. We test drove it in Houston high water and were very impressed with it's ability to go through deep water without problems. Houston has roads like Abilene and Lubbock with lots of road crown, so the water will flow to one side of the road or the other, since it rains a lot in all three places. I hit some deep water with only the right side tires not intentionally. I was in the right lane and there were cars in the left lane so I could not get over to the left. I was expecting the steering wheel to get jerked hard right, but it was like I hit water that was only 1/2" deep, not 8" deep to 12", like we went through. That was the firs surprise I got with the RAV 4. We wound up buying two RAV 4s that day, it rained hard, really rained hard on the way home. Both did great in the rain. We were doing 80 to 90 mph in both on the way home, most of the way home. On the way back, a Chevy pickup lost traction right in front of our daughter on IH 10 about half way back. It was raining very hard. The Chevy lost traction and slammed into a guard rail at about 75 mph. She said it bounced straight up and then came to a dead stop.

Over all I found the RAV 4 to be a good car for a female, plenty of room in the rear for grocery shopping. With the wheel base, then distance the front and rear wheels are from the front and rear of the vehicle, it is very easy to get into a steep parking lot. Which Abilene, Lubbock and Houston all have. Then it will turn in a very small radius. The ground clearance is good, but not too high, the center of gravity is not very high. Then the wheel base is long enough that with the center of gravity, the roll over possibility should be much lower than Wrangler.

The RAV 4, I would definitely recommend, so would my daughter and Wife. My wife got one the same day, but hers is only 2wd. If not a RAV 4, you might look at some of the Subarus. A buddy of mine has or had two Subarus, that he bought in the last few years. But both had engine oiling problems. That seems to be a common thing with Subarus, or was. I think Subaru has the oiling problem fixed, but not 100% sure on that. Other than engine oiling issues, they seem to be very good choices also.

Our daughter signed a contract to go work in Tennessee, so she is leaving for Tennessee, in about a month. She will see a lot more snow and ice up there. The plan was for her to get a new vehicle before or after she moved up there. Definitely before next winter.

One of my sisters bought a new all wheel drive Ford Explorer, that thing has spent a lot of time in the Ford dealer for repairs. The biggest problem, has been the transmission. It has crapped out at three times, since she got it two or three years ago. I told her to take it back to the dealer, hand them the keys back and tell them it's theirs and walk off. She got it fixed again, and is driving it, she likes it. But since she has owned it, I would say that it has been in the service department for at least three months, probably more like four to five months. Every time she took it in, it sat there for over a month, before they did anything to it. Then their guy could not figure it out, the second and third time it was there. Then there was a big battle on the warranty. That's the first time I told her don't even worry about having it fixed, just let them have it.

Yes, I think all wheel drive cars in some situations are better than 2wd drive cars, but then there are times, that it's not going to help you much at all. Having some very good driving skills, will make up for a lot of vehicle deficiencies. Having a manual transmission and knowing when to push the clutch in and not touch the brakes, is likely better than a auto transmission and all wheel drive, on ice. But 90% of people will just panic and stab the brakes and make things much worse, when the vehicle starts to slide. Then it does not matter what you are driving, then you are really going for a ride. Letting all four wheels free wheel, when it slides is the best way I know of to get a car to stop sliding on ice or any other time the tires have lost traction. So that's where I say, the all wheel drive is better at times, then other times, it's not going to help at all. One thing I have not looked into, is all of the options you have to sect from on how the transmission and transfer case work on a all wheel drive car. If they have one that will allow the wheels to free wheel, when you lift on the throttle, then all wheel drive would be great. I know there is a button you can select for snow and ice or ice and rain, something like that. I don't know the differences between the various selections. I think some of them lock the diff in the transfer case, then I think others you get more engine braking, which you do not want on ice, very bad choice. I need to read up on those options and see if any allow the wheels to free wheel, when the driver lifts off of the throttle. If so, then that would make a all wheel drive car a lot better on ice.

Mainly the all wheel drive, will improve low speed traction and high speed traction to some degree. So I would say there is some advantage, probably more, if you figure out all of the options that you can select for the transfer case and transmission. But if you don't know how to drive on ice, you are probably going to slide off the road, just as easily, at higher speeds and maybe lower speeds too.

I know that all wheel drive race cars, the way they are set up. It will supply power primarily to the rear wheels, then if the rear wheels break loose and start spinning, you give it more throttle. Then diff in the transfer case, sends more power to the front wheels, so the front wheels pull the car and straighten it back out. So when you loose traction when in the throttle, you give it more throttle to correct the situation. My way of doing things. Audi was allowed to use all wheel drive in Trans Am, back in the late 80s, they dominated for a while. Then SCCA, decided that was a bad idea, letting Audi run all wheel drive cars in a class, that you are supposed to run a rear drive car with a solid rear axle. They banned all wheel drive cars quickly. If you have ever watched rally racing, those guys are nuts. But that stuff looks like a blast.