bowie89449

So I have a choice of rental vehicles for my next snow trip. What does everyone think is better for getting to the slopes, a small FWD car (eg toyota corolla) or a medium RWD car (eg toyota camry). Thanks

burritosandsnow

of those two a fwd ... theres a reason you dont see many rwd cars in ski towns haha ... if possible get awd or 4wd

bowie89449

unfortunately its an extra $400 for an AWD or 4WD, i'm guessing the FRW is better for gripping and turning at the same time? is FWD still better than RWD when u have chains on both?

Bones

Pulling is better than pushing.

Ummmm...sounds like you haven't driven much in snow. No matter what your drive system is, you're on snow. Neither FWD, AWD nor RWD can make it dry pavement. And 4wd isn't 4 wheel stop.

Drive prudently if you don't have much experience in snow

pawel

just to let you know toyota camry is front wheel drive. If you cannot get awd i would go with fwd!

bowie89449

Your right I have not had much experience driving in snow, but I grew up in the bush driving on sand and heaps of extreme 4wding. But always in 4wd's. Thanks for the advice and I always drive prudently snow, rain, sand or motor-way.

bowie89449

Haha thanks i just check too, and i was wrong cheers

Bones

Bush driving and sand driving aren't snow driving. Certainly having good driving skills in non-normal conditions is a help, but it isn't always directly applicable. It's not the getting stuck in the deep stuff that you'll have a problem with (well....on side streets after a dump maybe), it's the black ice in the parking lots and stop signs that you won't be used to. Just fender benders stuff, but enough to put a dent in your rental and kink in your holiday.

Get your rental, find a snow covered parking lot and spend 15 minutes doing some donuts and drifts and stops. Here in Canada, the first snowfall of the year has everyone sliding thru red lights/stop signs, fishtailing on slushy onramps, sliding into snow banks. And we live here! Seems to take everyone about a week to get their winter driving skills back. And you sure learn to watch your rear view when stopped at a redlight! Ski Hill parking lots are the worst.

Just saying....you'll be amazed by how far a car can slide at 10mph even with ABS.

bowie89449

Thanks heaps guys, and that sounds like good advice Bones will do.

Willy36

A note about ABS since most people don't know this....If you can find the threshold RIGHT before the tires start to slide when braking (meaning ABS won't kick in), you will stop faster than if you slam on the brakes. This is a feel thing so if you don't have much experience driving in snow, just slam on the brakes and let the computer do it for you....

Also, if you're good at drifting, RWD can be better because you can still make turns then, whereas FWD causes massive understeer on ice. If you don't know what understeer is, again, it might just be best to just let the car do its job and go FWD and go slow.