Question on AWD.

[Justin F. Knotzke]

Hi,

I just purchased a Soobie Impreza TS and we here in Canada get
tons-oh-snow (maybe just not today.. ) and I used to own a 4WD gas
guzzler which would get me out of any wall of snow that I was stuck in.

I live downtown and during the winter the plow will come by and
shove the snow up against the cars parked on the side of the street.
With my 4Runner I could put in in 4WD and pop the clutch and I would pop
out without any problems at all. I could also park pretty well anywhere
I wanted.

The Soobie doesn't have anywhere near the ground clearance that the
4Runner did. I would imagine parking anywhere I wanted would be out of
the question. However, can I expect the AWD system to give me the same
advantage of leaving my snowpacked parking spot as my 4WD system?

Thanks

Justin
Montreal.

 

[Victor Roberts]

Hi,

I just purchased a Soobie Impreza TS and we here in Canada get
tons-oh-snow (maybe just not today.. ) and I used to own a 4WD gas
guzzler which would get me out of any wall of snow that I was stuck in.

I live downtown and during the winter the plow will come by and
shove the snow up against the cars parked on the side of the street.
With my 4Runner I could put in in 4WD and pop the clutch and I would pop
out without any problems at all. I could also park pretty well anywhere
I wanted.

The Soobie doesn't have anywhere near the ground clearance that the
4Runner did. I would imagine parking anywhere I wanted would be out of
the question. However, can I expect the AWD system to give me the same
advantage of leaving my snowpacked parking spot as my 4WD system?

I live in upstate NY, not Canada, but we did wake up to 2 feet of
snow last Christmas Day. We get lots of snow and I have never gotten
stuck in either my old '95 Legacy or my current '97 Outback and I just
drive and park anywhere I want to.

I agree that the wheels must be touching the ground to get traction

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Hi,

I just purchased a Soobie Impreza TS and we here in Canada get
tons-oh-snow (maybe just not today.. ) and I used to own a 4WD gas
guzzler which would get me out of any wall of snow that I was stuck in.

In general don't try to go through any walls that are higher than your
bumper. The Subie's main radiator intake is from a skirt below the bumper,
not the grill. Going through a wall of snow will get that skirt clogged with
snow and your Subie overheating in the middle of winter.

I live downtown and during the winter the plow will come by and
shove the snow up against the cars parked on the side of the street.
With my 4Runner I could put in in 4WD and pop the clutch and I would pop
out without any problems at all. I could also park pretty well anywhere
I wanted.

I suppose if you break through the wall using the side of the car, it won't
get too much snow into the air intake. Just try not to hit the snow dead-on.

And likely one advantage of the Subie AWD system that you likely didn't have
in the old 4Runner with part-time 4WD is that you have 4WD all of the time.
So you can get out of on-the-fly bad traction situations in a way that a
part-timer wouldn't have the ability to, because you'd have to switch its
4WD off in normal-speed conditions.

The Soobie doesn't have anywhere near the ground clearance that the
4Runner did. I would imagine parking anywhere I wanted would be out of
the question. However, can I expect the AWD system to give me the same
advantage of leaving my snowpacked parking spot as my 4WD system?

Well, I have an OBW which has higher clearance than an Impreza, so I really
have no trouble taking most sidewalks and stuff. I guess with the
ground-clearance 4Runner you could even take some concrete parking dividers.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Justin F. Knotzke]

I live in upstate NY, not Canada, but we did wake up to 2 feet of
snow last Christmas Day. We get lots of snow and I have never gotten
stuck in either my old '95 Legacy or my current '97 Outback and I just
drive and park anywhere I want to.

Ahh well you up state New Yorkers easily get as much of the white
stuff as us.. sometimes more. I'm glad to hear you haven't had any
probs. I think my concern will be with (as Yousef mentioned in another
reply) making sure the air intact doesn't get clogged not to mention
causing damage to it by blasting through snow.

But it's good to know that I won't be spinning all over.

You know, in a bizaare sorta way, I'm looking forward to the first
storm.

Thanks for the replies,

J

 

[Justin F. Knotzke]

I live in upstate NY, not Canada, but we did wake up to 2 feet of
snow last Christmas Day. We get lots of snow and I have never gotten
stuck in either my old '95 Legacy or my current '97 Outback and I just
drive and park anywhere I want to.

Ahh well you up state New Yorkers easily get as much of the white
stuff as us.. sometimes more. I'm glad to hear you haven't had any
probs. I think my concern will be with (as Yousef mentioned in another
reply) making sure the air intake doesn't get clogged not to mention
causing damage to it by blasting through snow.

But it's good to know that I won't be spinning all over.

You know, in a bizaare sorta way, I'm looking forward to the first
storm.

Thanks for the replies,

J

 

[Victor Roberts]

You know, in a bizaare sorta way, I'm looking forward to the first
storm.

Typical Subaru owner behavior

 

[Dan J.S.]

Hi,

I just purchased a Soobie Impreza TS and we here in Canada get
tons-oh-snow (maybe just not today.. ) and I used to own a 4WD gas
guzzler which would get me out of any wall of snow that I was stuck in.

I live downtown and during the winter the plow will come by and
shove the snow up against the cars parked on the side of the street.
With my 4Runner I could put in in 4WD and pop the clutch and I would pop
out without any problems at all. I could also park pretty well anywhere
I wanted.

The Soobie doesn't have anywhere near the ground clearance that the
4Runner did. I would imagine parking anywhere I wanted would be out of
the question. However, can I expect the AWD system to give me the same
advantage of leaving my snowpacked parking spot as my 4WD system?

Thanks

Justin
Montreal.

You can't compare a Subaru AWD system to 4runner's. The Subaru AWD is great
for handling, but not for anything else. The wheel with least resistance
will spin when stuck in snow. I know, happened to me too many times.

 

[Justin F. Knotzke]

You can't compare a Subaru AWD system to 4runner's. The Subaru AWD is great
for handling, but not for anything else. The wheel with least resistance
will spin when stuck in snow. I know, happened to me too many times.

The wheel of the 4Runner or the Subaru?

J

 

[Dan J.S.]

The wheel of the 4Runner or the Subaru?

Subaru

 

[TG]

I bought a new 2001 Ranger for my mail route and had to use the Subaru this
winter because the Ford was always stuck. I bought the 4x4 but didn't
realize it had an open rear differential. I will be modifying the rear diff
this summer. TG

 

[Hallraker]

Typical Subaru owner behavior

Welcome to the club. I love summer, and I've always wanted a
convertible but can't afford one due to insurance. I do have my Subie
wagon though, which is infinitely more practical and gets me anywhere
without getting stuck. During the warm months, I drive around and wish for
an open top, but once the white stuff hits the ground I forget all about
that and find an empty parking lot to drive sideways in. Take it easy
though, on that first storm. I smacked up my Legacy pretty good 3 years ago
when I took off like a rocket on "supposedly" icy roads. The traction was
so good that I didn't notice I was driving on a sheet of ice until I
couldn't stop. I ended up being without a car for almost two months due to
an incompetent body shop, and learned a valuable lesson about AWD. Take it
slow, especially at first, and practice driving in a snowy/icy parking lot.

-Matt

 

[miketryan]

no traction with 4 wheels is the is the same thing as no traction with 2
wheels

 

[Victor Roberts]

Take it easy
though, on that first storm. I smacked up my Legacy pretty good 3 years ago
when I took off like a rocket on "supposedly" icy roads. The traction was
so good that I didn't notice I was driving on a sheet of ice until I
couldn't stop.

What we forget is that all cars have brakes on all four wheels so an
AWD car may *go* better in ice and snow than a 2WD car but it does not
necessarily *stop* any better.

 

[sandman]

Yeah, we have an 03' TS wagon auto and it was a blast driving in the first
snow storm in New Hamshire and the christmas storm of upstate new york.
Looking forward to the white stuff again and those winter road trips. Not
sure why some folks are complaning about having autos and driving in the
snow. I thought it work really well. Damn well, push it to the limits to try
and get it stuck. especially when you stop at the junctions taking a corner
where the sides have unplowed snow.
It was fun spinning the 4 wheels and seeing it moved. Big GRIN ...)

 

[TG]

Actually a 4 wheel/all wheel drive stops MUCH faster than a 2 wheel or 1
wheel drive. TG

 

[Jim Stewart]

Actually a 4 wheel/all wheel drive stops MUCH faster than a 2 wheel or 1
wheel drive. TG

Better explain how then. I'm sure lots of
us would like to hear.

 

[Victor Roberts]

Actually a 4 wheel/all wheel drive stops MUCH faster than a 2 wheel or 1
wheel drive. TG

How so?

 

[Victor Roberts]

Did you put on snow tires, or did you have the stocks? Just curious...

Up hare in upstate NY I use aggressive all-season tires. Snow tires
are better in deep snow, but the roads are snow free most of the time,
even in winter, and I feel the all-season tires are better than show
tires on dry roads and also on rain and ice.

If I had my own pit crew I might mount snow tires when the roads
are snow covered and then replace them with all-season as soon as the
roads are cleared.

 

[TG]

When using engine braking <an advanced technique for some> on a 2 wheel
drive (most are one wheel drive) vehicle the engine braking only effects
one or two wheels. On a 4X4 or AWD or whatever the engine braking effects
all the drive wheels which means it effects the wheels with the steering and
the wheels with the most weight (stopping force/traction) ALL the drive
wheels. Like anti-lock but even more effective with all but a clueless
driver. Too bad this technique is being lost because of anti-lock. TG

 

[Jim Stewart]

Perhaps technically correct, but not on point. The original point was
that when trying to stop a car in an emergency situation, such as to
avoid hitting a car that suddenly stopped in front of you, all cars
have 4-wheel braking. Engine braking is not of much use in this
situation. The fact that ADW cars can go so much better when there is
poor traction, does not help them stop any better than 2WD cars in
emergency situations. This often overlooked fact can lead drivers of
AWD and 4WD cars to be over confident about the stopping ability of
their cars.

I agree. In fact, the argument could be made that
the additional mass of the AWD equipment might very
well cause an AWD car to brake slower than a 2WD
car.