So who else does 4WD well?

[KLS]

That's a good bit to digest and understand.

Wondering with ABS, if applying the brakes when stuck and one wheel is
sliping, would it work like traction control, and transfer the torque?

With the Audi, yes. The ABS was very good on that car.

 

[houndman]

With the Audi, yes. The ABS was very good on that car.

I'm wondering on a Sube.))

VF

 

[suburboturbo]

I currently drive Jeeps (both CommandTrac and SelecTrac), formerly a Pontiac
Sunrunner (which is a Suzuki Sidekick) and Subarus (Forester currently and
Impreza previously) which are a good cross-section of full time 4WD,
part-time 4WD, and AWD, and not really surprisingly like Subarus the
best...but my FAVOURITE winter cars were my 65 Corvairs (coupe and convert
with autos) and 66 convert (with 4 sp).
-I once drove 35 miles/60 km in the 65 Coupe when there was 3 FEET of fresh
soft snow, ie to bottom of side window. Under those conditions, the front
end lifted off the ground and the wheels acted at 'rudders', and the rear
wheels dug down. At about 15 mph/25 kph, it acted like a motorboat, and
handled accordingly. Back off the throttle, and the front went down, exactly
like a motorboat. On that particular 'necessity' trip, I was one of three
vehicles on the road over 3 hours, and the other two were monster trucks
with balloon tires and 2-3 ft ground clearance.
-I once pushed a police cruiser up a 5% icy hill with my 65 convertible with
just a tied rimless tire as the pushing cushion.
-I regularly "parked" my convertibles nose in, in shallow ditches when
regular parking spaces vanished in mid-winter...can't remember how many
times people wondered if I needed a tow truck, but I just got in, shoved it
in reverse, and backed out--never ever got stuck in Corvairs with big snow
tires on them--and with stiff shocks, good radials and the right air
pressure, they were just amazing in summer

Anyone know from personal experience if the Suzuki SX4 AWD 5 door hatchback
m/t is as competent as a Subaru Impreza 5 door hatchback m/t?

Jim on PEI








Don't have experience with other AWD systems, but have owned a
Pathfinder, Cherokee and Samurai, all with 4WD, low range and manual
transmissions, and they were all very competent in snow, especially
deep snow with their high ground clearance.  However, the reason I'm
posting is to say that my all time favorite "snow-mobile" was a 1965
Corvair.  With 65% of its weight over the rear wheels, a limited slip
differential and quality snow tires, it was absolutely unstoppable,
despite the fact that I had lowered it about an inch for
autocrossing.  In deep snow, you just rammed through it until you
carved a path.  Used to go looking for the steepest hills I could
find, and there are quite a few here in the Hudson valley, and it
NEVER found one it couldn't handle.  Only problem I ever had was an
ice rut that put a hole in my gas tank.  What makes the Subaru a so
attractive to me is performance on any slick surface, especially when
equipped with tires that perform well in rain (not the original
equipment Bridgestones).  With power distributed back to front and
side to side, it's never at a loss for traction and immune to torque
steer.  Even on ice, where the conventional wisdom is that AWD
provides no advantage, it gives you four driven wheels instead of two
to catch a piece of dry pavement.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Glad to hear that someone else appreciates the performance of the
Corvair and finds some modern parallel in Subarus. I grew up with
Corvairs (my father bought a new '63 and several times found himself
alone at work when no one else could make it through a blizzard - back
in the days before there was an SUV in every driveway). Later on,
when I had my own, whenever there was a significant snowfall, my next
door neighbor would show up at my house with a silly grin and we'd go
out looking for the steepest unplowed roads in the area to conquer.
And always won. As mentioned, they were great on dry pavement too,
but selection of tire size, pressure, springs and shocks were
critical. Soft springs, narrow tires with low pressure in front,
stiff springs and the widest tires you could fit it back. Having the
rear end break loose and bringing it back in line with more throttle
was one of the great thrills of driving a rear engine car, and I miss
it. I love my WRX, but it's too easy, almost robotic. You put the
right winter or summer tires on and it just sticks and goes.

 

[JD]

I'm wondering on a Sube.))

VF

It'll work on any car. The Mercedes AWD is three open diffs and they use
the ABS to mke it behave like limited slip diffs.

 

[houndman]

It'll work on any car. The Mercedes AWD is three open diffs and they use
the ABS to mke it behave like limited slip diffs.

Wondering how tricky that would get with a 5 speed? 3 legs might
come in handy.((

VF

 

[JD]

Wondering how tricky that would get with a 5 speed? 3 legs might
come in handy.((

VF

If you heel-toe as a matter of course it works very well. I use the
technique on a six-speed. You don't need much brake to make it work either.
In the Mercedes case, the traction control computer applies the ABS to
balance out the torque between the three diffs. But you can do it manually
as well in a Subaru since only the center diff locks on most Subarus.

 

[George Mills]

So I'm top-posting ; newsreader mixup--I'm replying to the poster on the
bottom.

From the time they first came out, I always wondered if history would have
been quite different if GM had had the common sense to make a 1965 FWD
air-cooled Corvair first, in 1960. Other than the freaking lame Powerglide
automatic, and a few other North American Silly Ideas (TM) such as the
seats, it might have been quite the vehicle indeed.

anyone driven an Suzuki SX4? Comments compared to Subaru??

Jim on PEI

Don't have experience with other AWD systems, but have owned a
Pathfinder, Cherokee and Samurai, all with 4WD, low range and manual
transmissions, and they were all very competent in snow, especially
deep snow with their high ground clearance. However, the reason I'm
posting is to say that my all time favorite "snow-mobile" was a 1965
Corvair. With 65% of its weight over the rear wheels, a limited slip
differential and quality snow tires, it was absolutely unstoppable,
despite the fact that I had lowered it about an inch for
autocrossing. In deep snow, you just rammed through it until you
carved a path. Used to go looking for the steepest hills I could
find, and there are quite a few here in the Hudson valley, and it
NEVER found one it couldn't handle. Only problem I ever had was an
ice rut that put a hole in my gas tank. What makes the Subaru a so
attractive to me is performance on any slick surface, especially when
equipped with tires that perform well in rain (not the original
equipment Bridgestones). With power distributed back to front and
side to side, it's never at a loss for traction and immune to torque
steer. Even on ice, where the conventional wisdom is that AWD
provides no advantage, it gives you four driven wheels instead of two
to catch a piece of dry pavement.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Glad to hear that someone else appreciates the performance of the
Corvair and finds some modern parallel in Subarus. I grew up with
Corvairs (my father bought a new '63 and several times found himself
alone at work when no one else could make it through a blizzard - back
in the days before there was an SUV in every driveway). Later on,
when I had my own, whenever there was a significant snowfall, my next
door neighbor would show up at my house with a silly grin and we'd go
out looking for the steepest unplowed roads in the area to conquer.
And always won. As mentioned, they were great on dry pavement too,
but selection of tire size, pressure, springs and shocks were
critical. Soft springs, narrow tires with low pressure in front,
stiff springs and the widest tires you could fit it back. Having the
rear end break loose and bringing it back in line with more throttle
was one of the great thrills of driving a rear engine car, and I miss
it. I love my WRX, but it's too easy, almost robotic. You put the
right winter or summer tires on and it just sticks and goes.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

So I'm top-posting ; newsreader mixup--I'm replying to the poster on the
bottom.

From the time they first came out, I always wondered if history would have
been quite different if GM had had the common sense to make a 1965 FWD
air-cooled Corvair first, in 1960. Other than the freaking lame Powerglide
automatic, and a few other North American Silly Ideas (TM) such as the
seats, it might have been quite the vehicle indeed.

anyone driven an Suzuki SX4? Comments compared to Subaru??

Jim on PEI






Glad to hear that someone else appreciates the performance of the
Corvair and finds some modern parallel in Subarus. I grew up with
Corvairs (my father bought a new '63 and several times found himself
alone at work when no one else could make it through a blizzard - back
in the days before there was an SUV in every driveway). Later on,
when I had my own, whenever there was a significant snowfall, my next
door neighbor would show up at my house with a silly grin and we'd go
out looking for the steepest unplowed roads in the area to conquer.
And always won. As mentioned, they were great on dry pavement too,
but selection of tire size, pressure, springs and shocks were
critical. Soft springs, narrow tires with low pressure in front,
stiff springs and the widest tires you could fit it back. Having the
rear end break loose and bringing it back in line with more throttle
was one of the great thrills of driving a rear engine car, and I miss
it. I love my WRX, but it's too easy, almost robotic. You put the
right winter or summer tires on and it just sticks and goes.

Make sure to check out what cars the service department loans out -
that's what you'll be driving the most if you buy a Suzuki!

Carl

 

[Bugalugs]

Way back then front wheel drive was not very well known. Issigonis was
just inventing the Mini and the American motor industry were not noted
for pushing the boat out. So GM set out to copy VWs successful formula.