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It's just not as much fun driving on unplowed roads and snowy parking lots with front wheel drive. So much harder to do donuts and skids and slides and all those fun things that the kids love and the wife hates...

LOL.
Yeah, I never could get the wifes front wheel drive chevy Impala to do a donut but she had no problems in the last snow we had on a short curve just north of the house on glare ice from the days snow melt that had refrozen. She looped it at probably 10 mph on the curve. :laughing. : :laughing:
Luckily the county road curve was short with no ditch or fence and no damage to anything .

AndyMan said:

It's just not as much fun driving on unplowed roads and snowy parking lots with front wheel drive. So much harder to do donuts and skids and slides and all those fun things that the kids love and the wife hates...

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I learned to drive with rear wheel drive cars and the majority of the miles I have driven in my career of 44 years at the wheel have been with those kind. Have always preferred that kind of vehicle anyway.

Andyman, sliding around is for kids, time to grow up !!! :laughing:

JDgreen said:

Andyman, sliding around is for kids, time to grow up !!! :laughing:

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Phooey on you. Did my wife pay you to say that? :tongue: She won't even watch when we're donutting on ATVs in the driveway, much less in a car on the road!

AndyMan said:

Phooey on you. Did my wife pay you to say that? :tongue: She won't even watch when we're donutting on ATVs in the driveway, much less in a car on the road!

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No she didn't...but sliding around on the roads is kid stuff, save the antics for OFF THE ROADS.

I've got an old 2w/d Chevy PU.Got pleanty of weight in the back.days like today it stays in the barn. russ

173abn said:

I've got an old 2w/d Chevy PU.Got pleanty of weight in the back.days like today it stays in the barn. russ

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My winter vehicle used to be a '90 F150 with two wheel drive, I kept the gas tanks full and had a cap covering the bed and about 400 pounds of quarter inch steel plate directly over the rear axle, it could handle up to a foot of dry show really well. Current truck is a Y2K GMC Yukon XL 2500, have used the 4wd maybe twenty times since it was new. Will never waste the $$ on that option again.

JDgreen said:

...have used the 4wd maybe twenty times since it was new. Will never waste the $$ on that option again.

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Have to agree, 4wd is GREAT on a tractor... For the typical highway driver it is just not going to be used ... UNLESS you really live in snow...

Even the type of snow we get here in Kansas a front wheel drive with good radials has never let me down...
BUT for a fun car with lots of HP, a rear wheel drive is tough to beat, in summer on paved roads... :smile:KennyV

KennyV said:

Have to agree, 4wd is GREAT on a tractor... For the typical highway driver it is just not going to be used ... UNLESS you really live in snow...

Even the type of snow we get here in Kansas a front wheel drive with good radials has never let me down...
BUT for a fun car with lots of HP, a rear wheel drive is tough to beat, in summer on paved roads... :smile:KennyV

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Kenny, we got 16 inches of new snow on Wednesday, there were drifts as high as 5 feet everyplace, I never went anywhere until the roads were cleared two days later so I didn't need to use my GMC. However, a lot of people who live in rural areas, doctors, police, firemen, etc. need to be able to get to their jobs so for them 4wd is required. My wife wanted the option, not me, but then she never drives our truck anyhow.....:confused2: go figger.

Never even considered a 4x2 when I got my truck. I do know some guys who prefer the 4x2 for some reason. They do use chains though. If I don't have 4x4 and it's snowing, I'm not going out.

DaveR said:

Never even considered a 4x2 when I got my truck. I do know some guys who prefer the 4x2 for some reason. They do use chains though. If I don't have 4x4 and it's snowing, I'm not going out.

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A tall 4X2 truck with weight in the back and good winter tires is a great snow vehicle, even better if it has positraction. One of the people I helped get unstuck during that big storm on Wednesday was a cop neighbor, he has a short box, 2wd Ram 1500 with a Hemi, superwide summer tires, and no weight in the back but a cap, and no positraction. He turned into his driveway after getting home from work and stopped dead, had to pull him out with my tractor, once he was on the road again, ON LEVEL PAVEMENT, his tires had so little traction and so much rolling resistance (superwide tread) he could barely move at 2 mph. I drive my GMC in two wheel drive in the winter 98% of the time, and save the 4wd for when I actually need it. It's tall, has sticky tires and a locker in back...

if you can keep momentum going you can get by with a 4x2 staying in the tracks ahead of you. but if your breaking a trail or you have to stop and start then its easier to have 4x4 i've had both.

LandN said:

if you can keep momentum going you can get by with a 4x2 staying in the tracks ahead of you. but if your breaking a trail or you have to stop and start then its easier to have 4x4 i've had both.

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Well said, momentum is the key to all bad traction driving. THe trouble with 4 wd, and I say this as a former commercial straight truck driver, is that too many people on the road think because they have superior traction GOING, their vehicles are magically immune to the laws of friction, gravity, and inertia. I advise people, if you have four wheel drive, you will stay out of a lot of problems if you tell yourself you are in a TWO WHEEL DRIVE vehicle and operate it accordingly...I drove 30 ton loaded trucks all over Michigan during my career including in the UP in the middle of winter, and never got off road nor had a ticket nor an at-fault accident. Common sense is the only way to wheel any vehicle, a commodity not frequently seen in some drivers. Earlier this winter I was plowing my northside driveway and about a quarter mile away the wind was gusting powder snow across the road, a Mustang ragtop came sailing along toward me and when he hit the powder he did two complete 360 spins while still moving forward, he got it straightened out just in time and as he went by me he was creeping along like a little old lady with a death grip on the wheel, I was laughing so hard tears were freezing in my eyes.....:laughing:

If you want to do donuts in a front wheel drive put it in reverse and after you get going turn the wheel and hit the gas. I personally prefer my Chevy S-10 with a 5 speed on snow covered or icy roads.