Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
Four-wheel drive really comes into it's own climbing boulder-sized rocks. Short of that, it's just a matter of having the weight over the driven axle.
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This is one thing I've noticed, that 2WD on modern cars also has certain drawbacks. The ol' rear engine VW's and older FWD cars did excellent in the snow without traction control. This was because the weight distribution was snowing like 40:60, which is better for acceleration as long as the drive wheels are under the heavier axle. But in modern cars the weight distribution is closer to 50:50, which is better for braking and steering.
I'm still not sold on RWD being better in every case though. It would be nice for Engineering Explained, Mithbusters, Scotty Kilmer or someone else to do a real side by side comparison.
But who knows. If I can get over my qualms, I might consider a Tesla or a VW ID-Buzz in the future. It looks pretty good overall. But how well VW's electric drive reliability and cost to own in the long run is still speculation. I would prefer a minivan right now over anything else.