BimmerFest BMW Forum banner

RWD vs AWD

4K views 40 replies 15 participants last post by  pointandgo 
#1 · (Edited)
I found the article on the home page very interesting that compared 2wd vs awd and regular tires to snow tires. My other cars are awd with winter tires, but I also have a 328 awd with regular tires. I'm considering 2wd with winter tires as an alternative. I've had fwd and rwd without winter tires and slipped plenty, but I've never tried winter tires on a 2wd car. Has anyone here had both a rwd and awd 3 series in snow?

Obviously awd doesn't help with braking and cornering, the most important safety factors. fwd has always been considered better than rwd because of the increased weight over the driving wheels, but the article made me think twice. Although weight transfer under acceleration is probably not a huge issue since you can't accelerate fast in the snow, weight transfer going up a hill (which is when you need it the most) gives rwd the advantage. And with more evenly distributed weight, braking and cornering are better too, so maybe rwd is actually better than fwd -- as long as you have enough traction to get going on the flat. I've had scary situations in other rwd cars where the tail would slide out when going around a corner.

P.S. I'm fully aware of the sport/performance factors, mainly just wondering how a rwd with winter tires compares to an awd without winter tires from a daily driver acceleration perspective.
 
See less See more
#3 · (Edited)


The BMW is RWD on winters the SUV is AWD on summers. Really the performance will be based on the type of AWd system on the car. I cant speak for BMW's system but i know for a fact that AWD isnt invincible I have gotten my moms mechanical AWD suzuki stuck in the mud before

At the end of the day tires make all the difference
 
#13 ·
+1 My brother went to tank school when he was a Lieutenant, they drove M1 tanks in the snow. (or maybe it was when he was stationed in Colorado Springs). He said it slides around all over the place.
 
#9 ·
I've owned a 1999 328i (RWD) and a 2001 330xi (AWD). This is the older E46 generation of BMW. The 328i with winter tires stopped and cornered better than the AWD with all seasons. For acceleration the AWD noticeably outperformed the RWD.

As one expects a tire (winter) designed for a certain use case (winter) outperforms a tire not specifically designed for said use case. And, as your research has found, it is the, by far, common comparison you'll see. This is like saying a mini-van is better for hauling kids than a truck. Where I'm going with this is there's other use cases. Here in Colorado road conditions which make RWD/AWD, winter/all-season a moot point for much of the year. We see temperature swings from 60 degrees one day to single digits the next. The majority of time we're not at such cold temperatures. IMO buying winter tires for the Denver metro area doesn't make a lot of sense because the conditions where they excel aren't all that common. I'd say the same thing about upstate NY (though the conditions are more prevalent there).

In the end it's my opinion unless you have a specific desire to have RWD there's little downside to AWD.
 
#16 ·
I've owned a 1999 328i (RWD) and a 2001 330xi (AWD). This is the older E46 generation of BMW. The 328i with winter tires stopped and cornered better than the AWD with all seasons. For acceleration the AWD noticeably outperformed the RWD.
That's my experience owning two 3 series w/ RWD and snow tires, and two Subarus with all seasons.

We had to change the tires in the Subarus to Nokian all seasons, cause on stock all seasons they were kinda dangerous in snow.

Both types require some driving skill - the rear drive car you have to be light on the throttle starting off, and you should know how to countersteer, although now DSC makes that unnecessary.

With AWD you really need to stay on the gas in corners to take advantage of AWD, you don't want to lift off or coast through corners.

AWD is better for not just accelerating but cruising, like at 30 mph in snow on the highway, it's more stable than RWD w/ snows.
 
#21 ·
I've owned a 1999 328i (RWD) and a 2001 330xi (AWD). This is the older E46 generation of BMW. The 328i with winter tires stopped and cornered better than the AWD with all seasons. For acceleration the AWD noticeably outperformed the RWD.

As one expects a tire (winter) designed for a certain use case (winter) outperforms a tire not specifically designed for said use case. And, as your research has found, it is the, by far, common comparison you'll see. This is like saying a mini-van is better for hauling kids than a truck. Where I'm going with this is there's other use cases. Here in Colorado road conditions which make RWD/AWD, winter/all-season a moot point for much of the year. We see temperature swings from 60 degrees one day to single digits the next. The majority of time we're not at such cold temperatures. IMO buying winter tires for the Denver metro area doesn't make a lot of sense because the conditions where they excel aren't all that common. I'd say the same thing about upstate NY (though the conditions are more prevalent there).
Conditions are similar here as well, but the rare time you really need something (whether it be winter tires or awd) it's invaluable. One accident can really ruin a day. In my case though the biggest problem is just in my neighborhood. On the flip side, winter tires in warm conditions are not safe either.
 
#12 ·
I have experienced both, although my awd experience is in a manual tranny wrx. As long as you are comfortable in your driving ability rwd with winter tires is great. I prefer the stopping and turning ability of this setup vs the go-anywhere advantage that the awd still has imo. The tail kicks out but nothing that cannot be controled. If the snow were super deep, I would probably opt for the awd on all seasons. I feel this setup still has an advantage for getting unstuck vs rwd on winters.

PS- I do have my 2 front summer wheels/tires in my trunk for extra traction
 
#28 ·
Has anyone here had both a rwd and awd 3 series in snow?

Yes.
I went from an E46 325xi AWD to an E90 328i rwd. Before the E46 I had two Subaru Outbacks. I've found my E90 328i rwd on Continental Winter Contacts performs very well in snow. The biggest difference between the two is acceleration. Handling wise it is the same. I've spent two central NY winters in this car and have not wished for AWD even once. My commute includes a couple of traffic lights on an uphill street that I worried about at first but hasn't been a problem. At worst, a little mild spinning but a non issue. I think the real show stopper would be deep snow but the 3's, xi or not, are limited by ground clearance anyway. Tires make a huge difference of course.
 
#29 ·
Has anyone here had both a rwd and awd 3 series in snow?

Yes.
I went from an E46 325xi AWD to an E90 328i rwd. Before the E46 I had two Subaru Outbacks. I've found my E90 328i rwd on Continental Winter Contacts performs very well in snow. The biggest difference between the two is acceleration. Handling wise it is the same. I've spent two central NY winters in this car and have not wished for AWD even once. My commute includes a couple of traffic lights on an uphill street that I worried about at first but hasn't been a problem. At worst, a little mild spinning but a non issue. I think the real show stopper would be deep snow but the 3's, xi or not, are limited by ground clearance anyway. Tires make a huge difference of course.
You may not have wished for AWD but I suspect the people behind you had :D I can't recall how many times I've had to wait through another cycle of a traffic light because the guy ahead of me couldn't get through the light in a timely manner.
 
#39 ·
Try Michelin X-ice. I have them on my xDrive 3-er and two other cars in my garage and love them. Great on the snow, salty slush and ice mix that we usually get around here. They absorb potholes much better than the dreadful OEM run-flats and are not floaty as Blizzaks... As for AWD, yes it does feel different. Many BMW purists will tell you it "underperforms" compared to RWD. It depends on what kind of performance you are looking for. I'm used to WRX, so it's not a question for me whether AWD is worth it.
 
#41 ·
You've mentioned many options. In heavy snow areas FOUR snow tires are recommended for both FWD and RWD cars by numerous private and state/federal safety agencies. This would include AWD cars as well.

I've lived in 'heavy snow' areas, including upstate NY (Utica) where I had to drive to places such as Watertown, NY (check it out on the map). I had a heavy RWD car and always used four snow tires...often in "white out" conditions, but this arrangement never let me down.

The only time I ever had a Winter snowy road accident...plowing into a snow bank was with an AWD pickup truck. Over-confidence with AWD.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top