What's your rear wheel drive car like in snow?

[MissAtomicBomb1]

Experiences welcome please.,,Just looking at new cars & have seen one I like the look of but it's rear wheel drive (estate type car)

For context we live on a gritted main road where if only snows a couple of days a year at most but when it does I have to drive a 10 mile round trip to work which includes a couple of smaller side roads. It was a bit stressful this yr in my trusty golf!
Our other car is also rear wheel drive so no back up option there if it snows etc.

Would winter tyres make a big difference or am I just overthinking the whole thing?!

DH has a rear wheel drive car and its totally crap in the snow, but I dont know how muchdifference winter tyres would make. Personally I wouldnt want 2 RW drive cars!

I drove a BMW 3 series for 16 years and it was crap in the snow. Every year it was me who got stuck somewhere (live in the countryside). The boot would slowly start to overtake the bonnet at some point at least once every winter 😂

RIP my lovely Bmer

My downstairs neighbour when we lived in Chicago had a RWD Mustang and apparently winter tires are a must plus sandbags in the boot. I’ve seen him drive in the snow many a time and he looked as steady as my AWD on all seasons tires. Then I saw an idiot in a BMW try to drive down my totally straight but quite steep road in London in barely more than sleet and take out 3 parked cars. Bit of a pain to change your tires and load up the boot with weight though? Probably best to get one car that isn’t RWD.

I saw an idiot in a BMW try to drive down my totally straight but quite steep road in London in barely more than sleet and take out 3 parked cars.

Wasn't me* *😉

Oh no this isn't filling me with confidence! 🙈
It's a 3 series I'm looking at @Laiste

Bloody awful. I couldn’t even get up the dropped kerb to put my car away in the garage!

Anyone tried winter tyres? 😬 <hopeful>

Biggest regret was my rear wheel drive. I really struggled even with small amounts of snow, but then I’m not the best of drivers 🤦‍♀️ I’ve now got a bmw xdrive. Best car ever for driving in winter. It’s cost me a lot of money on other issues, but very reliable for snow/ice.

I had a celica, years ago. My DH got me snow tyres for winter and I can’t say I noticed a difference. But like I said in my pp, I’m not the best of drivers so my experience probably means nothing.

DH's 3 series is terrible. My 1 series is just about driveable as long as you know how to steer into the occasional skids.

I have winter tires in my RWD - does absolutely bugger all imo. During this winter I actually couldn't leave my house in my car several times as the weather was too bad / it wasn't driveable. Thanked by lucky stars for my DHs 4x4!

I had two BMW’s with rear wheel drive and I could barely get off the flat drive onto the flat road in the snow. Bought winter wheels for the second one and they made such a difference.

Mine was fine in the snow once I’d put 4 bags of cement (unopened) in the boot to give it some traction.

I’m currently on my third BMW and I’ve also owned a Mercedes-Benz, so I have considerable experience of cars which are crap in the snow.

The BMWs were all completely useless. I can’t even get my current one off the driveway when it snows. It’s RWD, it’s got way too much power (3 litre twin-turbo), an automatic gearbox and big fat low-profile tyres. Traction in snow & ice is effectively non-existent. My previous BMWs were fitted withrun-flat tyres which apparently turn into a substance resembling glass when the temperature drops below freezing. My Mercedes was better, but still no match for a small FWD hatchback like a Fiesta.

Recently got rid of our 3 series - it always ended up not moving for most of each winter. We would have been very stuck (quite literally) if we didn't have another to rely on. We now have two 4x4s and it's nice to not have to worry about who is where

I have to agree - had several 3 Series and they were all terrifying in the snow, I lost count of the amount of times I skidded, even being utterly careful. I wouldn't do it again, as beautiful as they are when it's not snowing.

Bloody awful so we got rid. Was BMW and I loved it but scared the life out of me in the snow.

Was a 3 series estate OP.

Yep it's a manual estate

Oh dear seem pretty unanimous then!
Back to looking at SUVs!

Well yes it will be crap, but how many days a year does it matter?

I can tell which ones are RWD when it snows a bit and they go uphill in the city I work in. The struggle can be pretty bad.

I’ve had a 5 series BMW estate and a Merc E Class estate, both RWD. I ran winter tyres on both cars in the winter mo this and both managed successful mountain pass drives in the alps on far worse snow than we get in the UK. Winter tyres make a massive difference. I ran a set of narrower rims with skinnier tyres (powerful cars always come with big wide rear tyres but that’s unhelpful in snow) and swapped them myself, was a 30 minute job with a trolley Jack and a torque wrench. Right tyres and right tyre pressure makes all the difference.

DH has one, we call it "The Sledge" as it slides along rather than drives

Oh dear, my DH's car is also a 3 series BMW estate but automatic...... not looking good for BMWs on here is it 🤣🤣