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[Steven Champeon <schampeo AT hesketh.com>]

on Wed, Dec 18, 2002 at 05:54:46PM -0500, childers.paula AT epamail.epa.gov 
wrote:
> As far as "handling" on ice/snow, it's really about the weight
> distribution. Rear wheel drive cars (with front-mount engines) have less
> of their total weight on the rear drive wheels, and thus break loose,
> skid & slide more easily, and generally have less drive-wheel traction
> in bad conditions.

Yeah, that's the other point ;) I always forget about the extra weight.

> It's the internal design equivalent of all those cinderblocks my dad
> used to throw in the bed of his pickup when snow was in the air.   A
> competent driver with some weight in the back and decent tires can do
> just as well with rwd as fwd.

My mom worked with cement testers, so we always had cement cores instead
of cinder blocks :)

> And the concept of "powering out of a curve" on a gravel road just
> isn't as....fun... with fwd.

Boy, no doubt. And it's just so much more fun to swerve around a nice
icy parking lot with a 74 Chevy Nova than it's ever gonna be in a Jetta.

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