Since there are lots of AWD available, I wouldn’t sweat it, just get one of those. Modern RWD cars with all of the traction and stability control bits are totally fine. I had a RWD BMW 335i in Colorado with no trouble, the key is tires, imo. And you don’t really need snow tires in most climates, all seasons are fine. If you live somewhere snowy but not North Dakota, then tires with the ‘three peak mountain snow flake’ designation are fine.
I used to try to get my BMW to oversteer, and it wouldn’t. Unless I turned the traction control off, which I sometimes did to let the car rotate under power. Good times.
Maybe I’m out-of-date. I may never have driven a modern RWD car with modern traction/stability control. I just remember the HUGE improvement in performance when cars mostly switched from RWD to FWD, and it seems odd that they are still selling RWD cars. I suppose they are good for something. Maybe more total power in perfect conditions, as it’s easier to push than to pull? But it feels like you are giving up so much.
I’d does sound contradictory but it has to do with how the weight is distributed and how the steering system interplay’s with the drive train in FWD and RWD vehicles. It leads to better handling on dry roads but less control on slick conditions.
The problem with RWD cars is that when they lose traction, they tend to ‘oversteer,’ that’s when it feels like the back of the car is trying to overtake the front of the car. And you are supposed to ‘turn into the skid,’ which for many people feels totally unnatural. FWD cars ‘understeer’ at the traction limit, and for like 95% of drivers on the road that’s easier to deal with and think about.
But with FWD, you’re asking the front wheels to do all of the work. They are trying to accelerate the car and turn the car, so all else equal, a RWD car is faster. Most people don’t care, because they are just trying to get somewhere, not get there two seconds sooner.
Modern cars have all kinds of wizardry that detect oversteer, and cut the power, and apply a bit of braking, so it’s practically impossible to get sideways. I tried in several cars.
The term to me seems backwards. I played a racing video game that involved a lot of drifting and that seemed to translate into a pretty good instinct on how to handle RWD on snow. The turn off the main road near my first house was a long sweeping right turn off the intersection that both had wide shoulders and nearly 0 traffic, and was always fun to drift in a truck I had at the time.
An old Corvette that Motorola turned into an EV decades ago is up for sale. No idea if it’s worth what they are asking but it’s one of one and it’s neat.
We had been planning on getting a second electric in a few years, but our car is in the shop, and has no signs of coming back soon, so we decided to accelerate the purchase. Looked at the BMW i4, but is too small. Looked at the Mustang mach-e, but the sales guy said they are putting on big mark ups, and his manager was super slimy.
We are likely getting the VW ID4. Plan is to lease it to get the tax credit. If I can get a good interest rate, may wait to decide to buy it or not to maintain optionality, but if not, will just buy it out of the lease early. The sales guy says buying it out early is allowed, but has not yet sent me the exact details so I can make sure there are no surprises.
He also seemed surprised when I calculated the interest rate based on the price/residual/monthly payments. That, and him not sending the terms right away when I asked, make me think most people do not pay much attention to things other than what their monthly payment is…