I hate snow, it makes you go slower and less precise. I always can't wait till spring when I can start taking corners hard again and not slide into the ditch. However, recent years have proved to be less snowy, so I'd take the '7's out once in a while when its completely dry out.

I prefer not to rust out my current FB since I hated how rusty my old one got just after one winter's usage.

However, like everyone is saying, 1st gens are fun as hell in the snow, especially with LSD!!

 

BTW, I think LSD is better for the snow, more precise when you let off the gas, the rear stops in its tracks if your on snow. Ice is different though. I however, won't be using a turbo 12a on snow ever! Way too much hp!

 

Driving hard doesn't mean driving fast, necessarily.

I find the LSD to be a nuisance. It doesn't allow the tires to turn at different rates unless there is enough torque from the road to force the clutches to slip. Well guess what - on snow or ice (or hell even in the rain or on a dusty road) there isn't enough traction to generate that "road" torque against the clutches, and you might as well have a welded diff. Makes things a little hairy sometimes

Nice thing about the open diff is that in inclement weather, usually one tire will have more traction than the other, so at light to moderate throttle openings, one tire will start spinning and the other won't. This is a *good* thing, because then the non-spinning tire acts as a rudder and you maintain your directional stability. Of course, if you wanted, you could easily break *both* tires free, but it's nice for that to be an *option* instead of having it mandated for you by the LSD.

This is similar to why I don't like FWD in the winter... when the tires spin, you no longer are controlling which direction you're going in. And if you think "well just drive so the tires don't spin", you have some strange notions about winter driving

What I like about winter driving is that all the limits are much lower. This is excellent training for feeling how the car feels at and beyond what the road will allow you to do. Notice that practically all of the best rally drivers in the past 30 years have been Scandinavian.

 

Take it from me, FWD is much better in the winters.

4WD/AWD > FWD > RWD

Living in Fairbanks, Alaska teaches you alot about winter driving.

Hell, Porsche comes here to test their prototypes on the roads here in the winter.

 

Hey PeeJay,

I see your point in having a non-LSD on the snow as more likely to keep you from fishtailing.

After I bought my GS, which had a standard diff, I drove it in the rain with the bridgeport that I swapped from my previous car(till I got the LSD and put it in a week later), I couldn't believe how straight it drove spinning the one wheel in the rain and how much that slowed the acceration even in the rain. Granted its easier to keep straight, and is probably safer in a way in the snow. However, having driven my previous GSL with the LSD on snow on city streets, I actually feel more comfortable driving with the LSD for being able to manipulate the fish-tailing effect at low speeds, ofcourse it does take a little practice. If we are talking about high speed combined with the LSD on slippery surfaces, it is a handful to deal with going around corners at speeds you should not be going in icy/snow conditions. But with a little practice, I trully prefer LSD with my 1st gen anyday over a non-lsd. I don't even like my '88SE which has a standard diff yet, its less predictable when its going to the rear breaking loose compared to a LSD.

 

Aghhhh!! I moved to northern AZ where there is no snow......

I gues its better that cars never rust here.....but, I'm gonna miss the driving sideways the whole way to work thing....

 

That's one plus about the town I live in... they never salt the roads! They have special rigs that dig semi-large grooves into the ice built up on the roads with provides decent traction.

In Anchorage (the largest city in Alaska) they do salt the roads... that's why I'd never buy a Rex from there.

 

RX-7+Winters = Exciting adventures!

 

Both RXs are daily drivers, so they see winter ice action...

 

It snows here too. And having lived with all three setups, I can tell you that my knuckles go white just thinking about trying to drive a FWD in the snow.

I gotta say though, next to the Subaru I used to own (snif sob) the best winter car I've had was the '80. Light enough to not need much traction on hills, and the low polar inertia meant I could do stupid things like drive sideways down city streets. Never built up the ***** to do the things I could do in the Subaru, though, like take interchanges sideways at high speed

Funny, only car I ever got stuck was the 4wd. High centered it in the driveway.

- Pete ("I have 4wd, I don't need to shovel..." WRONG)

 

Hehe, your LSD must be a lot better shape than mine. Mine is so worn out, it basically is an open diff...

How do you explain Carlos Sainz? I don't know if you've even been to spain, but but except up in the mountains Snow is pretty rare...