8 seaons of central Indiana snow with ultra high performanc tires. Car control skills come in handy. Momentum is the key to not getting stuck.

 

Obviously understimated speed, and overestimated grip. This is inexperience. My FD's a daily driver, so I go out in the snow...

 

Once after a dinner I came out and there was a nice coat of snow on the ground. I have all season tires, not ultra high performance and I was still all over the place. The short answer is no, I will avoid the snow at almost all costs.

 

You can be all over the place, but controllable like drifting. Tap the gas and watch the people behind you back up

Seriously, I've driven a rear wheel RX-7 since 1986 and never had an issue. Momentum is key as Sleep said. Driving a light rear wheel car is nothing like driving a front wheel car. Go out in a parking lot (w/o light poles) and practice. Makes a huge difference how slick the road is. Slow and controlled (only enough gas to get it moving) is best with stock sized dedicated snows. If you can't control sliding around (which is unavoidable in this car) then get a second car (Elantra or Saturn for $1500).

I find the challenge fun, but if you don't get a cheap beater like my wife's Elantra. That's never has a problem with snow.

Don't drive mine in the salt/sand/ice anymore but some fresh snow is fun once in a while. Now I've had a rear wheel drive car since '80 so I've had lots of practice (damn I'm getting old)...

BTW 4 dedicated snows on a second set of stock rims is cheap insurance compared to a totaled machine

 

Get yourself a set of one of these: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/winter.jsp

Any will be better than max peformance tires in the snow.

BTW: My mother (over 60 yrs old) has been driving her Supra for over 10 years in the winter to work with a set of Bridgestone Blizzak's w/o any problems...

 

Just a thought. Learn how to drive very well backwards. Then technically, one can hit the snow in a "FWD" car.

 

Uh, then the 'front wheels' don't steer or have a heavy engine above them

 

I think a 21 gallon gas tank is pretty heavy. Plus the car'll just have to be driven like a nimble rear wheel steered office mail cart.

But considering the car's gearing for reverse, it'll be more challenging to move from a stop than doing that in 1st or 2nd. I wonder if ABS works with the car in reverse....

 

Not sure of the density of gas but water is like 8 lb/gal so that's like 160 lbs (20 gal tank). What's the motor, like 400+lb Where's Jimlab when you need him

Visibility won't be too good since you'd be driving from the 'back seat'

 

Man, ain't that the truth. I love watching the SUV driver that was tailgating me, back way the hell off, when s/he sees me going sideways around the turns @15 mph LOL

 

Yeh, I love doing this to winter tailgaters. Just don't do this at any speed above 20-30mph or you'll be swapping ends (depending on how slippery it is). People will think you're crazy but it's great fun

 

Every winter, I always consider buying dedicated snows, but some how I end up cheaping out, and stay with decently treaded UHP tires (currently Pirelli P6000s). Perhaps some day I'll buy a set of snow/ice tires--probably when I'm too old to have fun in the snow and ice with my FD3S LOL

Yokohama AVS Winters look pretty good http://www.yokohamatire.com/TireIntro.asp?TireID=49 255/40-17s are $195 each from Discount Tire Direct, stock is <4 from Ohio (backordered).

For serious snow/ice traction get the Yokohama Iceguard IG 721s http://www.yokohamatire.com/TireIntro.asp?TireID=51 These are $167 each in 255/40-17, from Discount Tire Direct for . Stock is good in Ohio.

 

I got stuck on a bridge for almost an hour yesterday because of an accident about a dozen cars in front of me, and while I were there it started snowing like crazy. Unfortunatly, I still had about 30 mineuts of driving on crappy roads to do, and by the time I got home there was about 6 inches of snow on the goad, so the FD had become a glorified snow plow.

Needless to say, that was NOT something I intended to happen, and its NOT going to happen again...

 

Hmmm....I couldn't understand why a lightweight, high horsepower, rear wheel drive car would do badly in the snow

 

Are you serious?

 

Hell No Being Sarcastic. I would have thought that
FD+Snow=disaster would be a well known equation by now

 

FD3S driver skill is the variable here. The higher the skill and experience, the lower the chances for disaster. The lower the driver skill and experience, the higher the chances for disaster. Of course there are other variables that affect the likelihood of disaster, like tail-gating SUV drivers

 

gas weighs about 6 pounds a gallon. if you wanted to know.

 

I'd say it depends of if you premix 6lb+2oz

 

I think people are getting into trouble trying to drive this like a FWD car. It drives nothing like a FWD car in the snow so you need a lot of practice to drive it safely. You can do almost nothing but baby it to the max unless running 4 snow tires. Even with my Dunlop A/S 4000's it is a handful. 4 wide ski tires are perfect for sliding around. I would never give my FD to someone like my wife who has no experience driving a RWD car in the snow. I would never see it again. Now she's driven it in normal weather just fine I wonder how many of those having issues are used to a FWD car in the snow. My old FB was so bad I had to get the 4 Pirelli snows or I would not go anywhere (no LSD).

BTW the same applies for other RWD cars/trucks. My truck is also a handful (no 4wd) unless you are very careful...

 

I wonder those 2 FD owners that converted it to 4WD, how it handles in the snow but those are probhably rally cars, and either wrecked or don't see much ice and snow...

 

While driver experience and discretion is prolley 75% of the puzzle, snow tires always tip the scales in your favor. I just got Blizzak WS-50's 225/50/16's on 16x6.5 rims and i must say its a world of difference from UHP tires. I drove it all last year with Falken 451's, and it wasnt too bad but this year it acts like a damn 4x4. Momentum is no longer the key with dedicated snow tires, as ive climbed up hills at 25 in 3rd gear Plus with the amount of power this car has, you can still break the wheels loose for a little fun at your beck and call. And like someone else said, $900 from tirerack for snow tires beats the hell out of a totalled car.

-Zach


EDIT: Also, everyone says just buy a $800 honda civic beater for winter....but id much rather have a different set of tires and be enjoying the FD all year 'round

 

Well, good point. But, you can always sell the 'civic' for $800 come spring time, plus the FD does not endure any salt. For me, it was half not wanting to wreck the rare RX-7, half not wanting to get salt and crap all over the car and promote rust.

 

sry to hijack, but how rust-resistant are FD's??

 

rust resistant??? the question is how fool resistant are they. apparently not very.