Winter drivinng: FWD and RWD with snow tires vs. AWD with all-season tires - what people who have done the tests say

My experience tell me the opposite. If there is any grip, ABS is fine, and does react very quickly. It doesn't cope very well if grip is very low, or almost non existant. In such conditions IME, driver controlled braking can be more effective. Mike.

I can not agree with your first assertion. Contrary to popular modern thought, FWD is not inherently better than RWD in the snow. It depends on the individual vehicle to a great extent. There are advantages and disadvantages to each configuration in the snow and it generally comes down to whatever the driver is most comfortable with. Many less skilled drivers prefer FWD over RWD because they are uncomfortable when (not if) the rear end breaks lose in a corner. But that very capability can be useful in some situations.

Yes, a 4WD or AWD vehicle *with* winter tires would be the best set-up.

True. And another point to consider is that modern winter tires are a completely different animal from the "snow" tires of days gone by (in a better way). The rubber compounds have come a long way in recent years and modern tires utilize advanced siping to gain traction in ice that were not around back "in the day".

Exactly. In that case the ABS was just highlighting the (poor) amount of traction.

After that 'rare' remark about new fresh snow a couple messages back, I was thinking the same thing. Glad you caught yourself. I've been in that 'rare' stuff more times than I can remember. And the others are right. It's just like gravel. You'll stop (slightly) shorter when you can pile up a little wedge of the stuff in front of the wheels. ABS just lets you roll on. As for steering, there's not enough traction to steer in that stuff anyway.

-- C.R. Krieger (Been there; done that)

On acceleration only. For turning and stopping, they are all equal.

Mine has "1", "2", "3", "4", and "5". What is this "snow mode" of which you speak?

Auto boxes only. Normal is economy, with snow or sport on a separate switch. Mike.

Possibly, but only in deep snow that you are unlikely to be going at any speed in anyway and even then I'll bet you are better off with abs .

Nope. With ABS the snowplough effect doesn't happen, because the wheels never stop turning. Mike.