Question on AWD.

Hi,

I just purchased a Soobie Impreza TS and we here in Canada get tons-oh-snow (maybe just not today.. ;) ) and I used to own a 4WD gas guzzler which would get me out of any wall of snow that I was stuck in.

I live downtown and during the winter the plow will come by and shove the snow up against the cars parked on the side of the street. With my 4Runner I could put in in 4WD and pop the clutch and I would pop out without any problems at all. I could also park pretty well anywhere I wanted.

The Soobie doesn't have anywhere near the ground clearance that the

4Runner did. I would imagine parking anywhere I wanted would be out of the question. However, can I expect the AWD system to give me the same advantage of leaving my snowpacked parking spot as my 4WD system?

Thanks

Justin Montreal.

Reply to
Justin F. Knotzke
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I live in upstate NY, not Canada, but we did wake up to 2 feet of snow last Christmas Day. We get lots of snow and I have never gotten stuck in either my old '95 Legacy or my current '97 Outback and I just drive and park anywhere I want to.

I agree that the wheels must be touching the ground to get traction :-)

-- Vic Roberts

Reply to
Victor Roberts

In general don't try to go through any walls that are higher than your bumper. The Subie's main radiator intake is from a skirt below the bumper, not the grill. Going through a wall of snow will get that skirt clogged with snow and your Subie overheating in the middle of winter.

I suppose if you break through the wall using the side of the car, it won't get too much snow into the air intake. Just try not to hit the snow dead-on.

And likely one advantage of the Subie AWD system that you likely didn't have in the old 4Runner with part-time 4WD is that you have 4WD all of the time. So you can get out of on-the-fly bad traction situations in a way that a part-timer wouldn't have the ability to, because you'd have to switch its

4WD off in normal-speed conditions.

Well, I have an OBW which has higher clearance than an Impreza, so I really have no trouble taking most sidewalks and stuff. I guess with the ground-clearance 4Runner you could even take some concrete parking dividers.

Yousuf Khan

Reply to
Yousuf Khan
:

Ahh well you up state New Yorkers easily get as much of the white stuff as us.. sometimes more. I'm glad to hear you haven't had any probs. I think my concern will be with (as Yousef mentioned in another reply) making sure the air intact doesn't get clogged not to mention causing damage to it by blasting through snow.

But it's good to know that I won't be spinning all over.

You know, in a bizaare sorta way, I'm looking forward to the first storm. ;)

Thanks for the replies,

J
Reply to
Justin F. Knotzke
:

Ahh well you up state New Yorkers easily get as much of the white stuff as us.. sometimes more. I'm glad to hear you haven't had any probs. I think my concern will be with (as Yousef mentioned in another reply) making sure the air intake doesn't get clogged not to mention causing damage to it by blasting through snow.

But it's good to know that I won't be spinning all over.

You know, in a bizaare sorta way, I'm looking forward to the first storm. ;)

Thanks for the replies,

J
Reply to
Justin F. Knotzke

Typical Subaru owner behavior :-)

-- Vic Roberts

Reply to
Victor Roberts

You can't compare a Subaru AWD system to 4runner's. The Subaru AWD is great for handling, but not for anything else. The wheel with least resistance will spin when stuck in snow. I know, happened to me too many times.

Reply to
Dan J.S.
:

The wheel of the 4Runner or the Subaru?

J
Reply to
Justin F. Knotzke

Subaru

Reply to
Dan J.S.

I bought a new 2001 Ranger for my mail route and had to use the Subaru this winter because the Ford was always stuck. I bought the 4x4 but didn't realize it had an open rear differential. I will be modifying the rear diff this summer. TG

Reply to
TG

Welcome to the club. ;) I love summer, and I've always wanted a convertible but can't afford one due to insurance. :( I do have my Subie wagon though, which is infinitely more practical and gets me anywhere without getting stuck. During the warm months, I drive around and wish for an open top, but once the white stuff hits the ground I forget all about that and find an empty parking lot to drive sideways in. Take it easy though, on that first storm. I smacked up my Legacy pretty good 3 years ago when I took off like a rocket on "supposedly" icy roads. The traction was so good that I didn't notice I was driving on a sheet of ice until I couldn't stop. I ended up being without a car for almost two months due to an incompetent body shop, and learned a valuable lesson about AWD. Take it slow, especially at first, and practice driving in a snowy/icy parking lot.

-Matt

Reply to
Hallraker

no traction with 4 wheels is the is the same thing as no traction with 2 wheels

Reply to
miketryan

What we forget is that all cars have brakes on all four wheels so an AWD car may *go* better in ice and snow than a 2WD car but it does not necessarily *stop* any better.

-- Vic Roberts

Reply to
Victor Roberts

Yeah, we have an 03' TS wagon auto and it was a blast driving in the first snow storm in New Hamshire and the christmas storm of upstate new york. Looking forward to the white stuff again and those winter road trips. Not sure why some folks are complaning about having autos and driving in the snow. I thought it work really well. Damn well, push it to the limits to try and get it stuck. especially when you stop at the junctions taking a corner where the sides have unplowed snow. It was fun spinning the 4 wheels and seeing it moved. Big GRIN ...:))

Reply to
sandman

Actually a 4 wheel/all wheel drive stops MUCH faster than a 2 wheel or 1 wheel drive. TG

Reply to
TG

Better explain how then. I'm sure lots of us would like to hear.

Reply to
Jim Stewart

How so?

Reply to
Victor Roberts

Up hare in upstate NY I use aggressive all-season tires. Snow tires are better in deep snow, but the roads are snow free most of the time, even in winter, and I feel the all-season tires are better than show tires on dry roads and also on rain and ice.

If I had my own pit crew :-) I might mount snow tires when the roads are snow covered and then replace them with all-season as soon as the roads are cleared.

-- Vic Roberts

Reply to
Victor Roberts

Sure, I'd love to see the photos...normally you see plenty of WRX shots, but being a fellow TS owner, I'd like to see these shots...

Mort (see reply for email address)

Reply to
Mort and Pam Shuman

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