So who else does 4WD well?

I'm wondering on a Sube.))

VF

Glad to hear that someone else appreciates the performance of the Corvair and finds some modern parallel in Subarus. I grew up with Corvairs (my father bought a new '63 and several times found himself alone at work when no one else could make it through a blizzard - back in the days before there was an SUV in every driveway). Later on, when I had my own, whenever there was a significant snowfall, my next door neighbor would show up at my house with a silly grin and we'd go out looking for the steepest unplowed roads in the area to conquer. And always won. As mentioned, they were great on dry pavement too, but selection of tire size, pressure, springs and shocks were critical. Soft springs, narrow tires with low pressure in front, stiff springs and the widest tires you could fit it back. Having the rear end break loose and bringing it back in line with more throttle was one of the great thrills of driving a rear engine car, and I miss it. I love my WRX, but it's too easy, almost robotic. You put the right winter or summer tires on and it just sticks and goes.

It'll work on any car. The Mercedes AWD is three open diffs and they use the ABS to mke it behave like limited slip diffs.

Wondering how tricky that would get with a 5 speed? 3 legs might come in handy.((

VF

If you heel-toe as a matter of course it works very well. I use the technique on a six-speed. You don't need much brake to make it work either. In the Mercedes case, the traction control computer applies the ABS to balance out the torque between the three diffs. But you can do it manually as well in a Subaru since only the center diff locks on most Subarus.

So I'm top-posting ; newsreader mixup--I'm replying to the poster on the bottom.

From the time they first came out, I always wondered if history would have been quite different if GM had had the common sense to make a 1965 FWD air-cooled Corvair first, in 1960. Other than the freaking lame Powerglide automatic, and a few other North American Silly Ideas (TM) such as the seats, it might have been quite the vehicle indeed.

anyone driven an Suzuki SX4? Comments compared to Subaru??

Jim on PEI

Glad to hear that someone else appreciates the performance of the Corvair and finds some modern parallel in Subarus. I grew up with Corvairs (my father bought a new '63 and several times found himself alone at work when no one else could make it through a blizzard - back in the days before there was an SUV in every driveway). Later on, when I had my own, whenever there was a significant snowfall, my next door neighbor would show up at my house with a silly grin and we'd go out looking for the steepest unplowed roads in the area to conquer. And always won. As mentioned, they were great on dry pavement too, but selection of tire size, pressure, springs and shocks were critical. Soft springs, narrow tires with low pressure in front, stiff springs and the widest tires you could fit it back. Having the rear end break loose and bringing it back in line with more throttle was one of the great thrills of driving a rear engine car, and I miss it. I love my WRX, but it's too easy, almost robotic. You put the right winter or summer tires on and it just sticks and goes.

Way back then front wheel drive was not very well known. Issigonis was just inventing the Mini and the American motor industry were not noted for pushing the boat out. So GM set out to copy VWs successful formula.