when considering what car to buy this year I mentioned to the missus that we should look at a BMW.
Her reaction was not favourable due to the fact that most of the cars that were having big trouble in the severe weather of January were Beemer's, due to their rear wheel drive..'we will never have a rear wheel drive car' she said.
Ha ha only told her after the deposit was paid on the RX!
But its a good point..I even had to push my mates 325 due to a very small chunk of ice was peventing him getting it on his drive.

lets hope its a mild winter cos driving e rear wheel drive car in ice is, in my opinion, a big risk.
anyone else feel the same?

cheers
Ken

 

I have had little difficulty with my BMW 728 in the snow.
Quite often it pays to switch off driver aids in the snow/ice and go and practice in a quiet large car park.
I do this whenever possible just practising going round in circles at slow speed and learning how to hold the backend out on the throttle as it lets you appreciate how to handle the inevitable break aways from the circle. Need a big car park at say 8am on a snowy SUnday for this though!!
I remember a freezing snowy night trying to get home up a slope with a massive queue of traffic all because there were lots of little
spots of frozen snow on the main road.
My 728 (auto box) got up the hill no problem but many others did not.

Still have the 728 along with the RX8 and DiscoII TD5.
You can guess which one I will be using though if we get the much hyped bad winter :D (all because the pattern in the past: good summer-bad winter)

 

A bit chicken and egg really - you need the car park practice to be a ble to get to the snowy car park safely to practice!!!

 

Is this not because the 728 weighs a ton!!!!

I have a 3 series tourer and we load the boot with heavy items on snowy days to keep the backend down and aid grip, if not it slides all over the place. Also swith off the driving aids as it makes the car unsafe in snow.

Will probably have to do the same with the Rx8 as this is going to be pretty light and an intersting drive in the snow

 

Wait a minute?
Main roads are gritted but private industrial estate car parks arent! They are the best bet for some snowy fun!

Not 2fast2furious stuff just some gentle sliding.:D

 

Try 2 tonnes!
But with 255/45/ZR18 tyres on the back as ideal for the snow as you will get without buying snow tyres cos the footprint is massive.

Totally agree with switching off the driver aids in the snow.

Just need some things in the boot to weigh things down a bit.....

 

I used to have to load concrete kerbs into the boot of my RX7 as it was so light at the back. Even so slippery roads led to "eventful driving"

Am hoping that the 8 will be loads better than the 7 (2nd gen) due to the better weight distribution.

Concrete kerbs & mpg don't go too well together!!

 

Mazda test people seem to be pretty confident in this video... doesn't get worse that that!

http://www.fsck.co.uk/run02_high.wmv

 

The Prodrive day will show us all how to handle the RX-8 in slippy conditions. However because they dont start until next March it is probably worth each of us having a Land Rover in the garage just in case the forthcoming winter is a little inclement.

JH

 

I have a landrover, but the RX8 will live in my garage.

 

It all comes down to tires. I've been driving my 8 on ice and snow for the past 3 weeks now. With OEM tires... forget it.

With Toyo Garit winters, it's stellar.

 

Winter tyres make sense in Canada where you have heavy snow falls for months, but in the UK we have a light dusting of snow two or three days e year. By the time you'd changed the wheels, it would have melted.

The entire country still grind to a halt in such conditions, including the trains. Which is such a laugh after travelling on the Trans Canadian through the Rockies, and seeing the conditions they run in there.

Cheers
---Dave