Syonyk Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 *grins from ear to ear* A friend of mine got an Infiniti G35 last spring. For those unfamiliar with it, it's similar to the Nissan 350Z, same engine, etc. All wheel drive with a ton of sophisticated electronics controlling power split, throttle, brakes, etc. And sporting about 300hp. And, oh, 3500 lbs. I proceeded to look at it and ask him if he was going to get snow tires for the winter. He said that he was sure the electronic wizardry would be sufficient. So I told him that I'd be faster than him in the snow. 2700 lbs, 90hp, and Blizzaks on all 4 corners. Fast forward through 6 months of the occasional smack talking to today. A few inches of snow on top of ice. I finally put my Blizzaks on, and we went to play. The main area of testing was a ~3/4 mile straight chunk in a parking lot that wasn't being used. Test 1: Drag race, standing start. I launched at about 2000 RPM, no wheel spin, beat him by around 2 car lengths. Test 2: Drag race, standing start. I launched around 4000 RPM, little to no wheel spin, beat him by about 3 car lengths with minor wheel spin. Test 3: Drag race, standing start. I launched at 5500 RPM (trying to find out where exactly what I could hook up), spun for the first second or so, and only won by about 1 car length. Test 4: Brake test. Braking from about 20-25mph, I stopped about half a car length sooner, and I'm pretty sure I could have stopped faster with a few more tries. His braking electronics are actually pretty impressive. Test 5: Front wheel drive, standing start. Lots of wheel spin, he won by about 3 car lengths (in AWD). Conclusion? Snow tires rock. -=Russ=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeshoup Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Tell him to put snow tires on, then redo the race. I wonder if the Loyale could still hold up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syonyk Posted January 15, 2007 Author Share Posted January 15, 2007 Tell him to put snow tires on, then redo the race. I wonder if the Loyale could still hold up. Not a chance. If he was able to get traction, he'd smoke me. -=Russ=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgd73 Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 An old soob has its benefits... pass the sophistication and 30mpg to boot. The snowy weather is depressing without more than the comfort of home dominating nature. Keep the sophistication, give me peace of mind in a 200 dollar loyale in a blizzard/ice/whatever storm anyday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Too many people rely on the electronics to get them out of trouble (i hate traction control for that reason). The weakest point in the machine/road connection is the tires, and in snow you need snow tires, its that simple. besides always good to see good ol fasioned mechanics beat out wizbang electronics. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgd73 Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 electronics aimed to simplify, and allow drivers of less intelligence to be better- kinda ridiculous given some of our origins/history and age group. ie: car skidding? let off the damn brake. Ya know what I mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milemaker13 Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Soobs are the best, BUT- Its the driver, not the car. I drive the 92 Loyale, they drive everything else. Why am I always out front? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Soobs are the best, BUT- Its the driver, not the car. I drive the 92 Loyale, they drive everything else. Why am I always out front? Someone has to be the bait for the radar trap nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milemaker13 Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Someone has to be the bait for the radar trap nipper So true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backwoodsboy Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 I love it!!! My mom used to drive her Loyale to and from work everyday.....and everyday she said the same people would smoke by her at 60 plus. Then cometh the winter.... :grin: SNOW + ROADS + LOYALE = mom passing everyone that used to pass her! (Ill take my 200.00 subie ANYDAY) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 My old boss with his smug corvettes (he had one for every season) and over powered rear wheel drive benze couldnt get up one of the mjor hoills here on Longisland in winter. Its a very expensive area, so all the powerful RWD cars couldnt climb it (4 lanes 50mph speed limit). Every winter i would laugh my rump roast off as my humble subaru never had an issue. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky92 Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 80% of the time my old FWD Loyale would do better in the snow then others AWD and 4WD SUVs...at my old apt..everyone would wait to see if I got out first ( they never plowed till about 3 in the afternoon) then they would use my tracks to get themselves out...Though I cant wait to try the XT6 in the snow AWD w/ diff lock:banana: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyewdall Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 My old boss with his smug corvettes (he had one for every season) and over powered rear wheel drive benze couldnt get up one of the mjor hoills here on Longisland in winter. Its a very expensive area, so all the powerful RWD cars couldnt climb it (4 lanes 50mph speed limit). Every winter i would laugh my rump roast off as my humble subaru never had an issue. nipper LOL like I say, not enough horsepower to spin the wheels even when you floor it on ice. Actually, I'm not completely joking here. Because subaru's are so low horsepower, they have little skinny tires -- no need for wide tires to transfer high horsepower to dry pavement. And in snow, the skinnier tires, the better. (the other car I've been really impressed with in the snow was a 52 horsepower VW rabbit with narrow little tires). Also, because the engine is so light (even compared to most car engines), the weight distribution front to rear is more even on a subaru than most SUV's, especially the V8 suv's. For a front wheel drive car, you want more weight in front, which most have with the heavy engines right over the wheels, but for a four wheel drive, ideally you want equal weight on all four wheels (think about it, if you have all the weight up front, great traction there, but you might as well not have power to the rear wheels if they can't get traction, so your V8 pickup truck with no weight in the back is at best sort of like a front wheel drive car, when it's in four wheel drive). Actually, if you are doing AWD for dry road high acceleration, you want more up front, since accelerating will shift some back, but at low speeds and low acceleration, like when on snow, you want about equal. And having a rear wheel drive with most the weight up front, just doesn't make alot of sense from a traction standpoint, unless you are accelerating very fast to transfer if backwards -- like in a corvette in the summertime. Combine the weight and skinny tires with with some soft grippy tires too, and you've got a pretty good combination for snow. I think there also is some sort of advantage from having a long wheelbase like subaru wagons do -- aside from the logical one that they spin around less easily on ice, I've noticed that in general the longer wheelbase vehicals do slighly better in snow -- extended cab toyota trucks vs shortbox ones, long wheelbase SUV's vs short wheelbase ones. I can't really think of a logical reason for that..... does that affect the weight distribution maybe? Or just make the vehical a little heavier total? Or just a better chance of traction by the front and rear axles being a little less likely to be on the same ice patch at the same time. Dunno. I've got a friend who just got a 4 runner that can't make it up his icy driveway in 4wd sometimes, but my subaru can easily make it in 4wd, and do a good try in fwd. I told him to buy some darned snow tires instead of the wide "all seasons" it came with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milemaker13 Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I've got a friend who just got a 4 runner that can't make it up his icy driveway in 4wd sometimes, but my subaru can easily make it in 4wd, and do a good try in fwd. I told him to buy some darned snow tires instead of the wide "all seasons" it came with. Tell him to trade the 4 runner for a beat up soob. He could probably con some unsuspecting soul! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyewdall Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Tell him to trade the 4 runner for a beat up soob. He could probably con some unsuspecting soul! Haha. I bet he could. Few people realize the value of subarus. I was trying to persuade a friend to sell her new ford explorer sport, which handles like a overloaded boat parked on giant sponge, and get a subaru, and she asked me "but do subaru's do okay in the snow?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyewdall Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PopsicleMud Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 ...major hills here on Longisland... hahaha!This is a joke, right? There aren't any major hills on Long Island, are there? I agree about the Loyale's snow performance, though. Mine was great, even with just cheap, used studs on it. Now that I have good studless tires (Toyo Observes) on my XT6, I feel like I could go anywhere as long as I'm cautious. Straight line traction under heavy acceleration is really impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 hahaha!This is a joke, right? There aren't any major hills on Long Island, are there? We have quite a few on the north shore of long island, they just arent very long. The north shore was formed by glaciers, so they are pretty good at making hills. We have some extreemly steep ones also. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meeky Moose Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 yeah, electronics. lame.. saw a honda rump roast end a brand new benz yesterday, the honda was lowered and it drove right up under the back of that 4 door benz, never scratched the bumper on the benz.. honda was crushed under the benz's back tires. the drivers side airbag went off in the benz.. hows that make sense huh? yeah, electronics are great.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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