Rear Wheel Drvie

StealthSteez

StealthSteez

Active member
I'm looking at buying a Nissan 300 zx. I plan to drive this car all year round, through a Toronto Ontario winter. Am I going to kill myself driving a rear wheel drive car in the winter?
 
my roomate had a 280zx turbo for years.

never drove it in winter. fucking awesome car...unfortunately it ended up burning.
 
look the Nissan 300zx is a baller fuckin car.... but learn it before you take that shit in the snow... I 540'd my Taurus SHO in the snow with onl 3" and no traction.

Be careful bro.
 
hahaha. ya rear wheel drive for the winter isnt very affective at all. My dad's car was rear wheel and he basicaly let it sit in the garage for the winter because of how dangerous is was.
 
hmmm.. I really want this car and I'm not prepared to sell it in the fall. If I get it in an automatic maybe that will help the winter situation a little.
 
If you buy any Z car with an automatic tranny I will personally drive to your house and kick you in the nuts. Rear-wheel drive is not optimal for winter, but it can be done. One of my friends drive his 240sx all year long (in Bozeman, MT) and he does ok until I blow by him in my subie. A 300zx is a kick-ass summer car though, maybe it's weight would help out in the winter--3,400 lbs if I remember correctly.
 
wow....moneybags. i love nissan 300z's and id love to have one one day but fuck..where are you getting hte money??
 
Well I have been saving my money since I was 12 years old for my first car. And I'm almost 17 now and ready to purchase a nice car. I was involved in an accident back in March with my parents car which put my insurance hiiigh. But I found a quote for 4k a year on it which isn't too bad considering the circumstances. So I think I'm going to go for it.
 
I would want to kick myself in my own nuts. But the automatics go for a lot cheaper than the 5sp's and right now it looks like thats the only one model I can afford (GS Auto).
 
^they come 6 speed. and you better know how to handle a stick shift, because the Z's pull the car, they want to go faster than you think, and you have to know how to drive a stick. rear wheel drive will be better for everything but rain/snow. so yeah..id say if theres a snow storm and the streets are plowed then you should stay home.
 
i haven't bothered reading earlier posts so sorry if someone said this, but the advantage of a front wheel drive car is that the weight of the engine in front gives the front wheels traction, so you can sacrifice gas mileage in the winter and put sand bags or weights over your reer tires which ive been told helps a bit.
 
They never made the 300zx in a 6 speed, or at least they never did in the US. There had been plans to introduce one, but they never happened because the car started getting too expensive and Nissan discontinued it in 1996 ('98 in Japan).
 
yes good advice. definitly take a good ammount of time to learn the car and youll be alright. take your car out to some big empty parking lots when its raining or after there is a little snow on the ground and just start throwing the car around. learn how to keep traction and put yourself into some spins and slides and learn how to recover. its a lot of fun to do and it will definitly help you in real life situations teaching you how to get yourself out of some bad situations.

i drive my mustang all year round and for the 3 winters ive had it, i have never wrecked driving in snow or rain. granted here in maryland the winters arent near what they are where you live. the most snow ive tackled was probably 5-6in. sure im not blazing down the roads in the snow but i dont have to creep along either, and a side note i have z-rated street tires on the car so theyre not meant for snow by any means. i would say the harder part about driving RWD in the snow is getting stuck rather than losing control.

so take time to learn the car and how to control it, get some snow tires for winter, i would recommend a manual over an auto because it will let you control your rpms better and you should be set man.
 
I have a 1995 318i rwd which is easily one of the most notorius cars for sucking in the winter. BUT i got really good snow tires and i was absolutely FINE. my care was better than some friends suvs(all season tires). i couldnt believe how good it was in the winter. i went off the rode once at about 25 mph because i was being an asshole and doing huge fish tales, back and fourth in like 4 inches of snow ahhaha. standard helps too, more control.
 
wow, unless you ar getting the TT in awesome condition with low miles they dont cost that much at all!
 
wow good points. This is what I wanted to hear because I thought a RWD car might be a huge issue. Sounds like some winter tires and a couple sand bags should be more than enough to keep me in control.

And "learning how to control the car" sounds like a great excuse to go have some fun in empty parking lots :p
 
you are fine dude... i have a gmc canyon with 4x4 and i only put it in 4 wheel once this winter and it was because i was driving in really really bad conditions.

just drive smart, get some snow tires and dont forget you have a lot of power in the rear wheels.

30 years ago everyone had rear wheel drive and snow tires didn't exist. you will be fine
 
Look around for a racetrack near you, and look at their calender. Most places like that will have events where a trained driver will sit in your car with you and help you while you slide your car around a parking lot in different conditions. Normally costs like $100 or so, and it's a good time.

Also, don't skimp on snow tires.
 
i drove a rear wheel yukon xl all winter, it worked real good, but i'm not sure how different it would be in a car, but you would be able to pull some pretty sweet doughnuts on icy roads
 
yea, if your smart rwd is no problem in the winter, i have a pickup and i drove it all winter in upstate new york with a empty bed. the only problem i found was going up steep hills. but def take your care out to a lot and play around with it, becuase once you can handle the car you can have some fun w/ it in the snow if the conditions are right.
 
If you don't drive like a douche you will be fine. My Dad has two rear wheel drive cars, and mr bro has one. They are fine. Just get some snow tires, and make sure the suspension isn't shit. You should be fine.
 
god damn some people are pussies. just learn to drive in snow good, and buy some nice snowtires and you'll be fine. it really isnt that bad unless you're a dumbass
 
buy a practical car... That is my experence. Unless you have enough money to afford two types of cars buy a car that can meet your needs.
 
You should be fine, i do it, just take it carefully and invest in snow tires. I do have a winter vehichle though, my baby doesnt deserve to be punished by the salt and gravel on the roads in winter, but i have only thrown my winter truck into 4X twice, and it has an empty bed most of the time. I have driven my car in snow when i got surprised by it and was losing traction when i gave it any gas up to third gear, but thats what i get for driving that kind of car.
 
.....and not true. I think wherever your driving will be a big factor. I don't know anything about the driving conditions in the Toronto Ontario area but I believe driving in conditions like the PNW has to offer is hard at times. We don't have the luxury of really dry snow, and we don't get the extreme cold temps so our snow is wet and there is lots of ice because of the warmer temps. While the ONE time I drove in Montana snow it was totally different and very very dry in comparison to what I'm used to. It didn't pack as well as the wet PNW snow. Those are just my very few experiences...so location effects my rwd driving alot.
 
i got a truck which is real wheel drive. i suggest if you have a rear wheel drive car take it east driving in the winter and learn to drive it in an empty parking lot during the winter/snowstorm. if you do this you will have fun doing donuts but you also get some practise if you start to slide while driving on the road which could save your ass in the long run. also i dont put anything in the back of my truck during the winter and i am up near Ottawa so we have somewhat the same winter
 
first of all, as most said above get snow tires! Tires mean more than anything. A good four wheel drive vehicle with shit tires, still sucks in the winter. Putting some Blizzaks or the like on a rear drive car will make all the difference. If I were you I would definitly not put weight in the trunk for "traction" as a few people posted earlier. Sure it helps if you are starting on slippery conditions, but the snows should be fine for that. The issue with weight in the rear end, is it makes the car handle very unpredictably. Coming around a slippery curve with weight in the trunk just kicks the ass end around, do to the intertia.
 
My volvo wagon is rear wheel and I do fine. I drove to Boston through a few storms this winter when I didn't have the jeep, and sure I was sliding a bit, but I learned how to drive in the snow. You'll be fine if you don't drive like an idiot.
 
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