Quote:
Originally Posted by freakystyly
I wonder how people ever survived without SUVs and AWD in the past.
|
Me too. I had FWD and RWD cars from the late 1980s until 2012 when I got a WRX and then I went back to RWD three years later. Again, I live in Kansas City where we do get decent snow and ice between December and March. It is also surprisingly hilly throughout Kansas City.
All my friends in high school and college had FWD cars and RWD trucks and muscle cars. Knowing someone that had a 4WD vehicle was a rarity and usually was someone's dad that had a 4X4 truck and he ran a construction business. Seeing a car with AWD in the 1980s and 1990s was really special and typically associated with sporty cars like the Diamond Star cars, 3000GT VR4 and Dodge Stealth variant. No one ran snow tires and there was no such thing as winter tires. Tires back then weren't remotely as advanced as they are today either. Also, prior to the mid 2000s, cop cars used to be big full size sedans with RWD and a V8. No cop cars ran winter or snow tires in Kansas City and I never saw them stuck in the snow.
I don't ever recall us freaking out about driving in the snow. A nuisance? Sure. Now I'd say that 2WD cars are becoming the minority, even in place that don't receive any real snow. Such a freaking waste of money, the added weight, lower mpgs, and all the cost that goes with maintaining and repairing a 4WD/AWD drivetrain. People have drank the Koolaid.
What amuses me a lot are those that say they need AWD for the winter and when you see their AWD car, it's riding on wide rubber that's geared towards performance. That setup is worse in the snow than a 2WD car on basic all seasons
