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Above 4 inches of snow (especially with ice below) and you are goosed.
Less than that and with a bit of momentum and you can get places as long as no-one decides to stop...
1 series seem to be slightly more capable than the others although generally let down by the drivers.
A bmw survey showed 4 out of 5 owners didnt know if it was front or rear wheel drive. this is why they are considering making it fwd after the next generation.
Laughing at all the expert drivers who can go anywhere in their bmws, you can come and try mine as with 23years of offroad driving experience i cant get it to perform anyting like a fwd in the snow.
I've been out and about in my E23 728i auto this weekend. a bit of sideways action here and there but some forward planning on hills and junctions saw me right. I like the comment in the owners manual that up to 50kg of ballast can be added to the boot to aid traction! 😆
Nothing wrong with bmw's. It speaks volumes for most of the drivers though.
Its not that BMW's are crap in snow, its just that becuase there are so many BM's on the road compared to other rwd's it makes them look worse.
The fact is that most people who buy a BMW probably dont even realise its rwd, or understand how a rwd drives differently to a fwd.
Any rwd are fine if you have momentum, if you stop you can be knackered, even on a flat road the camber can be enough to stop you going any where.
Recently I have seen some really well driven BMW's going very side ways under control, however I have seen plenty of fwd's going no where fast stopping rwd's going anywhere.
Have people never heard of letting air out of their tyres? If you get stuck, let the tyres down to fairly flat (10psi) - instant traction - even on RWD BMWs, Mercs, etc etc
Works on the driven wheels only though, so you do need to know which end is doing the work.
Apply what we know on bike tyres to your car!
LOL at diggers clip - instead of just filming the muppet could've just gone out and given her a shove - it's the same around here! Neighbour was struggling to get out of the courtyard, there were at least 5 neighbours just watching out the window, so I just chucked some trousers on and went to help instead - hopefully the favour will be returned one day
large418 - Member
Have people never heard of letting air out of their tyres? If you get stuck, let the tyres down to fairly flat (10psi) - instant traction - even on RWD BMWs, Mercs, etc etcWorks on the driven wheels only though, so you do need to know which end is doing the work.
Apply what we know on bike tyres to your car!
Work with RFT though? unlikely...
To fuel the myth, on my journey yesterday I saw five abandoned cars. one merc, one Toyota and three BMWs I'm a row on a hill near Towcester.
its no myth, ive abandoned mine, outside my house mind...
M6TTF - Member
LOL at diggers clip - instead of just filming the muppet could've just gone out and given her a shove - it's the same around here! Neighbour was struggling to get out of the courtyard, there were at least 5 neighbours just watching out the window, so I just chucked some trousers on and went to help instead - hopefully the favour will be returned one day
Yes, it is a bit sad that whoever filmed it did not pop out and try and help her.
Of course letting air out of the tyres will work with run flats - what you are doing is to get the tyre to mould to the ground rather than sit on top of it. (It worked with my Galaxy a couple of years ago)
I am not talking about letting all the air out, just down to 10psi so they are nice and soft.
Did she jam something onto the throttle or was it a software fault?!
Must admit, I'd have helped.
My 1995 328i has been fine in the snow in Surrey, I did stick a couple of bags of sand in the boot though. Only running 15" wheels though, so not the wide low-profiles which come on all the new models.
Bit of momentum carried in the right places, and I've been managing where other more suitable looking vehicles were struggling.
Must help that I'm a driving god 😆
Cheers, Rich
My x5 has been fine in serious snow here in NE Scotland and thats on 20" 315 road tyres. I've even had it up glenshee. I reckon it would be pretty much unstoppable with snow tyres. I've towed 2 people (both in fwd vauxhalls) out in the last few days. It still can go a bit sideways at times but that's easy to catch and keep the power on. A lot of people here love to rubbish BMWs, but I'm on my second one and I'd go for another one next. It's a great car, and whilst most of my neighbours cars have been stuck out the fronts of their homes ours has been going every day and we've had some of the worst conditions in the country
Rear wheel drive cars aren't that bad if you(as others have said) stick some weight(3 bags of sand used to do it for me) in the boot.Those of us who been driving a few years remember when nearly all cars were RWD & this was the only way to keep them moving in bad weather.Just watch it when cornering & take it easy as the weight does have a habit of wanting carry on in a straight line when you turn if you go to quick.....
Get yourself some snowchains.. no problem!
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the snow chains ont he non drive wheel and the you-tube clip have just had the office in stitches. Saw a fair few beemers and mercs parked up in jaunty angles. One beemer had part parked in a layby and part parked in the road.... he was a wing mirror lighter in no time.
frogstomp lol
and there isnt even snow on the road !
KT - Is your x5 not a 4x4 ?? what are most BMW's??? your sounding like a proper BM driver...
Never mind what wheels the burk has put them on.....snowchains on suburban roads? Boy bet thats fun to drive with the vibration at any speed etc.
Simply not using mine while it's snowy. When you have a Defender, why risk it?!
We have 17" 225/45 tyres (i.e. not massive) and non run flat (the RFTs were gash) tyres which helps but they are still fundmentally not good snow cars. And yes, many just don't realise a RWD car needs to be treated with care so crash.
They hate mud too - almost got stuck in a couple of damp grassy car parks with ours. 335d + anything slippery = not going anywhere.
But what makes them pants in snow and mud, makes them brilliant on proper roads so I really don't care. Saves washing it all the time too...
My 535i is parked up too. The wife has a 4x4 (with normal tyres) and no problems at all.
Must be a one series thing? 😉
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This weekend large mercs were easily the car most likely to get stranded in Brum closely followed by A3/Golfs, whith special mention to a Civic Type R.
To slightly defend the silly 1 series owners, I guess grip on the steering wheels is slightly useful. Ermmm...
Neighbours E92 M3 seems to cope just fine. Proper winter tyres though and good driver might help a bit...
mmannerr - MemberNeighbours E92 M3 seems to cope just fine. Proper winter tyres though and good driver might help a bit...
Good point mmannerr
Many moons ago as a 17 year old working on a farm, I pulled a well known rally driver out of a ditch in his 4x4 rally Cosworth car thing with my tractor.
He had let a friend of his have a spin in the snow & the driver had dumped it on the first bend he had come to 😉
Not a big car/rally fan tbh, but watching this pro drive off and set the car up for the bends was amazing to watch.
I've got a 330d tourer it's getting better the more I drive in this stuff, it's knowing how to handle it properly that's the problem for a lot of people, i guess they don't feel the grip they just look out of the window and expect results when they floor it.
BMW or not, snow will screw you over if your driving is pish. Gentle on the throttle, get into second sooner and take it easy. DSC helps loads but it's no replacement for common sense.
I did LOL at those 1 series pics. Freshers.
I'll tell you what is scary... the amount of people doing 90+mph in -10c! 😯
Have to say 4WD does make a big difference even with rubbish tyres - was hooning it around in my 4motion Golf yesterday on uncleared roads and even with Pilot Sport summer tyres, never had any issues with grip - unless I booted it and had all 4 wheels roostering 🙂 Engine braking seems way more effective as well (which I suppose it is with 4 wheels to brake with).
We have had no problems with X5 at all with standard run flats tyres and 20's.
135i with Bridgestone RE050A summer tyres goes nowhere.
Goodyear Eagle Ultragrip GW3 winter tyres. Goes everywhere so far.
15% hill round a right angle turn, on untreated road, to get out of my village , no struggles yet.
135i - apart from the "controversial" looks, VERY nice!
You see that punter who has put the snow socks on the front of a rear wheel drive car. If I only had one set of snow socks I'd be tempted to do the same.
Unlike snow chains the manufacturers do not tell you to only fit them to the driven wheels.
Infact their own website says "it's recommended that users of rear wheel drive cars should also fit a set to the front wheels to provide better directional stability, especially under braking."
Personally, I find that stopping and turning are much more important that going.
Turning and stopping are useless if you cannot move. However if you can move you can move appropriately slowly so that you can still turn, and your rear wheels also have brakes.
Brakes + ice = useless. It's all about tyre grip and braking kills it completely. A rolling tyre "grips" much better than a braking/locked one.
Most of the time, people just enter bends too fast - always expect to lose grip and so drive at the appropriate speed - usually MUCH slower than expected.
A posh-successful-but-rub-it-in-your-face neighbour got his big-ass personalised RWD Chrysler stuck in the road blocking our way - I tried to help with some digging and shoving etc. But he kept using the accelerator so nothing was going to work. He's too alpha-male let me drive. I couldn't help a certain amount of inner-smirk at his discomfort.
The auto-socks need to go on the drive wheels. On a RWD, the engine weight over the front wheels provides enough steering grip.
So speed is more important that the ability to slow down and steer then. Hmmm - you learn something new every day.
Successful and owns a Chrysler? Ermmm 😉 😆
Yep my beemer is that bad it took me and Trekster to Dalbeattie to make the first tracks on the red route in -10ºC 🙂
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So far I've lost control of my 3 series 3 times in this bad weather. It's braking that caused it each time. However, I am going to look at some winter tyres tomorrow.
Give me strength.
Scotabroad- my mate got his van almost lodged in the ditch on the drive to the main carpark. His first ever go at driving in the snow and he learnt a lot of lessons.
Mine got up there, but interestingly it'd only work reversing up the hill than taking it gently in 2nd/3rd- this is a fwd car. Any reason for this?
No problems here with a 320d touring, I put some new tyres on last month which no doubt helps. As others have said if you turn off the traction control and drive appropriately then they're only marginally worse than most FWD cars. I've seen a lot of 4WDs struggling in the snow during the school run.
Obviously it helps that I'm a FANTASTIC driver, passed my test after one lesson and shagged the (female) driving test examiner.
SpokesCycles - yip - you turned it into a rear wheel drive. 😀