D*mn! What A Difference!!

[midwest x6]

We got a nice dumping of fresh snow here in the Midwest today...

A week ago I swapped-out my 19" Continental All Seasons for 18" Dunlop GT WT M3 Snow Tires and dedicated wheel set...

What a night and day difference!

Xdrive and Snow Tires an un-beatable combination

You'd think I would have been smart enough (after driving on snow tires for 20+ winters) not to have checked-off the All Season option box

[Naz24]

i feel ya, all seasons are just not the same. I replaced mine with pirelli ice and snows, and damn! i was king of the road in that--going through a foot and a half with zero issues. love it

[midwest x6]

Originally Posted by Naz24

i feel ya, all seasons are just not the same. I replaced mine with pirelli ice and snows, and damn! i was king of the road in that--going through a foot and a half with zero issues. love it

I had those same tires on my X6 and LOVED EM

[blue dragon]

I have to tell you guys, when I had my M3, I had a Subaru outback for my daily/winter beater, and my wife has a legacy GT. Subaru AWD (especially in the STi) owns Xdrive. Xdrive in the x5 does torque front to back, but it relies on braking wheels to send power side to side. Subaru does it all mechanically without using brakes to send power side to side.

I still have winter tires on my 35D, and its great.

[midwest x6]

Originally Posted by blue dragon

I have to tell you guys, when I had my M3, I had a Subaru outback for my daily/winter beater, and my wife has a legacy GT. Subaru AWD (especially in the STi) owns Xdrive. Xdrive in the x5 does torque front to back, but it relies on braking wheels to send power side to side. Subaru does it all mechanically without using brakes to send power side to side.

I still have winter tires on my 35D, and its great.

I agree about Subies...I've had two Outback Wagons and one Sedan and they were both little tanks in the winter.

You know, I've owned too damn many cars and tire sets!

[blue dragon]

^^ Those are articles talking about torque vectoring which is just one aspect of AWD. It doesn't dismiss Subaru's AWD technology. I would say that the only competitor is the Haldex system thats used in Audis, some Volvos etc.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by midwest x6

I agree about Subies...I've had two Outback Wagons and one Sedan and they were both little tanks in the winter.

You know, I've owned too damn many cars and tire sets!

We had a Legacy awd wagon (a 2.0 model built in Japan, not the Outback) with the two speed transfer case. We lived in the desert at the time, and it was terrible on the beach. Nice car, I liked it, but it just didn't have enough power in the soft sand. Low range and lots of revs helped, but I probably should have put wider tires on it for flotation. On the other hand, the Expedition just floated over all of it.

[blue dragon]

Originally Posted by AlexK

How else do you call mechanical side-to-side power/torque transfer?

Even regardless of the names/definitions, no Subaru can transfer 100% of torque side-to-side on a single axle.

Edit: Ok, I actually bothered to waste time searching for Subaru-related docs (Subaru's own site is one of the most worthless sites I've ever seen when it comes to describing their own technology)... Seems like they used various combination of AWD systems on different models (sorta like Audi did with quattro). However, nowhere I found about mechanical side-to-side torque distribution, the only related thing is here:
http://www.scoobymods.com/some-inter...nd-t3047.html?

especially the photo:



which shows the system using braking forces (just like on BMW's non-DPC xDrive cars) instead of any kind of mechanical side-to-side torque transfer in order to keep the car pointed where you want it to be.

Again, VDC is Subaru's version of stability control. It independent of of the AWD system. My 2005 Outback didn't have VDC, but it had AWD, same goes for pre-2006 STis

The WRX STi has 3 diffs, front, rear and centre. It does not use brakes to send torque side to side. Thats the point that I was making. Have a look at this, you will see the legacy dealing with one wheel with traction towards the end of the video.



I'm also talking from experience, I've owned 3 Subarus. This is my first bimmer with xdrive, so it was a natural comparison

[Lawfarm]

You've gotta watch for what you're getting on the Subarus now, though.

For example, if you get an Outback with the 3.6R motor, you get the mechanical awd system with their form of torque vectoring. However, if you get the 4cylinder engine (with CVT or manual transmission), they've gone to brake-based traction control and open front/rear differentials. Having driven both systems, I'd take xDrive over the 4cylinder Outback any day.

I also made the switch...from stock Bridgestone all-seasons to a set of Blizzak LM-60s...I've never had dedicated snow tires before, but have had many 4wd and AWD vehicles, many with quite aggressive tires. The snows make a HUGE difference.

[Lawfarm]

Go to Subaru's website and look at Outback features.

Subaru Outback | Outback Features and Specs

The 3.6 has Variable Torque Distribution (uses the differentials to shift power), the 2.5 does not (it just uses 3 open differentials and a brake-based traction control).