rear-wheel drive car okay all year in VA? (Reston, Fairfax: house, luxury)

[NSX]

I'll be living in Fairfax, and I'm planning on driving an older Jaguar XK8 which would be my only car, and I will only be living about 3 or 4 miles from work.

I'm coming from Michigan where the winters are rough, but I've heard it's much more reasonable in the NoVa / DC area. Is it reasonable to have a RWD car all year round in this area?

[ACWhite]

Hi, several years ago we brought one (a Lexus 400, my only car) from the midwest, and I would not recommend driving it on the slick or snowy days here. However, we have a lot fewer of those days in this area, at least close to and south of DC (farther out and farther north there are more of them) than you have in MI. So i would guess the question is whether you could take metro or ride to work with a friend on those days.

[jbird82]

If by ok, you mean you don't ever have to worry about ice and snow, then no. But as the previous poster said, you'll have alot fewer icy/snowy days here. This winter I think we've had about 5 days total where there was snow or ice problems. Just need to look at the number of beemers around here to see most people don't see rear-wheel drive as a problem.

[hts]

Exactly. If you work a job where you absolutely *have* to be there every day, then I would strongly suggest you either get a 4WD/AWD vehicle (even a pretend one like a Honda CRV AWD would suffice), have easy/convenient access to public transport, or else have a friend that has 4WD that can take you.

We've lived here (Reston/Sterling) for many years and I had a RWD BMW until I bought my RWD Porsche last year. I have the luxury to be able to work from home on those days when the roads are slick (maybe 5-10/winter season). My wife's FWD Honda Odyssey does fine on most days, although keep in mind that not even true 4WD will do anything on the ice.

[dkf747]

If you can handle it in Michigan, then you can handle it here. It's okay with me.

[claremarie]

For the handful of days that a RWD vehicle would be a problem here, you can take a cab to work. You will find that only a few inches of snow is enough to disrupt the schedules of many workplaces in this area, so you might be able to work from home on snow days in any event.

[hts]

Have you ever tried getting a cab on a really bad snow day in/around N VA? Great idea in practice, but loses a little something in execution.

[claremarie]

Actually, a cab came to my house PROMPTLY at 6 am the morning after the biggest snowfall this year. Our street had not been plowed, and was covered with a thin layer of ice, but the cab was on time, and got us to the airport with no problems.

[hts]

I'm delighted to hear that. Unfortunately my luck with cabbies in Nova after a snowstorm has not been nearly as effective. I wonder if it's because (I assume) you called IAD's exclusive taxi company?

Originally Posted by claremarie

Actually, a cab came to my house PROMPTLY at 6 am the morning after the biggest snowfall this year. Our street had not been plowed, and was covered with a thin layer of ice, but the cab was on time, and got us to the airport with no problems.

[goozer]

I think you also have to consider where you live and where you will need to drive. As one poster said, on average you only have about 5 days a year where you would find yourself driving in snow/ice. It's not too bad if you know how to drive in those conditions, but it might be tough if you have some big hills to tackle. Growing up in NOVA, we lived in a subdivision that was at the bottom of a big hill and there was no other way to get in and out. I remember days when two-wheel drive cars (which 95% of all suburbanites drove back in the 70s, as opposed to 20% nowadays) could not get up the hill until is was sanded and plowed a day or two later.