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Old 03-02-2009, 05:21 PM
 
13 posts, read 91,633 times
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I was wondering if the extra money is worth it to get an all wheel drive car. I prefer RWD.

For daily commuting around the seattle area, will RWd be sufficient? Or does everone get AWD out here?
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Old 03-02-2009, 05:40 PM
 
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If you already have a RWD vehicle, it'll be fine for commuting in the Seattle area the vast majority of the time. Most vehicles these days are front wheel drive, also fine for commuting. What's got rear wheel drive? Lincoln Town Car?
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Old 03-02-2009, 05:43 PM
 
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Most of us have front wheel drive. I like it a lot more than my old RWD car in snow.

Some newer luxury cars cars and most old beaters are RWD. There are some AWD and 4WD, but I'm guessing not over 20%.
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Old 03-02-2009, 05:49 PM
 
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I already have a RWD Infiniti G35, so when I move here I wonder if I need to trade it in.
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Old 03-02-2009, 05:53 PM
 
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I already have a RWD Infiniti G35, so when I move here I wonder if I need to trade it in.

Not at all. If there's a heavy snow, which is rare, take the bus or stay home. During this last big snow in December I saw 4x4's stuck on the side of the road. It's not so much the vehicle as how you drive it.
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Old 03-02-2009, 10:12 PM
 
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I've been driving here for about 12 yrs and have never felt like I needed AWD until this last storm (the one right before Christmas 2008). When the snow's that bad most people just stay home.
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Old 03-02-2009, 10:18 PM
 
Location: Greater Seattle, WA Metro Area
1,930 posts, read 6,532,885 times
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We sold our Infiniti G35 RWD when we moved here from TX (loved that car!) and bought an older 4Runner so that we could get around in the snow and get up to ski on weekends. All depends on what you want to do outside of Seattle.
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Old 03-03-2009, 12:52 AM
 
Location: Downtown Tacoma
238 posts, read 865,762 times
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Your Infiniti should have a pretty good traction control system so it shouldn't be as much of an issue at least in the rain. In the snow I am not so sure. I have a friend who has a BMW (rwd) that is a few years old and he had to ditch it a few blocks from his place when it snowed big last time and that was on a flat street. The car just wasn't liking the snow. I have a newer AWD car and really like it. I don't think I would want to go back. It was nice climbing over the 7" snow drifts next to the parking spaces on the streets that he plows made in the last storm. It is also nice not to spin out on steep hills when you are stopped at a light but I think traction control has a little something to do with that.
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Old 03-03-2009, 01:35 PM
 
Location: Sumner, WA
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I've only driven front-wheel drive cars and I do just fine. I stay home if the roads get too icy, but I do fine in snow.
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Old 03-03-2009, 01:52 PM
 
Location: Seattle, WA
203 posts, read 720,372 times
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propulsion isn't so much the issue as stopping. rwd/fwd/awd isn't really something i'd be concerned with if i were moving here

i'd like to add that when it's nasty out like it was this past december.. i dont even take my awd car out. my metro goes and stops just as well in such conditions, and it's no big loss if it gets hit.... my VR4 is another story
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