Yoko

if you compare 325xi w/ the Jaguar X Type, I'll say Jag will do better on snow.

Pitkis

Please explain. I suppose you have driven both cars in similar conditions hundreds of miles in order to comment?

About 325xi, nice to hear the experiences. I haven't driven E90 xDrive before, but within two days I will participate BMW winter training with different E90 cars. After that a direct comparison is easier.

I see no reason why BMW is importing cars in Scandinavia without xDrive in models that have 4WD option.

TitangrauII530iA

Hi,

I can give you one reason: I wouldn?t drive a BMW if they didn?t import RWD cars in Scandinavia. 360 days out of year 4 WD is unnecessary and I can do fine also the rest five days with RWD. AWD means more fuel consumption and less power and less joy of driving on dry surface, this is of course my subjective opinion, though

TGII

uglybear

Generally, assumption that people in Northern countries like Scandinavia badly need AWD is incorrect. Having lived big chunk of my life in snowy areas I can tell that if it snows often at some place municipal services usually possess plenty of snow plows, sand spray machines, salt, etc. Never needed AWD car where it was snowy 4-5 months a year. Winter tires, maybe. Where people do need AWD is in those places that show only happens couple weeks a year so there is practically no municipal road cleaning equipment. For example, snow in Seattle = disaster.

Pitkis

It's easy to say when living in southern Finland. On dry surface there's no matter between RWD and AWD. But in winter time, wow! I have driven ordinary cars and managed with them fine, no problem. But once I now purchased my xDrive and have driven it this winter, the difference is incredible. The car is so much more stable that it's difficult to describe the difference. Also, xDrive is faster on dry surface and significantly faster on ice/snow. So I opted faster acceleration instead of 0,9 litre consumption increasement per 100 km.

I'd also go to M3 or M5 is I wanted fun and nice summertime driving. But what comes to diesel engines and moderately powered limousines, I see no reason why to choose more unstable and slower car if you can buy xDrive...at least in countries where snowy condition are usual for 4-6 months a year.

MrTrilby

My speed tends to be limited by how quickly I can steer and stop. 4WD doesn't help a car stop. I also don't think it's a bad thing when traction drops off in poor conditions - it helps remind you (before it's too late) that the steering and brakes are similarly affected, and it's also nice to feel you're actually driving a car rather than some numb computer game. Driving a computer game is not what a BMW is about for me. YMMV.

Pitkis

I just wanted to say that xDrive is actually faster than RWD since in the original writer insisted that 4WD means less power - it may mean, but the power is handled more controlled, so the result is still faster speed. In Mercedes, 4WD really means poor performance on dry road, but surprisingly BMW xDrive is even then faster than RWD...

What comes to traction drop, please come to drive Finnish roads in bad weather. I use to drive some 300-600 km per day whatever the conditions are. Once you have 10 inches of wet snow on the icy road, some russian trucks in narrow road and snowing all the time, to overtake safely you really need all the power and traction the car can offer. Of course, you can just drive behind the whole convoy and take hours of more driving time. With xDrive, the car behaves in ice and snow quite like in ordinary wet road, so it's much more stress-free to drive long distances with a stable and capable car.

Ricracing

Let's keep it cool here.

Next summer at our Club track days this can easly be solved,
but I'm not meaning my ol' 525iA.

But I have to admit that I had great fun with the E90x,
it was for sure very fast in the extreamly slippry conditions.
A RWD (nor AWD) could not have follewd me.

I can also believe that a xBMW is more stable on dirt roads
(of which we have a lot) and also on the shitty highways we
have, also a lot of.

To MrTrilby:

A 4WD do not stop any better than a 2WD, I highly agree!
Even if we are talking about the same weight cars.
I have seen many "very close" situations downtown with Audi Q's.

grover432

Central Canada, Sunday night was -41C and -57C with the windchill factored in. The snow on the roads turned to ice!

Pitkis

I'd remember you ordered some 335i if I am correct :-)

For my girlfriend I 335xiA might be very good. She thinks E60 is too large. Looking for European sales to start...maybe spring 2008?

I agree with your opinions.

Below some photos from BWM Driver Training. Taken today, very cold to stand at track, -23 to -25 all the time. Also some images from morning highway on a way to training center...