It's engine braking...Moto wrote:What you are describing is engine breaking, and if it is slippery it is almost always a better idea than hitting the breaks. Engine breaking is a large part of what makes manual transmission cars superior in the snow...
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sold)KIZAWDinKC wrote:It's February 2011, we got quite a bit of snow dumped on us here in Kansas City. My Kiz performed pretty well during my 13 mile drive from work in about 6-8 inches of snow. Although, i did see quite a few other cars that did not have AWD moving through the snow pretty well. They must have had excellent tires. Anyhow, the next morning after even more snow, I had at least 12 inches on my street. I live on a hill. I had parked backwards in my garage to make a little bit of a running start out of my driveway in the attempt to drive up my street through the snow so I can get to work. My neighbors probably thought I was stupid. Unfortunately I only made it about 8 feet from my driveway before the Kiz just sat and spun with my AWD turned on. I put the car in reverse and backed into my driveway and decided not to bother with it after my one half-hearted attempt. Oh well, at least I wasn't stuck. It's possible I might have been able to make it if I had gotten a good running start from down the street rather than starting right onto a the hill, but I didn't have that option.
Anyhow, I'd probably have to say that the Kizashi AWD is probably slightly better than just having a regular sedan with good snow tires. Not to mention, the Kiz's 18 inch Dunlops aren't exactly a good snow tire anyhow. The AWD definitely helps with those tires. The Kiz has its limitations because it sits fairly low to the ground. It isn't going to go through deep snow, but it was fun testing it to see if it could!
I'd like to see a side by side snow performance comparison of the Kiz with a sedan that has good snow tires to see if there would be much of a difference between the two.
2010 Kizashi GTS AWD
