This test includes acceleration, braking, turning, and both.
It’s the season to slip and slide, at least in the Northern Hemisphere snowy regions. The changing seasons bring us back to the age-old debate about which tires and powertrains are best suited for winter conditions. This debate can sometimes get heated, even in the cold weather.
We are referring to the all-wheel drive versus front-wheel drive debate. AWD may be more powerful, but acceleration is only one third of driving. AWD is not good for stopping and turning. A skilled driver may be able to use AWD in corners. However, AWD does not offer any benefits when stopping. We are now left with the crucial question: Do you prefer an AWD vehicle with good all-season tires or a FWD vehicle with good snow tires?
Jonathan Benson, Tyre Review has posted another comparison video. Two Mini Countryman S are summoned to duty. One of them has Mini’s on demand AWD system. The car is equipped with Goodyear Vector 4Season Gen 3 all season tires. Its FWD counterpart has Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+ snow-tires. This video shows acceleration tests on a flat and hill surface, as well as braking and handling tests over a snow-covered road.
In the previous videos, we have seen AWD cars on summer tires completely humiliatedby snow-tired two-wheel drive vehicles. The acceleration tests show that these all-season Goodyears have good grip in snow. The AWD Mini wins the race for supremacy on both hilly and level terrain. The AWD benefits don’t end there.
The FWD Mini was a car-length slower in the snow-covered brake test. Although it’s not much, it can make a difference in emergency stops, such as stopping at an intersection before it is clear or sliding through it. The FWD Mini on snow tires performed slightly faster than the AWD counterpart. We emphasize slightly. Although the times were almost identical, they were accomplished very differently. The AWD Mini on all seasons could accelerate out of corners faster, but brake and turn-in were less impressive than expected.
So what’s the conclusion? It is clear that an all-wheel-drive vehicle on snow tires will rule winter like a king. The video also shows that AWD performance with all-season tires is comparable to FWD on snows. However, it is clear that FWD with snow tires performed better than AWD with all-season footwear in almost all three driving metrics.