[Ramathorn]

As a reference point, I live in NE Ohio, own a m235i rwd, drove it all winter with snow tires, had no issues.

[xantdieselx]

Originally Posted by Sportstick

Without bias, this is not completely accurate and both statements are not equally true. Anyone, rwd or awd, is fine with snow tires. In winter, even awd is not fine with all seasons. A car has three functions....go, turn, stop. Awd, even with all seasons, helps with the the first one. You can have improved ability to go. But, the second or third, the ones which can help avoid injury/damage, are primarily dependent on the traction capability of the tires. For an avoidance maneuver on snow/ice, data shows all season tires are clearly inferior, no matter the drive system of the car.

Dude that's your opinion which is just that an opinion.

I live in RI and have driven both RWD cars with snows and AWD with all-seasons. Once you get going a RWD car with snows is great. I've gotten stuck on a hill with RWD with snows - the same hill my previous F30 (x-drive) with Conti all seasons got up with 0 issues.

Snow tires are great when there is heavy snow and ice on the ground. At every other time in the winter they are inferior to all seasons - ride comfort, handling, braking, gas mileage.

They are made for one scenario ice and snow. That's it. They're no better than an all season in the wet and certainly not in the dry.

If you want to handicap your car for 4 or so months out of the year for a handful of days where you would actually benefit from them that's your choice. Certainly doesn't make sense for me and never will.

[Beartato]

Originally Posted by xantdieselx

Snow tires are great when there is heavy snow and ice on the ground. At every other time in the winter they are inferior to all seasons - ride comfort, handling, braking, gas mileage.

They are made for one scenario ice and snow. That's it. They're no better than an all season in the wet and certainly not in the dry.

If you want to handicap your car for 4 or so months out of the year for a handful of days where you would actually benefit from them that's your choice. Certainly doesn't make sense for me and never will.

Are we talking studded or studless? Your statement is true for studded, not so much for studless. Studless winter tires have the benefit of improved ice and snow performance, but also stay malleable well down below freezing for traction on dry roads.

[kdog26372]

Originally Posted by Beartato

Are we talking studded or studless? Your statement is true for studded, not so much for studless. Studless winter tires have the benefit of improved ice and snow performance, but also stay malleable well down below freezing for traction on dry roads.

I've had the same tuned engine in an X3 as my current M235 w/xdrive. X3 had all seasons and M23i w/ Xdrive has summers in summer and studless winters in winter. No comparison. The heavier X3 struggled with ruts in my back alley on all seasons and just wasn't very good in over 2 inches of snow. The m235i with winter tires is excellent in the alley and in heavier snow.

Back to original poster, yes you can certainly get by with RWD in the upper Midwest by using winter tires in winter. It still won't be nearly as good as AWD with winters, but you will be fine in all but the worst blizzards.

If you keep your 128i stock you shouldn't have the same traction issues I had in light rain with my previous RWD tuned 135i. If you plan to tune, you will have traction issues in light rain from a stop most likely. No experience with 128i, but tuned I think they are fairly quick.

Lastly, winter tires are better than all seasons and of course summers in winter because of how they handle the cold temperatures. They have more grip not just because of tread pattern but also because they don't turn to hard hockey pucks when it's below 40 out.

RWD or AWD I'd go with summers in summer and winters in winter in upper Midwest unless you simply can't part with the ~$600 1 time fee for the tires and ~$100 annual swap fee;it's about 1% of the car's cost.

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

It's flat there. Studless ice and snow and half a brain's worth of common sense and you'll be fine RWD.

This is good news. I'm seriously looking at jumping out of the 3 and into the 2 as my lease nears it's end.

Don't worry, this isn't going to be a foaming at the mouth bash-a-thon on the current 3 but compared to previous BMWs, the 3 feels a bit more plain. That being said, I have been totally surprised by the car. Except for the track, the car has been fantastic for everything I need but, right now, the 228i seems to fit my style and budget.

I was a bit worried the lighter 2 with smaller wheel base would be a little trickier to handle in snow. Not that I'd care but my wife is not as dynamic a driver as myself. Living here in snow-hell Canada (in Toronto) my RWD 320 has driven on snowy roads about 2-3 weeks in total over 3 years. That's right, about 14 to 21 days of snow driving in 3 winters thanks to global warming. While useless without snow tires, the Michelin X-Ice 3 has allowed me to drive on paved city streets which are cleared of snow to allow the 94% without AWD to use public roadways without issue. I wonder if I got an xDrive would I get a refund for the other 900 or so days there was no actual snow on the ground?

Probably not.

Alright, RWD 228i, back on the shopping list.

[steve1980]

Had a 6 speed 335i Xdrive coupe w all seasons before the rwd m235i. My 335 was a beast in the snow. I'm sure it would've been better with proper snow tires, but it got me through with no issues at all in quite a bit of snow during the 3 years I had it. This winter wasn't a terrible winter for us, but when we had any snowfall at all I took the car out purposely before the roads were cleared to see how it handled. I had no problems at all and will stick with RWD w snows in NY. Hope that helps.

[Grentz]

Have a lot of RWD and AWD cars in the household. MN Winters which are typically much more of a winter than many that you guys are talking about.

RWD + Snows is fine most of the time, you can get through the bad winters no problem. Drove a 335d w/Snow Tires and it was a beast, but still not nearly as good as the X5d w/All Seasons.

AWD + All Season is better in really bad storms, we get the stuff where at times you cannot get a car moving, you want AWD in that scenario. I have been stuck in parking lots before with RWD + Snow tires where the plow came and made it so I could not get traction on the RW at all to get over the plow mound.

SO, if you really are not dying to get RWD but worry about winter driving, get AWD. If you really want RWD, get dedicated snows and dont worry about it.

[Transfer]

Something that RWD owners probably don't know is that the xDrive M235i handles very much like the RWD car and you can still oversteer yourself into a wall if you're a dingbat, it's just harder to do so. Also the front to rear weight balance difference is negligible and it still has the most balanced handling out of any car I've driven before. If you know how to drive, you won't find understeer on the street. The level of control is phenomenal. There are many upsides but I would bet the only real tangible downside to xDrive is that the steering is indeed corrupted by drive wheels at the front. That doesn't mean it's bad steering, but it's not without some pull to it.

So my point is, you're really not sacrificing much of anything getting xDrive in the M235i and so if there is any reason for you to have AWD, you'll be happy with it. I don't think I can say that for the other BMW xDrive models but this car is different.

Also, RWD vs xDrive should have nothing to do with all seasons vs snow tires. Everyone needs to leave that out of the conversation entirely. IMO if you drive in cold wet/snow conditions and you care about forward traction enough to get AWD, you should also care enough to get at least performance winter tires. The ability to drive all 4 wheels should be irrespective of the choice of rubber that connects you to the road.

[TWO-BMW]

Originally Posted by Transfer

Something that RWD owners probably don't know is that the xDrive M235i handles very much like the RWD car and you can still oversteer yourself into a wall if you're a dingbat, it's just harder to do so. Also the front to rear weight balance difference is negligible and it still has the most balanced handling out of any car I've driven before. If you know how to drive, you won't find understeer on the street. The level of control is phenomenal. There are many upsides but I would bet the only real tangible downside to xDrive is that the steering is indeed corrupted by drive wheels at the front. That doesn't mean it's bad steering, but it's not without some pull to it.

So my point is, you're really not sacrificing much of anything getting xDrive in the M235i and so if there is any reason for you to have AWD, you'll be happy with it. I don't think I can say that for the other BMW xDrive models but this car is different.


Also, RWD vs xDrive should have nothing to do with all seasons vs snow tires. Everyone needs to leave that out of the conversation entirely. IMO if you drive in cold wet/snow conditions and you care about forward traction enough to get AWD, you should also care enough to get at least performance winter tires. The ability to drive all 4 wheels should be irrespective of the choice of rubber that connects you to the road.

As any owner of quite a few BMW's, both with and without X Drive, I completely agree. I live in an area of Michigan that averages 80 inches of snow a year. My 335ix with Dunlop Wintersport Maxx tires is as steady as a rock in bad conditions. Not to mention I have to traverse a series of hills, ending up with a very steep long one that I live at the top of. No one has ever gotten up the hill without AWD, 4WD or, occasionally, front wheel drive(with snow tires) in the winter.

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by Transfer

Something that RWD owners probably don't know is that the xDrive M235i handles very much like the RWD car and you can still oversteer yourself into a wall if you're a dingbat, it's just harder to do so. Also the front to rear weight balance difference is negligible and it still has the most balanced handling out of any car I've driven before. If you know how to drive, you won't find understeer on the street. The level of control is phenomenal. There are many upsides but I would bet the only real tangible downside to xDrive is that the steering is indeed corrupted by drive wheels at the front. That doesn't mean it's bad steering, but it's not without some pull to it.

So my point is, you're really not sacrificing much of anything getting xDrive in the M235i and so if there is any reason for you to have AWD, you'll be happy with it. I don't think I can say that for the other BMW xDrive models but this car is different.

Also, RWD vs xDrive should have nothing to do with all seasons vs snow tires. Everyone needs to leave that out of the conversation entirely. IMO if you drive in cold wet/snow conditions and you care about forward traction enough to get AWD, you should also care enough to get at least performance winter tires. The ability to drive all 4 wheels should be irrespective of the choice of rubber that connects you to the road.

Good points. I took the 228 xDrive for a spin and thought it was certainly a better experience than my current 3. My experience with xDrive is with the older e46 and e90 models. It was terrible. Really terrible. This latest gen xDrive is much better. Still, to get me into an xDrive I'd need to see 1500 cut from the price. I would not turn down a highly discounted present gen xDrive but it's kind of a gimmicky feature for me. I see xDrive not so much as an advanced feature but a way to hike the price

[Beartato]

Originally Posted by Transfer

There are many upsides but I would bet the only real tangible downside to xDrive is that the steering is indeed corrupted by drive wheels at the front. That doesn't mean it's bad steering, but it's not without some pull to it.

...that and at least in the 2 Series the xDrive version only comes in automatic.

I'd had probably still bought the RWD version, but if the xDrive version could have been had in a 6 speed it'd have been really tempting.

[rich8566]

Originally Posted by cmorris975@hotmail.com

Most of the cars I see around here are not AWD so I was thinking I would be OK with a RWD 228i but before I order the thing I am wondering if that is a bad move. I mean, all the 228i's at the dealer around here are xDrive ones, so I figure that is a clue. Will this thing just be too dangerous to drive with anything more than the littlest amount of snow on the ground? Could I get away with the RWD model and just put snow tires on in the winter?

Thanks,

Chris

Don't get AWD. It neuters the feel of the car. Get RWD and snow tires for winter.

[bryan_G01]

awd with dsc off.