There's a winter scene that repeats itself every year and invariably brings a smile. The first real snow falls, the asphalt turns to ice — and the traditional show begins. You drive along the highway, look at the roadsides, and imagine the familiar picture in advance: old "Logans", tired "Prioras" on bald tires, sadly sticking out in the snowdrifts. It all makes sense, doesn't it?
But reality turns out to be different every time. For some reason, fresh Tiguan, RAV4, Sportage vehicles are in the ditches. New, well-maintained, with shiny AWD badges and proud 4Motion, xDrive inscriptions. They flash their hazard lights and wait for help.
At first, it seems like a coincidence. Then — just bad luck. But if you look closer, it becomes clear: there are no coincidences here.
The Illusion of Omnipotence
The root of the problem is simple. A person buys a car with all-wheel drive and sincerely believes that they have acquired additional abilities with it. The car easily starts on an icy hill without wheelspin — which means the technology "knows how". It got out of a snowdrift in the yard — which means now anything is possible.
And here lies the key misconception. All-wheel drive really works — but only during acceleration. When four wheels are spinning instead of two, the grip during starting and acceleration is objectively better. No one argues with that.
But then physics kicks in, which is the same for everyone.
Braking: Where AWD is Powerless
During deceleration, nothing magical happens. The brake pads press against the discs in the same way — whether it's a Camry or a large Highlander. The type of drive doesn't matter at this point. The coefficient of friction between the tires and the ice remains the same, and it cannot be fooled by a badge or marketing.
The American Insurance Institute IIHS once carefully studied the statistics of winter accidents. The result was unexpected for many: all-wheel drive cars get into accidents no less often, and sometimes even more often, than cars with front-wheel drive. The reason is simple — they are more likely to find themselves in situations where a cautious driver in a front-wheel drive car simply wouldn't go.
Consumer Reports magazine went even further and took measurements on ice with a stopwatch. The braking distance of cars with all-wheel drive and ordinary cars turned out to be almost the same. The difference was within a meter back and forth — a value comparable to the measurement error.
The Most Dangerous Part — Not the Technology, but the Psychology
The main problem is not even in the design of the car, but in the driver's feelings. Behind the wheel of a modern crossover, a person feels confident, almost invulnerable. High seating position, heavy body, all-wheel drive — all this creates an illusion of control.
And small, almost imperceptible deviations begin: cornering is done slightly faster, the distance is reduced by a couple of meters, braking is delayed by a fraction of a second.
Separately — trifles. But it is from these "little bits" that an accident is made up.
Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology studied the behavior of drivers in bad weather and obtained a revealing result: owners of all-wheel drive cars exceed the speed limit by 8–12% more often than others. All other things being equal — on the same road and in the same snowfall.
People sincerely believe that technology will insure them. And then they end up in a ditch, with a puzzled question: how could this happen, when there were four driving wheels?
The Contrast That Explains Everything
The picture becomes especially clear when a driver in an old Almera with front-wheel drive stops nearby. On normal studded tires. He calmly drove through the same place where the crossover flew into a snowdrift. Not because the car is better, but because the person was driving according to the weather and didn't try to prove his superiority to the road.
A Crossover is Not an Off-Roader
There is another persistent misconception. A crossover looks solid: large wheels, high body, plastic body kit. Visually — almost a conqueror of off-road.
In fact, an ordinary passenger car platform is hidden under this guise. Ground clearance is increased by ten and a few centimeters, overlays are added — and that's it. Approach and departure angles are modest, overhangs are long, geometric проходимость is limited.
The magazine «Авторевю» regularly conducts visual comparisons: a fashionable crossover versus an old «Нива» in the same conditions. The result is predictable — the car that costs twice as much does not go further.
Tires are More Important Than Drive
The situation is aggravated by the fact that many crossovers are equipped with low-profile tires. Beautiful, impressive, large discs shine — great in the city. But in loose snow, such a tire instantly digs in: the profile is small, the contact patch is weak.
If you look at winter tests over the past ten years — ADAC, Finnish Test World, Russian «За рулём» — the conclusion is the same everywhere. The quality of tires is more important than the type of drive. And not a little, but fundamentally.
Front-wheel drive on fresh studded tires consistently beats all-wheel drive on hardened all-season tires: in acceleration, in braking, in handling in corners.
This is not someone's opinion, but the results of measurements.
According to ADAC, switching from summer tires to winter tires reduces the braking distance on ice by 1.5–2 times. No all-wheel drive provides an effect comparable to this.
All-wheel drive cannot be called useless. It really helps: start on an icy hill, get out of an uncleaned yard, accelerate more confidently on loose snow.
But at the moment when the driver begins to believe that the car is able to override the laws of physics, danger appears. Ice remains slippery for everyone. Inertia is the same. And in the event of emergency braking in front of a suddenly stopped truck, all-wheel drive will do nothing.
Experienced drivers know this. But those who recently switched from a regular car to a crossover and managed to be inspired by new opportunities often overestimate the technology and underestimate the winter road. And they are most often the very "unexpected" exhibits in the ditch.
Read more materials on the topic:
- "More speed - fewer potholes": why this is a dangerous myth
- Why sometimes you should turn off the Auto Hold function?
- Why winter tires with "velcro" can fail at the most critical moment?
