They come as either FWD or AWD. Either or the weight of the engine is
above the traction wheels and the primary braking wheels.  The rear
wheels don't just tag along. they provide traction in lateral G
situations as well as proportional braking.  Winter tires should be on
all four wheels to maintain the balance of grip the suspension was
engineered to.

My point was the tires make all the difference. Plus a driver that
knows how to drive within the traction limits.  Even a unimog will skid
if driven "outside" the traction limits.

Cheers

On Friday, September 12, 2003, at 11:20  AM, Automatic digest processor
wrote:

> Subject: Re: Manual or AT?
>
> At 05:02 PM 9/11/03 -0600, Don wrote:
>> Tires do make a difference.
>> I drive a Plymouth Grand voyager through western canadian winters on
>> four Yokohama high performance ice and snow tires.  No problems.
>
> I've been behind those things on the highway.  I don't think I've seen
> a
> differential back there, aren't they front wheel drive? I dunno, I
> could be
> wrong. The front brakes are the ones that get the high braking
> pressure.  The rear wheels won't be trying to push, they just roll
> with the
> van.
>