[Shotimes] Pontiac unveils SHO successor?

[Donald Mallinson]

Ron,

As someone that grew up with lOTS of snow in central 
Illinois, and with a variety of RWD cars.  The facts are 
that FWD in both big and little cars is a LOT better in snow 
than RWD, even RWD with posi.

My Mustang without real winter tires was positively helpless 
in anything over a dusting of snow.  EVERY FWD car I have 
had, including the MTX SHO is a huge leap forward in 
traction in those conditions.

I agree, most car buyers here really are buying a device to 
get from point A to B and don't care much about performance 
beyond the basics and maybe looking good (in their own minds).


A big part of the move to big SUV's no matter what wheels 
drive them has more to do with wanting to see over the next 
car and thinking bigger is safer, than any perceived or real 
improvement in traction in bad weather.

the other part of the move to big SUV's is because there ARE 
no more real Big RWD powerful cars to tow trailers.  We 
drive a truck now because you can't buy a big car that will 
tow a big trailer.  There is a huge population, especially 
in the midwest that has a need for something with the size 
and weight and strength (both body/frame and engine) to haul.

Having had an LX 5.0L Mustang and SHO's, I know that with 
equal summer or all-season tires, NO mustang will come close 
to keeping up with a SHO or almost any other FWD car on 
slick roads.

But there are some exceptions and like you, I had a low 
powered, light, skinny tired car, an Opal Kadett station 
wagon with manual tranny, RWD and with a set of snow tires 
it was great in the snow, so was my 64 Beetle, but my 73 
Subaru was an eye opening experience in how much better FWD 
is in the snow.

Don Mallinson


Ron Porter wrote:
> Don, the bulk of US car buyers are clueless rubes. Much of the move to AWD
> SUVs is due to big FWD cars being as useless in bad weather as big RWD cars.
> After having owned/driven smaller, lighter FWD cars, I learned in the winter
> of '89 that FWD in a SHO was no picnic and had nothing on a RWD car with an
> LSD and good tires, and in fact was no better than the '86 Z28 TPI AT with
> no LSD that I traded in on it. In '89, my wife bought a new 5.0 GT 5-speed,
> and once we got the same tires on the SHO and the GT, the GT was as good in
> crappy weather as the SHO.
> 
> In my wife's opinion (and possibly mine, since I drove it), the BEST winter
> car she had was a '78 Toyota 5-speed (RWD). Low power, skinny tires.
> 
> In 10+ years we will look back on these years with FWD in big, heavy cars
> and comment about what a misguided direction the car mfrs took.
> 
> Ron Porter
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net [mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net]
> On Behalf Of Donald Mallinson
> Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2004 10:11 AM
> To: shotimes@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: [Shotimes] Pontiac unveils SHO successor?
> 
> 
> I think a lot of us (but not me) have forgotten how anti-RWD 
> most of the country was at that point.  It has only been the 
> last 4-5 years that RWD has started getting some acceptance 
> among the general population, and only because of better 
> traction control systems.  Some of you may have forgotten 
> how truly awful and dangerous RWD is in the snow if you 
> don't have the right winter traction devices (snow/ice 
> tires) and how great FWD is in comparison.  FWD is not going 
> to go away, personally I do NOT want to go back to the main 
> part of the population driving around in small light hard to 
> control RWD cars.  Note also that most fans of RWD 
> enthusiast cars have a FWD or AWD "winter" car for those 
> that live where snow flies at ALL during the winter.
> 
> Don Mallinson