> [physics discussion]

Momentum, forces... one should forbid phsyics students to ever read the
internet and see the ways their science is abused for biased arguments...
In my opinion, the most important driving aspect of FWD in the snow is that
traction and steering are intimately connected, which makes the car very
intuitive to drive. You can make either concept drive relaitvely well in the
snow, and there are also examples for FWD that are undriveable in the snow.
From anecdotical experience, while I lived in Germany, when a lot of snow
fell I would never drive the BMW 320ci, it was very hard to drive, and
mpossible to drive of summer tires. We also owned a cheap FWD Fiat Uno, and
that car was a darling in the snow, you always felt what it was doing
because the steering would feel connected to your hands, the BMW would
regularly totally lose steering feel and you felt like you were just
helpless. Downright scary, and twice when surprise by snow it was a miracle
I made the journey from work to home (both in the city, 8 miles apart) in
one piece.

There is no dount in my mindthe Saab is a very soothing bad weather car.
It's my number one choice for being caught in a bad storm, and we also have
a 4x4 SUV. The more it rains, the more it feels like it steers on tramlines.
And don't be misled by the sunny California thing, we have some pretty awful
storms here every once in a while that invariably hit when you're away from
home and have no choice but heading back.

....pablo