Is FWD and Winter Tires Better Than AWD and All Weather Tires?

In the final part of our "Drivetrain VS Tires", we put an AWD (4x4 / 4WD) system on all season tires, also known as all weather tires in the USA, against a FWD car on winter tires.

Both cars are identical Mini Countryman S, but the white one has all wheel drive (AWD) and the dark one is front wheel drive (FWD).

The all season / all weather tired 4wd vehicle has Goodyear Vector 4Season Gen 3 and the winter tyre 2wd mini has the Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+. Both tyres are in the same size and load rating and have the same BMW Mini specific tyre pressures.

The tests in the video include acceleration and braking on snow, snow handling, snow hill climb, snow braking on a hill, snow circle to test lateral grip, and even some ice traction testing.

Which combination of drive train and tyres was best? You'll have to watch the video :)

Note, I know I use 4x4 and AWD interchangeably in the video.

---

Further information on the tyres talked about in this video can be found on the Tyre Reviews website

---

[tyrereviews]

Merry Christmas! Go review your tyres peeps - www.TyreReviews.com THANK YOU!

[JCintheBCC]

This confirms what we observe here in the snowy mountains: AWD/4WD lets you accelerate harder and go faster, but the winter tires allow you (without power drifting) to brake and turn easier. Many people feel confident in the snow with AS and AWD because they can accelerate hard, but then braking and cornering fails them, and they end up sliding off. As my father used to say, “without good tires, 4WD just means you have four wheels spinning in a ditch”.

[wootwoot]

A huge part of winter driving is breaking and stopping, especially when you are driving down hills. I wish you spent a bit more of the video detailing the difference in deceleration.

Otherwise, a very fun test.

[heckraiserrr]

My suggestion for this video is to have an exact braking test to determine stopping distance like Motorweek does and a slalom test around cones and emergency maneuver test driving around an object in the road (a cone), also some variations on the emergency manuver test like braking at the same time. That would be important IMO to a lot of drivers like those who think AWD makes the car safer or invincible. This video wouldn't be meant to say that winter tires make the car invincible but would say if they improve emergency handling and braking at all

[danieloser]

AWD All Season: “More difficult to brake and turn.” This is all you need to know

[cptpltM]

As I was told when I had my first winter in Minnesota, all wheel drive just gets you stuck twice as far from the main road 😂

[bou]

I'm really happy to have found this channel. I love how they go the extra-mile in order to bring the best review for tyres. The most underrated part of a car. Specially everyday tyres and not just super expensive sports ones. Thank you and keep the good work.

[robertslimm]

I live in Canada and have driven a lot in winter conditions. This video leaves something very, very important out. All-season tires are good for the first season in winter, then become progressively worse in every succeeding winter. Winter tires are good even as they age, due to better rubber compounds. Reality.

[ashokeb]

Jonathan, you are, without doubt, the best tyre reviewer on the internet. You’re also a pretty nifty driver. Have you considered branching out into car reviews, with the same methodological quality?

[MrFishrr]

The world needed this YT channel and you sir have delivered. Great work as always keep it up!

[rob_lightbody]

Great video.

In my view braking is the most important by miles, as it's the one that could stop an accident or injury or death.

[marin.aldimirov]

I discovered your channel fairly recently. And the more I watch, the more I discover that you have a video for all the questions that I have been having for the past few years in terms of car/tyre combos comparisons. You channel is a gem. Thank you!

[neilturner]

Thank goodness you are here to give us real world answers to questions that no tyre manufacturer is ever going to honestly report on!

[questioner]

I'd like to see more braking tests, such as a downhill stop on a slope similar to the hill you did the uphill start with. This is where I appreciate winters with FWD - you notice your lack of grip when starting, so you drive more carefully. Then, when you need to brake, you're pleasantly surprised. With AWD on all seasons, you have no idea how slippery the road is until you need to stop.

[KroK]

Really interesting coming to this video as a Goodyear employee from the US. Neither of these tires are available here, and now I'm going to have to go look them up.

Update: Very interesting to see that neither of these tires are just rebranded versions of tires available stateside. Totally different tread patterns than the all weather and winter tires we carry.

[xFlowRS]

One of the best car channels out there.
I've been following you guys for years, you keep getting better!

[NoahBB]

Great video! As someone that lives in a "Nordic" climate I always go for the most extreme deep snow tires I can find, my logic is that even if I *can* accelerate (in an AWD car) I really would rather be able to brake and turn!

[bennylloyd-willner]

I think it would be interesting to see the difference in more extreme cold like -35°C or something, where the dedicated rubber mix should give the winter tires a bigger advantage. It all depends on where you live and what conditions your car is going to be in. Great video tho👍

[wrenchingfool]

I think the takeaway from this video is that the best combination is AWD with snow tires. AWD/4WD tends to give inexperienced drivers (i.e. the VAST majority of drivers on the road) a false sense of security because they can accelerate from a stop with less wheel spin, only to realize that they can’t stop or change directions nearly as quickly as they thought. That’s why we end up seeing so many SUVs on their roof in a ditch every winter. Very few people in my area make the investment in their own safety and buy winter tires, even though we generally have many days worth of freezing conditions, snow and/or ice throughout the winter.

The other takeaway is that a proper all-season tire (not the US style “3 season” tire) would be a really good option for an area that only gets very occasional snow and no ice. That definitely did not used to be the case.

[stasisthebest]

love your videos and the usefulness of information. your 8 minutes videos are better than 90% of what there is on the internet.