TGIF[R-S]: Can You Drive a Rear-Wheel Drive Sports Car All Year Long?

[AutoGuide.com]

In the warm weather there’s no doubt that the Scion FR-S is a great daily driver, but now in the colder winter, is that fact still true? Will the car be as fun in the snow? Or will it be too much fun; a dangerous handful with little-to-no control in slippery conditions? With the snow finally here, I got the chance to find out.

About mid-November I got myself a set of winter-wheels. Nothing fancy, just Subaru-spec silver steel rims. The rubber itself was generously provided by Vredestein, a little known Dutch tire-maker that my editor introduced me to. Vredestein is known for their Wintrak Xtreme tires, which score ties for third in Consumer Reports Performance Winter tires ratings.

These tires are pretty high-tech, featuring a sporty directional tread pattern, something called Optimum Silica Processing and a feature that distributes pressure equally across the footprint of the vehicle. The tires also are made in collaboration with the famous Giugiaro design house (known for designing cars like the BMW M1 and Lotus Esprit), meaning that not only do they have functional zigzag siping patterns on the tires to help with grip in wet conditions as well as snow and ice, but as far as winter tires go, they look pretty cool too.

Since the tires arrived at the office over a month ago, I’ve been impatiently waiting for a few inches of snow so I could have some fun, and put these tires to the test.

Read the rest of TGIF[R-S]: Can You Drive a Rear-Wheel Drive Sports Car All Year Long? on AutoGuide.com

[WildBill]

I had a ton of fun myself recently in North Texas on the stock tires. Those iced bridges make for a lot of fun at 40mph.

[Scott]

Thanks for your interesting take on this car. Please send updates on your experiences with the fr-s in snow.
So many people who review these cars brag about drifting on dry or wet/snowy roads. I want to know about safety and
driveability in winter over a season.

[tawmy]

I bought and was driving in cold and snowy weather during December, and even now I just warm up the Boxer for 10 mins with a remote starter, and then drive normally and drift easily. ( road and traffic conditions permitting )

I kept the stock rims on with new winter tires. Will buy custom wheels for spring/summer/fall.

Driving the FR-S on winter roads is great for getting the feel of drifting as you don't need the same speed or revs to drift like you would on warm dry pavement.

Caution: Snow covered roads also may contain nuts, snow covered curbs, hydrants and such which could damage your tires/rims/car/ego ...

Hint: it's best to practice drifting on a large open paved lot covered with snow or ice and containing no curbs, poles or other obstacles ... a frozen lake might also work well, but please may sure the ice is thick enough before taking any vehicle onto a lake ... i am not liable if you put you or your car in harms way ...

For those of you that DON'T want to practice with your new car or own an FR-S or a BRZ you may go pretend on Forsa 4.

[whaap]

Not too many years ago; certainly in my lifetime, if you owned a car it was rear wheel drive. There were military vehicles that were 4wd and probably a few foreign cars that few people knew about that were fwd. Not knowing any different people got around fine with their rear wheel drive cars and that was even before snow/winter tires were invented (at least for common automobile use).

[LoBenz]

Tawmy and whaap,
y'all crack me up.

I've only driven on wet conditions, doubt we're going to get any snow here in NC and I doubt we will go anywhere that has snow. This is the first car that I've been able to get sideways without entirely too much effort and it's pretty awesome.
I'm pretty sure when we made our way back to Washington state after my husband gets out of the military we will daily drive our FR-S. I don't foresee any issues with handling, but I'm obviously not going to take sharp corners at 50+ MPH like I've been doing down here.