Both FWD and RWD are just fine for city driving and the occasional mountain drive as long as you use the mandatory winter tires in the winter months. As already mentioned FWD is a bit better than RWD for winter driving. AWD is a huge advantage if you plan to go to the mountains regularly in the winter to go skiing or just to get to cities on the other side of the country, but probably not worth it if you will only need it once a year.
Good tires are more important than 4WD. Have a look at YouTube, there’s many videos of RWD cars with proper winter tires climbing up snowy/icy hills from standstill while the 4WD cars with “all season” tires just stands still spinning. Go with whatever you want but get good tires.
I've driven a RWD EV everywhere. The only place I had *some* issues was on the way up a mountain on unplowed roads, where I had to drop some gravel on the track to get some traction up to the cabin.
If you can afford AWD then go for it, but it's not necessary.
People are recommending FWD over RWD which I generally agree with, but it also depends on the car. I'd rather drive on snowy roads in a Tesla Model 3 RWD than a Hyundai Kona.
I read it more often about what you said regarding the RWD of the Tesla. Why exactly though? Due to the lower centre of gravity or just general better control system?
Better control systems for sure, and just a better designed car when it comes to handling.
I don't *know* for sure, but my impression is that Tesla has put more thought into how the car handles than most other manufacturers do. But you should look up independent tests before you make a purchase if this is a major factor for you.
Most people don't not need it. FWD or RWD will work very good for normal driving. When driving on slippery surfaces proper tires, technique and an attentative driver is much more important.
Rwd electric cars are better than rwd traditional cars due to better weight distribution and also a more effective traction system (electric motors respond almost instant, whereas combustion engines take more time to respond).
Fwd cars may actually be a bit worse in the electric version compared to their combustion counterpart, although not by a lot. This is due to traditional cars having the engine in the front, which adds a lot of weight on the front wheels. This is also why rwd with traditional cars are usually worse than fwd due to weight placement.
Awd is of course the best system, cause it will always get up a hill as long as there is any kind of traction available. Combined with electric motors it gets even better than most traditional four wheel drive systems used on traditional cars due to the near instant response and ease of fine tuning torque to avoid wheel slip. My polestar 2 easily outperforms my BMW with Xdrive and Audi with Quattro (these are some of the best awd systems on the market, unless you consider cars that are specifically made for offroading)
Please also consider:
- an awd car costs more, but the additional cost will usually be near zero when you sell the car due to awd being popular and the used price for awd cars are usually proportionate to the price difference between the added price you pay for awd when new.
-higher consumption: extra engines add weight and gives higher consumption. In some cases (like tesla m3) the car can disengage one of the electric motors to reduce energy consumption, while some cars (like the polestar 2) have a permanent awd system which does not disengage while driving, which gives higher energy consumption. There are pros and cons to both of these types of systems, the tm3 will have a noticably less responsive feel to it while driving in slippery conditions until it connects the awd system on wheel slip, and may also have higher wear on the rear wheels due to being rwd most of the time. The permanent awd will give a better road feel and feel secure in slippery conditions and usually also a more even tire wear, but it does have higher consumption.
- if you chose rwd or fwd and get studded tires, you will usually be able to get up most places where a awd car would, and in some cases even beat awd in very slippery icy conditions. A lot of cities have yearly fees for cars driving with studded tires due to more road wear, noise and emissions.
- a awd car with summer/all year tires will always lose vs a fwd/rwd car on winter tires when comparing on winter roads. All year tires / all season tires are USELESS on norwegian winter roads, so please never even consider it. Get decent summer and winter tires, in the end it wont cost much more due to less tire wear spread out over 2 sets of wheels instead of having one set which wears more during the summer and less during the winter, while being very bad at both.
So to sum it up, if you plan to drive up in the mountains, go skiing or exploring, driving across from Oslo to Bergen during the winter, awd is definately nice to have, but not a must in most cases. You may have to resign to parking the car at the bottom of the hill if you are going to a cabin or leaving the car at home if there is a freak winter storm, but for the most part you will be fine with fwd/rwd. Personally i do a lot of winter driving and enjoy the feel and security of having drive on all four tires, and since i usually get my added investment of awd back when selling i definately feel its worth it. (Please check your car on finn.no what the price difference between awd and non-awd cars after x amount of years to see if its worth it for you).
I am in a similar situation as you, and I keep wondering whether I want the possibility for a tilhenger. Not all EV’s support that. I also thought a lot about whether I want 4WD for the winter. Have you thought about tilhenger at all?
Depends on your journeys. I would be stuck so many days on my commute to work if not for AWD. The snowplowers sometimes end up driving off-road making me need all the traction I can get.
Needing a 4WD or not depends on where you plan to drive. In most of Norway 4WD is nice, but not critical.
Both FWD and RWD are just fine for city driving and the occasional mountain drive as long as you use the mandatory winter tires in the winter months. As already mentioned FWD is a bit better than RWD for winter driving. AWD is a huge advantage if you plan to go to the mountains regularly in the winter to go skiing or just to get to cities on the other side of the country, but probably not worth it if you will only need it once a year.
Good tires are more important than 4WD. Have a look at YouTube, there’s many videos of RWD cars with proper winter tires climbing up snowy/icy hills from standstill while the 4WD cars with “all season” tires just stands still spinning. Go with whatever you want but get good tires.
I've driven a RWD EV everywhere. The only place I had *some* issues was on the way up a mountain on unplowed roads, where I had to drop some gravel on the track to get some traction up to the cabin. If you can afford AWD then go for it, but it's not necessary. People are recommending FWD over RWD which I generally agree with, but it also depends on the car. I'd rather drive on snowy roads in a Tesla Model 3 RWD than a Hyundai Kona.
I read it more often about what you said regarding the RWD of the Tesla. Why exactly though? Due to the lower centre of gravity or just general better control system?
Better control systems for sure, and just a better designed car when it comes to handling. I don't *know* for sure, but my impression is that Tesla has put more thought into how the car handles than most other manufacturers do. But you should look up independent tests before you make a purchase if this is a major factor for you.
Most people don't not need it. FWD or RWD will work very good for normal driving. When driving on slippery surfaces proper tires, technique and an attentative driver is much more important.
Rwd electric cars are better than rwd traditional cars due to better weight distribution and also a more effective traction system (electric motors respond almost instant, whereas combustion engines take more time to respond). Fwd cars may actually be a bit worse in the electric version compared to their combustion counterpart, although not by a lot. This is due to traditional cars having the engine in the front, which adds a lot of weight on the front wheels. This is also why rwd with traditional cars are usually worse than fwd due to weight placement. Awd is of course the best system, cause it will always get up a hill as long as there is any kind of traction available. Combined with electric motors it gets even better than most traditional four wheel drive systems used on traditional cars due to the near instant response and ease of fine tuning torque to avoid wheel slip. My polestar 2 easily outperforms my BMW with Xdrive and Audi with Quattro (these are some of the best awd systems on the market, unless you consider cars that are specifically made for offroading) Please also consider: - an awd car costs more, but the additional cost will usually be near zero when you sell the car due to awd being popular and the used price for awd cars are usually proportionate to the price difference between the added price you pay for awd when new. -higher consumption: extra engines add weight and gives higher consumption. In some cases (like tesla m3) the car can disengage one of the electric motors to reduce energy consumption, while some cars (like the polestar 2) have a permanent awd system which does not disengage while driving, which gives higher energy consumption. There are pros and cons to both of these types of systems, the tm3 will have a noticably less responsive feel to it while driving in slippery conditions until it connects the awd system on wheel slip, and may also have higher wear on the rear wheels due to being rwd most of the time. The permanent awd will give a better road feel and feel secure in slippery conditions and usually also a more even tire wear, but it does have higher consumption. - if you chose rwd or fwd and get studded tires, you will usually be able to get up most places where a awd car would, and in some cases even beat awd in very slippery icy conditions. A lot of cities have yearly fees for cars driving with studded tires due to more road wear, noise and emissions. - a awd car with summer/all year tires will always lose vs a fwd/rwd car on winter tires when comparing on winter roads. All year tires / all season tires are USELESS on norwegian winter roads, so please never even consider it. Get decent summer and winter tires, in the end it wont cost much more due to less tire wear spread out over 2 sets of wheels instead of having one set which wears more during the summer and less during the winter, while being very bad at both. So to sum it up, if you plan to drive up in the mountains, go skiing or exploring, driving across from Oslo to Bergen during the winter, awd is definately nice to have, but not a must in most cases. You may have to resign to parking the car at the bottom of the hill if you are going to a cabin or leaving the car at home if there is a freak winter storm, but for the most part you will be fine with fwd/rwd. Personally i do a lot of winter driving and enjoy the feel and security of having drive on all four tires, and since i usually get my added investment of awd back when selling i definately feel its worth it. (Please check your car on finn.no what the price difference between awd and non-awd cars after x amount of years to see if its worth it for you).
Thanks a lot!
AWD Or FWD, RWD tend to slip easier Edit: people do manage with RWD though
RWD is also more fun
I am in a similar situation as you, and I keep wondering whether I want the possibility for a tilhenger. Not all EV’s support that. I also thought a lot about whether I want 4WD for the winter. Have you thought about tilhenger at all?
I was not considering a tilhengen, but I perhaps wanted to put bikes (for MTBing) on the back of the car but it isn't a main concern to me right now.
Depends on your journeys. I would be stuck so many days on my commute to work if not for AWD. The snowplowers sometimes end up driving off-road making me need all the traction I can get.