Engine in the wrong place? Not today!
Discussion
So predictable. 3cm of snow falls on North London this lunchtime, and... you can guess the rest. Both my kids schools close instantly, and demand that parents collect their children from school, thereby ensuring that the suburban side roads are exactly 94.2% more screwed up than they need to be – the main roads are fine, though busy, with buses running etc., but the un-gritted side roads, especially on our numerous hills, are murder. Anyway, moan groan rant, you know. So out I go, to collect my son, while my wife leaves her work to get our daughter.
I de-ice the car, getting frozen fingers in the process, and set off... Almost immediately it becomes clear that while I would be fine on the main roads, there is no way my E39 is going to co-operate in getting up the(steep, un-gritted) hill (and yes, DSC off, 2nd gear, smooth clutch control, blah blah, and no, I haven’t got winter tyres – not generally thought essential in North London suburbia).
So, I parked it, and went to get “the one with the engine in the wrong place”. I can’t (yet...) run to one of Stuttgart’s engine-in-the-wrong-place products (I will....), but I have that other fine example of a car with a 3-litre(-ish) six in the back, the Renault Alpine GTA. I had often thought, last winter, that with 60% of the weight over the back wheels, and fairly narrow tyres, not to mention some rally-bred ancestors, it should be ok in snow, and oh yes...! It is! Clearly, it would crumple like a wet cardboard box if anyone hit it, and even a minor ding would mean sourcing some almost unobtainable and horribly expensive body part, but all was well.
Not only did it have enough traction to do a hill start on packed snow on the back side of a big speed hump (when some $%£”! insisted on messing around in front of me), the general level of feedback, and the very direct and either unassisted (steering) or almost unassisted (lightly-servo’d brakes) controls were excellent for snow driving. I provoked a little slide out of curiosity, and the quick, sharp, steering with loads of feel meant it was simple to catch even for even a non-driving god like me. I am sure that if the back really went, it would be a bit different, but it showed no sign of doing so... Also, the non-ABS brakes were actually easier to feel and to modulate to a smooth stop than the electronically assisted ones on the BMW (ABS-ing themselves into a sort of brake-blur...). And, just to work against the stereotype, it started instantly, everything worked perfectly, and I had to turn the heater down, because it was burning my toes...
So now I know, for snow driving, I don’t need a 4wd, or chains, or whatever; I have a 21-year old French plastic car, which is more than up to the job. Quite a happy bunny.
I de-ice the car, getting frozen fingers in the process, and set off... Almost immediately it becomes clear that while I would be fine on the main roads, there is no way my E39 is going to co-operate in getting up the(steep, un-gritted) hill (and yes, DSC off, 2nd gear, smooth clutch control, blah blah, and no, I haven’t got winter tyres – not generally thought essential in North London suburbia).
So, I parked it, and went to get “the one with the engine in the wrong place”. I can’t (yet...) run to one of Stuttgart’s engine-in-the-wrong-place products (I will....), but I have that other fine example of a car with a 3-litre(-ish) six in the back, the Renault Alpine GTA. I had often thought, last winter, that with 60% of the weight over the back wheels, and fairly narrow tyres, not to mention some rally-bred ancestors, it should be ok in snow, and oh yes...! It is! Clearly, it would crumple like a wet cardboard box if anyone hit it, and even a minor ding would mean sourcing some almost unobtainable and horribly expensive body part, but all was well.
Not only did it have enough traction to do a hill start on packed snow on the back side of a big speed hump (when some $%£”! insisted on messing around in front of me), the general level of feedback, and the very direct and either unassisted (steering) or almost unassisted (lightly-servo’d brakes) controls were excellent for snow driving. I provoked a little slide out of curiosity, and the quick, sharp, steering with loads of feel meant it was simple to catch even for even a non-driving god like me. I am sure that if the back really went, it would be a bit different, but it showed no sign of doing so... Also, the non-ABS brakes were actually easier to feel and to modulate to a smooth stop than the electronically assisted ones on the BMW (ABS-ing themselves into a sort of brake-blur...). And, just to work against the stereotype, it started instantly, everything worked perfectly, and I had to turn the heater down, because it was burning my toes...
So now I know, for snow driving, I don’t need a 4wd, or chains, or whatever; I have a 21-year old French plastic car, which is more than up to the job. Quite a happy bunny.
Petrolhead_Rich said:
But I though better of it, and realised that overall I felt very pleased with myself and my car, verging on smug, and had had a thoroughly good time in the end. Cheery good humour is not my default setting, but the time comes for us all.
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