I know this has been discussed before, and it is the end of the 2009 season :cry: but I just stumbled accross this bit of information regarding snow chains in NSW for AWD's and 4WD's. There was discussion in changing the requirements but it doesn't look like they are going to. Good news for us AWD owners because we can't fit chains to our cars anyway.

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/rulesregulations/snowchains/index.html

Good news indeed! It's very rare for the RTA to actually back-track on yet another unecessary restrictive ruling.

How does the AWD Magna perform in snow with normal tyres instead of snow tyres?

They go great in the snow with no chains and standard tyers.

Plenty of grip.

Have diecussed it before but i had to pull a 4x4 nissan Navara up a snow covered road with my KJ AWD with standard tyers.

The Navara had standard issue tyers but couldn't handle the snow covered road where as the AWD did it with ease and had enough grip to pull the Navara as well.

A lot of stock 4x4s have open diffs front and rear, so can get crossed up or dump all power to 2 wheels.

Ours has the LSD centre + rear which is why the Verada could keep moving.

Also, because a 4x4 has a locked transfer case, it's unsafe on sealed roads in 4x4 mode - god we have a good car in the AWD Mitsu! :)

I was down in the snowies twice this season - both times they stopped me to put on chains, until I said I was an AWD, and then they raised their eyebrows and let me pass :). Had no problems in Tassie when I was dealing with heavy snow.

The other issue is, and many 4WD owners aren't aware of this, some Japanese 4WD, particularly the "light" 4WD, are really just FWD. Only when the front tyres lose traction does the torque get transferred rearwards. On snow or ice its too late then as forward progress has stopped.

Cheers,
Alan

The other issue is, and many 4WD owners aren't aware of this, some Japanese 4WD, particularly the "light" 4WD, are really just FWD. Only when the front tyres lose traction does the torque get transferred rearwards. On snow or ice its too late then as forward progress has stopped.

Cheers,
Alan

Oh I know all about that!! 5 years ago a friend of mine took me down to the snow in her brand new RAV 4, thinking at the time it's AWD no chains required............... what a fun drive that was from Spencers creek to the car park :eek2: Did it later that season in dad's brand new Forester totally different story. That is when I learnt not all AWD's are AWD's.