General It's OK, I Survived!

[spav]

Absolutely belting down with snow here - dreading giving the F1s their first go in the snow.

 

[izzy eckerslike]

Wasn't it the British Leyland mini in 1959 that introduced the first mass produced transverse engine ? my dad had one of the first -I still remember its number 808 EOK, It did away with the transmission tunnel down between the seats but the cramped engine was a nightmare to work on & one of it's rubber hoses was near impossible to get off without a major job.
Things have vastly improved since then but I remember rear wheel drive cars we had back then required a 1 cwt bag of sand in the boot during winter to add extra weight to the wheels

 

[doctorchris]

You're right about the Mini in the UK but the French had the brilliant Citroen traction avant before us.
Transverse engine, front wheel drive is so brilliant.
All the oily bits at the front of the car, leaving a huge space for passengers and luggage. Weight over the driving wheels for traction. Car is pulled along so handling is predictable and safe.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

wow I am amazed by how much grip you seem to have. I know the 4x4's are raved about and now I see why. The fact that you can drive at a decent speed and not be sliding anywhere. Thanks for the videos

Two things really helped me there: (1) I was taught to drive in snow -- pull away with minimal revs, maybe in a higher gear than normal; avoid using the brakes (use the gears to slow down); and do everything as smoothly and gently as possible with lots of planning and anticipation: and (2) that car has all-season snow tyres on it.

Both those roads allow a good view of what's ahead (in the dark scene, oncoming lights can be seen, and the other road you can see a fair way). In both cases the speed is actually quite low (15 mph maybe) but because of the closeness of the banks at the edges it looks faster than that. Still - it was fun, and has justifed me buying that car.

 

[DavePanda100]

Now, I'm sorry, but that's not snow...

What is it then?

 

[Etienne Botes]

Fantastic Pete! At least you also got to play a bit!
I love the crunchy-crunchy sound the snow makes under the Panda's wheels, and then to see the snow flecked up at the back as the rear tyres bite for traction, and you get that little wiggle-feeling in the back.

We are such boys.

 

[doctorchris]

Two things really helped me there: (1) I was taught to drive in snow -- pull away with minimal revs, maybe in a higher gear than normal;

Pete, one of the joys of driving a 4x4 is booting it in 1st from a standstill and realising that there is no wheelspin and that even the fastest sportscar could not keep up with you.
Please, I'm not encouraging irresponsible driving. The biggest problem with a 4x4 is that the incredible traction misleads you when it comes to braking. You can pull away like a train but stopping is still difficult.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

What is it then?

It was the 'massive amount' I was referring to. The snow (on the road in your pic) doesn't even reach the wheel rims, and that on a Panda with low profile tyres. In places, the Hertfordshire snow was brushing the 4x4's sump gaurd, so that's over 6 inches depth on the roads... (although I gather rather more snow fell further north later, so in the end you may well have had more than we did 'down here')

P

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

The biggest problem with a 4x4 is that the incredible traction misleads you when it comes to braking. You can pull away like a train but stopping is still difficult.

Indeed -- stopping, and also cornering. Even a 4x4 still gets very sideways if you're not careful. Hence the need to do everything very gently...
P

 

[HP]

The videos show how good the Panda 4x4 is, not sure I'd have been able to do the route in the dark in a 100hp - certainly wouldn't have tried it at the speed you were going!

 

[stephenbeetleman]

Good videos Pete i enjoyed them .. especially the Postman Pat 'hehe' we heard when you saw the two mountain bikers lol

Those Vredesteins seem to be really paying for themselves too and the car didnt look to struggle for grip during any part of the drive. Im impressed

 

[trackdayqueen]

Even if you only have 2WD it makes sense for your car to be pulled rather than pushed, goes back to the days of horses, did a horse ever push a cart.
Rear wheel drive only arose because of longitudinally-aligned engines and the lack of engineering skill to transfer power to the front wheels. That those wheels also had to steer also made it difficult.
BMW and Merc continue to live in the engineering dark ages.

Can't let you get away with that! A front engined RWD car is actually a good thing. The front wheels do the steering and the rear wheels do the driving. I actually prefer RWD over FWD in all honesty, it's more fun, gives the car a better balance I think. There really is nothing dark ages about it!

Think the first FWD car came about in the very early 1900s didn't it? Was a peugeot if my memory serves me correctly.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

The first mass produced front wheel drive car was Citroën's Traction Avant (literally front traction), from 1934 to well into the 50s. It was also (I think) the first car to use a monocoque body (ie no separate chassis). However, I disagree with DrChris -- it used an in-line engine (as oppsed to transverse mounted), and the gearbox was out in front of that, The car had a dashboard 'umbrella handle' gear stick which operated a rod than ran over the top of the engine and down to the gearbox.
P

 

[306maxi]

Nice videos Was itching to take the wifes Scooby for a drive around Snowdonia but it got a puncture on Monday which was sorted easily enough but by the time I got that fixed it had to go in for a scheduled service and timin belt change the next day I'm destined to never drive in decent snow

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

...especially the Postman Pat 'hehe' we heard when you saw the two mountain bikers...

If you listen carefully there's also a rather Mutley-esque snigger as the second bike went past! Its actually quite hard to keep quiet in a car on your own... I'm surprised I wasn't "thinking aloud" during any of that.

Can't remember if I said this before. Instead of the camera being wedged under the headrest (as DraigFlag mentioned in his "Anyone been here" post), that camera was actually on a tripod in the passenger footwell (with one leg jammed into the seat adjusting bar to hold it still). This means that you can glance across occaisionally to check that it's still recording...

 

[deeyup]

Pete, one of the joys of driving a 4x4 is booting it in 1st from a standstill and realising that there is no wheelspin and that even the fastest sportscar could not keep up with you.

Totally agree. I have had many 4x4's and the grip out of a junction etc is amazing. You can squeeze out in the shortest of spaces.

I once had a Celica GT4 (1995 one of the latest ones) with 280 bhp.
That off the line was amazing.
Revs to 6000, dump the clutch and you were gone!

I used to do that everywhere until it needed a new clutch. Toyota quoted £1300, engine out job

Still, when the clutch was in, I did it some more, cos it loads of life left then!

Oh, what it is to be young and carefree!

 

[ninehours]

Spot the Panda

 

[deeyup]

Top left, easy! Do I win a prize!

We had loads more snow over night in Cardiff, but it's mostly melted now.
I'm glad really, cos I have loads of work on and can't afford missing another day.

How old do I sound? like my dad.

 

[306maxi]

Totally agree. I have had many 4x4's and the grip out of a junction etc is amazing. You can squeeze out in the shortest of spaces.

I once had a Celica GT4 (1995 one of the latest ones) with 280 bhp.
That off the line was amazing.
Revs to 6000, dump the clutch and you were gone!

I used to do that everywhere until it needed a new clutch. Toyota quoted £1300, engine out job

Still, when the clutch was in, I did it some more, cos it loads of life left then!

Oh, what it is to be young and carefree!

Ouch

Love 4wd turbo cars Wifes Subaru is great to drive. not sure if she'd appreciate 6 grand launches though

 

[deeyup]

You must give it a go. Puts tremendous strain on the transmission, but worth it
Better still, take a demo model out and you'll have no worries.

I didn't pay £1300 for my clutch. I used a fab company (Protech) just outside of Bristol who specialised in imports. They said "we're clever, we can do it without removing the engine" £400.
They did too. My mate at the time was a tech at my local toyota. They put it on the ramp after, and all got under cooing "they didn't even get any oil leaks, wow"

Liking the Vids pete. I'm going to have to try that too, although I'll be all over the road