The power of 1WD

I think most people, if given the opportunity to buy a brand new vehicle that gets 60/70 city/hwy mpg, goes 0-60 in 7.72 seconds, costs less than $125 dollars annually to insure, and has an MSRP of less than $4000, would jump at the chance, until they realized they were about to buy a motorcycle.

While many would argue that AWD/4WD > 2WD > 1WD, there are many advantages to having fewer powered wheels. The advantages lie in fewer moving parts and less complexity, which in turn means more power, greater efficiency, less weight, lower cost, and (theoretically at least) more reliability. Now I do own a Subaru, and I don't mean to say that 1WD > AWD, just that it has its own unique advantages which are totally separate from any "fun factor."

I am an avid motorcyclist. Not just a weekend warrior, I ride my motorcycle 5 days a week, 52 weeks a  year, through rain, shine, heat, cold, and wind. The only thing I don't do is snow, and here's why:

Imagine it snowed 3 inches overnight and so you hop in your trusty snow-slaying awd Volvo, Audi, or Subaru to go to work. Its a walk in the park. It might as well be the 4th of July for all your car cares. Now imagine instead that you're driving something with just FWD. Maybe you spin your wheels a bit at stop signs and there's a bit of understeer around corners, but still no biggie. Now imagine you're in a RWD car. Things are starting to get dicey. Your car tends to move sideways rather than forwards when taking off from stoplights and oversteers pretty wickedly around corners, but at least you can still brake just as well. Now imagine you no longer have ABS and your wide, flat-bottomed tires have been replaced with skinny, round bottomed ones. There goes all your traction and with it, your ability to brake or turn without sliding. Now take away the tires on one side and move the others to the mid line of the car. You have even less traction, but now if your car slips, it can fall over on its side, crushing your doors and ruining your paint. Now finally, take away your seat belts, roof, crumple zones, air bags, alloy frame, and any other safety equipment you have, and you're riding a motorcycle in the snow.

So on days like today, when it snows 3 inches overnight, I take the bus to work. While 1WD may have its advantages, it also has some (rather glaring) disadvantages.