Even though I don't own a Charger, I been lurking here for a while. I'm a 09 Challenger R/T owner and I like coming here to see some of the Mods that could be interchanged between the two cars.
Here's my thing. Our daily driver Mercury Milan AWD is coming off lease. We are up in the air whether to buy it or give it back. Since I really like the ride and room of our Challenger, I was thinking of either picking up a used SXT, in AWD. Problem is the choices around here are pretty slim. Less the 50 in a 200 mile radius of my home. Choosing a RWD make choices much more abundant.
So after this long rant, my simple question is how bad, or good are these cars in the snow? My neighborhood has alot of hills to climb so this is a major concern. Should I go with the RWD, or hold out for an AWD. Thanks for any help.
I have had lots of experience driving in the snow in my RWD sxt. Lived in Oswego, NY for about a year and it snowed a foot every 2 weeks. I had little to no problems and I even had 20in. wheels with toyo proxy 255 45 20 tires. On one occasion in Troy, NY i did get stuck in a dip, very big dip, but only took me 5 minutes to slowly accelerate the car out. I thought I was gonna be stuck but was surprised that I didn't. Probably might depend on the tires but like I said I had 20's with toyos and I don't think they are all seasonal tires.
I have an SRT8 and have no problems up to about 6-8 inches of snow AS LONG AS you put on real winter tires. The cars handle well with ESP in the snow and the throttle modulation is good.
My only complaint is that the lack of LSD on 2006-2008 models made hill climbing very hard as either you got no movement due to ESP kicking in or just sliding with it off.
If there is really deep snow the car is too low to do well though.
DOn't buy into the hype about FWD. Snow tires are the magic elixir, not FWD
My SE+(same options as SXT) did just fine in the snow with RWD only and the factory tires. Turn ESP off if you want to have fun, or are having trouble getting moving up hill. Was in about 5" of snow and stopped for some pics. With ESP on the car wouldn't move. turned it off(pushed the button) and it rolled right out of it like nothing.
AWD + good snow tires make a HUGE difference! :grin:
These AWD cars are great in the snow, even with all-season tires! I had a Subaru Baja before this, and this one is better in the snow. (Except for the ground clearance, because I upgraded the suspension and it sits lower now... oops. hehe)
well...back in the old days they only made rear wheel drive cars, and I think people still drive in the winter back then lol. I just put some snow tires on mine and I was fine.
gabe....those rwd chargers werent TRYING to keep the tires from spinning, granted you probably werent either, but RWD and AWD are completely different animals....if i go with a 5.7, my next car will be AWD, if i go 6.1 like i plan, well....thats not an option
OP-if your that worried about snow...find the AWD version....
Well, I live at the top of a very steep hill, gravel road in the woods. Henrietta does fine with stock tires as long as I keep the forward motion, lol. Just don't stop. Just don't stop. Those are my words to live by in the winter. But, really, I've only gotten stuck in our drive coming out of the barn.
and of course a charger on 22's and a 30 or 35 series tire will suck in snow, regardless lol, I live in Michigan and have no problems in the snow, only times I have gotten stuck were in my driveway, but as far as the roads, I've been fine. and I have a 3.5 V6 RWD
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