Hi Group, new poster here.
We have a Long Range AWD that we acquired in November of last year (2018). I do most of the driving with the M3 and had selected the AWD because my previous (ICE) cars had been AWDs. I always felt they were steadier on wet and icy surfaces.
There's been three incidences with the M3 that make me wonder if its AWD function is the same as my previous cars.
1. The M3 was but a few months old when I parked it on wet soil. Upon leaving I backed the car out and while successful, the rear tended to "slop" around. Thought that was curious.
2. Just recently on a rainy day the car's back end broke traction while making a turn, with the rear end swinging wide. This happened twice on the same day on different pavements, but each time in the rain. The first was at about 10mph at a somewhat odd down hill left turn. The second was on level pavement at about 40mph, and I gave the accelerator just a slight bump while going around a right hand turn. Both these incidences surprised me.
I had not experienced this behavior with previous AWDs.
I recently read an article about the possibility of a two-speed tranny in future BEVs. In the article there was an aside about how Tesla had effectively accomplished the same thing with the M3 AWD. That is, front drive with one ratio and rear drive with a different ratio. One drive for acceleration and the other for highway speeds.
Assuming the car is performing as intended, my experiences suggest that the M3 does not actually function as an AWD, but rather as an either/or drive.
I've seen no web comments on this characteristic, so I'd appreciate any thoughts other users might have.
Thanks,
Mark
We have a Long Range AWD that we acquired in November of last year (2018). I do most of the driving with the M3 and had selected the AWD because my previous (ICE) cars had been AWDs. I always felt they were steadier on wet and icy surfaces.
There's been three incidences with the M3 that make me wonder if its AWD function is the same as my previous cars.
1. The M3 was but a few months old when I parked it on wet soil. Upon leaving I backed the car out and while successful, the rear tended to "slop" around. Thought that was curious.
2. Just recently on a rainy day the car's back end broke traction while making a turn, with the rear end swinging wide. This happened twice on the same day on different pavements, but each time in the rain. The first was at about 10mph at a somewhat odd down hill left turn. The second was on level pavement at about 40mph, and I gave the accelerator just a slight bump while going around a right hand turn. Both these incidences surprised me.
I had not experienced this behavior with previous AWDs.
I recently read an article about the possibility of a two-speed tranny in future BEVs. In the article there was an aside about how Tesla had effectively accomplished the same thing with the M3 AWD. That is, front drive with one ratio and rear drive with a different ratio. One drive for acceleration and the other for highway speeds.
Assuming the car is performing as intended, my experiences suggest that the M3 does not actually function as an AWD, but rather as an either/or drive.
I've seen no web comments on this characteristic, so I'd appreciate any thoughts other users might have.
Thanks,
Mark