For 20 years I was a Jaguar driver of XJ6 models from the 80's to 90's. Those rear wheel drive cars were sleds in the snow and I was accustomed to it and would place cinder blocks in the trunk for traction.

Three years ago I got a 1995 Subaru outback AWD as my daily driver. I took the Khumo tires from the old Jag and put on the Subbie. The subbie tires went on the old Jag as I said bye bye to it. Never had any problem getting up my 90 foot - on-a-grade driveway in the Subbie. Actually our 95 Caddie Deville was pretty good about it.

My wife had been driving the 2002 S60 and in Sept she got a 2007 V50 and I got the S60. The snowblower worked hard to clean the driveway of the snow from the blizzard. Went to move the cars around and found that the S60 and the V50 did not do well getting up the drive. Each one I had to go to the bottom and get speed to make it up the hill. The S60 has fairly new tires.

The Subbie could start in the middle of the hill and just back up the driveway without any problems and did so on tires that have been driven on for @3 years. Neither Volvo could do the same.

I was very surprised because I thought the AWD on the S60 and V50 would do much better. Could it be that I was backing up the hill and the Volvo's are weighted differently than the Subbie. Could it be the Turbo would kick in and get the wheels spinning too fast? I can't say how old the V50 tires are but there is a lot of tread.

The curb weight of the Subbie is 2570 lbs. and the S60 / V50 is much heavier. The Khumos are Touring, the S60 and V50 are touring.

I am also thinking that the "W" selection can't be used in reverse. And we always park our cars nose down because it is easier than backing out onto the main road.

It just wasn't what I expected from the Volvo's.

 

I was hoping to get a few suggestions or reasons. Such as -- maybe AWD doesn't engage while in reverse, did you try the W on the gear shift or maybe a few pounds less air in the tires.

I grew up driving rear wheel stuff in the snow and can handle the slip issues but my California wife doesn't handle it well. It isn't the physical angle, she knows how to drive in the snow but it is the mental part of slipping that gets to her.

 

You are correct that W wouldn't have any effect in reverse. It makes some sense that AWD wouldn't work either, but I hope that isn't the case. If I were you I would like to have an observer to see whether the rear wheels were doing anything.


I am not a huge fan of the Haldex AWD. Lots of complexity, strangely combined with underengineering, prohibiting any serviceability, for very little benefit. I suspect that only a small fraction of the Haldex AWD systems on the road actually work.