RWD and snow suck even with the traction control I had on my 325i. Much happier with FWD now. Would never buy a RWD car again.
Ooo... I lost track of the times I was not pointing in the direction I either A) intended, or b) desired, while driving in my RWD Dakota.
Relying on sand in the back for weight is, alone, a shitty concept.
Don't get me wrong, I had like 7 or 8 winters with that thing, and had a blast. Also, I'd consider the statement "I survived 7 or 8 winters" to probably be closer to the truth than I at first may realize.
The worst experience was highway driving for a roughly three hour trip (moving back to college after winter break), that became nearly five hours if I remember correctly.
I think there was a whiteout moment or two, but the worst was simply the pre-existing snow. Snow nearly up to the bumper, and deep ruts. Because neither my dad in the moving van or me in my dakota felt particularly comfortable, we stayed in the right lane (which was one long ass permanent rut) since the other lane was almost entirely fresh powder up to the bumper and had idiots going the speed limit or close to it. I'm all for knowing how to drive near the speed limit in most conditions, and NOT going excessively below posted speeds just because of snow, but those are conditional variables.
Just sticking in the right lane, probably entirely because of the ruts, I fish-tailed three times. I recovered just fine each time, with minimal sea-sawing/back-and-forth, but still, one time I got pointed out at least 60-70º and my first correction probably about equal in the opposite direction.
The butthole has never been tighter, nerves never shakier after that little event. That caused a white-knuckle grip for the rest of the trip, which was unbearable long at that point in time.
Of course, that ignores the various oopsies throughout the city. Accidentally a touch too much throttle, or backed off the throttle too abruptly... and the immediate sensation of two or more wheels suddenly breaking free from grip and either snow-covered parked or moving cars nearby suddenly rapidly approaching your last seen point of reference.
More often than not, I was also causing the exact controlled slide that I wanted, but there was surprise grip changes all over the roads; sometimes braking/turning just fine, then suddenly your left turn seems to be escaping from underneath you and you feel yourself sliding forward and right instead, or dead-straight braking becomes cock-eyed and holy shit that bumper is getting too close too fast.
I managed to avoid everything in that vehicle, but definitely had my share of way too close moments.
Current vehicle is a FWD sedan, and my planned next vehicle purchase (was prior to this was too... depends on timing/salary at time ) is a Subie. A Rex (STI or not... salary-based decision ) will give me the fun I want when I want, and a little more sure-footed behavior.
Obviously, AWD can be equally worthless on ice or still possible to lose control for various reasons... not one of those drivers.