power distribution questions

[mic1008]

Hi all

 

 

I have a 1995 Baja Turbo and was wondering how the power is disributed to the wheels. Is it split evenly or biased front or rear? The reason that I ask is that I had expected a little better traction in the snow. This is my fist snow with this car. I had no problem just spinning the car around any time I wanted and a few times I wasn't even trying. I worked for Audi for a number of years and have an expectation of all wheel drive. I have new tires that are all season. The reveiws on Tire Rack were good for snow and rain with plenty of posative feedback from east coast and colorado drivers. Do you think that I have a problem or was I expecting too much? I'm going to put some sand bags in the bed to see if that helps.

 

thanks in advance for all of your help.

[Legacy777]

I was not aware the Baja was made in 1995.

 

 

What transmission do you have, auto or manual?

[lostinthe202]

2003-2005 according to wikipedia. mabye an import?

 

How's about a pic? It would be neat to see what this thing looks like

[mic1008]

sorry, brain fart! it is a 2005. it has an automatic tranny

[bulwnkl]

'05 Baja is a turbo. That's what I have, with an A/T. If yours is not a turbo, then it's a Baja Sport. I'm assuming you meant Baja (turbo) just as you said. With that in mind, and knowing that it's an A/T, I know that you have the SportShift (just like me!). That means that the center power divider is Subaru's VTD system, according to cars101.com, which also says that the torque split by default is either 55% or 60% rear, 40% or 45% front (I can't recall which, but you can search that site if you'd like). You should also have a viscous limited slip rear diff, though by their nature the viscous diffs have to slip a bit to really lock up tight.

 

My Baja is quite fun to drive in the snow because it'll behave enough like a RWD truck to throw the back end around, but it MUCH more stable so that you end up power drifting the whole thing if you counter-steer just a little. It's really fun!

[nipper]

What kind of tires?

 

 

nipper

[mic1008]

thanks bulwnkln. that was the information I was looking for. I do enjoy driving it in the snow.

[idosubaru]

tires are huge. a FWD with good snow tires can be better than AWD with all seasons. but there's even differences between all seasons of different makes and the same with snows.

 

those feedbacks are nice, but i'd read them carefully if you're driving in a lot of snow. many people might not experience significant actual snow road conditions, even if they are in an area that receives snow. how the roads are maintained, driving habits, and terrain make a big difference.

 

my wife's family lives in the snow belt from the great lakes, snows all the time. but you can get around in RWD it's so flat up there. i live in the mountains, if those folks drove the cars they do there out here they'd be dead.

 

i prefer to install a switch to control the AWD myself for bad ice and snow. with the flick of a button i go from stock to "locked" 4WD, essentially locking the rear transfer clutches. huge difference and a welcome one when you drive the places i do.

[nipper]

We got two inches of snow the other day, with a layer of ice. The next day i was at the pizza place. The delivery driver wouldnt make runs because the roads were too slippery and his car was RWD. He had to call his girlfriend to come get him.

 

Needless to say we all shamed him for that.

 

There is nothing wrong with RWD in snow, just some drives are better, but it does xome down to tires. Even with AWD iif you have speed rated "summer tires" on the car you will have issues, as opposed to rwd with snows.

 

So make sure you have the proper tires, at the very least a good all season with alot of tread on it. It makes the world of differnce.

 

After that is just finding an empty parking lot and teach yourself how the car will react.

 

nipper