Subaru: Star in ice and snow for 44 years
Only a few can definitely drive well on snow and ice. Special concentration is required in every situation, so precarious and unpredictably different is the grip. But: Anyone who drives a Subaru with all-wheel drive is playing it safe. The question is how to exploit the superiority of permanent all-wheel drive in conjunction with a [...]
The question arises as to how to demonstrate the superiority of permanent all-wheel drive in conjunction with a four-cylinder boxer engine. The simplest solution is, of course, to carry out a practical demonstration with more difficult road conditions, namely on ice and snow.
First exercise during a test in Norway: Using the steering wheel and the gas pedal to make the car circle around a pole. What is child's play for our instructor is a real hurdle for the beginner. Sometimes the car moves away from the trajectory, sometimes it sniffs at the pylons as if in love! Room for improvement, that is!
Second exercise, slalom. The track consists of a series of small pylons between which the driver is supposed to waggle and, if possible, achieve the best time. In this little game, the Subaru performs miracles.
Third chapter: This time it is a race track created on the ice and in the snow. Straight, successive left-right-left turns, then, after a short straight, a tricky to drive hairpin turn to the left. The craziest full-on roller coaster is just a tepid joke compared to what I'm about to experience as a passenger for the next few minutes. First hip swing from right to left, small correction with the steering wheel and immediately the Subaru turns sideways. The driver is wiggling his steering wheel and playing with the gas pedal like a virtuoso. The car seems to want to turn, the landscape turns around me and I no longer see the road through the windshield but through the side window as the car turns right then left and glides.
As soon as we hit 140 on the speedometer, the procedure is repeated, but in the opposite direction. But here, too, we can rely on our Subaru, the car drives like on rails. Thanks to the speed control when going downhill and the torque distribution, the Japanese convinces with a traction that would do credit to any off-roader. The only thing it lacks is a reduction gearbox. But so what? Nobody is perfect in real life!
www.subaru.ch
Photos: Factory
