Baptized the RWD today on a rainy day and wet roads ...

[ayap888]

I broke in the wipers. God, those wipers were noisy for the first 5-7 minutes. And it became quieter.

I drove on a water puddle and it didn't hydroplane.

I did some cornering above 60MPH during the rain and it handled pretty well. The rear-wheel powers handled the curves pretty well.

[jmess]

With a set of Michelin X-ice2 tires you can get pretty much anywhere when it snow also.

I spent a day behind the wheel of an M35ix driving in the rain. I found the AWD system and active handling to be tuned more for soccer moms than performance. To get me interested they would need to provide an adjustable torque split/bias so you can dial out the understeer. Sure I could feel the extra traction the AWD had at lower speeds but the steering was heavier/slower, understeer was more pronounced, and the car's straight line tracking was impacted by the ruts in the road.

[dividedhighw]

I assume you meant the M35x (not M35ix)?

IMO, the EX35 AWD is the same, and a little jealous that the RWD models deliver more performance orientation. As I've posted in other threads, I feel the EX's VDC intrudes too soon and too much, to the point of being dangerous.

As a longtime Audi/Subaru owner, I'm fully aware that AWD doesn't necessarily dictate that the vehicle behave in an ultra-conservative fashion.

Cheers,David