The leaves have almost all fallen from their branches, the temperature is hitting freezing points at night and snow is right around the corner. Tis the season in the northeast where car buyers ask that one question: Does it have all-wheel drive? This question always intrigues me because your average car buyer assumes that all-wheel drive = great in snow and they never look at the fact that all-wheel drive systems are different and operate very differently. So there is no better time to talk about XDrive then now!
XDrive is BMW's AWD system that in BMW's words, "ensures the best possible traction at all times, enhancing agility and keeping you safely on track."
How it works:
- Permanent AWD
- Power is split 40:60 (40% to the front axles and 60% to the back)
-*Your BMW still feels and plays like RWD with more power going to the rear wheels*
- Able to send 100% of drive power to one axle with the greatest traction. (instantaneously without the driver noticing)
- Sign of understeer: XDrive power to the front is reduced
- Sign of Oversteer: XDrive directs more power to the front axle
- Works hand in hand with BMW's Dynamic Stability Control (DSC)
- Uses information from latter system sensors to monitor road conditions
- Brake force is used when there is traction difference between two sides and wheel spin is likely
XDrive in Action:
- Example #1: Let's take an extreme loss of traction similar to an ice storm. 3 wheels are on ice and have 0 traction and only 1 wheel has traction. XDrive will switch all power to that one wheel (instantly) to push you through the ice. This is a big deal among other companies 4WD/AWD systems because most of them are not able to do this instantly when they have standard equipment.
Example #2: It's Summer, it's nice out and you just got out of work. You want nothing more than to get home asap. You're hastily commuting back home and you take that exit ramp pretty aggressively (fun to some). 2 things can happen here that happen very often in other brands due to unbalanced cars: Oversteer - the car turns more sharply than expected which could cause the car to spin or Understeer - the car doesn't turn enough and leaves the road. What happens with a balanced BMW and XDrive? Nothing! You make the turn with no problem because XDrive already made the adjustments needed by reducing/increasing power and using your brakes.
**Scenarios are based on cars equipped with XDrive with Traction and Stability turned on**
Categories:
News