cars news 10: 3 Things We Learned at Mazda’s Ice Academy

As Californians, we’re not well acquainted with snow. We drive up to the mountains and see it for a few days then go home to 70-degree weather. Most of us run all-season or summer tires and use chains if we head up to the ski resort. Much of the country does not live this way, so to keep our skill set sharp and our experience relatable, we accepted an invitation to Mazda’s first-ever Ice Academy in Crested Butte, Colorado, to practice our winter driving and evaluate the company’s i-Activ all-wheel-drive system in properly cold and snowy conditions. Here’s what we learned about Mazda’s AWD system, winter driving, and what it’s like to drive a Miata in the snow:

Background: Not All AWD Is the Same

Let’s start with the basics. Every crossover and SUV on the market is offered with all-wheel drive (AWD) or four-wheel drive (4WD), and a few sedans, minivans, and coupes are, as well. Car companies these days rarely make a distinction between the type of drivetrain they offer, leading many consumers to believe it’s all the same thing, and that’s not the case at all. The three main types to know are full-time AWD, part-time AWD, and 4WD.

Full-time AWD is what most people think they have. A full-time AWD system is always sending power to all four wheels. Some systems use a fixed front-rear power split, some are variable, but no matter what, all four wheels are getting power. These systems are becoming less popular, as powering all four wheels all the time hurts fuel efficiency.

2016 Mazda CX 5 front three quarter in motion 02 1

2016 Mazda CX 5 front three quarter in motion 01 1

Part-time AWD is what most people actually have. To save fuel, the system typically drives only two wheels, either the fronts (usually) or the rears (less common). It makes sense because most of the time you don’t need AWD—just in low-grip situations. When the system detects wheelspin from the primary drive wheels, it engages the other two wheels and splits the power, which usually increases the available grip. Mazda employs a part-time AWD system.

4WD is what trucks and a few rugged SUVs have. 4WD requires a transfer case, a gearbox that sends power to the front wheels at a fixed ratio. 4WD systems are generally more robust than AWD systems and better handle heavy vehicles and high-torque engines. These systems must be manually engaged. They do not activate on their own.

Got it? Let’s move on to the Ice Academy.

1. Predictive AWD Is the Future

Mazda’s Ice Academy was designed to showcase the unique capabilities of its i-Activ AWD system. Its key technology: prediction. Mazda’s system looks at everything from the outside temperature gauge to the status of the windshield wipers and force feedback on the electric power steering to determine the conditions you’re driving through. If the computer determines you’re in wet, snowy, or similar conditions, it keeps the part-time AWD system ready to send power to the rear wheels at a moment’s notice. Checking the various sensors and systems 200 times per second, the computer can recognize wheel slip much faster than a human and engage the rear wheels to increase grip. It can also apply the brakes to stop individual wheels from slipping and thereby send power to other wheels instead.

This is unique among its competitive set, which generally employs reactive AWD systems. Such systems do not activate until they detect wheel slip, and how much wheel slip is allowed before the AWD kicks in depends on the manufacturer. This means there’s a variable amount of time you could be sliding around before the AWD gets to work, depending on the manufacturer and the AWD system.

To illustrate this, Mazda provided an AWD CX-5, an AWD Subaru Forester, an AWD Honda CR-V, and an AWD Toyota RAV4. All four vehicles were fitted with the same Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires and were driven back-to-back on a predetermined route through a residential neighborhood near Crested Butte, whose streets had not recently been plowed. Conditions varied between compacted snow and wet asphalt. We must, of course, maintain some skepticism when presented with a test devised by an automaker, but Mazda’s tests appeared fair.

The difference between the Mazda system and its competitors is subtle. It was only detectable when driving through an uphill turn. In this case, the competitors each exhibited small to moderate amounts of understeer and wheel slip, whereas the Mazda had already engaged AWD and did not understeer or slip perceptibly. Mazda says its philosophy is to keep the driving experience as similar as possible across all conditions, and it was effective in this test.

Using a nearly identical CX-5, CR-V, and Forester on a slalom course, the Mazda, which kept the AWD engaged constantly, exhibited considerably less understeer than the competitors and experienced no stability control interventions where the competitors leaned hard on their systems.

Given the noticeable benefit of predictive AWD in this test, you can be sure the next-generation AWD systems from Mazda’s competitors will feature similar technology in order to close the gap.

It’s worth noting that full-time AWD systems and 4WD systems would behave similarly to Mazda’s predictive system (assuming the latter is engaged), though these each have fuel-efficiency drawbacks and as such aren’t as prevalent as part-time AWD systems. Mazda’s system allows it to have its cake and eat it, too.

2. Tires, Tires, Tires

Regardless of how good an AWD system is, it can’t help if the tires have no grip. Although all-season tires work well in many parts of the country year-round, they’re no substitute for proper winter tires when the temperature drops close to or below freezing. In freezing conditions, the rubber in all-season tires hardens, and grip is reduced. Winter tires use a different rubber compound that doesn’t harden in cold temperatures and tread specially designed to grip snow and ice.

To demonstrate this difference, Mazda provided an AWD CX-3 with standard Yokohama all-season tires and one with factory recommended Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires. Around a snow-covered track, the winter tire advantage was stark. The car equipped with winter tires exhibited much less understeer around corners, much better acceleration from a stop, and a much, much shorter stopping distance.

To really drive the point home, Mazda also provided a front-wheel-drive CX-3 on the all-season tires. It struggled mightily to accelerate from a stop, understeered constantly, and had a significantly greater stopping distance than the AWD CX-3 with winter tires. The AWD CX-3 with all-season tires actually had the longest stopping distance due to the extra weight of the AWD system compounded with the lack of grip from the all-season tires.

3. Miatas Are Great Winter Cars

Most people wouldn’t consider a rear-wheel-drive, convertible sports car to be a good winter vehicle, but most people don’t drive Miatas. Fitted with Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires, the Miata was perfectly capable of handling snowy conditions. Moreover, if you’re a driving enthusiast, the Miata’s natural handling balance and predictable, controllable behavior at and beyond the limit of grip make it an absolute joy to drive spiritedly in low-grip situations. If you ever get the chance to autocross in the snow, do it. The experience and skill you’ll gain in car control is well worth it.