We are not the authors of this article. Barry J Moore a relatively famous Aussie musican travelling Aussie land wrote this post in the Facebook Group: Motorhomes Australia. However we considered regardless of the vehicle one is driving then Barry’s words of wisdom will resonate with all.
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The underlying reasons FWD give trouble on wet grass is mostly user caused.
Fiats ( or any vehicle really) DO NOT bog by themselves. The user puts them in that precarious position.
We’ve seen rear wheel drive vehicles hopelessly bogged as well as FWD.
Aware that our Fiat FWD needs good traction, we always assess the risk when getting off the black.
Here’s some tips we follow:
1- if about to drive off the bitumen, get out and check the potential for slipping.
2- If it’s grass avoid potential uphill tracks especially where non gravel surfaces are evident
3- always assess the exit strategy before settling to camp
4- carry snow or mud chains for if the ‘S ever hits the fan’.
5- physically step out the proposed track if there’s any longish grass.
If rain falls after we’ve parked up, before leaving next day we’ll step out the route to assess driving surface.
If it’s too risky, we’ll replan our day and wait till it dries out a bit (it always does in time.)
At a big RV meeting we had many days of rain and hundreds got bogged trying to leave early. Why? They’d paid for the full duration and the whole NSW state was a basket case everywhere with floods and washouts.
But still they chose to leave early, necessitating engaging local drotts and tractors to help haul them out.
We chose to stick it out and wait. Came the last day and remaining MH’s were still skidding and slipping everywhere as the grassy ground was really saturated but with good sunny conditions was starting to firm up.
We used a technique which for us has never failed (so far). And that is to develop a back and forth motion steadily increasing the small gains until we could give it a tiny bit more stick and then, leave. You’ll get the feel for when it’s ok.
Important point –
only try it in 2 gear man. (Not Auto) and put traction button on.
Our friends (same FWD, same brand, same dimensions) behind us in the exact same conditions skidded from the very get go and needed a tow out.
My Suzi GV came to the rescue and we towed them out.
Check out the video (click on the image below). If FWD owners try this technique when in slippery conditions it might help.
Barry J Moore