Quattro - any good in snow

[belly buster]

With most of the country getting a covering of snow today, how smug were you Quattro drivers.

Does it turn the car into a land rover? Or is it overhyped and doesn't make much difference.

Interested to know!

[Fly100]

My 05 allroad is excellent, just bit hard to stop cos it goes so well. In fact it goes better than it stops.


On a side note Ive got an 02 Td5 Discovery for sale. New tyres, TD5 Alive towing remap, new tyres and loads of extras.

[Brycie]

Does it turn the car into a land rover?

Don't imagine for a second that a Land Rover is the answer to the current conditions. A friend of mine who has just done up a Land Rover Defender posted a conversation he had with his Missus today & it went roughly like this:

Kim: Well it looks like we're snowed in.
Kevin: Don't be silly, we own a Land Rover Defender, we can go anywhere!
Kim: Well go & defrost it then so we can go out.
Kevin: I can't, the heater doesn't work.
Kim: Oh. Well never mind, let's use it anyway.
Kevin: Erm, we can't, the handbrake's frozen up & it won't move.

[5678]

Front wheel drive on winter tyres has been fine. No need for quattro in the UK

[Pausten]

Fly100 hits the nail on the head!
They go better than they stop.
Unbelievable but true.
Advise that you get the Quattro, but also winter tyres, on their own rims.
- Not really an expense as your summer tyres will last longer.
I see that an internet search shows cheaper alternatives to Audis winter wheel/tyre offerings.

[jbanfie]

I felt amazingly smug yesterday, I didn't put winter tyres on my A7 cause the wheels and tyres quote from Audi was about £2500. However I did put them on my wifes Mini Countryman ALL4, cost £520 from www.mytyres.co.uk

Absolutely brilliant, going better than stopping as discussed above, but stopping was loads loads better than I've had in other 4x4's over the last 3 years. I'd experienced snow tyres in Switzerland, so was quite confident, but the mini was just awsome in the snow, went anywhere, up hills and down hills (being careful). We live away from main roads and won't ever see a gritter so a little planning is always a good idea.

The best thing about the winter wheels/tyres is that they don't actually cost anything, as when you use them you are not using your other tyres so it must be pretty much close to zero cost - provided you use them for a number of years. As our Mini is the school run car doing 14,000 a year, I plan on keeping it till it breaks, but as it's so good I'd probably have another anyway.

I've decided the best thing to do with the A7 in this weather is to leave it on the drive!!!

[DR_A6]

I have a auto 2wd A6 with winter tyres and it was great yesterday. we live in the derbyshire dales where there was a load of snow and it was absolutely fine. learned a couple of new tricks though, you can lock the hand brake on by holding the button up, and using cruise control to crawl down hills is really good, using the engine to hold the speed so the brakes are a bit fresh.

I think the winter tyres make quite a difference, possibly becuase of their grip / tread but also because they were on 17" rims. There are plenty of original 17" alloy rims on ebay either here or in germany for about £300 so its not that much extra to pay over the three years.

Did see a VW fontera half in a hedge though!

[zollaf]

managed to get my disco stuck yesterday in a drift, but unlike most of you quattro owners, i have a winch so was only stuck for a few minutes. i even have m&s tyres on, but thats no good when you are up against a 4' drift.
in reality, winter tyres are the answer, even for a 2wd car, but stick them on a quattro and you are as good as it gets. only advantage then over a landy is ground clearance, as long as the landy has a good snow tyre on. up against an evoque with city slick summer tyres, the audi is going to win.

[robbyg]

i drove from essex to northumberland for a family event mostly in laying/ falling snow on friday night, and returned last night in the same. Very tiring journey. Running Pzero tyres which are really not made for snow.

The car performed pretty well considering i did about 50 miles on un ploughed un gritted steep roads. I was VERY careful down hills, and used a bit of momentum to get up hills. It did spin its wheels when i prodded the throttle but that was only when i was messing about. being gentle and careful, it was great. If i hadnt had the wife and kids ni the car i would have tried some hills starts just for fun on the quiet roads. My brother in law (drives 3 series) took a 30 minute detour to avoid the country roads, and was nervous all weekend doing the same local journeys as i was.

High speed on the frosty slushy motorways i dont really think quattro makes any difference.

As mentioned above, the quattro gives you loads of confidence to go, and engine braking down hills, but it dosnt help you stop on the brakes any better than a 2 wheel drive, you need to be very careful not to get over confident.

Also, having 4wd doesnt make the people behind you, coming too fast the other way etc any safer. I still prefer to stay home when its very snowy/icy, thats the best way to avoid a smash.

In my experience, i would chose a 2wd with snow tyres over a 4wd with summer tyres anytime. I done usually drive in the snow now as i commute by train so haven't fitted them myself recently.

[adamss24]

I do reckon good, chunky unidirectional all seasons tyres behave better on a quattro than winter tyres on a front wheel drive car. It's the ABS that does not let you stop sharpish, pull the ABS fuse off and you'll see the difference in grip it makes, especially in deep snow ! On a quattro i would love proper locking diffs not mikey mouse electrical gimmicks that behave like a diff !
Also remember 4 wheel engine braking is much better than on a FWD/RWD car...