HedonismBot

I have Quattro but went through my first winter without snows (won't be doing that again)

but I was wondering: If you had to choose either a good set of snows or Quattro for a one-time drive through a snow storm what would you take?

(I've been having some trouble with posting so forgive me if this posts twice)

Rodney

Quattro helps you go, but snows help you start, stop, AND turn. If you're talking a one time situation, Quattro with all seasons. I've driven in snow on my SP8000's and was ok, but there was very little snow (one was the very beginning of a storm, before it began sticking, the other 2 were post snowfall with a little snow/slush and semi-deserted roads). If I were somewhere that could count on more than 1 mild snow storm a year, I'd invest in all seasons for the winter months (snows would be too big a compromise in that scenario).

Regards,
Rodney

'99 A4 1.8tqms

Reggie3

Snows

CP

Been having NO problems with my 215/50/16 BFG VR4s in VT and CT this winter.

stanj

12 Swiss winters with a FWD A100, never got stuck, never slid, and never hit anything. Among us Swiss folks, only 20% of Audis are quattro.

- Stan

gdewiTT

What a ridiculous choice. Why not do both?

jasyn³

i choose the 3rd option. quattro with snows. :b

Frank B

If I could, I would choose Quattro with snows. That in fact is what if have done. I have Dunlop Winter Sport SPs with Quattro and the snow performance is wonderful, while dry performance is still very good ("sporting").

If I had to choose between Quattro all season and FrontTrack with winter tires and the snow was deep I would go with Quattro as its traction (e.g. hill climbing)is considerably better, in spite of the fact that FrontTrack with heavy duty snows (e.g. Blizzaks)would have better braking and cornering.

In the "real" world where much of your winter driving is on dry roads, even in the North, I would absolutely choose Quattro with performance winter tires over FronTrack with heavy duty snows as I would not want to sacrifice the sportiness of the A4 handling in the dry.

HedonismBot

of course both would be better but I'm wondering what is a bigger advantage in winter driving.

DMoore

I'd have to know what tires you're talking about on the quattro. If it had a decent set of all seasons, I'd take that setup over FWD with snows. OTOH, if the quattro had a set of summer performance tires (eg RE040 death tires from the S4, SP 8000s, etc) then I'd take the FWD with good snows, no second thoughts.

I've owned 7 quattros (with all seasons and/or snows) and a single fwd car, an '83 Scirocco. I live in SoCal where it doesn't snow, but I've skied for 30 years and was a ski instructor for 20, so I have LOTS of snow experience. So that's my call, based on that experience.

DMoore
'00 S4