So I've never lived in a city that snowed. I've driven through them on the way to snowboarding and skiing, but we needed chains on regular cars.


Now I moved to the northeast.

How much does the AWD quattro help in the snow? My friends here tell me that the city does a good job of shoveling the snow off the roads and that driving regular FWD or RWD cars are fine.

How much "offroading" can the quattro drivetrains handle?


Do you guys notice a big difference driving the quattro vs FWD or RWD cars when it snows?

 

Ummm yeh there is a huge difference to understate it. Quattro can climb as much snow as it can push out of its way...literally. If you wanna test it have fun gettin stuck and burnin out your clutch and tranny goin up a hill in a civic!

 

well, its probably not good to drive the car offroad, but it is amazing in the snow on the streets. you'll have no problem with hills and you have way better control.

RWD is horrible in the snow
FWD is way better then RWD by far, overall it's descent
But quattro is awesome in the snow compared to both.

 

I live in Northeast Pa and it snows quite a bit here. Since I'm out the country they don't exactly get right to the roads when it snows. My car has Michelin x-ice all around for winter and is truly amazing. My driveway is unpaved and steep, generally with snow or ice on it all winter. I drive right up it without a worry. There's a big hill going back toward town which even in 6 or more inches or snow isn't even a concideration. Quattro rocks

 

I have yet to get my car stuck. It will push deep snow up to the hood. My abs is out so stopping the 3550 pound beast is the only problem, but going is no problem. And, yes, it SNOWS here.

 

I have both a Front Trak and Quattro. The fwd a4 is the worst handeling fwd car that I've ever driven in the snow. The car is so front end heavy, it's almost suicidal to venture out in bad conditions, even with decent tires. Quattro is certainly amazing and the exact opposite. The only problem with it is you might get over confident. I would never take it off roading.

 

You will go nowhere without appropriate tires, no matter how many wheels are driving your car.

That being said quattro does make the car much easier to lug around when it snows.

 

^^True about the tyres. However, even with my mis-matched all-seasons I had on last winter, I was able to drive into a decent-sized snow bank left by a plow going past an intersection, stop, and drive right out of it like it was nothing. Plus if you want to have some fun, go find a big open empty parking lot and play around for a while

 

mismatched means about nothing, the fact that you had all seasons is good enough. I was pretty much referring to tires designed for warmer temperatures - summer performance tires. When the temperature dips they will harden up and be, basically, useless.

I spun my last car on dry pavement getting on a freeway when I left the summer tires on and we unexpectedly got a cold snap. Was ~35*F (1-2*C) and the tires were just not pliable enough to provide traction.

 

Gotcha! Anyway, quattro + snow = go ahead, pull out in the left lane and pass the damn snowplow, he's in YOUR way!