hope im not too late on this before you commit. i was thinking the same thing, but what i had wrong was i drove a dodge ram and all seasons were all terrain so who cared? i drove maybe 75 in that thing at the best road conditions of the year. the last car i had was a bmw 730 and it was cool with all seasons but i lived in frankfurt, germany and it doesnt snow much there and they always over salt and its top speed was 140 so v rated could handle my driving all year. now i live in western germany and i am thankful i bought a set of winters. i did some searching online about tire quality and came up with dunlop winter sport m3. so far, i have had three storms this season ( approx. only 1"-2" on roads but holding) and in the straight aways was like driving on dry pavement and in a corner just slowed down to what felt right (for normal everyday driving) and if it broke free, just let of the gas and it recovered almost instantly. didn't see where you are at, but if you do need to drive in winter conditions, get that second set of tires because when the snow is off the roads, my winters are still rated v so with little to no traffic i can still hit 130-140 mph on the autobahn and it's comfortable and not too noisy (if you have the radio on a moderate setting).

 

Only in a pinch... but don't knock the Carrera. I had an SC Coupe before it, and with its rear engine weight on chains, it was a Tomba in the snow...

 

We had Falken Ziex ZE-512's on our allroad. They were a good tire in all conditions. Replaced the POS Pirelli P6's. I'm getting new tires as part of the deal I made on the new (to us) S6. I decided to go with the ContiExtremes based on recommendations in the AudiWorld Forums. Other recommended tires were the Kuhmo Exsta ASX, Michellin Pilot Sport A/S, and Pirelli P Zero M+S.

Based on Tirerack's data, the ContiExtreme is the most popular AS tire. Supposed to be better in the snow than any other AS and also very good on dry and wet.

If you live in serious snow country, dedicated winter tires would be needed.

Jim