Help on driving in the snow

[Dr Forinor 0]

Had my first encounter in the snow, and I haven't had a chance to put my winter tyres on yet.

 

The car is useless without winter tyres, even worse with traction control on. Switch the traction control off, keep it in 2nd when moving off and that's the only thing I can say I did differently than in the Corrado. Looking forward to getting the winter tyres on though.

[davidwort 0]

ah, beemers and mercs are always an amusing sight at this time of year, we always get a few abandoned on the (gentle) hill near us when we have 1/4" of snow :)

It's also a bit of a chuckle to watch over-confident 4x4 drivers with huge wheels and low profile tyres making gentle 4 wheel slides sideways, the shocked look on their faces when their smug, superior-vehicle-choice for severe-weather-driving doesn't pay off is priceless.

 

But I have heard good winter tyres can massively improve RWD cars, making them at least useable. In 20 odd years of driving I've only ever once got stuck in a FWD car though, and that was in a good 8 inches of snow on a country lane where the snow literally compacted under the engine and front axles lifting the car off the ground, farmer towed me home in his landy :)

[KIPVW 0]

I passed several so called 4x4 's last year on a decent incline too :lol: thay must have thought WTF...... An old VW psssing them with ease, cant wait :)

[coullstar 0]

I can safely say my 1series is better in the snow than My Mk5 Gti was. Both with winter tyres. The peaky torque in the Mk5 didnt help it all but the 6cyl in the 1series is perfect. Normal tyres, agree, winters fitted RWD is fine and more fun to be honest. Ive been avoiding the main roads all week in mine.

[Ralphead 0]

Take care - respect the laws of physics and the potential serious dangers of ice and snow.

 

Damn straight.

 

 

I had an manual E30 316i four years or so back and that was good in the snow. We passed a few stuck 4x4s. Stopped to push a couple as well. Snowboarding on Dartmoor was cool.

 

Faster roads when there's ice about is another story..

[dannyboy 0]

Been driving in Canadian weather for past month and half which is crazy weather out here. Tyres are the difference between a car moving and braking safely or the Muppet wheel spinning on the side of the road just because he/she thought it was OK to leave their summer tyres on because they're allowed to! Over here most vehicles are automatic and RWD but they seem to handle very poor road conditions very well. And Canadians aren't renowned for they're brilliant driving.

To me its down to the tyres and how you learn to adapt to poor conditions

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah move off in 2nd Dr. Does yours actually let you select 1st? My old 5 series Tourer didn't. It's purely for moving off so the 'gate' was 2 to 5. The "Snow" setting on mine was literally just moving off in second :D That plus the traction control usually gets you moving OK.

[Dr Forinor 0]

Yeh it let's me put it into manual & from there I can select 1st or 2nd. With the traction control on it's just completely useless really.