08tc10 Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 Ok, so I know its going to snow but how should you drive in the stuff (Yes I know, carefully). Any tips? Stewart (S3) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markant Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 2nd gear, traction control off in most cars, if you've 4 wheel drive you'll have a big smile on your face, if you've a rear-wheel drive you'll not being going anywhere fast regardless as it's generally useless in snow, hence bmw's and merc's are the first to be abandoned at the hint of snow! M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quattroboy Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 [ QUOTE ] hence bmw's and merc's are the first to be abandoned at the hint of snow! [/ QUOTE ] Also a reflection on the type of people who drive them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lagoo Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] hence bmw's and merc's are the first to be abandoned at the hint of snow! [/ QUOTE ] Also a reflection on the type of people who drive them! [/ QUOTE ] <<yawn>> Remember your brakes are still shite what ever the weather is doing, dont be lulled into a false sense of security becasue you have AWD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 Everybody with Quattro has this sense of belief that it will help them in all situations, I have had it and it is good to get you going but not to help you stop !!! In the snow Quattro will get you moving faster and possibly into a bigger accident. ALL cars are limited by their braking ability in the snow, and with Quattro cars tending to have larger low profile tyres and more weight the problem is only made worse not better. Remember it takes 10 times longer to stop in the snow than at any other time. And as for rear wheel drive being bad, just put a bit of weight in the boot and it will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3Floyd Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 If you have an S3, the quattro will be pretty useless in the snow - it was in my old one. Mine just made crazy noises as the haldex struggled to get traction on the wide tyres. In the end, i jumped in the wifes Yaris which felt far more secure on the white stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markant Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 It goes without saying that braking is bad in all cars in snow, so you have to leave lots of room in front of you and avoid nipping into tight spaces as you will prob hit car in front and get rammed from behind. As for bmw's and merc's - I speak from experience, not out of jest, the last two februarys when the weathers been really bad I passed 10's of them, either abandoned or stuck, everyone else sailed passed - albeit slowly. Didn't know extra weight would help, trouble is most people don't have bags of sand they can borrow from work when driving home in the snow! M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby_simon Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 people have said about breaking, so I'll not cover that. If you have to drive the S3, try and stay off boost - In the scoob you have to be really carefull as at 3K rpm (on dry roads) it is like a kick in the back. In snow, it WILL take a nice safe good traction situation into a "wheel spin, loss of control, slide, crash" situation in a matter of seconds. Always use a gear higher than normal if possible. If you do loose traction, ease the gas, and try and regain it, don't boot the gas. And be carefull (thumbs up smily) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 I have DSG and have not yet had to used it in very slippery situations. Has anyone else. As far as I know I can't get it to start in a higher gear if I need to.. It will role forward on its own but a prod of the throttle might just make the wheels spin and I would go nowhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazza_g Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 I agree with all thats been said above but would like to add one more things - If you don't have to drive in the snow, then don't - easiest way to avoid any possible accident ! That goes for all treacherous driving conditions - only do it if you have to. More than a sniffle of snow and I'm staying home !! <<thumbsup smiley>> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08tc10 Posted February 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 Thanks chaps...a few days off work hopefully coming my way then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisR32 Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 It's fun steering by looking through the side-windows though Scooby, isn't it! That's my lasting memory of the Scoob - the huge, white rooster-tails of snow looking through the rear view mirror! Awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby_simon Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 [ QUOTE ] It's fun steering by looking through the side-windows though Scooby, isn't it! That's my lasting memory of the Scoob - the huge, white rooster-tails of snow looking through the rear view mirror! Awesome! [/ QUOTE ] Shhhh. Or everyone will want one <winky smiley> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunseeker Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Driving with summer tires on snow is not a good idea... regardless how you drive! I use winter tires (I'm living in Norway), but the few times I have tried driving in winter with summer tires, I've been going 10 km/h and been scared to death.. But if you have to drive on snow, traction/ESP are your best friends... So why anyone would suggest turning it off is a mystery... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfc1912 Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Have to admit that braking on the A3 is crap in the snow. We live in Holmfirth so snow and hills are a plenty. Ended up swapping cars with girlfriend this morning, she happily went along in my 306 whilst I struggled to get anywhere in here A3 2.0 TDi S-Line. The worst thing is that the brakes seem to kick in very hard all of a sudden. Slightly pressing the pedal gives nothing and when eventually you feel your slowing the ABS kicks in and things get interesting. Also there is a horrible grating sound to go with the pedal kicking back. Stealer said that this was normal and that the best way to stop was 'not to use the brakes!'. Problem is the only way to stop an automatic is either hit a hill, wall or the breaks. Found that the best way to drive down steep hills was to constantly have foot on break and shift down with the DSG to slow. Basically tried to adapt the car and drive it like a manual and use the engine to slow. Best way to go up steep hills was to put into semi auto, into 2nd and let it drive itself off (dont touch accelerator). Only press the accelerator (very lightly) if you're not getting enough revs or need to speed up and keep momentum. Also turn the bloody ESP off as it just makes things worse in really bad conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybell Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Best bet for driving in snow is to leave it in auto mode (so its lethargic) and just be very gentle. Its not very nice in snow with DGS unfortunately and I live in scotland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clowesy Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Hi Matt, I live in Holmfirth also so know the problems. I have a Manual A3 (old shape), just have to be very gentle on the pedals... My ABS was playing up in the last snow a couple of months ago. Nightmare without traction control getting out of junctions. I used to travel over the Isle of Sky road (A635) every day. In the snow I used to crawl past BMW's and Mercs stuggling to get up the hill to the Ford Inn. Hehe. Next car will be a quattro... Cheers Clowesy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfc1912 Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Girlfriend only got the S-line because quatro wasn't available then and she liked the car. She'd have gone for it straight away if she'd known the car would be this bad to drive. Have to admit I hope the snow has gone by the time my GTi arrives. Andrew problem around Holmfirth is there's alot of hills with cars nicely parked waiting to be hit. Using auto mode gives the problem with trying to stop, no engine slowing because revs are kept at a minimum. I'd rather sit there spinning the wheels than just sliding straight into something. Anyway at least it means I get to drive the girlfriends car. Was in the doghouse after reversing into a parked car (crap rear visability was the excuse i tried to use). Paintwork on rear bumper is rearly thin though, no scratches but you can see the undercoat where I rubbed against the other cars bumper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fingermouse Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 wow 2 ppl in holmfirth im just over the hill in shelley love messing in the S3 in the snow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfc1912 Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Soiled my pants big style thismorning. Unfortunatley live at the top of the hill so must go down (clowesy the one going down from Scholes, a cracking drive in the dry as its a nice left, right, left, right chicane on a 1 in 2 hill). If I'd have been going any slower I'd have been stationary (in 1st with no accelerator) but try to tap the brakes and away we slide. Take the stealers advise and stop using breaks. Did notice that the ABS gives up when its beat and just lets you slide. Get it under control but need to go round bend. Back end steps out, steer against it nothing, steer with it nothing. Just miss the parked car on left with back end and the front end just misses cars on right (if i were the insurance company and knew where these people lived, ie on a 1 in 2 hill, I'd invalvidate their insurance on snowy days. They park their cars them as if they were targets) Rant over back to the story. Car straightens out again due to small amount of skill and large piece of luck (back end goes into deep snow which piles up and slows it down). Parked car however at bottom of hill is approaching. See a dark patch of snow which means there's tarmac there somewhere. Head for this and manage to stop the car. Look in the rear view mirror to see the look of horror on girlfirends face as yet again she's in my 306 having no problems whatsoever. Away we go again and luckily the roads start to get reasonable. Question: How to drive in snow? Answer: Dont bother pull a sicky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clowesy Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Hello, Nice weather in the holme valley this morning. I'm trying to get to Rotherham, road blocked at the flouch. 20 wheel lorry on it's side, so cam home again...well crawled home. Waiting for the farmer to get out with the snowplough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fingermouse Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 came home this morning at 7 no probs went down far bank in shelley, little slippy but took it steady, turned the corner and theres a leon stuffed in the wall. Someones drive is gonna be blocked a while!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wikkus Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Oh, big, hairy dog's cocks. Dropped the other half off at the train station this morning and her last words were "Just you be careful in the snow, hon!". Five minutes later I was extricating the S3 from the back of a parked Corsa. Stupid accident, too; about 10-15mph in a snow-covered street with parked cars up either side, rounded a corner to find a bladdy-great Post Office van coming the other way. What I should have done is braked gently in a straight line and then reversed up. What I actually did was try and nip into a space between two parked cars to let van bloke by (courteous, see?) and promptly found the ABS juddering away under my right foot and me sliding, oh-so slowly into the back of the Vauxhall. Bollocks. The Corsa's rear towing-eye has punched a nice inch and a half-long horizontal hole through the bumper just to the right (as viewed head-on) of the number-plate and there's a couple of paint scuffs on the bumper and headlight-washer cover. Damage to the Corsa appeared limited to the towing-eye being bent and a matching deposit of Avus Silver on their grey, ABS-plastic bumper. I did the dutiful citizen thing and left a note under their (snow-covered) wiper with my name and number on it but, stupidly, forgot to take a 'photo. I'll stop by on the way back tonight and see if it's still there and try and get a snap. I'm sooo pissed-off with myself. Rik. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simonl Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Don't worry dude, i nearlly totalled my in-laws corsa whilst borrowing it when my motor was in being repaired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfc1912 Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Bad luck Wikkus. Girlfiriend knows not to say those words to me as the same thing happened to me the last time she said them. Going home last night noticed that afformentioned parked cars have now been removed down to the bottom of hill. Finally the idiots see some sense. Did have a laugh when I drove past the idiot in the X3 embedded in the hedge on the way to work. He zoomed past everyone the day before thinking he was God. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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