What are your .:Rs like in the snow?

[golfdave]

If you drive any car with summer tyres in snow it will be sh!t.
I've overtaken a number of 4x4s in the last few days with my GTD on winter tyres.

^^^this!

You see muppets in Landrovers etc getting stuck all over the place even because they only have summer road tyres. They get stuck in fields all the time too, not realising they need off road tyres if their chelsea tractor is going somewhere other than on the school run!

Having lived up here for 23yrs & doing ski-ing & mountaineering you need winters.

However I see loads of central belt etc up for holidays etc near Aviemore....big bling 4x4's will chariot wheels struggling at 30mph on the roads....especially from Aviemore to the CML ski area.

I used to have an old Skoda Fabia with a full set of winters....drive past them at 50mph.....

Staring daggers ain't the half of it....you can see them swearing at their car wondering why the dash is lit up like a Christmas tree as they continually activate all the ASR, ESC programmes..."BUT its a 4x4 & how the feck has that crappy Skoda over taken us at that speed".... .

Doing the same in a fancy MK7 Golf Estate doesn't quite have the same impact....bit of a shame really... 

[kalimon]

Mine has been great the last 2 days, today being the toughest test. I put in eco, and we've had a fair bit of snow here that is -8C hard as a rock and compacted. LIve in an ungritted village lane!!!!!! I have a steepish driveway that our other GTI just cannot handle. The R can have a little front wheel spin but not had all 4 give way yet. My first awd and love it, in the past I would never have done the trips of the last 2 days.

Road has thawed in last hour, couldn't walk on it this morning

Your car looks great in the top photo

[mattwilko92]

4WD only gets you moving. Winter tyres are what you need for braking/steering ablity in heavy conditions.

[CHB100]

4WD only gets you moving. Winter tyres are what you need for braking/steering ablity in heavy conditions.

Truth is I had winter tyres on spare set of a spare set of 17" cadiz, never used them ffs! Took up room. We Haven't had snow like this in 3 years! So while I'd agree anywhere with guaranteed severe weather winter tyres. Give me AWD in a Golf  first and foremost for the other 364 days of a normal year, anyway.
BTW I recommend the R to anyone pondering, it still thrills me like that first date

[CHB100]

If you drive any car with summer tyres in snow it will be sh!t.
I've overtaken a number of 4x4s in the last few days with my GTD on winter tyres.

^^^this!

You see muppets in Landrovers etc getting stuck all over the place even because they only have summer road tyres. They get stuck in fields all the time too, not realising they need off road tyres if their chelsea tractor is going somewhere other than on the school run!

Having lived up here for 23yrs & doing ski-ing & mountaineering you need winters.

However I see loads of central belt etc up for holidays etc near Aviemore....big bling 4x4's will chariot wheels struggling at 30mph on the roads....especially from Aviemore to the CML ski area.

I used to have an old Skoda Fabia with a full set of winters....drive past them at 50mph.....

Staring daggers ain't the half of it....you can see them swearing at their car wondering why the dash is lit up like a Christmas tree as they continually activate all the ASR, ESC programmes..."BUT its a 4x4 & how the feck has that crappy Skoda over taken us at that speed".... .

Doing the same in a fancy MK7 Golf Estate doesn't quite have the same impact....bit of a shame really... 
[/quote

Better with both I guess, but for sure if your into dangerous winter sports and terrain ,  the R with nice winters would be fantastic fun.

[Booth11]

It’s been years since it snowed to any notable extent in my corner of the south east.  Of course, with winter tyres it’s not all about snow and ice, but in the last few years I’ve got through the winters on summer tyres (on 19s on grid and the R) with not a single issue.  When it started snowing on Sunday I was looking forward to seeing how the R would be in the snow, though I agree that 4WD will get you going but not necessarily keep you going. Was all set to take it out when the snow was coming down.



But unfortunately it was so short lived, by the time I was about to go out, it had all but melted (an hour later).

[dubber36]

I've got Pirelli Scorpion Zero 255-55-19s on my Amarok. They are not a winter tyre, but a bit more chunky than the tyres that come on X5s etc. We had about 8" of snow here and it's still hanging around. The truck has got absolutely everywhere with zero fuss. With a bit of provocation it will slide the rear a bit, but it's soon brought into line by the front end just like it never happened. Braking is all about finding grip in fresh snow, or the rough stuff at the side of the road, somthing I had to do on Friday when a mini went full sideways across the road in front of me.

[golfdave]

Better with both I guess, but for sure if your into dangerous winter sports and terrain ,  the R with nice winters would be fantastic fun.

When I was looking at geting my car in summer 2014 I knew about the R estate as saw the ring test pictures. Was going to hold off & get one.

Then I found out that it was DSG only (which I hate & yes I have driven several versions), then I found the even more restricted colour choice..Tungsten silver is N/A in R estate..& to top it all off to get the same spec for spec as a loaded GT (how I speced mine) would cost me £7K more so around the £36k mark....

Plus I hate the stupid four fake exhaust tips & the ring test car had just two, much better. So that's a job to sort right there.

I looked at costing a DSG to manual gearbox swap as can do wiring & coding easy (its my thing), but swapping a new DSG out & fitting a new costly manual or lightly used from a crashed car....insurance costs...even more £££...

I even looked at a crashed manual hatch R with undamaged powertrain & engine £6k....& swapping onto my estate...would still need new 4WD estate fuel tank from dealers...& a cheap run-around car whilst I did the swap....& again insurance.."any modifications to declare".....er 1.4lt 2wd to 2lt AWD swap...

So basically happy with my current choice....I'll be a manual guy until my left leg knackers, which it will do one day due to sciatica...

Anyway the car is on winters...Michelin Alpin A5 225/45R17 using TD ProRace "3", five spoke alloys...

[scanesare]

It's only on situations like Booth describes with fresh, shallow snow that an AWD or any car in that matter might have a chance without winter tires. On anything more serious like dirty roads with accumulated hard snow or ice the AWD offers no benefits at all, you'll realise it the moment you'll need to brake or take a steep corner. Grip, which is the requirement in these cases (and not traction) is not affected by how many wheels are driven but by how much all four wheels stick to the road. I see some (not necessarily in this forum) have a still hard time getting their head round that even though it's pretty simple.

The amount of proper 4WD (not mere Haldex) equipped cars I was seeing immobilised at the side of the road facing various directions every year during my 4 years living close to the French Alps is astonishing. Incidentally, like golfdave I was also in a MKII Fabia (a vRS), there might be something there

[Eccie]

We received 2-3 inch of snow on Saturday and with the cold temps it’s hung around on the quite lanes and roads. The GTi & Merc are both wearing winter boots; we haven’t had any stress getting around, it’s really comical and interesting driving past all these soft roaders and such, struggling - especially when I’m driving my wife’s merc.

The only hassle is the other drivers tiptoeing around or crawling along, mind you I do worry when you get some dick driving really close behind you - I know I can stop pretty well, just not convinced they’ll be able to