DSG in the snow

[FamilyDub]

...an empty carpark...

Ohh I've never volunteered to go to B&Q so late like I did last night!

ESP off, sideways action.

Although, I don't have DSG... or a MKVI... I'll get my coat.

[Rolfe]

I have to say, this car is not covering itself with glory this week.  I was bloody lucky to get home at all last night, as the further south I went on the A702 the worse it got.  From Nine Mile Burn on was hell on wheels.  To be fair, the car was fine on the main road even though by Carlops this was completely covered with snow, verge to verge, and I was just following the tracks of the vehicles in front.

I had to do a lot of digging to get anywhere near my garage, and despite cat litter and screenwash on the driveway (everybody is out of road salt), the wheels were spinning madly and I had to get a push from neighbours to get the car in, even though the drive is pretty much flat.  Everybody is shouting "high gear" and "put it in second", and I can't.

Today I went nowhere.  Most of the cars moving in the village were Chelsea Tractors, or Land Rovers.  The main road was open but very slushy, but getting to the main road was a different matter.  My laboriously-dug drive was covered again (to be honest I had only cleared two tyre-tracks, it was all I could really manage, and the height of the snow in the middle was above the clearance of the car.)  The council had ploughed our road, just a single track up the middle, but of course they'd ploughed the driveways shut too.  And the country road we open on to wasn't ploughed (can't think why).

So I had to use my computer to work from home, which was fairly successful.  May have to do the same tomorrow.

Whatever this car is, it's no use in this weather.  But do I want an SUV just for a week every 10 years or so?

At least the car is safe in the garage and not abandoned by a roadside.  I hear that a woman who had to abandon her car by the main road last night found this morning that someone had skidded into it.

Rolfe.

[FamilyDub]

I hear that a woman who had to abandon her car by the main road last night found this morning that someone had skidded into it.

Brutal.

I had to do this yesterday and I was 5hitting myself all day. 

[p3asa]

Have to say Rolfe that I've had the opposite experience of you in my manual.
I live in a semi remote village that is very high and is generally bad for snow. While other cars struggled around the village, my golf sailed past them with ease. Even the very slight incline in to my drive that has proved tricky in the past with my other cars was no problem.

Maybe it is the new tyres!!  

[keelaw]

Maybe it is the new tyres!!  

Or maybe it is the DSG.  Not being able to select 2nd from the off is a major disadvantage. 

Rolfe - question is, do you reckon your Pug would have done any better?  I'm reading that these are some of the worst conditions in 20 years.  Perhaps winter tyres are in order?

[Rolfe]

Have to say Rolfe that I've had the opposite experience of you in my manual.
I live in a semi remote village that is very high and is generally bad for snow. While other cars struggled around the village, my golf sailed past them with ease. Even the very slight incline in to my drive that has proved tricky in the past with my other cars was no problem.

Maybe it is the new tyres!! 

I think you might be in some trouble here.  It's the sheer depth of the snow.  I measured 16 inches on my lawn today, and even though roads and paths that have been periodically cleared are less than that, the snow is piled high at the sides.

I just watched a neighbour spend most of the afternoon shovelling his entire drive as far as the bit of road that was ploughed this morning, and then set off.  He has a fairly big Ford, a Mondeo or bigger.  He was struggling to get as far as the lane, and I saw him back up and take a run at it several times before he made it.  I guess he'll manage to get to the main road now, as there has been traffic on the lane to compact the snow, and on the hill up to the main road there is a bit of grit.  Rather him than me though.

I think I'm a fixture for tomorrow too, and it's as much about clearing the drive as anything.  It's only about ten yards long, and almost flat, but it's a bit much for me to shift.  Then I have doubts about the 90-degree turn on to the road.

Still, I managed to do all the essential work by broadband and phone, so technology has its uses.

Rolfe.

[Rolfe]

Maybe it is the new tyres!!  

Or maybe it is the DSG.  Not being able to select 2nd from the off is a major disadvantage. 

Rolfe - question is, do you reckon your Pug would have done any better?  I'm reading that these are some of the worst conditions in 20 years.  Perhaps winter tyres are in order?

I don't know if the Pug would have done any better.  It never had to tackle this.  I lived in Sussex when I bought it, and since I moved back to Scotland three years ago this is the most snow we've had by a mile.

Being able to select second from the start does help when you're spinning your wheels though.  It was something I thought about when I specced the DSG, and one of the reasons I got it was that I assumed the manual mode would allow that to be done.  I got the fright of my life when I realised it wasn't going to play that game.

Does anyone know what this is all about?  Pulling off in second (frankly, the Pug could pull off in third if it had to) is such standard practice in the snow, I totally fail to see why the DSG is set up so that you can't do that.

Rolfe.

[golfgti5]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZaARVJagiI


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY8x2GxKk9E

Snow in The Netherlands

[p3asa]

I think you might be in some trouble here............  

Rolfe.

It has been easily over a foot here as well. I've found the freshly fallen snow is easier to drive on than the trampled in snow that has turned to ice.

[Rolfe]

Oh, Eaglesham.  I guess you've been hit with it all right.

I found hard-packed snow OK on the flat, but the soft freshly-fallen stuff was building up in front of the wheels and under the car and sending me sideways.

Rolfe.