Sorry, who on earth has said that. The R’s AWD pretty well negates the need for winter tyres for 90+% of Golf owners for most of the time. Ok head to head in severe conditions the winters will win a race, but my recent experience and first in The R was excellent although it was so bad Monday I wouldn’t have driven even with winters.
I have a friend with a FWD Fiesta who lives near Aberdeen and they have winter tyres and need them!!
Then they are guaranteed severe winters. So makes sense.
You state that Aberdeen has sever winters...er NO, quite mild compared to various other places around here..I used to live in Aberdeen..
You state that the "R" AWD negates the need for winter tyres for 90+% of Golf owners for most of the time."
So 90 % of Golf "R" owners live in a hot country which does not get ice, snow, or temps below +7C..
I see way more "R" up here than GTI...then I see loads of GTD....
As for it being bad snow..the only thing that stops me is snow depth...6 inch plus on uncleared road I have problems....as I only have 5 inch ground clearance....
Any conditions with temps below +7C winter tyres outperform summers...engineering fact....all due to the material containing more silica which stops the rubber going hard....& your summers will start to go hard at that temp...so you lose flex & grip contact with road....& that's any road, so even a nice clean dry road...