fstkmaro

Being my first Audi, my 2012 A7 left me a bit disappointed during yesterday's snow storm here in the Boston area. Lots of fish tailing despite the fact that I was using comfort mode. My tires are still in good shape but I am planning on replacing them soon. I am not one to purchase snow tires so I need something that will perform well regardless of the weather. I have a 535xi that behaves considerably better than the A7 in the snow. I know that the wheel base is shorter and that they are different animals but I guess I expected a bit more "on rails" type of performance from Quattro.
I wonder if anyone has felt that difference between the two systems before, at least those moving from XDrive to Quattro.

Thanks

plat27265

If your tires are near their end of life, no amount of AWD will help you navigate through the snow storm you guys just experienced. The tires won't have enough tread to provide you with traction and grip.

You failed to mention if your car is wearing summer or All-Season Tires or winters. If summer tires then you're out of luck even if your car has one of the best AWD systems in the world.

AWD is not the magic solution to all traction related problems you encounter on the road. Your car also needs good rubber that suits the occasion. The laws of Physics still rules supreme in all situations

fstkmaro

Thanks for the response, I understand all that and agree, although I never intended to portray AWD as the magic trick, I did neglect to mention the tires on my car. I just checked and it appears I have the OE P-Zeros which to my understanding are not all season tires. They are about 50% depleted hence my desire to replace them.
Two winters ago I was forced to drive my Camaro ss in the snow. It was a fun winter with my commute LOL. The Xdrive was night and day from that Camaro (long gone).
My BMW however seem to better distribute the power to all wheels compared to my A7 which I felt it lost the rear very easily before the front showed signs of slipping. This happened on intentional and un-intentional acceleration.

Love the car regardless, next time we will see with new tires on that are better suited for New England's weather.

thanks

Lookout57

The OE P-Zeroes are a summer tire (I have them on my A7). As such it is recommended to not use them when the air temperature is below 45 F as they get hard, lose traction and will prematurely wear out.

If you are going to use your A7 in the winter you will need to replace the P-Zero with something like the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 which is an Ultra High Performance All-Season tire.

the_duke

Another point to bring up is what kind of snow it was. Light fluffy snow is much better for traction than wet heavy snow. Especially with summer tires. They don't have big enough voids in order to grip slippery surfaces. I think the fact that you were able to get around ok with summer tires @ 50% speaks well for the Quattro system.

chicagoA6

Get a pair of all-seasons for the winter months. I live in Chicago and both my previous '12 A7 and the current '15 A7 are tanks in the snow. I live in the city and my garage is off the alley behind my house. I take great pleasure in backing out of my garage and driving down the alley no matter what the snow depth is. I've moved through 9" (fluffy) with no issues

fkaufman

I have Pirelli Cinturato P7-s on my 2015 A7 and I have no problem with traction in snow, driving in Toronto.

snagitseven

Summer tires can be downright dangerous in any cold, slippery conditions be it snow or ice. As mentioned earlier, they should not be used below 40-45 dgrees, even in dry conditions as the tread compound becomes stiff with loss of traction - they become like hockey pucks. The P-Zeros are especially unforgiving in cold weather and potential widow makers on snow or ice. No matter how many drive wheels you have.

snagitseven

The P7's are a decent all season tire so they should do well in reasonably deep snow. The summer P-Zeros will not.

Baloo588

Hey I have a 2016 Audi A7 with 20 inch rims and I use 19 inch rims with Blizzak LM winter tires here in Michigan. I have a 2015 BMW X5 and a Mercedes Ml350 4matic. Let me be really blunt, the Quattro is far better than Xdrive and the 4 matic is in between. Quattro > 4Matic >> Xdrive. My Audi A8L performs well with winter tires. Heck I would never ever use any all season tires on these power all wheel drive sedans. All seasons = jack of all trades, master of none.

It doesn't matter how good the quattro is, your tires are worn period. Dont bother complaining about the car. IT also has nothing to do with comfort mode. You need to get better tires or go with winter especially with your driving style with fishtailing. I am not sure how often you drive in snow but we do every 1-2 weeks in December to March here so I know. I recently switched back to my 20 inch with all seasons when temperatures go above 45-50 degrees. My A7 performs much much better then my previous 2011 BMW 535 xrdrive with all seasons in the snow. It has nothing to do with short wheelbase. Besides x-drive is very sluggish in response and is not quick in giving even power distribution over Quatrro and 4matic. My quattro sedans with winter tires outperform my BMW and Mercedes SUVs with all season tires in deep snow and ice and they can climb the steep driveway well without issues .