JamesTT

I had tremendous fun this morning in my 225Q on some nicely hairy icy and snowy country lanes. My first chance to experience to take the Quattro system to its limits (and all at about 30 mph!).

The good news: the car has a great ability to right itself if there is even a *tiny* piece of traction somewhere on the road. I was having no difficulty on some uphill sections which were littered with FWD drivers gathering brushwood to try an establish traction under their wheels.

The bad (if predictable) news: the TT is not immune from sheet ice! I pointed it around a difficult uphill 90 degree corner which perhaps a little more icy than I expected.... and soon realised, as I turned the steering wheel to no effect, that I wasn't going to make it. Fortunately, I was going slowly enough to find an escape route) in a local farmers drive. When I backed up to try again, the TT couldn't establish traction on the sheet ice... I eventually had to make a partial retreat, reversing down the hill, followed by a very carefully calculated approach to the uphill corner, balancing the need to maintain some speed with the likely hood of coming off at the corner (again). It worked - otherwise I wouldn't have arrived home to write this.

The brakes, ABS or no ABS, are predictably fairly hopeless on ice, which certainly limits one's appetite for dynamic driving.

All the same, the TT handled a lot better than the sledge which landed my straight in the bushes this afternoon...

Anyone have any winter driving tips to relate?

Victor F

Sheet ice is no match for any car except maybe for Jmaes Bond's!

Victor F

...that well known dyslexic spy

Russell(UK)

I travelled from Basingstoke to Oxford this morning encountering snow, ice and several accidents on the way. TT performed admirably, but I must admit I found the transfer of drive to each wheel when it started to struggle a strange sensation at first. The pleasing characteristic I did note was that due to the aerodynamics of the car the windscreen was kept clear with hardly any use of the wipers.

Marius B

I just had an incident worth telling about: Sharp 90-degree decending right-hander, three lanes in each direction, icy surface with a bit of fresh snow. Went in a bit fast (50 mph), alone on the road, in middle lane, saw slow traffic ahead, lifted off too much and OOPS, there comes the tailslide at the end of the turn. I catch it at approximately 20 degrees, but I’m a bit heavyhanded, so a counterflick brings me to about 5–10 degrees to the other side, I counter again and this time it gets down to only a small twitch to the original side before I’m on course again. Due to the slippery surface I haven’t even been out of my own lane.

I’ve waited (fished?) for something like this to happen, so I was mentally prepared, but still I was a bit surprized how quick the car rotated around the vertical axis, and how quickly it stopped and rotated the other way. Very much more agile than the "sporty family cars" or the sports coupe that I have been used to. I guess this is exactly what I wanted when I decided to buy a sports car. ;-)

Marius B

Yes, it's a Q!

John TT

I doubt it - he drives RWD Bimmers!!