Was: performance goodies for the '09 A3? Now: snow

[tom at tomwintermedia.com]

thejimrose <thejimrose at gmail.com> Said:

> Yes i've heard of snow. Grew up in Boston, lived in Northampton for 10
> years
> and averaged about 60 days of snowboarding/year in NH, VT and Maine. All
> of
> that was in various FWD vw's with good snow tires. So my opinion still
> stands - if you wand an a3 and live in the snow belt, get a good set of
> snow
> tires.

It's true that the rubber is key.

When I first moved to Vail, a bit more than 18 years ago, I had a FWD '84
5000. With snow tires. It rallied. Dedicated snows also did a great job on
both my VW camper vans (late 70's body style, RWD). The VW engine sat over
the rear tires, and even the RWD did ok, with the weight back there.
Although I finally installed aftermarket heat to stay warm. Hahaaha!

But the funnest car to drive of all was the 86 4000 csq. That thing kicked
ass in the snow with the dedicated winter (no studs) tires. Current ride
also does really well. But I will admit that a long-sold 100 q with bald
tires got me down to the front range during one blizzard (I'd just bought
it) due only to the quattro. Those tires were so bad that a non-q car
would have gotten stuck about half way up the east bound Eisenhower tunnel
approach (big hill, for non-CO dwellers). Going was fine, but the stopping
. . . dear lord!

Regardless, I drive in snow much more than most. Good tires are your first
line of defense, everything else is gravy, except, IMO any automatic
"anti-lock" brake system or computerized "traction" system. I loved my
5000 tqa's "turn off anti-lock" switch for gnarly driving days. But then I
approach snow like a skier, it's there to be used. :-)

Tom '95 S6 Avant (w/ snows still on as it's supposed to be a POWDER DAY
tomorrow!).
www.tomwintermedia.com