[V8] Jingle Bells

[Coleman, David]

Not to get too far into a subjective topic, but show me a good snow car and I'll show you one that's almost as good as a 4kq with Hakkas. 

Good god almighty, talk about unstoppable and fun. Snow stories in any quattro are a dime a dozen, but several years ago when I was still living in the shadow of my former punk-ass kid persona, I was flailing around some back roads after a good snow it my sorely-missed red 4kq when I came upon a long line of traffic sitting at the top of long and very steep descent down into a valley. It was a mess since the narrowness of the road prohibited u-turns, and strewn along the valley road -- maybe a half mile from peak to peak -- were a half dozen cars, suvs, etc that were either unsuccessful at negotiating the downhill due to the plowed snow-turned-icy conditions or off in the ditch on the uphill side. 

So after sitting for about 5 mins as no one moved, of course I creep out into the opposing lane and idle pass the jam-up (and a couple warnings and abonishments that id get stuck and make things worse). OK then. 1st gear, lockers on, clutch zout, no throttle, and down I go. Slalom thru 2 or 3 abandoned tahoe type things and a subaru at 5 mph, and start up the other side. Halfway up the other side, I recognize the civic of a guy I know. So I stop. After a brief hey dude looks like you're stuck conversation, he hops in. Neither he nor any of the onlookers thought I had a chance, but as anyone who's been in (if not actually searched out) such a sitaution in such a car knows, I took right off and accelerated the rest of the way up with no sweat. Even had to get in the gas to kick it a bit sideways near the top just to keep it interesting. And off we went, my new passenger near giggles except for his own misfortune. 

I'm not trying to bring everyone up to speed re: my awe-inspiring driving prowess; rather warn ye who be tempted to venture to the dark side -- you will, I guarantee, come across a situation where you miss your quattro like you miss your first dog. 

DaveC. 

PS: no doubt, I'm sure that I sold at least one Audi to one of those poor saps who were stuck in that valley until first thaw!
     



--------------------------
David A. Coleman
BlackRock
Sent via BlackBerry Wireless


-----Original Message-----
From: v8-bounces at audifans.com
To: Ed Kellock; q - V8
Sent: Thu Dec 21 19:55:38 2006
Subject: Re: [V8] Jingle Bells

Two things. I'd agree on the V8 Auto with snows being the best I've driven, 
but the A8 was pretty good too with snows (about a '98 model).

Also, growing up in northern WI in the '80's, Dad had a '81 Mustang Ghia. 
Tell me about pushing a car around in snow. 2 inches and a slight incline, 
and we were stuck!!

:( That's why I drive a Quattro to this day.

Tony Hoffman

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ed Kellock" <ekellock at gmail.com>
To: "q - V8" <v8 at audifans.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: [V8] Jingle Bells


I saw so many cars yesterday that were just not able to deal with it.

Traction is key.  Winter tires are a necessity.


She's super nervous about
driving in this stuff, but aside from squiggling around, she had no
problem getting to work and was amazed by how many vehicles were
stuck.  I've told her to just keep slight steady pressure on the gas
and steer where she wants to go and let the car sort everything out.
I swear I think the V8 automatic is the best of the bunch when it
comes to making progress with the least fuss.  I think the center diff
is a lot smarter than a torsen.

ED 

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