Re: NE winter & quattro

[JEFDO@aol.com]

In a message dated 96-09-17 12:43:34 EDT, you write:

<< Come on, [winter] weather here in New England is wimpy; there are maybe
 half-a-dozen days where it is really inclement; there are maybe 30 days
 of the year when the weather finally gives the advantage to the quattro
 ilk, otherwise any car with actual power (say, any V8 Mustang...) will
 trivially out-power any handling advantage given by TheWorld'sMostPer-
 fectlyEngineeredAutomobile. (And, parenthetically, I'll hint at the
 social irresponsibility of pushing any car to anywhere near its perfor-
 mance limits -- good weather or bad -- on the public streets in any sort
 of traffic...not that of course *I* ever [cough cough] would stoop to
 such a reprehensible action...)
 >>snip>>

Last winter there were WAY many bad days, like all of December! Since I
commute 75mi/day, and over the Ap. Gap 3 days a week (~1800 vertical feet,
twisties up and twisties down, with some "sporting" off-camber turns), I beg
to differ. I seem to remember virtually all the stuck cars on the gap were
SUV's, at least the ones that were really in trouble! You can wait for the
sander, I'll be making first tracks deep powder driving (and hopefully
skiing).

More importantly, there are mucho ice days, and those wonderful torsens saved
my a** a few times when the usual fools you mentioned hit there brakes in
front of you, and you gotta drive around 'em to avoid doing the slider-oo
into their sorry tails.

Lastly, try driving fast in the rain, which It did here rather continually
June and July. My BAAS would hydroplane at much slower speeds, and that was
with the same tires!

(aren't recent Q converts the worst).

Hasta,

Jonathan Fenton
Montpelier, VT
'93 S4sIA3