60k sledge..

[marchugo]

This winter you will be fine, its just if they are down to 4mm by the end of summer they are then no good as winter tyres for the following season would need replacing early.
Whereas If they are at 4mm at the end of winter I would carry on using them into the summer just to get a bit more use out of them.

See what can happen with the wrong tyres in the wrong season. On a rainy summer day your car turns into a water sledge (see end of vid):

Sledgy regards from Amsterdam,

Marc.

 

[alter]

who would not recommend to the mother-in-law of the beautiful slick tires in winter ..... eheheh

 

[B J G]

I also live in Northumberland and have recently purchased Cali (Have had a T5 Sportline camper ‘2 wheel drive’ for the last 5 years).
I’ve driven in some pretty snowy conditions with the 2WD van without much hassle but have always run mud and snow tyres on steel rims in the winter - doubles as saving the alloys from the salty conditions.
4 motion will do very little for you in snow if running standard tyres (Same point goes for my Audi Q5, especially on descents)
I would suggest getting a set of steel rims with winter tyres or just swapping tyres for the winter driving months which should help you out.
Also if you’re running DSG, run in manual mode so you can use the engine to help slow you on decents.

For those that don't want steel wheels there are alloys that have coatings suited to winter conditions.

https://cars.tyreleader.co.uk/alloy-wheels/volkswagen/bus-t6/t6-california-1048/9444?season=W

 

[soulstyledevon]

This guy seems to tackle Val-D’Lsere
With no issues in his 2wd 400bhp Porscha.
Are we all getting a little bit to silly with winters...?

 

[andyinluton]

That cars got the engine in the right place though with 60% weight over the rear wheels. I'm guessing he's got winter tyres on.

The weight distribution does make roundabouts with the wrong camber interesting in icy weather.


By the way he won't have 400bhp, a pre 2008 Carrera is only 325bhp so needs to be thrashed a bit to keep up with traffic!

 

[Jay586]

As someone who used to live on a hill where I got to shout "another slider" so that we could go out and aid the poor Merc/Beemer/ambulance that was stuck outside our house, I would exercise great care with a fancy car and snow!

 

[soulstyledevon]

That cars got the engine in the right place though with 60% weight over the rear wheels. I'm guessing he's got winter tyres on.

The weight distribution does make roundabouts with the wrong camber interesting in icy weather.


By the way he won't have 400bhp, a pre 2008 Carrera is only 325bhp so needs to be thrashed a bit to keep up with traffic!

Yeah, he has winters on. 325/400 in a sports car, it’s almost splitting hairs
Is it the new turbo, that isn’t the turbo that has a turbo with 400bhp...?

We have about 325 horses in our little Cayman. But when the snow arrives we leave it on the drive and take the van.

 

[andyinluton]

Sort of,

997.1 2004-2008 Carrera 325BHP Carrera S 360BHP

997.2 2008-2012 Carrera 345BHP Carrera S 385bhp Turbo 500bhp TurboS 530bhp

991.1 2011-215 Carrera 350bhp Carrera S 400bhp Turbo 520bhp TurboS 560 bhp

the current "turboed none turbo" Carrera is 370bhp, Carrera S is 420bhp the turbo 540 and turbo S 580

I had a one of the 580 bhp turbos for four weeks as a loan car & absolutely hated it - you could break every speed limit without getting out of first gear & in the dry go round every corner at the speed limit without slowing down.

My 140Se is just as fast down the M1 in the rush hour & uses half the fuel. Although they hold their value well the turbo I had depreciated by £40k whilst I had it!!!

 

[Kmann]

Actually, it is quite simple:

If you drive in cold weather (sub 7*) means cold rain, slush or snow/ice winter tyres are by far the safest choice – no matter what you drive (Car, drivetrain, etc.). And a 4WD will always have advantages over a 2WD in these conditions. But all cars have their limits.

All other solutions are a compromise, in the worst case tending to irresponsibility …

If you will go safe, buy a Unimog and build a camper of it (and use a lot of diesel) – I could be tempted one day ;-)

 

[soulstyledevon]

They are all getting a bit silly.
Simple fact is, you don’t need anymore than 300 horses for road use.
I’m sure the new P-cars are phenomenal on a track, but my money would be with a bog standard Carrera, manual.

 

[soulstyledevon]

They are all getting a bit silly.
Simple fact is, you don’t need anymore than 300 horses for road use.
I’m sure the new P-cars are phenomenal on a track, but my money would be with a bog standard Carrera, manual.

Sorry, back on topic.
Cali sledging

 

[DGM]

 

[Crell]

They are all getting a bit silly.
Simple fact is, you don’t need anymore than 300 horses for road use.
I’m sure the new P-cars are phenomenal on a track, but my money would be with a bog standard Carrera, manual.

You don't even need 300bhp...but that would be boring. A couple of weeks ago I got stuck in the snow near Newhaven on the Buxton to Ashbourne road. 490bhp, 19s and RWD are not a good combination but by keeping well away from other cars I could just nurse it with 1mm of accelerator and very slow inputs. I almost made it to the top of that hill but the car just came to a stop about 5m short of the top. I could inch forward but the gritter was my savior 20 mins later. I was amazed how far I managed to go really, but it was the most stressful 20 mile of my life (and I love driving in snow). Winters on order

If you go to Sweden or Finland you'll see lots VW van taxis. They are all bog standard shuttles or velles on winter tyres.

 

[Aubisque]

Some good sledging in the last 5 mins of this video

 

[Crell]

If it’s ice in snow and you are going down hill 4 wheel drive ain’t much help , you need low range mate or 1st gear and let the engine slow the car..... .

Which got me thinking whether the "coast" function needs deactivating in winter / snow so you can engine brake or if it has some trickery to work it all out for you?

 

[Crell]

Some good sledging in the last 5 mins of this video

Great video (inc the photography) How his van survived that I have no idea. We had the same in to our village - water on the hill (s bend and 15%) froze under about 3 inches of snow and everything (well the few cars there were) were going down at 90 degrees to the road.... including me.

 

[GrannyJen]

Which got me thinking whether the "coast" function needs deactivating in winter / snow so you can engine brake or if it has some trickery to work it all out for you?

Coast, like any other part of the car, needs factoring in whenever conditions get difficult.

I am a great fan of coast but would certainly have it deactivated if cold, slippery conditions were predominating. “Feet off everything” would be a little impractical with no engine braking.

I might be able to talk from experience after this week, going Up Norf” Thursday and on high moor over the weekend..

 

[Digger]

Don't know where up north but heavy snow has arrived up here in Scotland. Might help the skiers.

 

[GrannyJen]

Not that far up, sadly.

Saddleworth, with a nice steep north-facing slope down to where Mum lives.

My Brother in law used to clear the roads in that area, Sadly no more. It was the most lucrative contract he had before deciding to fly helicopters instead of driving diggers.

 

[Crell]

I am a great fan of coast but would certainly have it deactivated if cold, slippery conditions were predominating. “Feet off everything” would be a little impractical with no engine braking.
.

Yep, just not sure if there are any sensors in the car that maybe
1) disable coast when ambient temp =< N
2) disable coast when wheel rotation speeds vary by NN
etc.

The failsafe would be to just disable it which I'm going to do. I hadn't even thought about Coast and the implications for driving in snow until I read the post above.

 

[2into1]

I might be able to talk from experience after this week, going Up Norf” Thursday and on high moor over the weekend..

Already bonkers here tonight with lots of posh saloons struggling to climb the most modest inclines. No problem for a 2WD Cali on full winters though. Just need the oiks to get out of my way!

 

[GrannyJen]

Already bonkers here tonight with lots of posh saloons struggling to climb the most modest inclines. No problem for a 2WD Cali on full winters though. Just need the oiks to get out of my way!

I can test out my Michelin Cross climates .... but as you say, it's who's blocking the road that screws everything up.

 

[kave]

Which got me thinking whether the "coast" function needs deactivating in winter / snow so you can engine brake or if it has some trickery to work it all out for you?

Just a touch on the brake pedal deactivates coasting.
With modern cars abs systems I would say there is no problem braking as much as you like without car/van loosing control. The engine brake tips where mostly for vehicles without abs. The problem today is for abs to work properly you need to press hard on the pedal which people seem to miss.

 

[Gazellio]

As above it really is all about WINTER TYRES. I have a full set of full Winter tyres and drove to Obertauern in Austria in a snow storm this Xmas. The resort is at 5500 feet and the road was white from about 2000 ft. With Winter Tyres the Van never missed a beat or slipped even an inch. It felt perfectly safe and balanced. And on the way down it was the same white road conditions and very steep but not once did it feel anything but perfectly safe. Put some full winter tyres on (I have Khumo) and switch with summer once every year. Most locals use 2-front Wheel drive cars but ALL use Winter Tyres. ONLY the bigger rear wheel drive lorries use chains. With summer tyres & 4X4 you would be off the road in the valley.

 

[Bello]

I hardly dare to confess: but we experienced real issues this winter in snowy conditions with wintertires and 4 wheel drive on some Italian passes. We did make it, only to end up litteraly 2m. before the parking of the hotel, which driveway was a little to steep to make it. (No, no alpine camping in our beloved “bus” with the 4 of us)
Ended up a flat parking area some 300 m down the road, after unloading the van.
The lady from the hotel was under the impression that modern snow tires which are more comfortable, do the job less well than those old fashioned ones from some years ago. We did see a lot of cars with snow chains...
So, well I don’t know, but that’s our experience.
Anyway, when this set of tires has to be exchanged, I will look into it for some more reliable ones. If available. If I remember correctly, the are also tires that don’t allow you to drive over 130km/h. And that would be a pity on the German Autobahns