Well that woke me up Just been out in the VRS for the first time in snow. I suspect there was black ice under the snow at one junction. Stopped ok, clear both ways, try to pull away gently in 2nd gear, nope, traction control light is having an extreme work out switch off traction control, nout but wheel spin using idle power only (no throttle at all).

Select 3rd gear, now anti stall throttle comes into play, even more wheel spin I am now thinking I am stuck there till a thaw sets in.

I think I eventually melted enough ice with tyre heat to eventually get moving, but it was a real handful.

I thinks it's the torque, but this is the worst car I have ever driven on snow and ice. Tyres are new, and so are my underpants.

Passed a fender bender on the way home on the same stretch of road. A black something (front was too badly mashed to make out the type of car), it hit, of all things and ambulance, driver looked a little miffed as he waited for recovery services.

Looks like I might need to break out the Moggy 1000 in this weather. Was hoping to keep it off salted roads, but the VRS on untreated country roads is just too much of a handful, for me at least.

I remember my Fabia vRS in the snow in Wiltshire a couple of years ago - awful. I can honestly say my old 328i was better in slippery conditions, atleast you had some throttle control in that thing.

I don't think the Mazda will be very good at all :(

I mannaged fine in mine last year. :|

My VRS with F1's in the snow was shocking, even dangerous infact which I put down to the tyres more than anything else but it was so bad I wouldn't drive it and used the Punto which was like a tank in comparison (Nice thin tyres and only 85 bhp).

In complete contrast the Roomy is brilliant in the snow. Same size tyres, not a lot less torque and it's like the snow isn't there. I think a lot of it is down to tyres.

Front wheel drive and lots of torque is bad news in snow, but it can

be managed if you take care.

I think it depends how you approach junctions etc

Managed a slight hill in second covered in snow earlier, other cars skid all over the place!

I have Hankooks - don't seem too bad!

After This,

Me In February's Snow

I'm avoiding Snow and vRS use unless completely necessary!

Right I just went back out for a play, in a disused car park on fresh untreated snow. ASR off, not too bad at all on fresh powder. Need to be very light on the throttle, due to width of tyres and all that torque. Apparently the road I was having problems on has now had a spate of accidents. Black ice under the snow.

One thing I must add, I was super impressed by the other drivers in front and behind me on that road. 20 MPH maximum (very steep hills up an down, with some serious S bends. Must have been 100 Yds between each vehicle. Even more space and less speed after they passed the accident.

Right, that's enough adventure for one day Just going to fire up the Moggy engine for 10 minutes to keep the old girl healthy over winter. I hope everyone has a safe journey if they have snow to contend with in a VRS.

My VRS has ESP. Is that going to help much in snowy conditions?

I'm not sure if its going to be any better than the standard traction control??

I'm leaning toward leaving mine out in my back garden while its snowy.

I'll trash and kerb the ruddy 'orrible work van instead. (death to kangoos everywhere...)

Interestingly, Mrs Grrs SDI is a lovely car to drive in snowy/icy conditions.

Had to go out and get her at 1am this morning from her xmas works do.

It was belting down with snow/sleet and I felt very planted on the road.

Just goes to show.... Less is more sometimes. :wonder:

My VRS has ESP. Is that going to help much in snowy conditions?

Yes, it will help stop you going sideways

I'm not sure if its going to be any better than the standard traction control??

That's not what it's about, it's not about traction, it's stability control

Mrs Grrs SDI is a lovely car to drive in snowy/icy conditions.

Had to go out and get her at 1am this morning from her xmas works do.

It was belting down with snow/sleet and I felt very planted on the road.

Just goes to show.... Less is more sometimes. :wonder:

Thinner tyres, try swapping them and see the difference

I wasn't impressed with the vRS on snow and ice last Xmas, and I was nearly caught once at very low speed when it wanted to go straight on rather than around a gentle turn into a car park. It will be interesting to see what difference Uniroyal RainSport 2 tyres make this year. By contrast my Mk 1 Octavia 4X4 is very sure-footed under similar conditions and we will be using it instead of the Fabia whenever road conditions are tricky.

Im probably one of the only people that love their VRS in the snow lol.

I was the first person into work when we had that heavy snow at the start of the year, Nick called in and said he couldn't make it into work even though i'd literally driven past his house on the way...

Kev

I never had big trouble. Incidentally, I've never seen the point of high gear in that situation- just use first, idle speed, and gentle on the clutch- there's a given amount of grip, if you control the torque it'll move if it's going to. Did have to rock it out of the car park at work, and SWMBO had to push up one black ice hill to get us going. Personally I think it's the wide, summer spec tyres that make it a little tricker than some- her 1043cc Polo C on 145 section tyres was a breeze.

One thing I must add, I was super impressed by the other drivers in front and behind me on that road. 20 MPH maximum (very steep hills up an down, with some serious S bends. Must have been 100 Yds between each vehicle. Even more space and less speed after they passed the accident.

I wish they had done that last year around here. I had soemone want to overtake me on snow over black ice, where I was making no progress until the ASR/ESP was off.

My VRS has ESP. Is that going to help much in snowy conditions?

IME it's a huge bpain in the arse. Go and try it somewhere safe like Moggytech did.

Edited 17 December, 200916 yr by cjb

I've got a pair of space savers in my garage.... hhmm....

Last time in the snow was with a pair of Prada Spec 2's on the front.. That was erm, interesting...

Thanks for the input everyone. Was worried that old age was dulling my usually better than average driving skills

Been out again to go to the shops, and it's a damn sight easier than it was on that icy B road. Definitely harder work than my last car (VW Polo 1.4), but it was pretty gutless.

Spoke to local plod, and they ended up closing the road when they ran out of cars to attend all the bumps :no:

I wish they had done that last year around here. I had soemone want to overtake me on snow over black ice, where I was making no progress until the ASR/ESP was off.

IME it's a huge bpain in the arse. Go and try it somewhere safe like Moggytech did.

Yeah, it's a huge pain in the arse....

It's not about traction, it's about keeping you on the straight. Shame on the Fabia it's all tied into one system.

Edited 17 December, 200916 yr by Decron

ASR and ESP are rather different. ASR literally just cuts power, where ESP is individual braking to control stability

Snow is when a Peloquin diff really comes into play!

ESP, yes, I thought, back in 2002 when I ordered my wife's Polo 1.4 75PS (putt putt), that will compensate for me treating her to slightly wider 15 wheels/tyres (195/55) - wrong! Well its primary use for her was to help her get up our driveway in winter, clearing the snow/ice and laying down rock salt seems to beat ESP for that job - well it was really the EDL that was meant to help her - wrong there too. She does seem to have got to work and back today though - my 4Motion stayed in the garage as I can't be bothered with filling the garage with melting snow if its not necessary (was on a day off work!). Keep thinking about getting some steelies ansd winter tyres - maybe its a bit late again this year!! I did have a single studded snow tyre once - on an old Anglia van - I knackered a good pair of wire cutters taking the studs out (the tyre was cheap as it had been studded for the Highland Show!!)

Yeah, it's a huge pain in the arse....

It's not about traction, it's about keeping you on the straight. Shame on the Fabia it's all tied into one system.

Thanks for the video, it did surprise me a little, I'll admit.

I found it made the Leon tricky on packed snow- lets be clear though, this was very low speed, so the danger of having it spin was pretty low. I usually drive with ESP on but I've found that at low speed on certain circumstances it just gets in the way, braking and/or reducing power when just driving sensibly with a light touch made much better progress- one road last year had the TC chattering away, the rear wheels braking, and someone trying to overtake until I turned the ESP off. I think that the TC component was proably doing the most harm, and I was better just taking it easy with it off.

I only half agree to the 'it depends on what type of tyre your using' arguement. I ran Kumho KU31's on my octavia tdi and they offered good traction and stability in the snow and ice conditions however SWMBO's fabia with the same width and tyre make/model was appauling to the point I had to rescue her in the octi as the fabia couldn't grip and it wasn't a woman can't drive either, I too had a go at getting the fabia moving and couldn't.

Thanks to a member on here, I got information about just how bad that section of road was by 4:00PM A beamer in the ditch, Jag couldn't make headway etc etc. So the VRS did pretty well under the circumstances.

Not sure if the member would want to be named, but a huge thanks to them. I thought old age may be creeping up a bit faster than I thought.

Edited 18 December, 200916 yr by MoggyTech

I was surprised how well mine went in the snow last year

I expected it to be abysmal for the reasons you guyd have ben quoting ie tonnes of torque and wide tyres

I made sure I just trickled away at tickover adn tried not to let it boost and was ok

problem was stopping as the abs just triggered but didtn actually slow it down which was a bit scary to say the least

Have rainsport 2s on mine which are generally good on most things ive found

Was icy on the way home last night and it was also pretty surefooted