How's it handling the snow?

[allclownsareevi]

Wondering how everyone else is finding the snow whilst driving a land-barge? Anyone's gotten stuck?

Mine is almost always spinning it's wheels when moving off regardless of how gentle I am and the traction control kicks in pretty readily too. Guess it may have as much to do with my tyres as anything else. If we had this weather for maybe two months a year I'd invest in winter ones. As it is I don't see it's worth it.

Edited 6 January, 2010 by allclownsareevi

[fluffmeister]

Wondering how everyone else is finding the snow whilst driving a land-barge? Anyone's gotten stuck?

Mine is almost always spinning it's wheels when moving off regardless of how gentle I am and the traction control kicks in pretty readily too. Guess it may have as much to do with my tyres as anything else. If we had this weather for maybe two months a year I'd invest in winter ones. As it is I don't see it's worth it.

Mines been fine, the weight of the 2.5 over the front and winter tyres so not had an issue in the snow ...... the ice tomorrow, that may be another story

[allclownsareevi]

Mines been fine, the weight of the 2.5 over the front and winter tyres so not had an issue in the snow ...... the ice tomorrow, that may be another story

Perhaps I should slide my seat forward?

[Cown]

Cant say that i've had problems, but with all the snow lately it has been interesting from time to time. I thank god for ESP.

[Baker21]

Let's just say I am not using mine at the moment..............

[SJFISHER67]

Let's just say I am not using mine at the moment..............

Also not using mine, thought I would just leave it today, and yesterday for that matter... http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/dr_superb/?action=view&current=DSC00489.jpg

Edited 7 January, 2010 by SJFISHER67

[dieselV6]

2.5TDi is very good on snow and ice, and so are most nose-heavy FWD cars, as long as you use winter tyres.

The weight is exactly where it needs to be for these conditions - right on the drive axle.

The other car, Octavia 1.9tdi, only has 2 all-weather Nokian WR tyres on the front.

This still works fine except in sharp turns on loose snow, where the back kicks out a lot for the true rear wheel drive experience

But as long as you enter roundabouts at under 20mph, it's OK.

[Cledwen]

Though a bit skittish on the compacted ice my auto 2.5 V6 has done me proud coming from North Wales to Bicester.

A couple of neighbours (C Class Merc, 3 series - RWD) got stuck last night on my street which has only a shallow incline (you'd struggle to roll a ball down it).

I towed the Merc out with 'the barge' and managed to get the 3 rolling with a bit of coaxing .

Couldn't even try the a couplle of clicks on the handbrake with the Merc to try and apply a bit of lock to the spinning wheel as its got an electric handbrake so its either on or off and the ESP spat the dummy when trying to drive with it on.

As I always say RWD is fun in the sun but useless when it gets wet or slippy.

[allclownsareevi]

Let's just say I am not using mine at the moment..............

Matey, your car would make an excellent snow plough. You need to be out and about providing a public service.

[allclownsareevi]

Cant say that i've had problems, but with all the snow lately it has been interesting from time to time. I thank god for ESP.

ESP is a cracking idea, it's always nice to stop in a straight line. The traction control though has some drawbacks in the snow, sometimes you need the wheels to spin. Have had to turn off the TC a few times this week to avoid sliding right off of the road.

[rotodiesel]

The Superb would be quite a good car in snow but the low slung plastic undertray makes it useless.

The local roads here have a raised section of ice between the wheel tracks which would take the undertray right off. Luckily I have other transport...

You must turn the traction control off at the dashboard switch to make any real progress at all on sheet ice.

If you have to park a Superb out in the snow (mine lives under cover) it's well worth blocking the air intake at the bottom of the screen with an old towel. If the plenum chamber fills up with snow, you all know what will happen and where the water is likely to end up.

Not a winter car.

rotodiesel.

Edited 7 January, 2010 by rotodiesel

[Baker21]

Matey, your car would make an excellent snow plough. You need to be out and about providing a public service.

As rotodiesel has mentioned, if I didn't have a plastic undertray I would be sorted but apart from that this weather just breaks my splitter and undertray so for now it's parked............

[ian0x0r]

Mines pretty good, the barge on stilts is working to my advantage and ESP is usually off at any sign of a hill. DId get stuck on monday though when I drove into work car park which was about a foot deep with snow

[CRC]

I thought that ESP was a system that operated individual brakes to keep the car in a straight line? Every search I've done seems to lead me to a video of a car entering an icy corner and the ESP operating individual brakes to stop it understeering. Does ESP have any effect on the drive to the front wheels or is that traction control .... which I don't have.

[ian0x0r]

I thought that ESP was a system that operated individual brakes to keep the car in a straight line? Every search I've done seems to lead me to a video of a car entering an icy corner and the ESP operating individual brakes to stop it understeering. Does ESP have any effect on the drive to the front wheels or is that traction control .... which I don't have.

All I know is with ESP on you cant make the wheels spin at full chat, with it off, you could if you wanted to, spin the wheels with the engine bouncing off the rev limiter (obviously thats a silly idea)

[skodanut]

Ive used the ASR on my comfort superb in the snow and the grip has been very good, used 5 times a week on the iced up side roads...so far so good

[rum4mo]

Let's just say I am not using mine at the moment..............

My wife has had to leave her Polo in the garage (Michelin Pilots) and use my B5 Passat 4Motion - me? - its time to take the bus!

[rum4mo]

I thought that ESP was a system that operated individual brakes to keep the car in a straight line? Every search I've done seems to lead me to a video of a car entering an icy corner and the ESP operating individual brakes to stop it understeering. Does ESP have any effect on the drive to the front wheels or is that traction control .... which I don't have.

The trouble with things like ESP is that they are designed to be safe, in this case safe means that its duty cycle is something like 2 minutes ON followed by 1 minute OFF to prevent overheating the brakes if its needed at speed - the result is that you start to make progress, then stop moving again as it takes a breather!

[allclownsareevi]

ESP and traction control are two separate things.

ESP controls each wheel's brakes independently. It was designed for keeping the car facing in the direction of travel. Imagine you're driving down the motorway in lane 2. A car suddenly stops dead in front and you swerve into lane 3 to avoid it. Your car is likely to skid sideways across two lanes of traffic. ESP would kick in and apply the brakes to keep the car facing in the intended direction of travel. ie: along the direction of the motorway.

Traction control just cuts the power to the wheels once they begin to spin.

Traction control can be a pain in the snow at times but ESP is nearly always a benefit.

Here found a video demonstrating both

.

[Baker21]

My wife has had to leave her Polo in the garage (Michelin Pilots) and use my B5 Passat 4Motion - me? - its time to take the bus!

Strange? I have been using Jules' Saxo and it's prefect in those conditions, no power, lightweight with skinny wheels and tyres..........

Assume you struggled to get it out the garage?

[BluesPre]

The other car, Octavia 1.9tdi, only has 2 all-weather Nokian WR tyres on the front.

Now that's a dangerous equasion - always put the ones in better condition / more suitable grip surface to the rear axle. Might not seem like a smart thing to do, but that's exactly what you need to do, especially in the winter. In fact, that's illegal at least here in Finland, as you're not allowed to have summer and winter tyres (or summer and all-weather ones) underneath the car simultaneously. It's either, or. With your setup, once you go into the pendulum swing and go sideways from side to side, you'll know what I mean, as there's no way out of it other than hit the brakes and hope you'll survive. The ESP won't save you, if the rear axle has no grip. And the fact that the front axle grips, only makes it worse, as the front becomes an anchoring point, around which the car's tail is wagging.

I use Nokian HP (the 7-series being the latest ones. the older 4 and 5 series are also excellent) winter tyres, that I swap every two seasons for the new ones. In Finland, you're obliged to be driving winter tyres during December, January and February. Take my word for it, I know the subject

Edited 20 January, 2010 by BluesPre

[SKOSUP]

Hi all!

I live in the middle of Sweden with a lot of snow, and I can say that Skoda Superb 1,8T is one of the best cars I ever have driven in snow (have had 3 SAAB's before).

I have Michelin tyres with spikes which are 4 years old and they works very good. This traction control or as we say in Sweden "antispinn" works very well. I use to compare it with other cars when I start at the green light and mostly no other car (ekcept 4 wheeldrive cars) is quicker to accelerate on ice and snow.

[rum4mo]

We can't use studs or spikes here in UK, I am trying to buy some winter tyres for my wife's Polo 9N as the UK local authorities that need to use snow ploughs and salt seem to have run out of money with the snow we have had over the past 5 or 6 weeks. Michelin UK do not have any stocks of Alpins left and will remain so until the middle of February, pity her car has Michelin Pilot Exaltos on it as I now know that they are the worst premium summer tyres to run on snow! This means that I need to travel by bus when its snow or ice, and my wife uses the Passat 4Motion!!

[rum4mo]

ESP and traction control are two separate things.

ESP controls each wheel's brakes independently. It was designed for keeping the car facing in the direction of travel. Imagine you're driving down the motorway in lane 2. A car suddenly stops dead in front and you swerve into lane 3 to avoid it. Your car is likely to skid sideways across two lanes of traffic. ESP would kick in and apply the brakes to keep the car facing in the intended direction of travel. ie: along the direction of the motorway.

Traction control just cuts the power to the wheels once they begin to spin.

Traction control can be a pain in the snow at times but ESP is nearly always a benefit.

Here found a video demonstrating both

.

The reality is that ESP collects ABS sensor data and yaw sensor data etc and tries to keep the car in control, and that can mean, in snow or ice, that it regulates the throttle, or engine RPM to regain and maintain wheel grip on the road surface, this regulating of engine, or wheel speed is what traction control is partially about, completmented by the independant use of wheel braking as required, this is also complemented with EDL which is a form of semi locking differential. The VW car owner's handbook even suggests that in loose gravel, ice or snow, better progress might be made with it switched off. I have only ever driven the Polo once in poor conditions where the ESP actually helped the situation - it must have been "right" snow and "right" temperatures etc. As well as cutting down lateral slip when detected - as its name implies, it have other uses especially when changing direction while braking heavily - well that was how it was sold originally. The degree of refinement will depend on the version - ie cost!

[calderscot]

Here in Scotland my Superb tackled the deep snow with no problems.

Many cars could not drive into my street and had to park on the main road during the recent heavy snow falls.

But I had no problems, my only concern was the ground clearance