Got back last night from my week long 2500 mile Eurotrip. Trip covered England, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany and Austria. The car performed perfectly as usual, and the Autosocks were great in the snow. The new Avon ZV5's I had fitted were also superb.

My wallet is less good! Shell V-power Racing 100 is insanely expensive in Germany! It was like 1.69 Euros a litre in some places. A bit cheaper in Belgium, and alot cheaper in Austria. Managed to average 33-38mpg, depending on my mood between stops!

Here are some pics of the old girl hacking up a snowy mountain at around 1900m altitude. With the socks on it was great, but the back end did get away from me quite a few times on the hairpins!

Awesome trip, thank you Skoda

They're great for long distance aren't they. No wonder mine did over 80k as a motorway repmobile in it's first five years!

Nice shots in the snow, all you needed was the WRC spoiler

Edited 22 March, 201016 yr by chicken_eyebrow

lol what the hell are Autosocks all about?!!!

Are they the modern equivalent of using snow tyres or chains?

You ran performance summer tyres and Autosocks in those conditions?

Mad, absolutely mad!

i did similar last june down through france to lake geneva, up into the french alps then back down around lake geneva and up through switzerland to zug near zurich. then back down to evian before heading back to the uk, car simply swallowed the miles without missing a beat 2000 miles in 6 days!!

You ran performance summer tyres and Autosocks in those conditions?

Mad, absolutely mad!

Yeah, I know, people say that! It was a risk doing it, and I think I got lucky with the weather. To be fair all the motorways and public roads up the mountain were luckily cleared and heavily gritted, and German/Austrian law stipulates that winter tyres or all-season tyres bearing the M+S or snowflake symbol are only manditory if the road is totally covered in snow, so I was on the right side of the law on the public roads...... just.

The track shown in the pics is a dead-end private dirt track that leads up to an apartment block, and it's only a couple of miles long. I'm a very optimistic driver, so I'll try anything!

I did try and buy some proper winter tyres before leaving, as I have the 16" steels ready and waiting for them. But I couldn't find any tyres locally at short notice, and that was before I started worrying about speed ratings. I'm definately sorting them out for next time, as if it had snowed on the motorway I would have been screwed! Plus, I wouldn't have needed the snow socks if I had the correct tyres.

The Kumho KU31's are marketed as ultra high performance summer tyres, and are shockingly bad in the snow (I had them on the front prior to this trip)!

The Avon ZV5's are marketed as a premium all-season tyre, which were excellent through the standing water on the motorways, and better than the KU31's in snow, but still essentially crap in the conditions shown. I'm really glad I had these fitted before leaving, as their resistance to aqua-planing was incredible.

The Autosocks really saved my ar*e with getting up that track. The tyres didn't slip once with them fitted. But coming back down the rear end needed constant attention to keep it behind me and not next to me!

I want to drive to Russia next.....

i did similar last june down through france to lake geneva, up into the french alps then back down around lake geneva and up through switzerland to zug near zurich. then back down to evian before heading back to the uk, car simply swallowed the miles without missing a beat 2000 miles in 6 days!!

Awesome photo's. Sounds like you love a good roadtrip too!

It's where the cars want to be. Out on a mission to nowhere, covered in bugs and dirt!

Also nothing is as satisfying as driving a powerfull turbocharged car up a long steep hill.

At one point I was cruising at about 120mph in Germany, and even at that speed I got buzzed by a white Porsche Panamera doing what was probably about 160mph. Loved it.

Pic of mine in the mountains after a recent excursion.......

I will def get winter tyres for next winter as in colder climates they do work better, our normal tyres are rubbish in snow however as bodge said 95% of roads are kept clear and its only if you are unlucky to be caught out in the mountains snowing that you might get stuck. Mine stayed in the resort and did not move other than for some serious carpark (empty) handbrake action :yes:

A toy i want.........it was on top of a glacier and looked like some serious fun!

Edited 23 March, 201016 yr by sweedish