Drive in Snow and How does the Yeti handle in Snow?

[StewartK]

It's the tyres, not the car. The modern summer oriented tyres just simply are no good for the slippery stuff. thread patterns from just a few years ago had some cross blocks, whereas the new ones almost only have circumferential grooves. They just stink in straight braking and traction.

You might get a little better by swinging the car a little on bióth sides of straight to get a little sideways action.

The real solution is winter wellies on all fours.

I think that winter tyres are the solution for 2WD cars, especially the lighter ones. I have to say that I've been out in the snow, slush and ice with my Diesel 170 Elegance with 17inch Dunlop summer tyres and it's been absolutely fine. No drama, driven with care, without using the Off-Road button it coped superbly with the conditions.

Stewart

[Agerbundsen]

I think that winter tyres are the solution for 2WD cars, especially the lighter ones. I have to say that I've been out in the snow, slush and ice with my Diesel 170 Elegance with 17inch Dunlop summer tyres and it's been absolutely fine. No drama, driven with care, without using the Off-Road button it coped superbly with the conditions.

Stewart

It could well be that the Dunlops are better in the snow than the Conti's? Mine did not like straight line braking in the winter simulartor this summer, but excelled at everything else.

[Trevorminor]

Snow has finally come to rural Essex.

Mighty impressed with my 4x4 SM fitted with Falken winter tyres. It seems very confidence inspiring to drive and has coped brilliantly with over 100 miles today, on roads varying from wet with possible black ice, to uphill and downhill with packed snow and a dusting of fresh snow on top.

I think that the tyres in themselves make a huge difference as agreed by my wife, whose Roomster (2wd!) now has Hankook winter tyres fitted last weekend. For the first time ever she has commented that she felt safe driving on treacherous roads - there again, the normal summer wheels/tyres on that car are 45 profile ZR rated rubber bands! Daft on a 110mph 1.9 diesel.

The main problem is all of those other poor souls out on the roads with cars that lack the technology that my SM is blessed with. Brother in law had to be dug out of a snowy pile in his RWD Lexus and that will teach him to laugh at us doing with our cars as he described: 'isn't that what they do in F1?' My only worry all day has been thinking my way around back roads and country roads to avoid all of the queues.

SM + winter tyres + dodgy roads = the best car ever.

[rockhopper]

I was very much amused by the bad driving I saw whilst out on the bicycle today. People have no idea how to drive up steep hills on summer tyres

I just cycled up the hills past them. very satisfying.

Not one car past me on my first section on road. I did see a car pull out of a side turning further up the road. My attention was drawn to it because of the noise - it was using snow chains.

On the way down the hills it was a different matter, I could just about keep up with the pedestrians, OK I was slightly faster, but not much.

I saw a van going up a steep hill. It was wearing autosocks.

There were loads of abandoned cars in the area, with people desperate to to abandon their cars as well. It was quite funny.

WINTER TYRES and or Autoosocks. That is what the country need to stop this from happening.

How about legislation like the rest of europe - winter tyres from november-march.

The average person has no idea.

If you are reading this you are above average.

Mike

Edited 30 November, 2010 by rockhopper

[My_Yeti]

I was very much amused by the bad driving I saw whilst out on the bicycle today. People have no idea how to drive up steep hills on summer tyres

I just cycled up the hills past them. very satisfying.

Not one car past me on my first section on road. I did see a car pull out of a side turning further up the road. My attention was drawn to it because of the noise - it was using snow chains.

On the way down the hills it was a different matter, I could just about keep up with the pedestrians, OK I was slightly faster, but not much.

I saw a van going up a steep hill. It was wearing autosocks.

There were loads of abandoned cars in the area, with people desperate to to abandon their cars as well. It was quite funny.

WINTER TYRES and or Autoosocks. That is what the country need to stop this from happening.

How about legislation like the rest of europe - winter tyres from november-march.

The average person has no idea.

If you are reading this you are above average.

Mike

I think a legislation might be a good idea, but I can hear people mumbling "nanny state". The problem is some people, like myself do not really drive that often in the snow and whilst I think I would definitely need snow tyres, I might get some auto sock instead, not chains though as it will definitely create more potholes - more than we already have!!!

[loadswine]

If you are reading this you are above average.

Mike

Wow, that'll be a first for me!!

[soccerc]

Only a 2WD 2.0 Diesel owner with 17" Dunlop Sport shoes.

Have to say did not enjoy driving on the country lanes here as the rubber offers very little grip on the ice, so Old Git has been laid up today

[BossFox]

Well, my wife wanted to use the Yeti (2WD DSG) to pop up the road yesterday and got stuck getting off the drive. So it went right back in the garage.

Winter tyres would no doubt help, but it only does non-important 40 miles a week driving so not sure it's worth it.

Glad we've got a 4x4 too. Got into work (42 mile commute) no problem yesterday and today, other than a few over cautious drivers going very, very slowly.

I even got to play with the snow setting on the terrain response. :yes:

[the_raz]

I can agree on the comments regard the FWD 1.2 TSI with our without DSG. I do have winter tires:

but they are actually far too wide (225/50-17) for a car of this weight, and the 1.2 is a fairly light engine - more weight over the driving wheels would be good in bad conditions. But as I rarely venture outside plowed roads I guess I will be fine, and the extra ground clearance is really good for when the plows have not been doing their job properly. No problems in ordinary winter conditions, but the heater is a bit slow (the engine is too fuel efficient and does not create enought waste heat), but that can be solved by using higher revs - S-mode with the DSG or even manual mode depending on the conditions. Around 3000 RPMs usually warms the engine quite nicely.

I wouldn't dare say that the 1.2 TSI is bad in snowy conditions with proper tires (I once drove a BMW 3-series for 3 miles in 1 inch ow snow on summer tires and that's not something I plan on doing anytime soon, so I very well understand your concerns with the performance on summer tires), but it really isn't as good in snow as my previous car - Roomster 1.9 TDI with only 185 wide winters. That's a proper winter setup: massively heavy engine directly over the driving wheels and narrow tires.

[kenfowler3966]

Just driven home from work in a 2wd 110bhp diesel and it was hopeless in the deeper snow ,(4"to 6" of fresh), on my estate. Embarrased by a taxi who managed to drive around me whilst my car would not move either forward or back with the traction control on. Had to turn off the traction control to get the wheels to spin and dig down for grip, and eventually parked it some distance from home on a clearer and flatter road and walked.

I have had quite a bit of practice in the snow before, always with 2wd and this car may benear the worst I have tried to use with its wide low profile tyres getting no traction at all.

Overall a little dissapointed, and no chance of getting winter tyres fitted to a company vehicle.

[900000]

Just driven home from work in a 2wd 110bhp diesel and it was hopeless in the deeper snow ,(4"to 6" of fresh), on my estate. Embarrased by a taxi who managed to drive around me whilst my car would not move either forward or back with the traction control on. Had to turn off the traction control to get the wheels to spin and dig down for grip, and eventually parked it some distance from home on a clearer and flatter road and walked.

I have had quite a bit of practice in the snow before, always with 2wd and this car may benear the worst I have tried to use with its wide low profile tyres getting no traction at all.

Overall a little dissapointed, and no chance of getting winter tyres fitted to a company vehicle.

Ken that is a shame to hear this. You know that since a winter set will basically fit on any VAG car your investment in a set won't be lost after you give the Yeti back to the lease company - you will easily be able to sell it again later (albeit with a bit of tyre ware!). Can't you just buy a set and put them on? You are making your lease car safer and surely they can't complain about that?

[lee67]

ive no chance of getting the yeti out now....3-4ft in places here...just had an 8 mile walk for milk and bread..took me nearly 4 hours' :(

[900000]

ive no chance of getting the yeti out now....3-4ft in places here...just had an 8 mile walk for milk and bread..took me nearly 4 hours'

Lee you need a helicopter!!! Hope all is fine and that you are not just living on milk and bread?!

[Photoemt]

Only a 2WD 2.0 Diesel owner with 17" Dunlop Sport shoes.

Have to say did not enjoy driving on the country lanes here as the rubber offers very little grip on the ice, so Old Git has been laid up today

I have to agree, I also have a 110 diesel with 17" rims. Having moved over from a 1.9TDi Octavia, I have to say the Octavia had far better traction, those dunlop sports are useless in this weather.

[Nake]

We had a blizzard here in Oslo yesterday so I went out to test the car.

I have 1.2 fwd with all 4 winter tires. Continental Conti Viking Contact 5. 205/55 - 16.

I was driving around small roads ,testing the car on uphill start.

Well ,

when it was icy road with no snow I did have problem to gain traction. No matter how up the uphill was.

It was bad traction on all occasions. And I tried around 10 different uphills with stop in the middle and go.

Tractioncontrol kicks in really early. I dont even notice wheel spin but then suddenly see blinking traction lamp.

Neither one time I got stuck but it was a strugle to gain traction and move.

(I have not tried to turn tractioncontrol off but I know that this could help on some occasions)

On roads and uphills covered with snow I had no problems at all. Some spinn of front wheels did happen but it was almost negligable.

The traction was really good here.

Driving downhill on icy road ,abs also kicks inn early but I managed to stop the car on all ocassions at reasonable distance.

Driving downhill on snow covered roads was good. No problems there. I could stop like on a dime.

Taking icy roundabouts (we have a lot of those here) was fun. Front wheels would slide sideway and if I dont let the gas pedal off it would slide outside the road.

Again in snowy roundabouts no big problems but slide of front wheels did happen few times.

It is really easy to throw back end off the car. It dont take to much effort. You dont even have to touch handbrake. Just turn fast and there you back end goes.I guess this is cause back is rather light weight.

This was fun ,I was making 180s on a parking lot like crazy.

There is no build up of snow in wheel arches. (I experienced this on some previous cars).

There is build up of snow on back end of the car. By the time I got home back end was totally white. Could not see the glass ,numberplate ,3rd brake light was invisible, but the main brake lights were visible...

So to rate my experience from yesterday I would say (from 1 to 10)

icy roads Yeti gets 5.

snowy roads Yeti gets 8 or 9.

Now this have much to do with tires also. My tires are new. And score second best on different test here in Norway. Whats strange is that in few test they say that tires perform better on icy roads the on snowy roads. I found opposite to be true. You figure...

Is it ok to use 205/16 tyres on yeti, regarding fact that it is on sale with 215/60 16 or 225/55 17?

[Onesque]

Well must say that my 17" Dunlops aren't doing a bad job in the snow.

I've purposely driven on some of the minor roads which I knew wouldn't have been gritted and approached sensibly have not had any problems.

I will probably change to all weather tyres when the time comes to re-boot the beast, but that won't be for sometime yet.

I can imagine that 2WD on summer tyres in this weather will take the 'S' out of 'SM', just glad to have the 4x4 and I must admit the heated windscreen is the icing on the cake.

Just be careful out there people, forward observation and anticipation should be the order of the day.

[survey]

Is it ok to use 205/16 tyres on yeti, regarding fact that it is on sale with 215/60 16 or 225/55 17?

My SE has 225x50x17 as standard tyres. After checking with Skoda I have fitted 205x60x16 winter tyres/wheels. Works well with very little odometer error.

[finebone]

Early snow in West of Scotland this year.

Not as bad as in the east or as last winter (yet) but 4X4 Yeti again performing great on snow, slush and ice with factory fitted (Goodyear) tyres.

If the going gets tough, I push the off-road button and take it slow. Still never been stuck. Marvellous!

[Freshacre]

as you can see, factory fitted Dunlops (needing to be replaced, like, real soon) - and nary a problem so far. On this Army exercise ground we had the undoubted pleasure of throwing ourselves around on virgin snow a few inches deep up hill and down dale, ignoring the red warning flag.

Nowt but them sheep for an audience, and all they said was "Baaaaa!"

Yeti Habitat by george.m.cooper, on Flickr

[jan25]

I'm really pleased the performance of my Yeti in this snow and ice. I didn't do too badly with my Octy during the last spell of global cooling, but kept off the roads until other idiots had knocked the top off the (very solidly) frozen hump in the middle of the tram lines.

The benefit of the AWD, and elec-tricks that come with it, have been superbly evident this time. I've used the off-road button pretty much all the time. The Yeti has moved off effortlessly on ice, snow and hills, too. Yes, corner a bit too fast and you loose the front end, but easing off brings control back very rapidly. I haven't lost the back end yet! All this on the standard Dunlops (albeit with loads of tread).

Last night, we had over a foot of snow. I was the third vehicle (guessing from the wheeltracks) to negotiate the nearby hill this morning (2nd gear, 1700rpm and didn't have to stop, thank goodness). It was no problem at all - no spinning, easy control of steering and speed etc! Tonight, its freezing solid here. It will be interesting to see how things handle tommorrow!

[loadswine]

Interesting the 4x4s in particular have managed with summer tyres with traction particularly, but how do you guys find braking? That's always been my worry really. When I had the summers on my SM would go, but sometimes a hairy moment getting it to stop. ( and yes I don't go too fast and leave big gaps)

Braking certainly isn't an issue with the winters, nothing short of amazing really.

[bilun777]

You've hit the nail right on the head . The sophisticated 4x4 (new summer dunlops on mine) lull you into a false sense of security. When I touch the (very sensitive) brakes it quickly reminds me how slippery the surface is!

Edited 3 December, 2010 by bilun777

[Freshacre]

I have been spectacularly impressed by the off-road button taking control - and never a slip nor a slide. Yet - if yiou DO touch the brakes, some slippage occurs.

OFF-ROAD BUTTON RULES, yes??

[900000]

Interesting the 4x4s in particular have managed with summer tyres with traction particularly, but how do you guys find braking? That's always been my worry really. When I had the summers on my SM would go, but sometimes a hairy moment getting it to stop. ( and yes I don't go too fast and leave big gaps)

Braking certainly isn't an issue with the winters, nothing short of amazing really.

+1

This is as dangerous as putting winter wheels only on the front of a FWD car. You think all is fine and well until an emergency stop... And then you just keep on sliding and sliding and sliding until you hit something. No thanks. Not for me. My winter tyres cost less than the insurance excess and hassle would cost me.

[ju3]

Is it ok to use 205/16 tyres on yeti, regarding fact that it is on sale with 215/60 16 or 225/55 17?

Car userbook say that if one want to use chains one have to have 205/55 -16.

So I guess its ok. I'm not gonna use chains but I see no difference.

I ask also the dealer who said its ok but it might not look so nice since the tyre is smaller. I dont care for this.

I guess that since 205/55 is narrower it should get better traction in snow. Also smaller fuel consumption maybe.

Also 205/55 is like a common size tyre so they are cheaper then 215/60. At least here in Norway they are cheaper.