Autocar have run a comparison test with two identical Yeti's, one 2 wheel drive fitted with 17" winter tyres and the other 4 wheel drive fitted with standard 17" summer tyres.

Results were that on acceleration the 2 wheel drive with winter tyres pulled away more easily but was eventually overtaken by the 4 wheel drive Yeti. On braking from 22 MPH the 2 wheel drive stopped at least a third shorter than the 4 wheel drive, enough to be the difference between a major shunt and an uneventfull stop! The cornering test (driving at a set radius) showed the 2 wheel drive was a 33% better than the 4 wheel drive but equally importantly the cornering was smooth whereas the 4 wheel drive shifted between oversteer and understeer as the 4 wheel drive cut in/out.

Conclusion was that best combination was 4 wheel drive with winter tyres - Oh what a surprise. The basic result IMO was that 2 wheel drive with winter tyres was much safer because of the braking difference, more controlled and predictable cornering and better low speed traction.

Nothing contentious with that conclusion. :lol:

Backs up what we enlightened people already know.

But confirmation is always good. With my job I talk to people lot about winter tyres.

Best one recently was a Pole, who back home would have been using winter tyres by law, crashed into TP and ended up on side in ditch when he hit black ice, which he said would not have happened of he had winters on.

Dah.......

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Conclusion was that best combination was 4 wheel drive with winter tyres

Actually Autocar's conclusion was slightly more interesting than that. It was that most people would be better off, both financially and in terms of car performance, by buying winter tyres and not bothering with 4WD.

Edited 30 January, 201313 yr by r999

Actually Autocar's conclusion was slightly more interesting than that. It was that most people would be better off, both financially and in terms of car performance, by buying winter tyres and not bothering with 4WD.

Makes you wonder if / when

- Skoda UK will import 2wd higher power Yetis at some point? I'd have thought the sweet spot would be 1.4 TSi 140 (not 122) and 2.0 TDi 140 (not 110).

- tyre depots will start offering wheel store n change "services" for winter-summer tyre swapping...

Makes you wonder if / when

- tyre depots will start offering wheel store n change "services" for winter-summer tyre swapping...

Quite a few already do, they just don't advertise it very much. I think that's because most people still don't understand the fundamental benefits of winter tyres, so complications like tyre storage would just confuse things for the poor dears.

If Kwik-Fit are doing it - as they are - then I'd say it is on the verge of becoming mainstream.

It would have been more interesting if the 4x4 Yeti had been fitted with 16" summer tyres as opposed to 17". I am not saying it would come out on top, but I bet it would be a lot closer.

I just got the issue as well when a friend warned me! Yay. After that conclusion (especially the acceleration one where the summer tyred 4x4 won over the winter tyres!!!) you can just imagine the results with a 4x4 winter tyred Yeti! yay. But I already know the results of that. As do many here.

But as ever they get their captions mixed up. The dark Yeti is the 4x4 and you can clearly see the 4x4 badges on it yet on the second last page top left they say the Steel Grey Yeti is the 4x4... tsk tsk tsk...

Thanks Expatman! I'll have to buy this!

I must admit my Falken winter tyres have been quite remarkable this winter, despite being a cheaper brand. During a blizzard I was driving at 50 on a 50 road behind a Toyota Hilux, in the outside lane while everyone else was crawling along at 20mph in the inside lane. The car felt quite grounded in 2 inches of fresh snow.

'Results were that on acceleration the 2 wheel drive with winter tyres pulled away more easily but was eventually overtaken by the 4 wheel drive Yeti.'...maybe this would be the case because the 2WD was the 110 TDI ?(or one of the smaller petrol engines) The 4X4 being 140 ?

Autocar video here: http://www.autocar.c...our-wheel-drive

Results as expected and no surprise to most of us here! The only comment I have from personal observation of my neighbour unsuccessfully trying to get their summer tyred 4 wheel drive Tiguan out of their sloping drive is that the results on the flat might be a bit different from those on a slope.

Edited 31 January, 201313 yr by Expatman

you can tow a tiguan out of snow with an Octavia :-) Just saying

'Results were that on acceleration the 2 wheel drive with winter tyres pulled away more easily but was eventually overtaken by the 4 wheel drive Yeti.'...maybe this would be the case because the 2WD was the 110 TDI ?(or one of the smaller petrol engines) The 4X4 being 140 ?

They say in the text both are 110 diesels...

It would have interesting to have had a comparison against the other two options, i.e. 2-wheel drive with summer tyres and 4-wheel drive with winter tyres.

It would have interesting to have had a comparison against the other two options, i.e. 2-wheel drive with summer tyres and 4-wheel drive with winter tyres.

PLENTY of vids on the Internet that show just that... maybe not on a Yeti but the message is the same.

PLENTY of vids on the Internet that show just that... maybe not on a Yeti but the message is the same.

All probably shot in Norway not in 10 Degrees + as it was today.

They say in the text both are 110 diesels...

...Aha! I forgot about the 110 4X4!

Very interesting.

How many of us use full throttle / max acceleration in the snow? On the other hand, how many of us occasionally need full braking capability? It seems to me that the stopping and the cornering tests are more significant.

But 4x4 and winter tyres = winwin

I read it with great interest, and a certain smugness due to the 4x4 + winter tyres comment at the end.

I drove in the ice and snow for the previous 2 years in a Scirocco with winter tyres, so I was a convert already.

With the addition of the 4x4 it's unbeatable!

I might buy that magazine. I'm guessing it's still available and not last weeks.

Which tyres did they used (make/model) ?

Edited 31 January, 201313 yr by Jim H

All probably shot in Norway not in 10 Degrees + as it was today.

3 degrees and snow here today. Don't have to cross the sea to find winter

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Which tyres did they used (make/model) ?

Pirelli Sottozero. A tyre that tends to come in the bottom half of the rankings in comparative winter tyre tests. If they had used top-quality winter tyres, the 2WD might have kept pace with the 4WD in the traction test.

But they really should have included an uphill test.

How many of us use full throttle / max acceleration in the snow? On the other hand, how many of us occasionally need full braking capability? It seems to me that the stopping and the cornering tests are more significant.

Agreed: braking and especially cornering are very much the limiting factors, even with 4WD and winter tyres. The Yeti in the test on winter tyres was pulling a bit more than 0.2G laterally, which is about a quarter of what it can do on dry tarmac. But traction on the 4WD with top winter tyres is astonishing. You say we don't want to use full throttle in the snow, but the staggering aspect of the 4WD and winter tyres, as I proved many times this winter and last, is that you can if you want to. Time and again I accelerated away from rest on snow, using full throttle and max revs in first gear, and full throttle in second, backing off for sanity's sake before 50 mph. When doing this there was no perceptible wheelspin, at least from inside the car.

So the cornering performance on snow is roughly a quarter of what it is in dry conditions, whereas the traction is in practice almost as good as it is in the dry. Hard to believe until you've tried it.

During a blizzard I was driving at 50 on a 50 road

Hardly something to boast about, more like irresponsible

I read the Autocar article too. The conclusion seems to make the assumption that you'd buy a 4x4 for the snow. It doesn't take into account the benefit of 4wd for the rest of the year. I run winters on my wife's 500, summers on superb 4x4 estate as for the few days of bad snow a year we have here, it doesn't justify winters. I take extra care for braking distance in snow conditions and that's always been fine, including years in land rovers and range rovers which are considerably heavier.

For where I live, peronally I feel that we'd have to start to get significantly worse winter weather to justify putting winters on a 4x4. Not that I'm condoning anyone that does. It's not a huge amount of hassle and money, so I say go ahead.

Cheers

Steve

A factor that I may have missed being mentioned is weight. Both our Fabia's are fitted with winters but even with these tyres they struggle to keep a straight track in compacted snow/ice. Both are petrol 1.2 (HTP & TSI) and therefore have very little weight over the driven wheels, although the TSI has ESP which helps reduce the tenancy to swing. The Yeti however with it's big diesel lump (and 4x4) is much safer on these types of surface.

TP

A factor that I may have missed being mentioned is weight. Both our Fabia's are fitted with winters but even with these tyres they struggle to keep a straight track in compacted snow/ice. Both are petrol 1.2 (HTP & TSI) and therefore have very little weight over the driven wheels, although the TSI has ESP which helps reduce the tenancy to swing. The Yeti however with it's big diesel lump (and 4x4) is much safer on these types of surface.

TP

never struggled in a 1.2 yeti - maybe it's got some secret extra weight over the fabia?