I experienced my scout all wheel drive system today and was not very impressed. :-(

Bought the car last February and in my moment of need today it felt no better than my old passage 2nd passat when trying to get out my road this morning.

Does it only operate at certain low engine revs and load?

Use normal 4x4 Octavia's all day long all year. Brilliant even with summer tyres on. Never got stuck in the snow once, even the odd muddy track they are superb.

What part didn't impress you?

What make of tyres are fitted and what is the tread depth?

I was hugely impressed with mine in deep snow in France last year. Have a look on Youtube and search for Octavia scout in snow. If yours can't do what they are doing then the tyres might need changing for better ones ( I use M&S winter tyres this time of year) or there's a fault in the Haldex.

My Scout was sure footed and steady in the recent heavy hail* fall the other night. I do have my Nokian cold weather tyres on as it gets below 7°C where I live from mid October to approximately April/May.

Fin

* according to Richard Hammonds Wild Weather on BBC1, it's not hail, they are ice pellets!

Any car whether it is a 4x4 or 2WD is only as good as the tyres.

 

On poor tyres the only difference with a 4x4 is that four wheels will spin instead of two.

 

Four wheel drive + winter tyres = much improved traction.

 

Four wheel drive + worn summer tyres = very little advantage over 2WD.

 

The Scout is a very capable car, you only need to search the internet to see some very good examples of just how capable the Scout is...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seLkYXAHxYY

 

You don't provide any details about your car, it's age for example will dictate which version of Haldex you have. Gen 4 (facelift) offers an improvement over the original Gen 2 (pre-FL) but both systems offer clear advantages over 2WD.

 

There is of course the influence of the driver, but for the time being let's assume we are all equals!

 

For the time being it sounds as though you either need to check the Haldex system is operating correctly (there will be no obvious warning's that it isn't) or invest in some proper tyres.

 

PS. You also don't describe the conditions but I learnt very quickly that in deep snow my Scout fares much better with the traction control turned OFF. See here...

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/182514-what-a-scout-will-not-do/

Edited 9 December, 201411 yr by silver1011